I initially ordered this model from an other vendor. It arrived with some scratches, the instructions where on a DVD and it just looked used. Bought it to convert VHS tapes to DVDs. It lasted for 3 copies and kind of died. I returned it and the vendor to reimburse me. I ordered the same one from this vendor because of their 100% rating. Unit was packaged well, looked like new, had a printed (50 plus pages) instruction book, HDMI cable and worked great. I have dubbed about 50 DVDs from VHS tapes without any issues. I have also figured out how to use the unit with a Smart TV & use Direct TV. I cannot dub straight from a program I am watching but can record it on the DirectTV Genie and then copy it from the Genie to the DVD recorder. The trick is to have a 10 prong Direct TV Genie and a HDMI powered splitter. Direct TV says it is not possible, but any of their service and tech support folks know how to set it up. I did it on my own, but it took awhile to figure it out, just call Direct TV and tell them you need a service rep to come out. My highest recommendation for this vendor. They stand behind their product and it is worth the extra money to get a unit that is clean, looks brand new and "actually works." Also, the printed manual was a plus. It is a bit of a completed unit with tons of features - you need the instruction manual. It is available on line, but have a printed copy sent was a big plus. Picture quality is ok. Many of my VHS tapes are 15-20 years old so that accounts for it. Also, the Direct TV signal is not meant to be copied, so don't expect the same clear picture. I mostly put sporting events on DVD from the Direct TV Genie so I can watch them over and over. So perfect quality is not as important for me as seeing incredible sports plays over and over. Panasonic had a great reputation back in the 90s and early 90s for building a good VCR and this one didn't disappoint. It was one of the last ones built during the 95-96 time frame.

One of the reasons that I purchased a combination VCR and DVD recorder was to transfer a stash of VCR tapes to DVD's. I was replacing a VCR recorder that was having difficulty playing some tapes and beginning to eat some tapes. I could not find many VCR's and thought that like audio casset players and eight track players the technology will be abandoned.I do not currently have a TV that has and HDMI input and so setting up the system was somewhat of a challenge getting the connections where everything worked. The audio connection for composite video was the most difficult. Also, all of the cables behind the recorder and TV is a near disaster but is not much different than my PC.Once the two components were speaking the same language, I tried set up on the receiver in the DVD recorder. The automatic channel finder took much longer than previous TV's and VCR's that I have and I was impatient and stopped the automatic programming. Manual programming of the time and my favorite cable channels was not difficult and I really don't miss having the other channels not identifide on the set. I did have to do this twice since it was not evident to me that exiting from the set up did not set the time and that enter was the appropriate selection.Recording a tape to DVD was fairly straight forward and I believe simple if one follows the directions in the manual. The directions could be a little more clear for some less adventuresome and risk averse people. But since I am the type that resorts to written directions only when I need a boost on doing electronic and mechanical tasks I did not have a problem. The on screen directions are sufficient reminders after reading the paper copy directions. The recording of the tapes produced a DVD that was very good. Changing the menu screen to get more than a time/date/length descriptor of each of the different chapters took me three attempts to get it correct. The directions seem to indicate that additional chapter marking may be added to recordings, but I have not been able to do that yet and may resort to stopping the tape at the appropriate times to get the DVD recorder to mark the chapters in the menu. Once I was able to learn how to change the menu screen to have DVD title and individual chapter or recording sessions reflect what I wanted them to show, I found that it was easy but required more time than I would think could be done with a better remote design. To change the title, one is required to delete each individual character of the title assigned by the recorder and then to add each character of the title that you would like to select. The selection of the title requires navigation of the cursor on the screen to each letter, number and charater that is on the screen. It takes more time than if one were allowed to select the numenical row and columm for the character that you would want. It is fairly easy to select the location in the recording where the picture of the recording will begin for the menu.One area that I found the recording did not meet my needs was the transfer of the recording to my video editing software. The recording is always nine files and not individual recordings. You can change the recodings to MPG files by changing the extension to MPG. My software reads most of the files. Sometimes the audion is missing and I have to re-record that file. Also, when imported into the video editor, the areas at the end and the beginning are not available and one looses some of the time (about 0.2 sec). Also, synching the audio to the video is problematic. This goes way beyond what I think most people will need the unit for and do not think it is a significant deterement to recommending the purchase of the unit.I would recommend this unit to anyone that has a need to transfer VCR tapes to DVD.

I have always had good experiences with Panasonic products and had high hopes for this machine. But it is without question the worst piece of home electronics I have ever owned. For example, when the machine is turned on it takes about one minute for it to initialize before it will accept commands from the remote. I can live with this annoyance but I can't live with my wife yelling at me every time she turns the thing on and it doesn't do what she wants right now. A bigger problem we have experienced is that after 5 months it just died. It will power up but that is it; it will accept no commands (doesn't matter whether you use the remote or the buttons on the machine). The only way to turn it off is to unplug it. My advice is to look elsewhere, I am.