I currently have over two years old model number RC199H LG DVD burner and VHS. I have 50" Plasma TV 1080p. I have HD RCA TV antenna. Before the TV antenna hook up straight to my TV, the TV scanned and got all 100 percent signal meter on all channels which were very impressive. LG DVD was hook up to HDMI and play the movies with no problem.

Now What I have changed to TV Antenna input to LG DVD out put to my TV. The LG DVD does build in TV tuner and it only scanned the analog channels but NO DIGITAL. My TV showed the signal meters drop 35%-50% were not acceptable. So I add the power amplifier for cable RJ-6. It helped to pulled up to 92%-94%. No luck for no tuner or able to record off the HD Air.

I searched and found FCC was big fined to Best Buy for false and misleading that my LG was digital tuner. The sale man told me two years ago that will work with HD Antenna when release. I printed out FCC and showed the store manager. He said let us try first we give you a brand new APEX Digital TV Converter Box and gave me simple instructions as I already knew how.

When I got home, i hooked up TV Antenna to Digital TV Convertor Box to LG DVD to Plasma TV. The Digital TV Convertor box scanned all digital channels and able view through plasma TV. The video quality was so horrible. My LG DVD will not able to change or scan channel because it is analog or able to set timer or program which is very BAD! I left channel 3 or 4 on. I managed and recorded TV show off from Digital TV Convertor box to DVD.

I am thinking I will do add the splitter from TV antenna to my TV (back to original best HD quality) and to Digital TV Converter to DVD to record the shows.

I will go back to Best Buy and complain. I will try exchange to digital tuner with DVD burner.

My question out there who have newer Digital turner build in the DVD burner and VHS that able to change the channels or set the programs to record the show? Is this Digital tuner same as high quality of Plasma TV tuner? Or should I wait for next version Blue Ray burner with digital tuner? or get DVR out there that build in the computer or recordable off HD shows?

THanks your time..

Big help will be appericated.

Check out the TiVo HD (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11126048#post11126048) or the DTVPal DVR (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15369795#post15369795) for true OTA HD recording and playback. All DVD recorders and converter boxes are SD only and from your post, you will not be satisfied with the picture quality of an SD recording device played back on a 50" plasma -- no surprise there.

DVD recorders provide the same PQ you had with the Apex. That's good for a 27-32" SDTV, but not something you want on a 50" HDTV.

Current options for recording actual HD are the DTVPal DVR and the TivoHD. Those are the products that provide the same quality as the TV tuner. Refer to the links in my signature.

When I got home, i hooked up TV Antenna to Digital TV Convertor Box to LG DVD to Plasma TV. The Digital TV Convertor box scanned all digital channels and able view through plasma TV. The video quality was so horrible. My LG DVD will not able to change or scan channel because it is analog or able to set timer or program which is very BAD! I left channel 3 or 4 on. I managed and recorded TV show off from Digital TV Convertor box to DVD.
I think your problem is in how you're connected. Many or most combo LGs output modulated video on their coax output, and might be switchable between TV (passthru) or Video (internal LG stuff).

Try connecting box > LG via a Composite (Y/W/R) or S-Video+L/R audio (if the LG has S-Vid). Then connect the LG to your TV also by Composite or S-Vid.

You could also use a splitter to keep the box the only thing on the coax to the TV, then the line connections described above?

To record from the box, just select the line input you connected the box to.

I'm just shocked to hear that an LG DVD/VHS recorder actually lasted two years.

no mine still work.. but no digital tuner. :( worthless to watch on big HD TV cuz of video quality.

Check out the TiVo HD (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11126048#post11126048) or the DTVPal DVR (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15369795#post15369795) for true OTA HD recording and playback. All DVD recorders and converter boxes are SD only and from your post, you will not be satisfied with the picture quality of an SD recording device played back on a 50" plasma -- no surprise there.

Neither the TiVo nor the DTVPal DVR are DVD machines.

The OP said he's looking for a DVD recorder with digital TV tuner.

