This item records well, but the menus take a couple of seconds to come up, and they're not well-organized when they do. The entire unit takes 15-20 seconds to power up and accept commands from the remote (say you're turning it on, then trying to view the DVD menu on a disc you've recorded), and like many DVD recorders, it will refuse to copy a manufacturer's original VHS. So if you want to turn those old VHS copies of your favorite Hollywood movies into DVDs, you don't want this recorder. Honestly, this is a stupid function, and if I would have known about it, I would have purchased a different brand that didn't infringe on my legal right to make a backup copy of a movie I already own. I haven't tried to record from HBO or anything like that, but recordings from PBS, SciFi, History Channel, and a few other cable channels have come out fine.

It's not a bad recorder, but there's plenty of room for improvement.