I will just tell y'all what I have, and that it works amazing, and I would recommend the setup wholeheartedly...
I bought a Gateway DVD Recorder that's the same exact model as a Lite-On (model number IIRC) SVW-5001. Works amazing. Burned at least 200 discs in 6 months, and I've had two coasters, both caused by excessive pausing while recording. When I dub shows to DVD, I no longer remove the commercials. This model burns on DVD+R and DVD+RW discs.
The only drawbacks about any DVD recorder in general (and I may be wrong, and if I am, correct me) is that all but the most sophisticated recorders lack any type of editing controls. Us traders are used to letting a tape run by accident, rewinding, and overwriting the overtaped show with the next one. There's no easy way to edit like that with a DVD recorder. If you use -/+RW media, then you can erase one entire program, but not parts of it.
Also, a drawback is that if the thing decides to hiccup, your disc is toast no matter. So all this work you put into creating a 4-hour DVD goes to pot in seconds if it happens.
A big plus is that trading suddenyl becomes a whole lot cheaper, considering the weight of a VHS tape versus a DVD. The media is cheaper, too (see below).
But it's the best consumer electronics purchase I've made, with exception of my iPod. The only reason I got it is because I got an amazing deal on it - I think I paid about $130 shipped from HSN's website with a careful sprinkling of coupons.
I've found that using the 4-hour setting (EP on my model) makes DVDs that looks 95% as good as the original copy. The SLP (6-hour) setting I'll use for random GSN stuff (hurray Rafferty!) in case it's good, but that's about it.
As for media, I use the brand called Whatever Happens To Be Cheapest At OfficeMax or Staples. This brand works fine. I haven't had any certain media create poorer quality copies than others, or any other kind of quality issues. I've ended up buying a lot of Teon discs, which are ridiculously cheap at Staples. I just got a spindle of 25 HP-brand +R's for $8 at Circuit City, which wasn't bad either...they have a nice giant white blank area on top that's nice to write on for cataloging.
Keep in mind that there are very few DVD manufacturers who actually produce the discs themselves. Quality is for the most part uniform (and I know some of you will have some brands-to-avoid stories, and I'd like to hear them) but I have seen that if you get a spindle of discs labeled "Made in Japan" that they work especially well. If you care about uniformity in the way your library looks once converted, or in trading or whatever, then by all means buy all kinds of expensive discs...I'll settle for the cheapies!
Figure: any decent 6-hour VHS tape costs no less than $1, and you can get 100 hours of DVD recording time for $8. The silly recorder starts to pay for itself if you do any volume of trading.
If money was no object right now, I was at Circuit City the other day and they have this 120GB hard drive / DVD-R/-RW burner / TiVo thing...the staff had to wipe up the drool after I left. Man. How cool would that be?
For the one who was askiing for advice...you have to figure that lifetime fee out for yourself. That's a giant fee PER UNIT, not for you yourself as a consumer. $299 is about two years' worth of service...so if you think you'll have it for more than two years and can afford the $299, you should go for the lifetime. And you can pop in a 20398402398GB hard drive when they become available.
But who knows what technology might be here in two years?
Comcast's DVR thing is a ripoff, stay far away from that.
Let's hear from everyone else!
