DVD & VCR Combi Recorders

Having the ability to record and watch your favourite videos, DVDs, television programmes and home movies is something we’ve all come to expect. Although the formats have pretty much all become digital, many of us still want the ability to use VHS video tapes as well as DVDs. This is something that can be done using a DVD and VCR Combi Recorder, through which you can both watch and record the different formats.

Recording
When it comes to recording, the key is having choice and control over your storage and viewing of video media content. Many of today’s models have extremely sophisticated functions allowing a great level of user control but in a way that is easy and stress free.

Using a DVD and VCR Combi Recorder, you can record television programmes captured through your television set. Make sure you check that a recorder can handle the types of signal that your television receives, as this now varies. In some cases a recorder can capture more that one signal at a time.

You can of course also record to DVD in most cases using these machines, recording straight to disc from a television broadcast if you wish. If you plan on doing this, check which disc formats are acceptable to your model, and ensure you only purchase the correct types of disc to record on. The advantage to recording onto discs is that you can then play them on any DVD player or computer that has the requisite capability.

One of the more recent developments that is proving popular is the ability to store recorded video such as TV shows onto a recorder’s internal Hard Disk. This gives you great flexibility as you can later choose to burn the recordings onto a DVD if you wish. If a recorder has a Hard Drive capability, check out the size of storage space available and try to get the most you can for your money as this has a major impact on how useful a recorder is.

Formats
It is worth bearing in mind that in most cases you cannot make recordings between formats on a DVD and VCR Recorder, e.g. recording from a VHS tape onto a DVD and vice versa. Swapping between formats in this way is typically prevented on account of copyright and legal issues.

Viewing
Although you may be focussing on getting a recorder that can handle both DVD and VCR recording sufficiently well, remember that one of the main functions of these devices is also for video playback. Quality also varies hugely in this regard, and some of the more advanced machines can play a host of formats including High Definition. The usefulness of these functions depends largely on the capability of your TV so check this out in advance.

Control
Whenever a device offers a combination of different functions, there can sometimes be a usability issue. For this reason, see if you can get an idea of the user controls in terms of interfaces and menus for any recorder you consider.