Digital Video Recorder recommendation

[Kazuaki Shimazaki]

I'm interested in getting one, but I don't have a lot of money. At most I can go to say US$500 equivalent, and if possible only US$400 equivalent. I'm not particularly demanding on quality or many features - my emphasis is that it works.

The one feature I'd shell out more for (still not over US$500) might be a hard disk. If the model has no hard disk, I'm willing to pay only US$350, max.

How important is that hard-disk anyway? Would it improve the quality of my recordings? My local salesman scares with with the potential of a writing error on the DVD recording, rendering my entire recording void. This is probably exaggerated scaremongering, but I'm interested in whether this is a significant risk.

Please and thank you.