If you are from the era of the tape, then you may have been a little apprehensive to switch to the DVD mania that has swept just about everyone. If you have a library of your favorite shows on tapes, then it is understandable to worry if you think that all of your precious artifacts are going to waste. But wait, before you abandon the idea of the DVD and the DVD recorder, you will be glad to know that all of your memorabilia will not necessarily be lost if you decide to buy a DVD player. It is possible to transfer your video library to DVD. The only challenge is, what DVD recorder are you going to purchase?

You will realize that if you decide to buy a DVD recorder, you will be confused by a torrent of options and acronyms such as DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM … the list does not seem to end. You will not be able to tell the difference by just looking at them since they look virtually identical. In fact, the only information that you may get from the label is the formats supported by the recorder and whether it has a hard disk or not. When it comes to formats, do not let that stress you since there is no manufacturer that supports all of the available formats. In any case, the formats are usually quite similar and in most cases most recorders will get the job done anyway.

From experience, it has been noted however that the – format discs take longer when initializing and finalizing. This means that before the recording actually begins or before the recording ends, you need to give it anywhere between 5 and 120 seconds. So if you are recording live TV, you will need to have your finger on the record button not to miss any part of the show. In order to record plenty of TV shows, a DVD recorder with an integrated Tivo service will prove invaluable. This service offers you the ability to add weeks’ worth of program guides and even comes with artificial intelligence to help you locate and record programs you might enjoy. This service offers personalized features and appealing graphical interfaces.

If you buy a DVD recorder, ensure that it offers an automatic creation of a navigational menu. This service is invaluable if you will be using the cheap write-once media. Whatever you decide to go for, you will realize that a DVD recorder is a great device to have around.