Yes, I recall Replay, et. al. I'm not interested in the "used" market. As I noted earlier, I've seen used machines, e.g. Panasonics like yours, selling for more — often far more — than their original list price.
I'm still hoping for some feedback to my original question:
Has anyone found a reliable DVD recorder that they're happy with and would recommend as a VCR substitute? If so, what do you recommend and why?
I've got to believe there are some fellow Outlaws who've taken the plunge on one of the current crop of DVD recorders, either to transfer their VHS libraries to DVD, save content from their DVRs, or as a VCR replacement.
However, maybe I've just researched this to death and others have come to the same conclusions that I have: the current crop is generally wanting, quality and reliability are spotty, and the choices aren't getting any better. One is basically rolling the dice on any of them, albeit the Toshiba units seem to fare a bit better in the consumer-submitted reviews.