This is a no-frills DVD player and recorder. There is no hard drive, digital tuner, or VCR built into it. I didn't need any of that. I just needed something to record shows on TV and watch them on other DVD players.

Good things about it:
It's cheap.
There have been no crashes yet in anything involved with recording.
It doesn't look cheap.
It has a built-in analog tuner. Some DVD recorders are now being sold without any tuner which is surprising.
It's very easy and straightforward to set up timers for recording shows.

Not-so-good things about it:
Confusing layout of buttons on remote. Every button is clumped together and look alike, and they only differ by their small descriptions.
There is no 2.5 or 3 hour recording mode. 2-hour SP mode looks great, while 4-hour LP mode looks really muddy and compressed. This is bad when I have to record something that's only slightly more than 2 hours long.
It only accepts DVD -R and -RW... Read more

This particular DVD recorder/player is known by many names. Funai Corporation, which is the manufacturer of all of them and parent company to some, sells these under numerous brand names, including the Funai brand as well. Some of these are sold exclusively at Circuit City as PYE. Some are manufactured as Sylvania and Emerson. Mine, available only at Wal-Mart, is known by the name SV2000. Even electronics giant Philips has handed over the manufacturing of their Magnovox brand to Funai! So whether yours is known as PYE, Emerson, Sylvania, SV2000, Magnavox, or Funai, they are all essentially the same machine.

As it is, this DVD player/recorder known by many names is a value-priced, budget-friendly wonder found well under the $100 price range. No, it will not go head to head with the $500 plus players from the likes of NAD, Rotel, Denon, etc. It will, however, deliver as much performance (and hopefully longevity) as such $200 machines manufactured by Sony, Panasonic, and... Read more

PROS: Easy To Use Editing Tools - S-Video I/O Jacks - User Friendly - 1 to 8 hr Record Time - DVD-R & DVD-RW Record Capable

CONS: Only Records To DVD-R and DVD-RW discs (not +R & +RW also) - Manual Written In Broken English In Some Places - Front Controls Hard To See

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS MACHINE - BIG TIME!! I wish Sylvania would put out a similar model that included a HDD (hard disk drive) and VCR. That would be the ultimate for this TV fanatic and I would buy it in a heartbeat.

I purchased this DVR as a refurbished unit at Big Lots at Thanksgiving. I was a little skeptical since it was refurbished but it came with a warranty and for the price (about $50) it was worth a try. I have been using it every single day since then and can't live without it.

My review is pretty detailed but I like it when someone can give me the big lowdown on a product. I am a novice with DVRs. This is my second one and I like it MUCH better than the MUCH MORE... Read more