DVD-R Recorder with firewire input?

[markw]

As posted earlier I am looking at getting a dvd recorder that supports DVD-R. I had looked mostly at Panasonic since that seems to be what everyone has on here. I looked at the E30 but mostly the E50 and E60 since they are newer and the E60 has the advantage over the E60 of having a memory card reader which I find useful since I do a lot of digital photography. I was shocked to see it doesn't have firewire input. I have a minidv recorder and without that I'd be stuck using the regular rca plugs and losing quality or having to resort to my pc when recording from the camcorder and using firewire.

I did see the Panasonic's HS-2 has firewire input and all the other features of the E60. Plus it has the hard drive which is nice but I don't need but I know with going to that I am spending $300 or so just for firewire input, something I don't want to do.

What I did like is it appears Samsung's DVD-R3000 has firewire input (unsure about the DVD-R2000) and Sharp's new DV-RW2U does as well. I just see few people that have them on here so I don't know about quality. I haven't even seen prices on the Samsung unit and I don't know what features I will be giving up. Any opinions on these or do I have to go with the HS-2 if I want firewire?

[piano632]

I don't know about you, but I am definitely waiting till June at least before I buy any DVD recorder. Many new models are coming out around that time, including some with firewire input:

Sony RDR-GX7 (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW)
Pioneer DVR-002h (w/80GB hard drive) (DVD-R, DVD-RW)
Philips (DVD+R, DVD+RW)
Apex
RCA

I am (im)patiently waiting for the Pioneer DVR-002h which supposedly has bi-directional firewire (Panasonic and others only have DV input, not output). Pioneer has had 2 units out for some time (without hard drives) that also have the same firewire capabilities but kind of expensive. Also Pioneer seems to have the least number of complaints about its recorders. If you don't need a hard drive, the upcoming Sony & Philips models will probably be good as well. From what I've heard, the Panasonic models are quite finicky about what camcorder you connect to the DV input and won't accept any kind of input from a PC at all (the Pioneer's aren't so finicky). Don't know about the Sharp & Samsung models yet.