DVD recorder

A DVD recorder records video onto blank writable DVD media, creating digital discs that are usually suitable for playback in normal DVD players.

When the DVD recorder first appeared on the Japanese consumer market in 1999, these early units were very expensive, costing between $2500 and $4000 USD. However, as of early 2006, DVD recorders from notable brands are selling for $250 USD and £69 or less, with even lower "street prices". Early units supported only DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs, but the most recent units can record to all major formats DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD+R DL, and are now often coupled with hard-disc based Digital video recorders (DVRs) to improve ease of use.

Some believe that DVD recorders will supersede the Videocasette recorder (VCR), while others believe that they will remain specialty items as digital video moves to network distribution.

DVD records have several technical advantages over VCRs, including:

Superior video and audio quality
Easy-to-handle and smaller form-factor disc media
Random access to video chapters without rewinding or fast-forwarding
Onscreen multilingual subtitles and labeling not available on VCRs
Reduced playback wear and tear
High-quality digital copying, without copy fade
Improved editing
Playlisting

Nonetheless, DVD recorders remain costly compared to VCRs, and may require extra steps to initially format the disc for recording and to finalize the disc to view in other DVD players. (This disadvantage does not apply to DVD-RAM and DVD+RW disks, which require no finalization.)

A number of manufacturers have combined DVD recorders with hard-disk based Digital video recorders, allowing for simple recording to large fixed disks, and the ability to spool these recordings off the DVD at a later date.

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See also