Magnavox ZC320MW8B Review

For those who want a basic, no-frills DVD recorder, the Magnavox ZC320MW8B is worth considering. Despite the fact that it lacks even an on-unit display (relying on an on-screen display on your connected TV instead), usability is well regarded. Picture quality is good enough to seemingly satisfy most users, with few complaints in that regard. It can't upscale to 1080p for display on an HDTV, but most TVs do a good enough job in their own right, and upscaling isn't needed if you plan to use the ZC320MW8B with a standard-definition TV. Other popular features, such as time slip (letting you watch one program while recording another) and chase play (letting you begin watching a program before it is finished recording) are not supported, though commercial skip is.

But the biggest negative is the lack of a built-in tuner. That makes the ZC320MW8B a reasonable choice if you use a cable TV converter box or a satellite TV receiver to get your TV programming, but not a good one if you rely on over-the-air TV (via TV antenna) for some or all watching. Unfortunately, no DVD recorder in this price class includes a tuner at present. If a built-in tuner is a must, you'll need to step up all the way to the Magnavox MDR515H/F7 ( *Est. $330), a full-featured and well-regarded DVD recorder that includes a tuner as well as a 500 GB hard drive.

That hard drive gives the Magnavox MDR515H/F7 some of the capabilities of a digital video recorder, including the ability to store up to hundreds of hours of programming (depending on the recording quality), and makes the task of recording to DVD a bit easier. The value of the Magnavox ZC320MW8B is also a bit of a question mark: The competing Toshiba DR430 (*Est. $95) is roughly the same price, draws similar user feedback and is a touch more feature-rich, including a front-panel display and the ability to upscale to 1080p.

As with most current DVD players, there's no professional feedback regarding the Magnavox ZC320MW8B. However, we found a handful of user reviews at Amazon.com and Walmart.com.