I've tried to purchase panny eh55s and Pio 640 in the last week. I haven't found a dealer I'm willing to fork over money to to buy. They all say these units are discontinued.

Does anyone have any hints on new models for 2007.

What I want is

DVD Recorder with hard drive
DV Input
good editing capabilities
NO TVGOS
HDMI is a plus, not a requirement


I plan to use this only to copy from 8mm cam-corder to DVD, add chapters, edit out the cr@p. I won't use it as a DVR as I have the "wonderfull" cable company to provide that service.

Scott.

there have been no new announcements of 2007 models of DVD recorders with hard drives. Maybe by the summer??? That's just a guess....but then maybe not at all.

I've tried to purchase panny eh55s and Pio 640 in the last week. I haven't found a dealer I'm willing to fork over money to to buy. They all say these units are discontinued.

Scott.

B&H Photo has the Pioneer 640 in stock for $349 plus shipping (click here). (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=2663&A=details&Q=&sku=429920&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation)

B&H Photo is a very reputable on-line retailer that is highly recommended.

On the other hand, the Panasonic EH-55 is unavailable at any reputable on-line retailer that I can find.

If you really want a Pioneer 640, I'd grab one from B&H Photo before they disappear.

BTW, the Pioneer 640 does not have DV input.

That's my opinion and YMMV.

Good luck.

My local Rex store seems inclined to work with me on a Pio 640. I think I can get it OTD for $325-345 depending on how hard I work them. Should I jump if I can get that price?

If so, How can I be sure I get one with the Upgraded Firmware?

Those units are illegal to make or import after 3/1/2007 (like all units with a NTSC tuner, but not an ATSC tuner).

Like Travis said no ATSC tuner (or no tuner) hard drive models have been announced yet.

RG,

Thanks for the response. I decided to go with the Toshiba XS35 since it has the DV input. However, it has the TVGOS so I'm hoping it won't drive me crazy.

Scott.

RG,

Thanks for the response. I decided to go with the Toshiba XS35 since it has the DV input. However, it has the TVGOS so I'm hoping it won't drive me crazy.

Scott.

If you're not going to do timer recordings and not hooking up a coax cable, it will receive no listings, so it should be a moot point, no?

If you're not going to do timer recordings and not hooking up a coax cable, it will receive no listings, so it should be a moot point, no?

TVGOS works well with with my Toshiba DVD recorder - so far anyways. The guide has been imported fine and things seem to be in order. And I'm using it with a 300 channel setup SA8300HD DVR. Is it as good as the SA8300HD DVR. No not even close. But the IR blaster works good and the channel line up even includes my HD channels. Not bad for free.

But TVGOS never worked well with Pioneer DVD recorders. If you follow the posts it looks like it was a Pioneer/TVGOS compatibility issue that was never resolved. So as a result, in a heavily tilted Pioneer forum, TVGOS was proclaimed the culprit. Similar to the why does anybody really need the DV input mantra - "svideo is just as good as DV".

I've used TVGOS for years. The first time with an RCA Scenium DVR and it worked great. TVGOS is also an undocumented feature with my LCD HD television that I activated by going into the service menu. Hitachi, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Thompson, and Toshiba use it.

http://www.vgi.com/support/

Is it the greatest thing since sliced bread? No. But it is not a bad free guide.