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To a CD drive, a DVD is no different than a piece of cardboard or a slice of bread. It may try to spin and spin and spin, and the incorrect thickness of the disc could cause damage, absolutely. DVD-RAM is the right thickness, but the inability to read would often cause a drive to go into a loop, eventually killing the laser pickup and the spin motor. Smart drives just kick out a bad one, but not all drives are smart!
DV at 1-hour (XP) is wise.
You can set the machine to any mode you want, and there is no requirement that you fill up the disc. I use 3-hour myself on some things, yet only record 2 hours, because the bitrate is better allocated.
DVD recorders are nothing more than dedicated motherboards, a CPU (video encoder chipset), a power supply, and a standard DVD burner. Some DVD burners have non-standard connectors to fit odd form-factor DVD recorder cases, but they're essentially the same drives. Many of them do use off-the-shelf computer DVD burners, while others are more stripped down, lacking the typical casing.
The 1394 input would not have been my biggest concern mechanically. But some of them do act crappy, stopping or refusing to record for whatever silly reason. It's good that your experience has been flawless in this regard. I would have expected nothing less from the Philips.
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