After HOURS of research and many e-mails back and forth to xdimax.com ["support"], I bought the LITEON LVC-9006 combo VCR/DVD Recorder unit.
Found here: http://www.liteonamericas.com/us/ce.htm
From their compatability list and our e-mails, I SHOULD be able to make copies of store purchased VHS's onto DVDs. Some work without the DVD Red PRO and some don't [when I need to "get around the...ahem"]. I have tried EVERY single combination and common sense tells me that there is no way to break the internal connection between the VCR portion and the DVD portion of my combo unit. However they have in writing to me that the SONY combo model and the SANSUI combo model WILL work. The main reason that I bought the LITEON is specifically because it has the SAME EXACT inputs/outputs as these units [that, plus it's an "all-write" system]. Communicating with them has been a nightmare!
I would truly appreciate it if someone could help me out here and let me know how to get this working. I realize that I can buy a stand alone VCR, but the whole point of all the research was to avoid the stand alone VCR in the first place; otherwise, I could have bought any number of "copyright infringing" devices to accomplish what I want [for home use only :-)