Not to be confused with DVD burners (which are installed in your computer), DVRs (which record TV shows on a hard drive for temporary viewing) or DVD players (which play pre-recorded discs), DVD recorders are home-theater components that can record TV shows onto DVD discs, replicating the functions of your VCR. Some models combine a DVR with a DVD recorder, which gives you the functionality and flexibility of hard disk DVR, plus the ability to archive programs to a DVD disc. Another type of combo machine, the VCR/DVD recorder, makes it simpler to convert a collection of home-movie VHS tapes to DVD. DVD recorders also function as regular DVD players and can play audio CDs -- many can play JPEG photos and MP3s on CDs, as well. Keep in mind that none of these devices are high definition. Toshiba has unveiled an HD-DVD recorder with a 1-terabyte (TB) hard disk in Japan, but that unit is unlikely to make it to the United States anytime soon, and it costs upwards of $3,500.
We found a number of standalone DVD recorder reviews, buyer's guides and test reports. The thorough reviews from PC World and CNet.com are the best we found. The editors at CNet test each DVD recorder with a standardized series of read and write tests, and they give subjective evaluations of each deck's feature set and ease of use. While PC World's latest five-model listing contains a couple of discontinued models, the magazine also provides some great buying information that's especially useful for someone purchasing their first DVD recorder. Consumer Reports' latest test of 19 DVD recorders also ranks highly on our All Reviews chart. Although it doesn't provide an in-depth discussion of each recorder's strengths and weaknesses, the review does say which important features are lacking on each model.
Owner-written DVD recorder reviews are also extremely helpful. Reviews from owners at CNet, Amazon.com, Circuit City.com and Epinions offer insight into products' performance months out of the box. AVSForum.com and Videohelp.com also offer user reviews, but their real benefit lies in the technical information. These sites offer user-to-user help, workarounds, tricks and techniques that can be found in few other places on the Internet.
Historically, DVD recorders have been among the most maligned consumer electronics products. Both professional reviewers and frustrated users have found plenty to complain about. Many felt the recorders were unreasonably difficult to program and use, with the task made harder still by poorly organized and poorly written user manuals. Build quality was also an issue -- with a large number of owners complaining that their decks would stutter, stop, spit out discs or exhibit some other bizarre behavior, sometimes after only a few uses. Adding to the frustration was the sometimes bewildering alphabet soup of disk formats, fueled in part by the creation of discs with increased functionality (such as easier editing or the ability to be erased and re-recorded a number of times) and in part by yet another manufacturer format war.
User expectations have been another issue. Like videotapes, DVDs look best when burned at higher speeds. When copying a six-hour home videotape to a DVD at the deck's slowest speed, you shouldn't expect to get the prettiest results.
In preparing this report, however, we noted a surprising phenomenon: While lots of complaints remain for certain models, an increasing number of owners are actually happy with some of the latest models, especially those with a hard disk. These better-received DVD recorders are benefiting from a cleaner user interface, simplified functions and the ability to accommodate a wider number of disk formats. Few users, however, are any happier with the manuals, which maintain their ability to confuse and confound even professional reviewers.
