after reading about them here for months and being intrigued by the idea of having a working component input recording and pass through ability, among other quirks of this recorder, decided to get one to add to my Pioneer 520, and Sony GX300. K unit. When I bought it there was one more still left at this Wallyworld (both of these were new in the box). Once I was satisfied after an initial run through I decided to spring for another one for future purposes and flexibility. I had searched through about 12 Walmarts before finding these K units new in the box---other stores had a display but no remotes, instructions etc.

One nice surprise that I don't know has been mentioned is that it plays PAL discs. Nice. I have a few concert DVDs that are only in PAL and my other recorders and DVD players did not play them.

Haven't done extensive recording yet but it appears to have nice quality so far. I think the picture (from a Directv SD receiver) looks better and more accurate through the Pioneer S video than the Polaroid S video, as the Polaroid seems to be a little fuzzier and less color accurate. But its still pretty darn good. I am about to jump in the Hidef game and I want the ability to record anamorphic through the component inputs. My Sony GX300 also can set the widescreen flag, so I have some nice options to utilize.....

Does anyone know of any limitations of the K serial # as opposed to earlier models, such as in Copy protection etc?