The most basic question possible, I think. I've been searching for 2 christmas seasons now for a DVD recorder for my age 70+ parents. No fancy editing or great picture quality needed, just one that will be easy to program and play, and will consistantly record what its set for. Have tried two, with disappointing results, although one made it 8 months before the clock froze, making it useless for time shifting. And yeah, I know thats not a fair sample to judge either those specific models or dvd recorders in general. But out of the dozens of audio-video products I've bought these recorders are the only purchases I've made that don't do what they're supposed to, so I think I see a trend...Is there a relatively cheap recorder out there that is bug free?

Most of the cheap DVD recorders are made by one company, Funai. They are sold under dozens of different brand names. And no, they don't make any reliable bug-free models - they are strictly a cheap-as-possible supplier. Just giving consumers what they want!

Only once, in thousands of recordings, did my Pioneer DVDR inexplicably fail to record something. It is easily as reliable as any VCR I ever had.