Want to record lots of TV shows and archive your home movies? No problem — there are plenty of models with handy features for both TV and home video recording.

DVD recorders combine the crystal-clear picture, great sound, and long-lasting durability of DVDs with recording conveniences that make them easier to use than your VCR. You can record TV shows and home movies to DVD, as well as play rented or store-bought commercial DVDs. Today's models offer user-friendly features that make DVD recording easier than ever. Below, we've broken down some key features so you can zero in on which ones to look for.

Do you want to record TV shows?

If you want to record lots of TV shows, here are some features that can be really helpful:

• Electronic Program Guide — An interactive, on-screen program guide that gives you intuitive and simple ways to set your recordings, such as TiVo® or TV Guide On Screen®. Many program guides let you sort the listings or use keyword searches to find what you're looking for. Plus, they offer quick, intuitive ways to schedule your recordings.
• Cable box control — Some DVD recorders have the ability to change the channel on your cable box using a small attachment called an "IR blaster." It uses the same signals that your remote uses to control your cable box. This is a particularly useful feature for making unattended recordings, since you never have to worry about leaving your cable box on the right channel. All you have to do is set your recording, and the DVD recorder can take care of the rest.

Note: By FCC mandate, any DVD recorder with a TV tuner manufactured after March 1, 2007, must include a built-in digital tuner (as well as an analog tuner). This is in preparation for the FCC's plan to terminate all analog broadcasts by the end of 2009. As a result, many manufacturers are now releasing some models that include no built-in TV tuner whatsoever. Recording TV shows to these models generally requires a connection to a cable box or satellite receiver. On the positive side, any model with a tuner will include a digital one. This will allow the recorder to receive and record unscrambled digital cable channels as well as over-the-air digital broadcasts (antenna required).

Do you want to record home movies?

If you want an easy way to dub your home movies to DVD, look for DVD recorders with these features:

• Built-in VCR — DVD recorders with a built-in VCR offer quick and simple internal dubbing of your home-recorded VHS tapes. There are no extra components to hook up, and many have handy one-touch dubbing capabilities.
• Camcorder inputs — Many recorders have easy-access front-panel inputs for digital and analog camcorders or a separate VCR.
  • For a Mini DV camcorder, look for a model with digital camcorder inputs (IEEE 1394, also known as DV or i.LINK®).
  • DVD recorders for camcorders are a great option if you have a DVD or hard drive camcorder. These models include a USB port for quick and easy archiving of your home movies.
  • To hook up an external VCR, or an 8mm or Hi8 camcorder, check out a recorder with front-panel audio/video inputs.
• Digital Video Recorder (DVR) — While DVRs are typically used to record TV shows, they can be useful in the home movie arena as well. They make it easy to burn multiple copies of your home videos to share with family and friends — just dub your footage to the hard drive, and make as many DVD copies as you want. Some models also let you edit or rearrange your footage. Though you won't have as much editing flexibility as you would if you were using a computer, a DVR might make a more user-friendly option.
  • For more information, see our article on DVRs.

What kinds of audio/video connections will you need?

The types of connections you need will depend on what you want to do with your DVD recorder, as well as which inputs you have currently have available on your TV or receiver. The chart below lists some common connections, and what you'll use them for.

	Connection	What it's used for
	Composite/S-video/Component video input and stereo audio inputs	These analog audio and video connections are used for copying footage from a VCR, or an analog or digital camcorder — look for front-panel inputs for quick, easy access. They can also be used when connecting your cable box or satellite receiver to your DVD recorder.
	Digital camcorder input	Known as a DV, IEEE 1394, or i.LINK input. Will deliver better picture and sound when dubbing from a compatible digital camcorder than an analog audio/video connection.
	Optical or coaxial digital audio output	These outputs pass Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound information from DVDs to your compatible home theater system so you can enjoy surround sound.
	Composite/S-video/Component video output	Analog video connections from your DVD recorder to your TV. They're listed in order from basic to best picture quality — choose the best one that your TV can accommodate.
	DVI/HDMI output	Digital video connections that let you watch upconverted video from commercial DVDs on your compatible HD-capable TV. Plus, HDMI can carry audio as well as video, so you only have to make one connection from your DVD recorder to your TV.
	RF input/output	An RF input brings audio and video signals from antenna, cable, or satellite to your DVD recorder via one cable. The RF output can pass those signals on to your TV.

Copy protection

As exciting as it is to record your own DVDs, don't get too carried away — you still won't be able to record copy-protected material. Both the media (VHS tape or DVD) and your DVD recorder have built-in forms of copy protection that will prevent you from recording protected material.

What kinds of discs should you use?

The kinds of discs you use will depend on what you want to record. Is it something that you want to keep permanently? Or will you want to watch it a couple of times, then record over it with new shows?

Most recent DVD players and recorders will play and record multiple formats, so finding compatible discs is not difficult. But very few will accept all of the current disc formats. Be aware of the formats you want to record in, and shop accordingly.

You may also find that older DVD players, or current inexpensive models, might not be able to play all of your home-made DVDs, even if they are supposed to be compatible with that particular format. For example, if you burn all of your home videos to DVD-R using a new DVD recorder, those discs might not play in your 10-year-old DVD player. Keep in mind though that DVD recorders also make very capable DVD players. In fact, lots of folks simply replace their older player with a new player/recorder.

Something else to keep in mind is recording quality. There are differences depending on which recordable DVD format you use, but you can generally expect to record 1-2 hours of studio-quality video, or up to 6 hours at VHS quality.

DVD recorders and hard drives/DVRs

Combo DVD recorder/DVR (digital video recorder) units used to be popular a couple of years ago, but these days they're generally separate components. That's because a lot of folks have a DVR built into their cable or satellite box. But even though there aren't a lot of combo units around today, you've still got some options to get that same recording and archiving flexibility:

• Connect a DVD recorder to a separate DVR — You can record TV shows captured on your DVR's hard drive by simply connecting your DVD recorder to the DVR's audio/video output.
• Check out Media Center PCs — These living-room friendly computers are great for recording and archiving TV programs. They generally come with plenty of storage space, DVD recording, and easy-to-use software. They also let you enjoy a wealth of other digital entertainment options, including digital photos, videos, music, and web surfing.
• Look for a recorder with DVD-RAM compatibility — Some of today's DVD recorders are compatible with the flexible DVD-RAM format. It offers DVR-like benefits like the ability to begin watching a recording already in progress, the option to pause, fast forward, or rewind a recording while it's being made, and basic editing features such as erasing or combining individual chapters. Plus, DVD-RAM is pretty cost-effective and doesn't involve adding another component into the mix.

DVD recorders and HDTVs

As we move further into the digital TV era, some DVD recorders have begun offering the capability to receive digital programming, both standard-definition and high-definition. You can watch unscrambled digital cable channels, or connect an antenna to receive free over-the-air digital broadcasts. Naturally, you can also record standard-definition shows from any of those sources. Things get a little tricky when it comes to high-definition though.

Because DVDs are only capable of capturing standard-definition content, you won't be able to record high-def content in high-def. Instead, the DVD recorder always immediately "downconverts" any incoming high-def signal to standard-definition resolution.

One question we hear a lot from customers is, "What if I just want to watch high-definition? Can I use the recorder's built-in high-def tuner and pass that signal straight to my TV?" Unfortunately, no. As we mentioned earlier, the signal is always downconverted so that it's compatible with your recordable DVDs. However, if your recorder is connected to an HDTV, it can "upconvert" the signal back to a higher resolution before passing it on to your television. So it may not be true high-def, but you'll still get a very crisp, detailed picture.