I am looking to purchase a DVD recorder that records 720x480. I currently have a couple of the Panasonic DMR series units, and I am very happy with them, except for one problem. I sometimes rip the video that I have recorded and use it in Adobe Encore DVD. The Panasonic recorders that I have record 704x480 in both 1-hour and 2-hour mode. Unfortunately, Encore transcodes 704x480 video to 720x480, which is quite a time consuming process.

So basically I am looking for a recommendation for a DVD recorder with the following features:

1. Records 720x480
2. Good quality MPEG-2 encoding
3. Has DV/Firewire/iLink/IEEE 1394 input (which ever name you prefer)
4. Reasonably priced

I don't really have any other must-have features in mind. I will not be using it to record TV, so tuner, program guide, VCR+, chasing playback type features are not important. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

A cheaper alternative to buying a new recorder is to just get a DVD authoring app (such as TMPGenc DVD Author Pro but there are several others) that does not re-encode your DVD recordings during the re-authoring process (also, I'm suprised you can't do this with adobe - there should be a no-reencode setting). Otherwise, all the 2006 Panny's and later (e.g., DMR-EH55 and DMR-EH75V - HDD models w/ firewire input and all of the non-HDD models - record in 720X480 in XP, SP, and even LP modes. I believe only the bottom of the line non-HDD and combo DVD/VHS Panny units DO NOT have firewire input. These are hard to get now that US sellers are forced to provide units with Digital ATSC tuners.

Thanks for the response. I will look for one of the newer Panasonic units.

I sometimes use dvdauthor for some simpler projects, but Encore has several features that I like, such as Photoshop integration, animated menu creation, built-in subtitle editor, etc. The reason that Adobe has given for the need to transcode 704-wide video to 720 is the subtitle engine. If I were to change authoring apps, the one that looks interesting to me is DVDlab Pro.

Thanks again.