G Hardy wrote:

It was more the theory I wanted to know, my daughter owns a similar
Philips model (DVDR3300H) and her manual states under a helpful hint
comment 'Use the DV socket to connect to a personal computer.

Your DVDR devices are very unlikely to connect in order to network with
the computer, and you've already dismissed the mass storage device
theory. This means that connecting the computer is for either or both of
uploading footage from the DVDR to the PC, or downloading your edits.

Thanks for an informative reply, I haven't got a PC with firewire so
haven't been able to try it out.

Strangely, my machine is a later similar machine to my daughter's, her
manual states a computer can be connected, an email reply from Philips
suggests that on mine the computer cannot be connected.

Geoff Lane