My experience is with equipment that is approaching six years old, so it's hardly current. Having said that, for basic time-shifting duties, my Panasonic DMR-E80 served us well for close to four years before I got an HD DVR cable box. I've not heard of any issues with newer Panasonic recorders, and if they've maintained the line as it appears that they have I'd say the Panasonic unit is worth looking at.