A DVD recorder is an optical disc recorder that records video onto blank writable
DVD media. Such devices are available as either installable drives for computers or as
standalone components for use in studios or home theater systems. Currently in the
U.S. DVD recorders are undergoing a transformation, adding a digital ATSC tuner if it has a
tuner as mandated by the FCC.
When the standalone 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 2007, DVD recorders from notable brands are selling for US$200 or €150
and less, with even lower "street prices". Early units supported only DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs,
but the more recent units can record to all major formats DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and
DVD+R DL. Some models now include hard disk-based digital video recorders (DVRs) to improve
ease of use. Standalone DVD recorders generally have basic DVD authoring software built in;
however, the appearance of the finished DVD is very basic and usually completely under the
control of the unit.
Some believe that DVD recorders will supersede the videocassette recorder (VCR), while others
believe that they will remain specialty items as digital video moves to network distribution.
DVD recorders 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, with little or no generation loss
- Improved editing, at least on rewritable media
- Playlisting
- No risk of accidentally recording over existing content or unexpectedly running
out of space during recording
- Easy to find recordings due to chapter menus
However, an inconvenience exists in which DVDs recorded with DVD recorders must be finalized
to view in other DVD players. (This disadvantage does not apply to DVD-RAM or DVD+RW discs,
which require no finalization due to their 'random access' nature.) Also, the implementation
of MPEG-2 compression used on most standalone DVD recorders is required to compress the picture
data in real time, producing results that may not be up to the standard of professionally rendered
DVD video, which can take days to compress.
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.
8cm miniDVDs are widely used on some digital camcorders, primarily those meant for a consumer market
("point and shoot"); such discs are usually playable on a full-sized DVD player, but may not record on
a full-sized DVD recorder system. Though popular for their convenience (in the manner of VHS-C),
DVD camcorders are not considered suitable for more than casual use due to the much higher level of
compression used compared to MiniDV and the difficulty of editing MPEG-2 video.
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