I've sworn off Panasonic after 2 examples of dreadful customer service and ripoff repairs, so I've got a Sony one, which is as near perfect as any device I've ever bought. Record on hard disc, decide you want to keep it, edit out the crap, and stick it on DVD. You can use it as a giant photo album, it will play stuff off a USB input, all round clever device. Upscales output to 1080p as well. HDMI and various other connections...
William