When you find yourself with a recording you want to watch again, you can keep it on the hard drive or simply burn it to a DVD-R (permanent: can't be erased) or DVD-RW (can be erased or written over many times). The DVR-520H-S features high-speed dubbing in both directions (disc to HDD, HDD to disc). You can burn content to recordable DVD-R and DVD-RW at high speed: a 1-hour program recorded in the Extended Play mode can be transferred to an 8x DVD-R in less than 2 minutes.

A feature called Disc Backup lets you make a direct file transfer of a home movie DVD to the unit's hard drive, and from that make perfect copies of your original DVD for all of your family and friends--at blazing 8x speed. The Chase Play feature lets you watch your favorite TV show from the beginning, even while it's still being recorded. The DVR-520-S also features the ability to create full-motion thumbnails with sound and a built-in TV tuner. You can also play a DVD while recording a TV show to the hard drive, or play programs from the hard drive while archiving something to DVD.

Additionally, DVD-RW permits non-destructive on-disc editing. The newly created DVD-R can be played back on most other home and portable DVD players, as well as DVD-ROM computer drives. A great feature for home-movie directors is the ability to create a professional-looking menu for home movies, similar to the menu found on DVD movies. Users can choose from nine graphical navigation menus to personalize their disc.

The DVR-520H-S also features PureCinema 3:2 Progressive Scan for a film-like presentation when watching movies. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. (You'll need an HD-ready TV to appreciate this feature.)

Heading up the connections are DV (digital video) inputs and outputs (1 each, IEEE 1394) for seamless integration with your camcorder and/or your computer. You get a trio of audio/video inputs (composite- and S-video with stereo analog audio) and 2 sets of composite-/S-video outputs with left/right analog-audio outputs.

Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio output (Toslink optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. An RF coaxial AV input and output help you interface with older TVs, VCRs, and cable boxes.

What's in the Box
DVD recorder, remote control, 2 AA/R6P batteries, an audio/video cable (red/white/yellow), an RF antenna cable, an AC power cable, a user's manual, and a warranty card.