subject: Digital TV recorder or DVD recorder - which one is right for you? [print this page] We have never had so much of a choice of options or flexibility in our TV viewing. Whereas once people planned their evenings, the weekends, or even their whole weeks around the times particular programmes were being shown, it's incredible to think that we have reached an era when TV has truly become on demand'.
This has all come about because technology has afforded us several means of recording and storing programmes which, for whatever reason, we aren't able to watch at the time they are broadcast.
The most fundamental innovation has been the arrival of machines which can be programmed to record a number of TV shows with just the push of a couple of buttons. Sophisticated menus make it easy to pinpoint the exact programme required to be recorded, then to highlight it and, in an instant, instruct the built-in DVD recorder or hard drive to record it.
The individual choice between a DVD recorder and a digital TV recorder depends on whether or not the user intends to keep permanent copies of the programmes recorded. DVDs can of course be kept, and when stored and treated properly, their contents can be replayed time and again. The same is true with a recorder featuring a built-in hard drive up to a point, but after a period of time, the available space on the hard drive will fill up, and so in order to carry on recording, the user will have to select some material to be deleted.
Of course, once a disc has been created containing a programme or series of programmes, this can be taken anywhere and played on other devices, even the latest portable DVD players, and using the DVD drive which is integrated into most modern computers. As with any form of removable and portable media, however, there is the risk of them being either damaged or lost. This means that the discs have to be properly stored in a case, and ideally cleaned regularly too, to ensure that the material recorded onto them remains watchable.
With the latest recording devices being so highly capable, it is down to the individual user to decide the best option for them, based on the distinct benefits offered by each type of player. But no matter how quickly technology has, and continues to, advance, the viewer, as ever, is the winner.
