HDD recorders - differences in editing functions?

[nmtk]

Well, I'm yet another newbie about to get their feet wet in this large and complicated pond by buying a HDD DVD recorder. For now I want to see if I can do everything on the unit, rather than getting a DVD burner and editing on the computer. I'm hoping that the standalone will work for me because my current computer isn't all that high powered, and all I want to do is:

1. Record off the TV, then either delete, or edit out commercials etc, and save to DVD; and
2. Move my many VHS vtapes of stuff taped off the TV onto DVDs, hopefully after editing out commercials and extraneous bits.

I think I want a recorder with a HDD to do this, it seems like it'd be more flexible and accomodating of my needs.

I get the idea that the +/- question is a touchy one, and I don't want to wade too deeply there, but I do have one question regarding it:

Some people on the forum seem to be saying that editing is easier in one format vs the other. If I do all my editing on the HDD rather than on the disc, is that still true, does the format choice still limit or change my options?

In other words, if I have, say, a +RW machine, are my HDD editing options different/easier/more difficult than if I have a -RW machine? For instance, if I want to add or remove chapter marks and remove commercials before burning to disc, would that be possible on the HDD regardless of which format I use? How about merging or splitting individual recordings on the HDD, or is that something one can only do on a computer?

Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated... thanks in advance!

[Synergy]

In other words, if I have, say, a +RW machine, are my HDD editing options different/easier/more difficult than if I have a -RW machine?

So far there hasn't been any +RW standalone recorder with HDD on the market, although Philips, Lite-On, and Maxent (Sampo) had announced their products for the second half of this year.

The +RW camp uses the +VR recording mode on DVD media, which has excellent playback compatibility with most DVD players, but very limited editing flexibility because of the linear structure of the DVD-Video files. I'm curious that how +RW recorders will take advantage of the HDD due to the inherent limitation of the +VR recording mode.

The -RW/RAM camp, on the other hand, uses the -VR mode on the rewritable media (-RW, RAM, and HDD), which has very flexible editing and trick play functions (such as playlist, simultaneous record/play, etc.), but very limited playback compatibility with most DVD players. So far only Panasonic, Sony, and Pioneer have introduced some players compatible with the -VR mode recordings. The best compromise for flexible editing and playback compatibility on a standalone DVD recorder is to use the HDD for editing and then high-speed dubding to the DVD-R media for archives and playback compatibility.

Amazon.com is currently selling the Sharp DV-HR300 with 80GB HDD for $400 and is the lowest priced HDD-based recorder and is up to the task for most beginners. I'm sure the price will go down further when the +RW camp introduces their own HDD-based recorders later.

[nmtk]

Sorry, somehow I hadn't realized that all the current HDD recorders were -R/W. It'll be interesting to see how the + side deals with it when those machines do come out.

Meanwhile, it sounds like I can do what I want to do with the machines that are currently out there without a problem; that's great! Thanks for the info!

[Zeluis]

The Philips HDRW720 recorder with HDD and +R/RW is on sale around here. Actually I'm planning to buy one (see topic in this forum).
Cheers.