My question out there who have newer Digital turner build in the DVD burner and VHS that able to change the channels or set the programs to record the show? Is this Digital tuner same as high quality of Plasma TV tuner? Or should I wait for next version Blue Ray burner with digital tuner?You won't have to do any splitting to use your TV's HD tuner if you forget about using a standard definition DVD recorder, and just get something like the DTV Pal HD DVR or the TiVo HD DVR instead (and yes - the picture quality from their tuners will look just as good as that from your plasma's built-in HD tuner).

The DTV Pal HD DVR won't cost you any more than a major brand DVD/VHS recorder with an ATSC tuner (no DVD recorder's tuner will look any better on your TV than the Apex does, because they all only put out standard definition resolution, just like the Apex).

If you want to keep the recordings, you can record from the TiVo or DTV Pal DVR to your old LG combo in standard definition (or from the TiVo to a computer in HD).

If you insist on buying a DVD/VHS combo with an ATSC tuner, just don't hold us responsible - nobody here likes to recommend any of them in good conscience, because every last one of them being sold nowadays is complete crap, and you'll be lucky if they last you more than 3 - 6 months.

If you end up keeping your old LG and the Apex, at least hook the Apex up to the recorder through a line input (through composite or s-video - s-video being the better of the two) - not through RF like it sounds like you're doing. The picture quality still won't be great, but it will definitely look somewhat better (it'll never look as good as your TV's internal HD tuner, though).

As far as standalone Blu-Ray recorders with ATSC tuners, don't hold your breath, because they'll probably never see the light of day in the US. Even if they ever do, they'll undoubtedly be so crippled with copy-protection that they'll be practically useless - and they'll still cost you $1000.00 for the privilege of owning one.

Hey Guys thanks so much for all feed back. Like I said before the APEX and LG did not give out good video quality. In my opinion and observe that APEX is not true HD tuner as it is built for lower video quality for standard CRT TV that was designed for. It will not replace to HD TV tuner.

I called and spoke with same store manager and explained to him that APEX digital convertor to LG DVD burner to TV which will not able to set the date timer to record and the video quality was so bad because of APEX. So the manger said I do not know anything and transfer me to home theater dept... I explain to the sale person and he agreed with me that APEX will never give true HD tuner and will not work make it LG analog to be digital tuner. It also will not work to set the program the timer to record because it is set channel 3-4 analog. Nothing will work and will not be satisfied. So the sale man said I will have you bring in your LG in and exchange a new one Digital tuner built in DVD burner/VHS combo. He even mentioned to me that HD tuner will be exactly the same as my 50" Plasma Panasonic 1080P. At first he offered me LG but I picked more expensive and more compatible with my Panasonic because of Viera Link. My old LG was $219.00 and the new Panasonic DMR-Ez485V which cost is $279.00 . So it was break even to trade in and I paid nothing extra. I was so lucky.

I got home and hooked up. Wow it does make a huge difference. The Panasonic built in digital tuner is exactly same quality as my HD tv tuner and I am able to record the shows so easy. I am so pleased with it and cost me nothing extra. It will be good for other few years before we will maybe know to have blue ray burner and built in digital tuner.

I must say this is the good news for me. Now I am going to try to hook up my ONKYO home theater which as two optical inputs for tv and DVD player. I hope that it will work both way.

Thanks again for your time and read and reply me back.

Glad it worked out and you are happy. But, just so you know, the tuner in the panasonic may be a lot better than what you had before, but it isn't really HD. It'll tune all digital channels, but down-converts the HD ones to SD. Many of us here have the EZ-485, including mysef. So if you have any more questions, you'll get lots of expert advice here.

Neither the TiVo nor the DTVPal DVR are DVD machines.

The OP said he's looking for a DVD recorder with digital TV tuner.The op asked about quality comparable to his built-in HD tuner. You can't get that with a DVD recorder; DVD recorders throw away 70+% of the resolution and detail in the HD signal. Output quality is not at all comparable to what you get with HDTV recorders like the DTVPal DVR, TivoHD, and Sony DHG. Anyone that relies on a DVD recorder for viewing on a large screen HDTV is missing out on the high-definition experience.

The op asked asked DVR options in his last sentence.

