I haven't seen tapes that were that low in price (guess I'm looking in the wrong place). I love the immage that D-Theater produces, very film like. DVD's just look absolete after seeing them. The recording standard is fire wire so you have to have a device that outputs that to record, although there is a company that is converting the rgb output of the first generation RCA HDTV satelite receivers and outputing fire wire. I'm waiting for it to catch on before its in my living room.