dvd recorders that allow users to tweak each setting ?
 

i'm familiar with dvd recorders that are "coupled"/"grouped" in the way they record.

examples:
5 stars means high bitrates, video at 720x576, audio at 384
3 stars means medium bitrates, video at 352x576, audio at 256
and so on

are there dvd recorders that allow users to tweak each setting?

say, high bitrates, video at 352x576, audio at 192 or whatever combination.

would be really handy if there was such a machine.
save me ages having to re-encode stuff on my pc.

The Toshiba XS-series machines have a little leeway in this area. The XS34 and XS35.