main issues to look for in DVD recorder? (inc WIDESCREEN recording)

[GregAlex]

Hi,
My parents have asked my advice about buying a DVD recorder. I have little idea what to recommend at this stage, even after several hours of reading and searches online.

I'd like to know what I should be looking out for... the key catches and caveats. I'm thinking the following... maybe you can add a few points (or tell me some aren't important!?)
1) anamorphic recordings. My parents have a widescreen TV and watch Foxtel in widescreen. If they record a show to DVD we want it to be marked as "widescreen", so if I borrow their recorded DVD I want my player to recognise it as a widescreen recording and display it correctly. Apparently someone at "Good Guys" said Panasonics do not do this... is this common?
2) SDTV. Are there still no digital recorders? (probably won't matter much since they want to record foxtel mainly)
3) DivX. It's nice to see some Divx support - do any recorders actually encode DivX? (which I assume would boost the quality!), or is it just for playback?
4) HDD. I see little advantage to HDD for them as they use an IQ. Are there any other reasons to consider a HDD/DVD hybrid?
5) Anything else that makes one player stand out from another?

Thanks
Greg