Can DVD recorders with HDD record in lossless formats?
 

I do not have any DVD recorders yet. So I would like to ask: which is better, a recorder with/without HDD? Which can do the following: capture lossless, then compress?

And which is better: a DVD recorder or a desktop PC with a tuner card and recording software?

DVD recorders should be used as passthrough devices, and then you capture with Virtualdub.

So it's VCR->DVD recorder (if no external TBC is around)->capture card.

DVD recorders can't get lossless, you're stuck with plagued MPEG-2 compression from the baseline.

Can a laptop be powerful enough to run Virtualdub and capture properly? Or should I use a desktop PC? Laptops can also have strong CPUs, can't they? And what Windows version is recommended? I've read somewhere in Digitalfaq that WIN10 is not very good for capturing (I have this and Win8), but how can I get an older version?