I have been looking for a DVD recorder that has a digital optical or coax in, but I haven't seen one yet. I understand that even if it did it wouldn't record in 5.1 or higher. I assume if a recorder had an digital audio input that it would record in stereo.

For those recorders that record in 2 channel analog, how is the recorded sound on that?

Ok, I should add that I've been looking at the Philips DVDR80 recorder. From there website it states, " 2-channel Dolby Digital recording
Dolby Digital™ is an advanced digital audio encoding technology that is used on all DVD-Video discs. Philips DVD Recorders store audio in the same format. The quality surpasses that of analog video recorders".

Since I don't see any digital inputs, how is it supposed to record in 2-channel Dolby Digital using the analog LR RCAs?