Sony's RDR-GX7 seems to have the most editing features, camera control,
etc., for camcorder transfers, but lacks a hard drive. The top end hard
drive/dvd recorders don't have a firewire link, but appear to be much more
flexible with 80 to 120 GB hard drives.

Does the firewire link make any real difference in final quality? Are
set-top editing features worthwhile and practical? If you edit in VR mode,
can you dub that back to the HD and record a final copy on DVD-R? Anybody
using a current set top model for transfers and happy with it?