Hi, Hope this helps (not very technical but here goes):

1) Any -R or -RW disks will do, don't worry about the speeds (recording to disk is at one speed anyway*) and don't worry about the versions - although I'm not so sure if the 433 is dual layer compatible so stick to the single layer ones. These are the cheapest anyway. I have used all sorts of branded and non-branded disks on the older 520 with no problems. Just make sure you finalize them for use in other players (although even this might not be necessary, I'm not sure).

* The different speeds will generally be for computer use. I think there's a high speed copy function from HD to DVD but have never used it, so not sure what the implications of this would be, but I still suspect the disk speed won't matter, it may just limit the max speed of copy?.

2) Commercial skip. A bit misleading - you cannot automatically skip adverts, they are still recorded. There are 2 buttons on the 433 remote (I think you access them with 'shift'). These skip forward in 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 5 min etc or backwards in 5 sec, 15 sec, 30 sec etc if you overshoot. So basically, you use them to manually skip the ads during playback. Once you get used to this, it's good. You can edit out adverts relatively easily if you want to, but unless it's for something you want to keep long term I don't generally bother.

Hope that helps - a great machine

-R records at 8x,and -RW records at 4x.
Be aware that these high speed discs can be incompatible FOR RECORDING on other recorders or PC rewriters,although playback should not be affected.
Editing adslay your HDD recording,place Chapter marks at start and end of edit section,then use Chapter Edit (on Disc Navigator) to remove that chapter.

I think you made a good choice!

Its a good job you did choose -r and -rw because the 433 cannot RECORD to +r/rw discs!

Any speed up to 16x will do, it does affect the high speed copy time, but not all 16x DVDs are as 'compatible' as they should be, so buy good quality 8x DVD-r. This point has been covered in other threads before we had our own sub-forum, try this link or do a search on 'pioneer' or 'discs' and find all the threads for yourself.

You can skip commercial breaks whilst watching a recording by pressing 'shift' (green) button and '>>|'(CM skip) button.
Alternatively edit the recorded programme - select 'edit', 'delete section', and after marking the beginning and end of sections you don't want, delete. This will make more space when you copy programmes onto a DVD.

You didn't ask, but I find SP and LP quality more than adequate on a 'normal' size TV (say 29-32 inch), and LP quality gives 4 hours of recording.

Well, I'm sold! Been wondering about getting a DVD / HD recorder and after reading all the helpful comments here, I'm ordering one.

....and its arrived. Apart from the lack of an English manual (thank god its online as a PDF), and a "showview" remote (?), I'm very impressed.

I love the auto-start recording feature too - didn't expect that to work with my NTL Pace STB.