I have a Pioneer dvr-320 (no hdd). I've had it for a while now and converted all my old home videos to dvd. It has worked flawlessly every time. It cost about $320 (on special) and is the middle of the range model. I think the only difference between the non hdd Pioneer models is the input/outputs they have.
I looked at the cheaper brands, but my kids videos were important to me and I didn't want to take the chance on the conversion not being so good on the cheaper recorders.
I usually burn the videos to rewritable dvd's on the recorder and then put the dvd in my computer for editing, so I didn't see the need for spending the extra money for an extra harddrive.
I looked into getting a card for my computer, but the good quality cards cost as much as the recorder. It also takes a lot of your computers resourses so I wouldn't be able to do much else with my computer while it was recording.
Anyway, hope this helps.
Bye
