Variable Bit Rate, Does it apply to the FINE mode?

I love this thing. Very very happy with my new sharp. This was to replace the lemon I bought from Philips, the 958, which stop recording dvd+r after only one year, as predicted by online buyers. Avoid it all costs. But this sharp is incredible. I do have a question however, does anyone know whether the FINE recording speed is a variable encoding or is it a constant recording rate. This machine does use Variable bit rate compression, which means it will change to suite the subject matter. I dont want this to happen if Im burning a dvd from the IEEE firewire link. I am a fanatic when it comes to quality and only archive my mini dv tapes in the best possible rate. So does anyone know if the compression is constant or variable in the FINE and the mnn32 modes?