rnranimal said:

Shame there isn't a filter. Seems like it could be a pretty simple one. It would just need to examine where the picture edge of each line is and then nudge them into alignment. I'm not talking large amounts of adjustment. Much less than is needed for stabilization filters and such.

There is one but it turns out to not be so simple: just think of what happens any time there isn't a significant brightness difference between the edges of the image and the wavy black edges. The whole theory falls apart and you just get a jumbled mess worse than the original image. If you want to try it: Software TBC.

And if you really, really want to avoid an analog step when you buy a PAL Panasonic recorder you can get one with an HDMI output, and tack on the extra expense of an HDMI capture card.

http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/363480-1st-time-capture-of-Hi-8-and-miniDV-Need-a-gameplan!?p=2317970&viewfull=1#post2317970
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319420-Who-uses-a-DVD-recorder-as-a-line-TBC-and-what-do-you-use/page7

But aside from cost, HDMI capturing has its own issues. One is that you're stuck with whatever brightness range the DVD recorder gives you: if the levels are clipped you can't recover anything like you might be able to with an analog capture card's controls.