Hi everyone,

This is my first post here and I thank you all in advance for your help.

I'm very new to the DVD Recorder market. I just bought my first one last week but I'm planning on returning it. It's an RCA DRC8052 and while there are some things about it I like (like the price was only $199 CAD), there are other things I don't. It comes with HD upconversion but it is through HDMI. This presents somewhat of a problem for me.

My setup in my living room is that I have a TV (not HD) in an entertainment unit at the front of the room along with a JVC DVD Player, a Techniques Audio receiver, an HD Digital Cable Box, and currently the RCA DVD Recorder. At the back of the room I have a Sanyo PLVZ2 projector (with a pulldown screen installed in the ceiling at the front of the room right in front of the entertainment unit).

I can run HD through my projector, which I do from my HD cable box using component cables. I would like to be able to use HD upconversion on a DVD Recorder, but with the RCA the upconversion is through HDMI. If I wanted to make use of the RCA upconversion, I would have to buy a 30-foot HDMI to DVI cable ... and as you can imagine, that would be quite expensive.

Also the RCA only has digital coax audio out, but my audio receiver only has optical in. This means I had to buy a digital coax cable, an optical cable, and a signal converter, all of which ran me about $120.

After all that, I figured it would be more worth my time to return all the extras and just buy a better DVD Recorder. So after that long sob story, here's what I'm looking for in a DVD recorder (please note, I need this in a recorder, not just a player).

I would like a DVD Recorder that:

- plays and records on at least DVD +- R/RW (but recording on DVD+R DL would be a nice bonus)
- has optical audio output
- has S-Video input
- has front input with both composite and S-Video
- has HD upconversion THROUGH COMPONENT OUTPUT
- can delete titles AND chapters

The only thing there that seem really hard to find is the HD upconversion throught component. I know that there are players that do this naturally and others than can do it with a firmware change. I don't care how it accomplishes it (whether naturally or through firmware change) just as long as it does.

It would also be nice if it could play DivX/XviD and would be REALLY nice if it could record in 16:9 instead of that stupid 4:3 letterbox.

A hard disk is optional and depends on price. I'm hoping for something in the price range of less than $400 CAD before taxes.

Thanks a lot.

HeKS