Playback and recording for both DVDs and the built-in hard drive are completely independent. For example you can record a broadcast program to either a recordable DVD or the hard drive, while watching another recording you already made on the same DVD or on the hard drive. You can set your recorder to one of four different recording speeds, each varying in recording quality and length. EP (6 or 8 hour) mode yields the most recording time, LP and SP modes provide less recording time with higher quality recording (between 2 and 4 hours), and XP mode gives you the highest quality recording. If FR mode is selected, the video quality is adjusted automatically so that all video for the scheduled time can be recorded onto the free disc space.

In addition to playing DVD movies and recorded DVD-RAM and DVD-R/RW discs, the DVD-HR720 offers playback of CD audio and CD-R/RW discs with MP3, WMA, and JPEG digital content. You can also easily connect a digital video camcorder to the unit, via either the front panel composite AV connection or the Firewire (IEEE 1394) port--perfect for creating a disc directly from your video without first having to download to a PC.

The DVD-HR720 provides optical and coaxial digital audio outputs for Dolby Digital and DTS multi-channel surround sound, as well as a selectable progressive-scan mode for smoother video with HD-compatible TVs via the component video output. It also offers the following video connections:

• Composite AV (RCA) In: 2
• Composite AV (RCA) Out: 1
• S-Video In: 1
• S-Video Out: 1
• RF: input and output (tuner pass through only)

Note: This DVD player is designed to play "Region 1" pre-recorded DVDs only, and internal dubbing of copy-protected DVDs is not possible.