A DVD Recorder is a device that reads high density optical discs and is also capable of recording data on it. The DVD recorders were developed during the 1990s when various forms of standard storage were being researched upon. DVD originally was a short form for Digital Video Disc. Although in the present day, it is not considered to represent any such full form, many continue to believe in the full form because it is essentially used for a wide range of non-video applications as well.

Some of the interesting facts about DVD Recorders are:

The first DVD players were made available in November of 1996 in Japan followed by United States where they were made available in March 1997.

In the year 1998 DVD players were available in Australia and Europe.

In the week of June 15th, 2003, DVD rentals were recorded to have topped records as compared to their VHS counterparts. Moreover, numerous major retailers such as Circuit City and Best Buy also stopped their sale of VHS tapes from 2002 and 2003 respectively.

In the following years, retailing giants like Wal-Mart announced their plan of ceasing sales of VHS formats gradually in phases, thereby welcoming the DVD format and making them more readily available.

During the initial years, DVD players were capable of playing only a particular file format. In 2003, Sony’s introduction of multi-DVD format burner became very popular with its capability of supporting multiple DVD formats. Nowadays, all DVD recorders are compatible with multiple formats.

Commercial DVD recorders today are capable of supporting 4.7 GB worth of data and 2 hours video in terms of DVD video quality. Dual sided DVD, often used for movies are capable of holding more data.

An average 2 hour movie is said to take up about 5GB per layer.

There are no separate speed modes for recording in a DVD unlike VCR formats. The rotation of the disc is limited to a certain speed which is known as the constant static rotation rate and constant accelerated rotation rate.

A DVD recorder is capable of storing more data/video if the videos can be compressed into smaller file sizes even when the video duration remains the same. However, one has to compromise on the video quality while compressing files. Often times, increased compression can result in difficulty in file reading, errors or skips and freezes during reading.

2x, 4x, 8x etc. indicated on discs are a label that denote the recording speed of the DVD discs. The speed determines how fast a disc is capable recording files from a hard drive or another disc.

Nowadays, technology is progressing at a rapid rate with newer versions and newer gadgets coming up every other day. For example, in the domain of DVDs itself, Blu-Ray formats, Internet streaming etc. have become common modes through which people access videos and movies. Play stations too have become popular not only for gaming but movies as well. It is the era of home theatres, 3D viewing where all experiences have to be almost realistic leaving little to the imagination and the line between reality and the virtual world is getting thinner with the progress of time.