I got an e-mail from World import with some information that I thought would be worth passing around. Apparently I had expressed interest in their newly-listed EH-55 international version, with the 160GB HDD, different form the North American EH-55 which had a 200GB HDD.

Anyway here is the letter...

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Are you still interested in this item? We have lower prices on some items in October which we are offering in this last week of September.

I have with Hard drive:

Pioneer DVR560H 160gb HDD
Pioneer DVR660H 250gb HDD
Panasonic DMR-EH68 320gb HDD

Call me if you want to buy one at 877-220-8658 ext 108.
Victor

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I can never tell if prices are allowed or not, so here they are spoilerized.

Pioneer DVR560H 160gb HDD $375
Pioneer DVR660H 250gb HDD $425
Panasonic DMR-EH68 320gb HDD $425

Notice that the EH55 is not listed, so this information hasn't helped me at all, but there are many posts here with these mentioned, so I thought I'd pass the information along. W-I has been pretty good to me, and while I am not guaranteeing them, I can recommend them. If you are on the edge about any of these, the price reduction might make a difference. I own the EH68 and like it very much. It is solid, both in make and operation.

Thanks. That's a great price on that Panasonic.

World Import is great for sourcing global Panasonics, not-so-great if your want one of the Pioneers. I have had several offline conversations with members who bought global Pioneers from WI and were disappointed to discover they received a version difficult to use in North America. Unlike Panasonic, Pioneer had the truly awful policy of making several variations of the same model number, some are better for North America than others, and WI seems oblivious to this, stocking whatever random versions they can get their hands on.

I'm not saying WI does this on purpose, even Pioneer sales reps would have trouble distinguishing the endless 560H and 660H model variations just from eyeballing the cartons. But you have to shop them carefully and ask detailed questions: what you want is the global 560 or 660 version without SCART connections or Freeview/Guide+ electronic program guide. Those Europe-optimized versions will certainly work in North America, but accessing their full timer capabilities can require tedious inconvenient workarounds. The more-generic global 560 or 660 are essentially the same as the Canadian Pioneers, except silver-colored (and no ethernet on the global 660).

The Panasonic/Pioneer importers B&H Photo and J&R Electronics here in New York very clearly sell the "right" version of the Pioneers, as can be seen from the rear panel photos displayed on their respective websites. They've both been in business since the early 1970s and are solid vendors: if you want a Pioneer they might be simpler to deal with than World Import. For Panasonic, all three dealers are equally good (Panasonics EH-58 and EH-68 come in only one generic version, no need to get more specific.)

Also, if WI's price is lower than B&H or J&R, they might be willing to match it, for the right Pio...