DVD recorder

DVD-RW optics

Originally, DVD recorders supported one of three standards: DVD-RAM, DVD-RW (using DVD-VR), and DVD+RW (using DVD+VR), none of which are directly compatible. Most current DVD drives support both the + and - standards, while few support the DVD-RAM standard, which is not directly compatible with standard DVD drives.

Recording speed is generally denoted in values of X (similar to CD-ROM usage), where 1X in DVD usage is equal to 1.321 MB/s, roughly equivalent to a 9X CD-ROM. In practice, this is largely confined to computer-based DVD recorders, since standalone units generally record in real time, that is, 1X speed.

Recorders use a laser (usually 650 nm red) to read and write DVDs. The reading laser is usually not stronger than 5 mW, while the writing laser is considerably more powerful. The faster the writing speed is rated, the stronger the laser. DVD burner lasers often peak at about 100-400 mW in continuous wave (some are pulsed).

DVD recorder drives are standard equipment in many computer systems on the market, after being initially popularized by the Pioneer/Apple SuperDrive; aftermarket drives can cost as little as $20.[6] DVD recorder drives can be used in conjunction with DVD authoring software to create DVDs near or equal to commercial quality, and are also widely used for data backup and exchange. As a general rule, computer-based DVD recorders can also handle CD-R and CD-RW media; in fact, a number of standalone DVD recorders use drives designed for computers.

More recently, manufacturers have begun to phase out DVD drives from laptop computers in favor of portability and digital media.[7]

Most internal drives are designed with SATA interfaces, with parallel ATA becoming increasingly rare. External drives often use the USB standard for connectivity.

DVD recorder drives manufactured since January 2000 are required by the DVD consortium to respect DVD region codes when reading a disc. The drives are incapable of assigning region codes when writing a disc as this is stored on a part of the disc to which PC based and standalone video recorders do not have write access.

DVD duplication systems are generally built out of stacks of drives, connected through a computer-based backplane.

When the standalone DVD recorder first appeared on the Japanese consumer market in 1999, early units were very expensive, costing between $2500 and $4000 USD. More recently, DVD recorders from notable brands have dropped in price. Early units supported only DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs, but newer units can record to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL. Certain models include mechanical hard disk drive-based digital video recorders (DVRs) to improve ease of use. Standalone DVD recorders generally have basic DVD authoring software built in.

In 2009, Panasonic introduced the world's first Blu-ray disc recorder which was capable of recording both DVDs and Blu-ray discs and featured built in satellite HDTV tuners. A year later, Panasonic introduced Blu-ray disc recorders with terrestrial HDTV tuners.

DVD recorders have technical advantages over VCRs, including:

• Superior video and audio quality
• Easy-to-handle smaller form-factor disc media, and higher durability compared to magnetic tape
• Random access to video chapters without rewinding or fast-forwarding (serial access)
• Onscreen multilingual subtitles and labeling not available on VCRs
• Reduced playback wear and tear
• High-quality digital copying, with little or no generational quality loss
• Improved editing on rewritable media
• Playlisting
• No risk of accidentally recording over existing content or unexpectedly running out of space during recording
• Easily accessible recordings as a result of chapter menus

Note: Blu-ray disc recorders can record full high definition videos on BD-Rs and BD-REs.

Disadvantages include:

• Slow initial access/load times due to the optical nature of the disc
• Limited rewritability on DVD-RW/+RW discs (typically around 1000). DVD-RAM is better suited for high frequency re-recording (around 100,000 rewrites)
• Relatively short life of the laser diodes (average of about 2 years depending on usage).

In addition, DVDs recorded with DVD recorders in the standard DVD format must be finalized to view in other DVD players. This disadvantage does not apply to discs recorded in the newer and more flexible DVD-VR format or the DVD+VR format - the latter (but not the former) also being compatible with DVD players. The implementation of MPEG-2 compression used on most standalone DVD recorders is required to compress the picture data in real time, producing results that may not be up to par with professionally rendered DVD video, which can take days to compress.

Standard definition VCR replacement DVD video recorders typically has a set of standard recording modes for fitting 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 hour modes (XP, SP, LP, EP, SLP, SEP, respectively) on single layer 12 cm discs (DVD5).[8] These modes are comparable to those found on VHS VCRs using standard 120-tapes, having SP, LP, SLP modes of 2, 4, 6 hour.

The United States converted its over-the-air television broadcasts to digital "ATSC" in June 2009. This will have a limited impact in ending the need for DVD recorders to perform realtime MPEG-2 encoding or transcoding. The only setup where ATSC could eliminate MPEG-2 encoding/transcoding in a DVD recorder would be where an antenna is hooked directly into a DVD recorder that has an integrated ATSC tuner. However, the DVD recorder will have to transcode the ATSC MPEG-2 into DVD-Video-compliant MPEG-2 if the ATSC MPEG-2 stream isn't already DVD-Video-compatible. This would require transcoding for all high-definition broadcasts and some if not all standard-definition broadcasts. The same general situation applies to digital cable service; only DVD recorders with integrated digital cable ("QAM") tuners can avoid transcoding, and then only if the digital cable system is already sending a DVD-Video-compatible MPEG-2 stream, which again requires transcoding of all HD content and some if not all SD content. All other setups (digital cable box's analog outputs to DVD recorder, satellite box's analog outputs to DVD recorder, DVD recorder tuning and recording analog cable channels which are still permitted after 2/2009, etc.) usually always involve an analog step with MPEG-2 encoding being necessary inside the DVD recorder.

A number of manufacturers have combined DVD recorders with mechanical hard disk drive-based digital video recorders, allowing for recording to large fixed disks, and the ability to view these recordings off the hard disk at a later date.

In Japan, AVCREC recorders, which are able to record MPEG-2 or AVC high definition video from ISDB broadcast with or without re-encoding, get increasingly popular. Initially, AVCREC recorders use DVD recordable discs, but newer models are able to record onto Blu-ray discs as well onto hard disk drives.

• Digital video
• Digital video recorder (DVR)
• DVD
• Optical disc recorder
• Videocassette recorder (VCR, video recorder)
• Video scaler "Upconverting"