Standalone DVD Recorders vs. Computer DVD Writers?
What are the Pros and Cons?

Thanks,
Rond

Personally I don't know jack about the standalones, but the PC ones are a lot more flexible. You can do data, audio and video. You can edit the video, choose formats, create menus and chapters and stuff...you know, author a real DVD. You can rip and backup your DVD collection and I believe that the only way to play a standalone DVD is on another standalone DVD burner. SO compatibilty is an issue. Plus I like the ability to adjust my video either via editing or applying filters and compression schemes that suit my needs. If I need a lot of video on a disc, then I just compress it at a lower bitrate, if I need just little bit of time then I can go max quality. A lot of versatility.

Pros for the standalone are obviously ease of use, it is like a VCR so it makes life simple. You are stuck to the quality that the standalone records at and there is no editing as far as I know. I am sure that discs will be pretty expensive as well.

Like I said, I am not sure about the standalones capabilities, but I am sure that the PC gives you more features and functions. It really depends on what you want to do.

Good response. I think the standalone recorders all claim to offer editing capability, but there's a catch - you must record to DVD+RW, which has poor compatibility with older DVD players. I'm sure that any editing capabiilties are very limited compared to PCs where you can do frame accurate editing with something like MPEG2VCR.

To summarize a lot of what Gooly said:
Standalone
Pro - easy to use, probably like a VCR. No special video knowledge required. Less time consuming.
Con - limited ability to edit, can't make menus, etc. No frills - it's basically a VCR that records to DVD.
Computer
Pro - great control over what you do. Better editing capabilities. Better able to fix problems in video source. Can make menus, other fancy things.
Con - takes more time. Requires you to understand what you are doing/learn something, which a lot of people are unwilling or unable to do.

With the right software, you can have both.
WinDVDRecorder is your friend...

With the PC you can preview your video before burning a disk.

The Panasonic DMR-HS2 lets you record to either DVD-R,DVD-RAM or the built in 40 gig HD. You can write from HD to DVD. At $750--$1000 it's still a bit pricy, but the ease of use would definately make it a lot less of a learning curve compared to the lot of authoring/burning/capturing software/hardware being thrown at us. My vote would be to go for both. Capture with the standalone on DVD-RAM,edit/author/burn on the PC. Ease of use for anyone to record, yet you can do whatever you want with it on the PC.

Tim