I am upgrading my old stereo, step-by-step.

I bought a Panasonic th-42ph9uk plasma tv.

I upgraded my time warner cable box to hd. They didn't have in stock the box w/o the dvr so they gave me one with the dvr for 1 month free. (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD.)

This is where my problems begun. I was furious that after 30 minutes in line they didn't have the unit I wanted and also that one month from now I have to schedule another appointment to have it replaced (otherwise they start to charge me $9/mo for the dvr), but... (please don't tell this them) this box is soooo simple to program, even I can do it (I am a programmer, btw, so I found computers way simpler to program than cable boxes.)

At the same time I bought a Panasonic dmr vh75v. I spent hours on this forum and with the manuals (no, I did not call time warner, even I know that it is a waste of time), but for the life of me I can't get everything work together.

And then my wife turns to me and asks: "are you stupid or something? if for $9/mo you can record on their hdd, with their tv guide, and then transfer to a separate dvd, if you wish, what's the problem?" (please don't tell her this, but she got a point.)

So here is the new strategy:

Keep the SA-8300HD, start paying $9 for it next month. (Maybe at some point in the far far future install a BeyondTV or something.)
Return the Panasonic.
Get a DVD recorder, with:


progressive scan as I want to enjoy my TV.
Probably upconversion;
VHS as I want to get rid off my tapes. I don't have that many tapes, so I could use my tape deck. But what the heck, I may want to copy more, create tapes, whatnut.
No fancy/funky tv programming. I just use the SA for that and record from it onto DVD in the rare instances when I want to keep the recording.
No need for HDD, I guess, in this case.
To move my mini-DV tapes onto DVD is nice. But I can do it with composite as well, no need for firewire, am I missing something?
To plug in my SD card directly is nice, but I can live without it.
DL recording would be nice. If I go for saving space, let's do it!
If it can do some chapter titles, whatnut, it is nice, but I don't care much. If I ever go into editing (maybe at some point...) I just do it on a pc.



Bottom line: I'd like to watch DVD-s in their full beauty and I don't want to lose quality when recording (from sa and from tape), but I don't care about TV (in this unit.)

Please, PLEASE tell me which DVD recorder to buy (compare), I spent weeks on this project now!

TIA

No fancy/funky tv programming. I just use the SA for that and record from it onto DVD in the rare instances when I want to keep the recording.Your wife is right, keep the DVR and pay the fee. From your statement I gather you are primarily a time shifter. The DVR is the only option if you want to timeshift hi-def programming and later view it as hi-def. No current DVD recorders record in hi-def -- 480i only. For occasional archiving you can get one of the $200 Panasonic units (DMR-ES25S) without HDD that you would hook up to the archive or tape outputs on the SA8300 (which output at 480i). I would normally recommend you to buy one with a HDD (in which case, keep the 75V), but since you indicated you would edit on PC (as I do exclusively) there would be little justification for spending the extra $$ on a HDD unit.

I don't like buying VCR combo units, but if you insist, the Panasonic DMR-ES45VS adds a VCR to the ES25S for another $100. The Panasonic units have HDMI upconversion, SD card slots and DV inputs for your camcorder. Go to the Panasonic website and read the specifications for more detail. In your case, I would buy soon because in a couple weeks the new models with digital tuners are going to be released. A digital tuner model would offer you no benefit but would come with a substantial price increase.

P.S. - If you want "to watch DVD's in their full beauty", buy a good HDMI DVD player. DVD recorders are poor players for commercial DVD's. Yes, they will do the job but they are not made for it -- they are made to playback broadcast recordings. DVD recorders do not offer the playback features typically found on the cheapest of dedicated players such as changing audio programs, subtitle display, zoom/pan features, toggling between viewing angles, etc.

Thanks a lot for your thorough advise! I didn't realize that dvd recorders don't have 'basic' dvd playback features -- this sucks. One more box, I guess. [I wanted to minimize the # of boxes -- space, wiring and # of remotes. this is why i was thinking of combining vcr and dvd recorder too.]

can i have at least subtitles, please?

Thanks a lot for your thorough advise! I didn't realize that dvd recorders don't have 'basic' dvd playback features -- this sucks. One more box, I guess. [I wanted to minimize the # of boxes -- space, wiring and # of remotes. this is why i was thinking of combining vcr and dvd recorder too.]

can i have at least subtitles, please?
The Pio 640 gives you subtitles, plus angle and audio track/language selections.

The Pio 640 gives you subtitles, plus angle and audio track/language selections.Nice. Almost makes up for the lack of TVGOS.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't the Panasonic EH75 have everything he needs, including a HDD for editing, a DVD burner, and a VHS player that can dub to the HDD (but not pre-recorded tapes) and also upconverts via HDMI? It sells for about $400, and since production has stopped it should be on clearance for less.