I've only had this product for a week, so I can't address reliability--only design and function.

Overall, this is a good unit that does what it needs to do at a reasonable price. It does take some time to learn how to use this unit, and some things are not intuitive, so be sure to sit down and actually read the manual as you do things.

This unit has a DVD recorder and a VCR--which is handy for transferring old videos to DVD. However, if you have commercial VHS tapes, it will not let you dub those to DVD (due to copyright restrictions--if you try, it says this program is not allowed to be recorded.) The process for dubbing from VHS to DVD is pretty straightforward--set up the parameters and press a button and let it go until you tell it to stop or it senses that you have come to the end of the recording on the tape.

The editing process is a little more challenging. If you want to input title names, you have to use the remote like you are text... Read more

Purchased unit to play back older VHS Movies through S-Video Cable.(Clearer Picture)
Also to record TV programs with DVD Recorder..
Was VERY HAPPY & AMAZED to find that all signals (VHS, DVD & TV Tuner) are able to be played back through the HDMI cable to TV. Makes VHS playback sharpest picture you can get. I have 1 cable running to my TV from this machine.
(No Need for the S-Video cable)
This allows hook up to be very easy, very fast and makes for nice neat appearance. (1 cable vs 3,4 or 5)
DVD recording play back is very SHARP and CHRISP. Sound is perfect too.
Having the DTV tuner lets me record DTV chanels too.

Only feature I found that was a little problem, was the Auto Clock setting.
Clock did not keep correct time when in Auto Mode.
Changed Clock setting to Manual Mode and clock keeps perfect time now..

I bought this because it can tune HD off the air, play VHS tapes, will output both without any issues,* and will record DVD. I already have an old ILO DVD recorder with internal HD, but it does not tune digital channels and the DVD burner had quit on it some time ago. So at this point all it's good for is recording to the Hard Drive from another source. I also needed a replacement for my old Sony VCR for the few remaining VHS tapes I still have. The Magnavox ZV457MG9 fits the bill for exactly what I need.

The HD tuner is above average in quality of picture resolution on my Sony HDTV, with image quality on par with the TV's internal digital tuner and slightly better at resolving weak signals. Down sampling to NTSC to record shows on my ILO is very clean, with the only real loss in the compression I use to save HD space.

DVD playback is good quality, up sampling well through component or HDMI output. The only major downside I have found is when you put a DVD of any... Read more