Jon, Can I assume this dvd recorder/hard drive combo is the same as a vcr in the sense that it doesn't provide you with a menu of shows coming in the future? That is, I can't just tell it to record all episodes of Seinfeld or Raymond that it finds (I know, between those two shows, you'd fill up the hard drive in no time!). I understand the Tivo like units require a subscription which puts a TV Guide like listing right on your screen. That's nice, but not supercritical since I've never experienced it. I'd prefer to reduce the monthly entertainment/communication costs here so more subscriptions don't appeal to me.

An advantage to the system you have is you can record the show at one tv, burn it to disk and watch it in another room on a regular dvd player. Being tied to the tv where the TIVO is is a big reason I haven't been keen on the TIVO and other pvr/dvr systems.

Finally, do you still need a regular dvd player to watch a rented movie? Or does the recorder have normal playback capability as well?