DVDR's with hdd question

[tannenba]

Hello,

Looked through the site quite a bit and didn't see an answer. If you have a DVD recorder with a hdd, can you
write DVD's from the hdd?

Can they do it in 16:9 wide screen?

I have an old Magnavox MSR90D6. It has been a decent recorder, but doesn't do wide screen.
It also doesn't do chapter menus (don't know how common this is)

I bought a Toshiba DR430KU at best buy and it does do widescreen, but only with -R/RW and can only edit
in VR mode which is not compatable with any other form of DVD player. It has a terrible manual and their
tech support was useless. It also had a grainy pix thru the upconverting (?) As a result, it's going back in the next day or two.

In this area (Prescott, AZ) there is practically no choices in DVD recorders and I am hesitant about buying online
sight unseen.

Joe

[usually_quiet]

The only HDD DVD recorders currently made for the US market come from Magnavox, and are only sold online. I don't have one, but there is a thread from an actual owner detailing pretty much everthing you would want to know about them at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940657

They can record anamorphic widescreen from a 16:9 ATSC or clear QAM source. See http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12371974#WS4

The video line-in connections provided are composite and S-Video. If recording from one of those connections, it records whatever format it receives, but most STBs only provide letterboxed 4:3 output via their SD analog outputs.

Recordings on the HDD can be edited and dubbed to DVD in the format that most standard DVD players require.