This machine I have is quite old, around or before 2005, possibly 2004. I think it might be on its last legs. There are probably cooler ones now. The way this one goes is that for making DVDs, there are 2 steps. 1) Record shows onto the harddrive. 2) Then transfer/record shows that have been saved to the harddrive onto a DVD--it calls it "dubbing" a disc on the program menu. As far as I know, I can't record anything straight to a DVD disc, bypassing the harddrive. You can also just watch things that are saved on the harddrive, without putting them on a disc. Unless I want to keep it on a DVD, I usually watch the show on the harddrive & then delete it.

Like you, I've also never been able to copy a DVD onto its harddrive, go in the reverse direction, because of copyright protection. But that never bothered me because I was mostly using it to record & watch shows that were airing.