I got home and hooked up. Wow it does make a huge difference. The Panasonic built in digital tuner is exactly same quality as my HD tv tuner and I am able to record the shows so easy. I am so pleased with it and cost me nothing extra. It will be good for other few years before we will maybe know to have blue ray burner and built in digital tuner.They are not even close, as I'm sure you'll notice after spending more time with the unit. DVD recorders only output 704x480 and 720x480 source resolution to the screen, whereas your built-in tuner outputs 1280x720 and 1920x1080 source resolution to the screen.

If you want to take full advantage of your display with full resolution output (i.e. full quality of your built-in tuner) then your current recording options are the DTVPal DVR, TivoHD, and TViX R3300. That's it. If you are willing to buy off ebay, then there are probably a few other discontinued product choices like the Sony DHG.

Guys, we're kinda tripping over ourselves here. Sometimes when people post questions, they aren't clear with the terminology or just aren't "expert" enough to frame their questions precisely enough to get the answer they really want. If you read deafanimators original post slowly and carefully, you'll notice he does in fact imply he was using the LG DVD recorder all along to timeshift standard-def analog broadcasts and was apparently satisfied with that on his 50" plasma. There are many such consumers, who have huge screens but are not all that obsessive that everything has to be full HD. These folks don't always parse their questions to make that clear, they make references to their TVs being "HDTV" or "DTV" and "wanting what they had before June" and that cheap CECBs "don't look like their HDTVs own tuner". While that might seem as if they're asking for exclusively HD recommendations like a TiVO or DTVpal, it ain't necessarily so.

deafanimator's two primary issues are that he lost his multi-event multi-channel timeshift ability after the ATSC switchover in June, and that the crappy Apex converter box recommended by Best Buy is both incapable of restoring that ability and a much worse tuner than the one built into his television. He was misinformed at time of purchase that his LG DVD/VHS combo included ATSC capability, is what it boils down to. He's very fortunate Best Buy agreed they were at fault and gave him the new Panasonic. That was a lucky coincidence: the Panasonics just happen to have better-than-average ATSC tuners and HDMI, otherwise he may have been disappointed by another LG or Toshiba or whatever whose tuner may not have been any better than the Apex.

Deafanimator, congratulations on your new Panasonic DMR-EZ485v, I'm glad you're happy with it, but you should be prepared to accept it may become a problem later. Based on experiences reported here by many AVS members, the bundling of digital ATSC tuner/timer with DVD/VHS combo recorders does not work well, especially the DMR-EZ485v. You may encounter problems with the unit freezing up or failing to make a timer recording. If this does happen, DO NOT attempt to replace it with another combo recorder: none of them is reliable. Instead, get the Panasonic DMR-EZ28 model which does not have the VHS part: it is much more dependable. Since your DMR-EZ485v is a very recent sample, it may have some of the bugs worked out and be reliable for you: we certainly wish you good luck. Just remember, if you ever need to replace it or to buy another recorder, avoid all the DVD/VHS combo models. A lot of things changed when we went to digital broadcasting, one of those things being combo recorders no longer work correctly.

As has been said, while the Panasonic EZ-x8 series DVDRs w/digital tuner is about as good as possible using SD, it's still is SD.
On my 32" 720p Panasonic LCD it was quite hard to distinguish between 720p material tuned on my EZ-28's tuner(fed via upconverted HDMI to TV) and 720p material tuned on my TV. However this was not the case with 1080i material which looked noticeably better using my TVs true HD tuner.
A possible confusion factor for the OP might be if he does a DISPLAY on his TV playing through the EZ-48v he'll see 1080p as the displayed resolution. This 1080p is not the source resolution but rather the upconverted resolution through the EZ-48v.
I'm also a little confused about the model number he got. He lists EZ-485v, but AFAIK only wholesale clubs like Sams and Costco sell the 485v. BB would sell the EZ-48v which only lacks the free HDMI cable......

I never said DVD burner will be HD quality. I always know that DVD will be always 480 resolution lines. I know that all satellite, cable TV, and HD antenna will never be true 1080p but 1080i and under. My CBS on TV is 1080i, ABC is 720p, NBC is 1080i, and some channels are 720p and some are 1080i.

I am very happy with my new Panasonic DVD burner as it is totally different features than my old LG as I have to learn to use them.

Again thanks for feed back and so forth.