Actually, that's NOT correct. Funai still manufactures DVD recorders, which are sold under several brand names: Toshiba, Magnavox, Philips. If you go to Walmart, for example, you can pick up a Maganvox branded Funai recorder for $98 + tax. Not all Walmarts carry the full stock of Walmart merchandise, but most do.
However, I'd suggest buying one from Amazon instead.
Pretty much any DVD recorder works well enough to record 2-hour "SP mode" vide off of TV. If you're converting VHS tapes to DVD, however, then you really need to pay attention to the brand/model of recorder. Most recorders makes DVDs that look worse than the original tapes! (And it's not like VHS tapes were high quality by modern standards, so there's not much to lose before it truly looks like crap.)
Panasonic has ALWAYS been the worst quality DVD recorder, so you don't want those anyway.
If I were buying a new recorder for recording TV only, I'd look at the Toshiba models
The Toshiba DR430KU is $96 + free shipping.
Get it from Amazon, at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B0038JECKY
The only DVD recorder sold new, that comes with a hard drive (HDD), is the Magnavox MDR513H/F7 for under $350.
Amazon has it for $330 + free shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B003DPKOKK
The modern HDD DVD recorders (since around 2007) also recorder HDTV in SD, as they come with ATSC/QAM tuners. It's not analog only like your old Panasonic was. You can record HD channels as 16x9 widescreen DVDs! It's a rather nice feature. I've had a Philips 3575 unit since 2007, and so far it's holding up well. I record a few PBS programs weekly, and quite a bit around holidays.
The Magnavox won't make VHS tapes look worse, though it won't improve them either. There are several older (available as used only) recorders that were actually able to make DVDs look better than the original VHS tapes that the video came from. Most notably, the JVC DR-M10 and DR-M100 units, which are well-discussed in past posts on this forum (2005 to now), as well as at the
digitalFAQ.com forum.
I'd get the Magnavox from the above link.