Finally, a DVD Recorder and VHS combination unit that allows you to view DVD and your old VHS through your HDMI connection. That's right, you read that correctly. One of the biggest drawbacks of earlier upscaling machines from a variety of manufacturers was that you STILL had to use primitive S or RCA cables to output VHS images onto your HDTV.

Like many folks, I still have a large collection of movies on VHS (for some films, it remains the only version in print), but I was not going to buy another VCR unless I could really view them on my Samsung HDTV. Some VCRs connect with component cables, but cost as much (if not more) than this combo unit, which is so feature laden that I'm glad I waited.

The upconversion is very impressive so far for both DVD and factory VHS releases (lets face it, grainy home recorded VHS copies of TV programs will never look sharp at 1080p, so keep that in mind) and the controls are no more complicated than the average machine (which,... Read more

Unfortunately, I own two of thse units. They both have the same problem. The unit freezes while playing commercial DVDs that play perfectly on other players including other Sony models. Sony is aware of the problem with the 500 series (check the Sony website), AND SONY CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS SAID SONY DOES NOT HAVE A FIX. The reality is this: If you buy this unit, the Sony warrenty is WORTHLESS because they can not fix the unit and cannot offer any remedy. Hopefully you will discover this flaw in time to return it to the seller. The unit will play most commercial DVDs ok, but many commercial DVDs will fail 100% of the time even if you try a second copy.

Would I recommend this product to a friend?: No

I purchased this unit to dub instructional video tapes to DVD. After reading the reviews I was skeptical the unit would work, but to my surprise it did. The video quality was about the same as the video tapes and the process was fairly simple.

Please note:

- Finalize the created DVDs, otherwise they will not play on other machines, also the automatic finalization was not as effective as the manual version.

- I used -R DVDs and they all worked with no errors (unlike my computer).

- It will not record encrypted tapes (those with Macrovision from the movie studios), so do not buy this unit if that is your main purpose.