Recording – different kit / features

If I buy a digital TV recorder can I make a copy on to DVD or VCR if I want to keep a recording?

Yes, you have two options. A dedicated digital TV recorder (often called a PVR) – this records on to a hard drive only, so if you decide you want to keep one of the recordings you have made, they all allow you to copy it on to a separate DVD recorder or VCR. Alternatively, there are DVD plus hard disk drive combination products and you can choose which device you want to record on to or even copy from hard dive to DVD later but these tend to be fairly complex to use and are not part of our current test programme.

For our recommended digital TV recorders see Easiest to use digital TV recorders.