JVC HM-HDS1 Video Recorder

Pros: Everyday ease of use, Pause live TV, Flexibilty.
Cons: Reliability, Minimal editing capability in HDD mode.

First, the good: I've had one of these since Nov 2001 and can honestly say that it has revolutionised our house's TV recording and viewing habits. You no longer have to fumble through VHS cassettes (or recordable DVDs, for that matter) to find a blank ...

Pros: Great picture, great features, plus SVHS VCR make for a product far superior to TIVO.
Cons: Several minor annoyances, such as inconvenient channel entry when programming for timer recording.

The JVC HM-HDS1 combines a hard drive recorder and an SVHS VCR. The hard drive recorder lacks the TIVO service (no great loss to me) but otherwise way out performs TIVO devices. In addition to outstanding picture quality, features include pausing and rewinding live TV, watching a program while it's being recorded with pause, rewind and fast forward capabilities, both of which are great for sports, and the ability to edit from the hard drive to tape. This means, for example, that you can save to tape a commercial show with no commercials on the tape. The hard drive recorder also has very nice navigation features. The VCR is a top-of-the-line SVHS VCR.

We have owned it for about a year and are very pleased. One caveat: prices vary dramatically from as little as $500.00 at B&H Photo to $1700.00!

Pros: SVHS, easy set up, usable guide. Solid build.
Cons: Fan is a little noisy (if in a quite room) Still looking at it.

Purchased this machine from E-Cost as a refurb, I have not had a chance to play with all the features yet, but as far as a basic machine I chose it because it is a combo of SVHS and hard drive (one of the few SVHS combos available)
It was pretty straight forward to set up and it will take the place of my present SVHS. The recording quality is very good at the 2 fastest speeds (HDD) and SVHS is as good as any machine I have owned.
I understand it is a discontinued model, so at it's original list price of $1900 there is no way I would purchase it, but at a discounted price of $230 I think it is a steal if you have a need for SVHS.

Warning. will not work with my digital cable box. will work with my analog box. when my cable company discontinues analog signal it will be useless. buyer beware. as far as i know it will not work with hdtv. painfull setup. complex and time comsuming to learn how to operate it.