I'm not sure if this is a new idea but Panasonic is now selling the
DMR-HS2 Hard Drive video recorder, DVD player and DVD burner. So you can watch DVDs, record TV programs like a Tivo/Replay TV, and burn those TV programs to DVD. It also has video in and iLink/firewire in so you can plug in your video camera old or new and burn a DVD or copy to the hard drive.
The one thing that stuck out for me though, it's also got a PCMCIA slot which you can use to stick in various memory cards from digital cameras. You can view all the pictures of course but it will also make a Thumbnail/Slideshow DVD for you that you could send to friends for example.
i've been looking for a device like this but the asking price @ techtronics.com is too high 4 me :P so i'll wait until the price comes down CONSIDERABLE around the 」400 mark !
Nice site Greggman by the way !