Phone line required w/ DVDRs? (1 Viewer)

[BrandonB]

I'm looking into getting a DVDR because my DVD player is acting up - time to upgrade!! My favorite word!! I'm looking at the Panny E80/E85, but have a few questions.

First, and foremost, do I need a phone line to use these recorders? I see that the E80 has VCR+ features and the E85 now have an active menu of programming. I'm wonding how those are updated - via the input signal?

Second, I read that these have a "chasing" feature. Sounds to me like I can have the recorder start recording a program, then I start watching it 15-20 minutes later (while the show is ongoing) and I will have "TiVo" features - pause, rewind, FF, etc. Is that acurate? So long as I give the DVDR a head start?

Third, just want varification here. Say I record a football game in XP format on the harddrive. I want to remove all commercials and have the video compressed to fit onto one DVD. Is this easily completed on the E80/E85? Or is it something I have to go through the game again and manually remove all the commercials? If it can be automated, has anyone had experiences where the DVDR errored and removed part of the show you were recording?

Thanks for any and all asistance.
Brandon

 

[Michael Reuben]

That's what you have to do with the E80. I've read nothing to indicate that the E85 will be any different.

M.