what is the differance between a dvd and a pvr?

Question

thinking of buying a recorder

Answer 1

A dvd records onto a disc, where as a pvr records onto a hard drive.

dvd advantage is that you can record onto to discs which you can save and play on other machines.
Disadavtage is that they can onyl record up to 4 hours (if set to a decent recording quality) so you keep having to juggle the discs around

You can get machines with both so you use the harddisc and then save it to dvd to keep/share etc.

PS I have a dvd recorder and you can also bring up a menu of what's on it, delete it, watch whilst you record etc

Answer 2

A DVD player - you put DVD's into it and watch them.

A PVR - has a hard disk like a computer and saves your programmes on it - you access them via the menu on your remote control and delete them when you're finished. It also acts as a TV guide and dials up to get programme information. You can book season passes (Tivo) or series links (Sky +) to make sure you record every episode of a series. Tivo interface is better but they don't sell them in the UK anymore. It lets you search in many different ways such as alphabetically. Sky interface is rubbish and when you go beyond 2 days it takes forever to bring up the listings, however it seems to be the only one available in the UK now.