iMovie compatible DVD recorder?

[Mattack]

I'm currently considering buying my first DVD recorder and would like some guidance.
Here's what I want to do - Record a broadcast (terrestrial or otherwise) and send it via FireWire from the unit directly to my Mac and straight into iMovie to edit and build a new DVD.
Can anyone recommend a DVD recorder (not too expensive) that has a FireWire OUTPUT or one that can be hacked to output a FireWire signal and is compatible with Mac and iMovie?
I hear good reports about the Panasonic range and DVDRAM recording would be nice (lots of recording time). Maybe even a Pioneer would be a good choice?

Failing this, how about sending the signal from SVideo out via Sony camcorder to Mac (DVDrecorder>Camcorder>FireWire>Mac)... would I experience any significant loss of picture quality?

Any help or recommendations greatly appreciated

[willrob]

Don't DVD recorders have to record to a DVD? Are yu wanting to bypass that step and have the "recording" pass through to your hard drive? If so, there are products that turn your computer into a recorder (EyeTV is one).

The video format that stand alone recorders create on the DVD won't automatically pass through to iMovie. It's not a standard DV format. You would need to put the DVD in your computer and "rip' the movies before editing them.

I suspect you want to play the movie in the recorder and have it pass through to your computer via firewire. But I'm not sure if there are firewire equipped stand alone recorders. Check the DVD Recorders item on the left of this window. S-Video and composit video is what typical DVD players have, and S-Video could pass through a DVD camera and come out as firewire with no noticable loss of quality, since your talking about TV resolution as the source.

[Frobozz]

The Pioneer DVR-320S and DVR-520H-S can send DV video via Firewire to iMovie. The video must first be recorded to a DVD or to the 520's hard drive. Therefore you are encoding your video to MPEG and exporting it to DV for editing, after which you encode it back to MPEG (possibly using the Pioneer's Firewire connection again). I just did that with a project on my Pioneer DVR-510H.

I'm not aware of other DVD recorder brands that export via Firewire.

The DVR-320S is no longer in Pioneer's lineup and is the last non-hard drive model they made that has firewire. You might be able to find one for about $250 if you search the Internet.

[Mattack]

Thanks for the info. I will have a look at those Pioneer decks.