I'm going to use your post to stir up a discussion on this topic. It's because you ask which one I would recommend and my answer is "none."
If you care so much about picture quality being output from a 480i video source that you're wanting one that upconverts to 720p or 1080i via HDMI, then get a separate DVD player. Some DVD players can have higher-quality components for playback than do DVD recorders. With a DVD recorder I believe you'll get as good a picture via component output and using the TV's circuitry to enhance the picture quality as you'll get via the HDMI output.
This doesn't answer your question but may attract some good insights from the more knowledgeable folks contributing to this forum.
If you care so much about picture quality being output from a 480i video source that you're wanting one that upconverts to 720p or 1080i via HDMI, then get a separate DVD player. Some DVD players can have higher-quality components for playback than do DVD recorders. With a DVD recorder I believe you'll get as good a picture via component output and using the TV's circuitry to enhance the picture quality as you'll get via the HDMI output.
This doesn't answer your question but may attract some good insights from the more knowledgeable folks contributing to this forum.
