newest/hottest toy!
after yrs, finally got a DVR for cable. it's Pio745H
it's very hard to find b/c I visited over 40 dealers, only 1 has a demo unit! have to pay deposit to get it later. Pio agent doesn't have any inventory neither. you can't even find its catalog on shelf. really too new! Pio agent says have to wait to next month shipment if you can't find it now.

why I say it's the best choice for TW?

first, CPRM compatible even w/o finalize, this is very important to me b/c I already moved >500 discs by Sharp HRD2! Sharp operation is too complicated to dad, but Pio is much easier. now he can enjoy fake HD PQ which still looks very good!
scaler works great! see clearer PQ via HDMI [v1.2a] at 1080i/720p on Tosh62.
start up takes about 35sec which isn't really very fast as those 1 sec quick start models, but still bit faster than Sharp.
NTSC tuner with ST/SAP audio thou not every ch has such signals. Disney has many bilingual shows. you can record both audio tracks then select later.
110-240v, all write discs [write on all DVD formats from +-DL, -RAM, -+R/W], PAL/NTSC progressive, supports DivX, region FREE!
BTW, who has such DivX with Chinese subtitle? I want to test if it can playback Chinese?
400G HDD can record 1137hr shows, ie, 47 days! enough to travel around the world.
but for lowest acceptable DVD resol, I use MN9 mode which still >340hr! for best PQ, XP mode has 85hr.
setup is as easy as last yr 630H, but cable is still a headache. auto ch search still doesn't work well, so have to manually adjust 1 by 1. with 630 experience, adj 745 is much faster thou still takes whole hr for near 110 ch!
live thumbnails, so can quickly peek eash show.
edit is easy, can delete unwanted ads before move.
one touch copy, HDD-DVD backup is really easy. of course, copy free content only.
1.5x faster playback with sound. saves much time to watch show!
playback PQ has so many options to adjust! xNRs, gamma, hue, chroma, black/white levels, sharpness, detail,.........
auto start REC jacks are really handy! when it detects signal from BS tuner, 745 will auto on, auto rec, auto stop! amazing, isn't it?
timer recording setup is very easy, just move cursor to the time I want, ch I want.
for other features like digicame/printer/MP3/DV/photo/JukeBox, I don't have time to test yet.

DBS related.
it can direct record from tuner via svideo. pity, no component in.
if record on HDD, can move to disc after edit.
if record on disc, can edit but can't move back to HDD.
can't record from IO or Sharp b/c of copy once even use CPRM.

downs:
no US spec power cord. so buy a plug adapter.
no F shape connector. so buy an RF jack.
can't display >99 ch, say it's 101, but you can't set it to 101. fortunately, ch90~99 are juck ch, thus I assign 100~ to those range.
iLink only supports DV. but I have IO 500R for HDV/DVHS if needed.
can't convert PAL to NTSC, but vice versa ok.

for same $ as 541 here, I feel like I get a free 490 with 400G!
not sure if Pio TW will import this model? most likely is no!
if you don't need such big HDD, you can choose 645 for same features as 745 has.

my photos