High-speed copying
One of the '510H's fairly unique features is its ability to record material from the hard drive to DVDs at speeds much greater than real time. And because the copying is an entirely digital process, there?s no loss of quality even when dubbing DVDs at the highest speeds. The time it takes to record a given set of titles in high-speed mode depends on the quality at which they were recorded and the type of recordable disc being used. See the chart below for some example copy times.


The high-speed copying feature is undoubtedly most useful for folks who are producing many copies of a single DVD — for example, making a compilation of home movies to send to a variety of friends and family members. But even for single copies, I found it to be a real time-saver and a very handy feature.

Chase Play
This cool feature lets you watch a recording currently in progress from the beginning. For example, if you?ve set the ?510H to record a football game and you get home 90 minutes into the game, Chase Play lets you watch the game from the start while the recording continues, so you don?t miss a second. Another Chase Play option is to watch a different, previously recorded title while recording a new title to either the hard drive or a DVD-RW disc. (Note that if your'e recording to a DVD-RW, you must use a disc capable of 2X recording for either Chase Play feature to work.)

Video fans accustomed to the advanced functionality of a TiVo or Replay hard disk video recorder should take note: Chase Play simply begins play from the beginning of the title currently being recorded. You can scan forward or backward within the material already recorded, but you don?t have the option to "pause" live TV or create an instant replay in the same easy way that TiVo and Replay recorders allow.

Camcorder-friendly recording
The '510H's front panel not only features audio/video jacks for quick hookup of a standard camcorder, but also an i.LINK input/output for advanced connectivity with compatible digital camcorders. For this review, I hooked up a Canon ZR-65MC camcorder to the '510H using the i.LINK jack. Once this connection was made, I was able to control the playback of the camera via the ?510H?s remote — at least until I started recording material onto the hard drive, at which point the remote reverted to controlling the ?510H.

The i.LINK input/output is a big plus for folks with newer digital camcorders, but even owners of older camcorders will love the flexibility that the '510H offers for organizing, editing, and archiving home movies. Once you've recorded your camcorder-captured memories to the hard drive, they're available for playback with the press of a few buttons and editable in countless different ways (editing options are discussed on page 4). Best of all, you can assemble customized sequences of scenes from your home movies, and then burn these to recordable DVDs to share with distant friends and family members.

One-touch copy and disc backup
The '510H also offers some very simple, user-friendly options for copying material to and from DVDs. A one-touch copy button at the very top of the remote control is one of the simplest of these. When you?re watching a title recorded on the hard drive, pressing this button will automatically record the entire title to DVD at the fastest possible speed. When watching a DVD, the one-touch copy button works similarly, but copies the title you're watching on DVD to the hard drive. (Note that almost all commercial DVDs feature copyright protection; copying from DVD to the hard drive is generally only possible from DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs.)

Even the ultra-simple one-touch copy and disc backup functions take advantage of the '510H's high-speed copying abilities.

For making an exact copy of a DVD-R or DVD-RW, the Disc Backup feature makes the process as straightforward and painless as possible. Basically, all you have to do is load the source disc and then the blank disc when prompted, and the '510H takes care of everything else, employing the fastest possible recording speed.