I received it as a birthday present. Right out of the box it did not work. Customer support said I needed a firmware upgrade because it only read/wrote 1x speed DVD's. Upgraded to 8x speed and things were great for the most part. You can record 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 hrs on a DVD, though the best picture quality is found at the 1, 2, and 4 hr speed. The sound quality seems poor - always have to turn up the volume on the TV wayyyy past normal.
BUT...
now they don't sell 8x and slower DVD's in my area and customer support says they will not provide a firmware upgrade for 16x DVD's, so I basically have a nice dust collector once I run out of 8x DVD's. The unit spits out anything faster than 8x and despite the claim, will not work at all with RW discs (any speed).

This is a backup recorder to the one we already have....my husband likes it so much he was afraid it would not be available if our present one ever broke...so we bought a second one!!! Not for the advanced techie, tho, as it is older technology

I previously had an Emerson and was glad to find one. The model is slightly different than the one I previously had but after reviewing the instructions and using the remote ( yes it came with the remote which was awesome)I am very happy with this product and would recommend it.