![]() This format is more compressed than PCM (p) and allows for a longer recording duration, but is not as compatible with other DVD players as PCM or Dolby Digital.Ī few DVD burners also include a built-in VHS video deck, combining a VCR with a DVD burner. Some burners also record audio as MPEG-1, Layer 3, otherwise known as MP3 (m). No DVD burners will record in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound at this date. This is a really great feature, not because the quality is better (it isn’t), but because the Dolby Digitally encoded audio takes up less room on the disc. Some recorders will encode the audio in Dolby Digital (d). PCM is short for Pulse Code Modulation, which is the digital audio format used for CD-Audio and is one of the required audio formats for DVD video players. Digital audio out is also common, but check to make sure the coaxial or optical outputs match your receiver (converters are available from manufacturers such as M-Audio – Audio encodingĭigital encoding of the audio you record is an important part of the multimedia equation. On the audio end, standard RCA connections are universal, sometimes in a 5.1 analog output format. Many recorders also have RF (r) outputs for use with older televisions. This is by far the easiest way to turn your home movies into DVDs using your mini DV camcorder. For videographers, the first feature we’d look for is a FireWire jack. Component (y) video outputs that separate the color channels are common, but component inputs are not widely available. Most DVD recorders have traditional composite (c) and S-video (s) inputs and outputs. Like any home theater-component, DVD recorders have a variety of inputs and outputs. Of course you can also run your television’s output into the DVD recorder, which allows you to watch a television program on one channel (watching your television’s output, for example) while simultaneously recording a program on a different channel (using the DVD recorder’s internal tuner). Like your VCR, most DVD recorders also have an internal television tuner. DVD burners with hard drives are more rare and are considerably more expensive than a burner only. You can sometimes edit out commercials before burning to disc. For example, you could record a show in high-quality mode on the hard disk and then burn it to the DVD in a lower quality mode to get more shows onto a single disc. These are amazingly convenient devices that, paired with the included DVD burner, are the ultimate television watching tool. Some burners also have an internal hard drive available and work just like a digital video recorder, such as a TiVo or RePlay TV. Not all manufacturers will necessarily follow the same conventions for the names of recording modes, so make sure you know how many hours the recorder you’re considering can record. EP mode offers four hours of recording time and SLP six hours, but you are going to take a noticeable quality hit using these options. ![]() SP Mode records two hours worth of material and, for most people, is almost as good as HQ. The highest quality mode (HQ) allows for an hour’s worth of material on a standard (single-layer) DVD. The shorter the recording time, the lower the compression ratio and the higher the quality of the playback. Somewhat similar to a VCR, most stand-alone DVD burners have various recording modes. Currently, dual-layer blank discs are relatively expensive and fairly rare. The final rewritable format is the DVD-RAM, which has some recording advantages, but is not compatible with most other standalone living room DVD players.Ĭurrently, no living room DVD recorders use blank dual-layer media, but that feature is inevitable. Neither RW format is as compatible as either of the write-once formats. DVD+RW offers a somewhat greater degree of compatibility with current DVD technology than DVD-RW. Rewriteable formats allow you to record, erase and re-record, just like videotape. The rewriteable formats follow a similar +/- naming convention: DVD-RW and DVD+RW. We did find many older DVD players that would not play any home-burned DVDs (older meaning two years old or older in this crazy disposable $50 DVD player world). That doesn’t mean that these discs will play in all players. More than a year ago, we declared the format war over when we found that DVD players that played DVD-R discs also played DVD+R discs (and, of course, vice versa), which means that there really aren’t any compatibility differences between the formats. In the end, most people just don’t care which format you use: both formats are on the same sized disc and play back in the same players. ![]() The two write-once formats are DVD-R and DVD+R. If you usually like to keep and archive the programs you record, a write-once format is what you want.
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