DVD Recorders

Is a DVD Recorder Right for You?

The desire of consumers to be able to record their own DVDs has been longstanding, especially since the technology came out for music CDs. We've been trained to "rip and "burn" our favorite music, and we want to be able to do the same for our video entertainment! Good news - DVD recorders for home use have finally been brought to market, and how! The choices have come on come on fast and fierce, and as they become more popular, have become more affordable.

With our own DVD recorder, we can now you can record TV programming onto a high-quality DVD. We can also transfer our old VHS or camcorder tapes to DVD from the comfort of our own home instead of paying to have it done by a professional.

Before we get into what's so cool about the DVD recorder, let's quickly go over one point. There are "set-top DVD recorders" and there are "DVD burners". The guy at the electronics store just might ask you which one you want... because they're similar and the store probably has both. We're talking about DVD recorders here, because they're what the majority of home use consumers want. A DVD recorder can simply be described as a VCR only for DVDs. It is an easy option with all the same features (and more) that a VCR has. A DVD recorder is more complex and sophisticated for editing purposes. Those of us who aren't professional video editors don't really need a DVD burner.

Here's the cool thing about DVD recorders... their digital hard drive. We can record and store a lot more, and a lot better quality of it, on DVDs... avoiding the hassle of switching out DVDs (and missing some programming in the process) to record a long program. The entire video feed of the program you're recording will be stored onto the hard drive, so you can transfer the program from the hard drive to as many DVDs as you like after it records in its entirety.

We can also do some limited editing on the hard drive before transferring the program to a DVD- like creating menus, chapters and titles... as well as editing out programs. Unfortunately, it's not possible to change the outcome of a football game if our team isn't the one who pulls through in the end. Yet.