Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

You should read the manual to get all the best features of this machine. You can high speed burn a 2hr show recorded in SP mode in 20 min or less on a 4X DVD-R disc. You have to turn this feature on before recording the show. That is so the show is recorded onto the hard drive in a format that can be high speed burned. You can record 29 hours of shows onto the hard drive in SP mode. The only two recording modes that have good picture quality are XP and SP. It is recommended to record the show in SP if you want to burn to a DVD because it has a better chance of being playable on other DVD players after it is FINALIZED. The DVDs I have made have played fine on my Playstation 2 and the DVD player on my computer. Some great features of this machine are DIVIDE TITLE and SHORTEN DIVIDE TITLE lets you take shows that were recorded together at the same time and divide them into individual pieces so you can burn them to separate discs. SHORTEN allows you to cut out commercials. It is easy to use. There is screen that the show plays on that you can fast forward, rewind and pause. When the show goes to a commercial you press Pause and and then press Enter. This selects the start time. Fast forward through the commercials til right before the show is back on. Press Pause and press Enter . This selects the end time. Press Enter to SHORTEN. This cuts out the segment between the start point and the end point, removing the commercials. Continue to do this till all the commercials are removed. You can name each episode of a show and also name your DVDs too. You can watch a show you have recorded while the machine records another show. You can watch a DVD while the machine records a show. You can watch a show from the beginning while it is being recorded. If you don't want a show any more just delete it. This increases the memory so you can record more shows on the hard drive. Cutting commercials out also increases your recording time. You can connect a VCR to the machine and record shows to the hard drive if the tape isn't copyright protected. You can record shows from a DVD if the DVD isn't copyright protected The TV guides only works if you leave the machine off for 24 hours so it can download the program guide. This isn't a real problem if you MANUALLY PROGRAM in the shows you want to record during that time. The machine will record these shows even when it is off. You can only program 8 days in advance if you use the TV Guide. Manually programming your shows works best. I have 13 shows programmed to record on my machine. There is no limit to how many shows you can program in manually. Just made sure there is enough room on the hard drive to record them all. LIMITATIONS OF THIS MACHINE: You can only burn to DVD-R and DVD-RAM discs. DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+RAM WILL NOT WORK. The TV guide system will not work with TV Guide On Screen Systems broadcast by Satelite. If you program in 2 shows where one show starts at the same time the other show ends the machine will stop recording 15 seconds before the first show ends and will start recording 15 seconds after the other show begins. This is on page 21 of the manual. If the 2 shows come on the same channel, programming the show in manually will bypass this problem. Here is an example: You have 2 shows that come on channel 10 from 8PM-9PM and from 9PM-10PM. Programming the machine to record from 8PM-10PM solves this problem. If the shows come on different channels you can record the shows yourself by pressing record when the show starts and stop when the show ends. Then switching to the other channel and pressing record. You can not burn a show to a disc when the machine is recording a show. You can not edit a show when the machine is recording a show. IMPORTANT INFORMATION If the power goes out at your home due to lighting or the machine displays a error message. You will have to press and HOLD the POWER button on the machine itself for 10 seconds. The machine will test itself and restart. If you have a CABLE BOX the machine come with a IR BLASTER it plugs into the back of the machine. The other end has a electronic eye that is placed in front of the cable boxes electronic eye. Follow the instructions when you set up the machine and the IR BLASTER will make your cable box change to the channel you want when you use the DVD RECORDER REMOTE or when you have a show programmed to record. If you have a TV that only has coaxial hookup in the back and no red, white and yellow plugs you will have to buy a RF Modulator to use this machine. Even with these limitations this machine is a great buy. I have burned 75 DVDs with this machine and haven't had any problems yet.