HSF, I have had a Panasonic goind on 4 years this Sep. or Oct. I run it just about 24/7 and it works just as good today as it did on the 2st day.
The bad thing is, if you want 1 with a hard did drive thay don't make them anymore. I was going to buy a new one that can record & play all types of formats. When I went to thier site, they didn't have the HDD. I e-mailed them and they said that they don't make the recorders anymore with the HDD do to most people are getting the DVR recorders.
As I looked it to it more and I also heard it on Foxnews is, when all the channels have to go to HD TVs, you are going to have to have thier recorders do to other makes will not work. Like I have DirecTV, I have thier DVR with the HDD which is nice. I can put alot of programs on it then send those to my DVD recorder to edit.
Without the DVD recorder that does not have the HDD, it is the same as a VCR when it comes to recording time. The only bright side is, when you go to edit whith a DVD recorder without the HDD, you have to do it with a DVD-Ram (on Panasonics, I don't knoe about the other makes) Which is not to bad if you have a DVR with the HDD. But it still makes editing harder as far as you can only put so much on a DVD recorder without the HDD.
In the long run the way it looks now, you will need to buy a DVR or Tivo depending on what your provider uses. It looks like the Tivo will not work with DircTV come next year and to top that off is, channels will be able to block you from recording or they can have it so that you can only view it 1 time. I saw where the sci-fi channel already is going to block out recording thier shows do to CopyRights. And if you do find away around it so you can record thier shows, they will come after you.
As far as which make, I would say Panasonic do to that I do run it 24/7 and never had a bit of trouble with it as long if you format it from time to time. When it comes to putting VCR tapes on a DVD, all you need to do is run your VCR to you DVD recorder. I don't know about the combos, so I'll stay mum on that
If I were you, I would e-mail or call your provider and ask them on what will and will not work in the future as far as recording goes. You could have the best of the best recorder out there, but if it will not work with the providers channels, what good will it be ?