Panasonic DMR-ES40 DVD Recorder / VCR Combo

Before I get to the good parts, the major flaw is this: I cannot figure a way transfer a home video to DVD without it butchering the contents by breaking up the footage into dozens of segments (titles) that overlap very poorly. I'd be happy with just a single title/chapter with my two hours of VHS footage on it, but I don't think it will be possible without an external VCR, which defeats the purpose of this product. Panasonic should have either made the dividing of the footage into different tracks very seamless, or allow the automatic dividing to be disabled. This is a deal killer, and I will end up having to return the product unless a firmware upgrade occurs soon (none exists yet) or someone figures out a workaround.

I will say the picture quality is terrific, the box is quiet, and the DVD recorder does its job well. Especially nice is the black level options. The only other minor quibble with this product is a lack of automatic recording of chapters every several minutes or so to make it easy to skip quickly to near the end of your recorded TV program.

Think of this product as a pretty good DVD recorder that happens to play VHS tapes too, but don't buy this thinking you can transfer from VCR to DVD, or you will likely be extremely disappointed.