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- Important features
- Complete features glossary
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Important features DVD recorders
A recorder’s storage capacity varies in actual usage. DVD recorders store content at different compression settings and thus at different quality levels. For the best image quality, you have to record programming at the device’s lowest compression, yielding as little as one hour of recording. To get the maximum capacity advertised--typically six or eight hours--you have to use the highest level of compression, which gives the lowest quality.
All rewriteable DVD formats let you edit, to varying extents, what you’ve recorded. DVD-RW in VR mode and DVD-RAM recorders let you edit more extensively than DVD+RW or DVD-RW in video mode. Besides letting you watch one program while recording another, many recorders with DVD-RAM capability and some with DVD-RW in VR mode let you watch an earlier section of a program while you’re still recording it.
As with VCRs, DVD recorders might use VCR Plus to ease the setup of time-shift recordings. Some also come with TV Guide On-Screen, a free interactive program guide that gets several days of listings at a time from your broadcast TV signal and many cable services. It offers point-and-click setup of recording events.
In addition to commercial DVD titles, DVD recorders often support playback or display of many other disc formats. They include CD-R/RW discs containing standard CD-audio information; the recordable DVD formats DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, and DVD-RAM; Video CD (VCD); and DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). They can also play CD-R/RW discs containing MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) files and JPEG picture files. Make sure a model you’re considering plays the discs and formats you use now or might want to use in the future.
DVD-based movies often come in various formats. Aspect-ratio control lets you choose between the 4:3 viewing format of conventional TVs (4 inches wide for every 3 inches high) and the 16:9 ratio of newer, wide-screen sets.
A DVD recorder gives you all sorts of control over the picture--control you may never have known you needed. Picture zoom lets you zoom in on a specific frame. Black-level adjustment brings out the detail in dark parts of the screen image. If you’ve ever wanted to see certain action scenes from different angles, multi-angle capability gives you that opportunity. Note that this feature and some others work only with certain discs.
A DVD recorder, like a DVD player, enables you to navigate the disc in a number of ways. Unlike a VHS tape, most DVDs are sectioned. Chapter preview lets you scan the opening seconds of each section or chapter until you find what you want. A related feature, chapter gallery, shows thumbnails of opening scenes by section or chapter. Go-to by time lets you enter how many hours and minutes into the disc you’d like to skip to. Marker functions allow easy indexing of specific sections.
See our latest Ratings of DVD recorders and related information (available to subscribers).
A recorder’s storage capacity varies in actual usage. DVD recorders store content at different compression settings and thus at different quality levels. For the best image quality, you have to record programming at the device’s lowest compression, yielding as little as one hour of recording. To get the maximum capacity advertised--typically six or eight hours--you have to use the highest level of compression, which gives the lowest quality.
All rewriteable DVD formats let you edit, to varying extents, what you’ve recorded. DVD-RW in VR mode and DVD-RAM recorders let you edit more extensively than DVD+RW or DVD-RW in video mode. Besides letting you watch one program while recording another, many recorders with DVD-RAM capability and some with DVD-RW in VR mode let you watch an earlier section of a program while you’re still recording it.
As with VCRs, DVD recorders might use VCR Plus to ease the setup of time-shift recordings. Some also come with TV Guide On-Screen, a free interactive program guide that gets several days of listings at a time from your broadcast TV signal and many cable services. It offers point-and-click setup of recording events.
In addition to commercial DVD titles, DVD recorders often support playback or display of many other disc formats. They include CD-R/RW discs containing standard CD-audio information; the recordable DVD formats DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, and DVD-RAM; Video CD (VCD); and DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). They can also play CD-R/RW discs containing MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) files and JPEG picture files. Make sure a model you’re considering plays the discs and formats you use now or might want to use in the future.
DVD-based movies often come in various formats. Aspect-ratio control lets you choose between the 4:3 viewing format of conventional TVs (4 inches wide for every 3 inches high) and the 16:9 ratio of newer, wide-screen sets.
A DVD recorder gives you all sorts of control over the picture--control you may never have known you needed. Picture zoom lets you zoom in on a specific frame. Black-level adjustment brings out the detail in dark parts of the screen image. If you’ve ever wanted to see certain action scenes from different angles, multi-angle capability gives you that opportunity. Note that this feature and some others work only with certain discs.
A DVD recorder, like a DVD player, enables you to navigate the disc in a number of ways. Unlike a VHS tape, most DVDs are sectioned. Chapter preview lets you scan the opening seconds of each section or chapter until you find what you want. A related feature, chapter gallery, shows thumbnails of opening scenes by section or chapter. Go-to by time lets you enter how many hours and minutes into the disc you’d like to skip to. Marker functions allow easy indexing of specific sections.
See our latest Ratings of DVD recorders and related information (available to subscribers).
