The Overlooked Benefits of Region-Free DVD Recorders

Remember the days when you used to record your favorite TV shows or movies from your TV using your VHS recorder? At that time, it seemed like the greatest technology in the world. All you had to do was pop in a blank tape, wait for the show to begin and press record. Some VCR's even had the option to set a timer so you could record shows when you weren't even home. Your movie collection consisted of a stack of VHS tapes with handwritten labels that you could watch at any given time. But times have changed since then, and nowadays we're in the middle of a digital technology revolution where every few months there's better, faster, more appealing technology being developed. In turn, it's released at such a fast pace that it can truly hard to keep up with.

 

Thanks to the widespread activity of the internet, we can find pretty much anything and everything we'd want to watch - and for free. Also, with the invention of TiVo and similar devices it's easier than ever to keep a digital library of movies and shows. However, these technologies have their downsides.

 

First off, the internet requires that you have a connection, otherwise you won't be watching anything online. While that's typically no big deal, it's less convenient than watching something on your TV. Even if you connect your computer to the TV, you're still either watching it streaming (which can take time to load) or you're downloading it from somewhere, which means valuable space is being taken up on your hard drive. Additionally, depending where you get the downloads from could also cause you to have problems with your internet service provider due to the introduction of rather strict new copyright legislation.

 

Secondly, the digital recording options of TiVo and similar devices allow you to store recordings but they're only digital copies. They have space limitations and the services usually require a contract - not to mention the fees for usage. While these options seem convenient and actually ARE convenient for the general purpose of recording something for later use, they only provide so much flexibility. In the end, you still don't have an actual physical copy.

 

Enter The DVD Recorder

The DVD recorder offers much better recording power than the internet or TiVo, and for more reasons than one. While it may not sound like cutting edge technology, the DVD recorder has plenty of benefits that go overlooked or ignored.

 

Since you're only recording what's on your TV screen, The DVD recorder works independently of your PC or cable box giving it a few advantages over the other options. Sure, you can simply record a show or movie that's on TV, but why would you want that? Especially considering that you'll be recording a bunch of commercials. Instead, consider the fact that your cable provider probably has an 'on-demand' service included with your cable. Depending on your cable provider (and their terms and agreements) you could have hundreds or even thousands of movies, shows, and television series that are commercial free and available right at your fingertips. Play it on your laptop, in the mini-van for the kids, or even take it along with you while traveling if you have a portable DVD player. Ass an added benefit, most models are able to record onto dual-layer discs which are perfect for recording TV series or movies with sequels.

 

Region Free Recording

Here's another great benefit to the DVD recorder; they record discs as region-free! That means they'll play on any player, anywhere in the world. If you've got a friend or relative overseas who'd like to see your latest family movie or maybe just a movie that's not available in their location, chances are that a copy made with your computer won't work on their player. Your computer's dics-burning software encodes it to be playable only on electronics that are native to your region. The region free DVD recorder, however, totally eliminates this problem. You should be warned though that depending on the model it may not record in PAL format, so be certain to check with the seller before making a purchase.

 

Region Free Playback

Don't forget that the region-free DVD recorder is not ONLY a recorder - it's also a region free DVD player and can play discs from any region around the world. If you're in the market for a DVD player and want that old-school ability to record directly from your TV, consider purchasing a region-free DVD recorder. It'll give you a nostalgic feeling of creating your own copy of a movie, except for this time around you have a plethora of sources to record from instead of the limited selection of what's being broadcast on TV.

 

For more information on region-free DVD recorders or to browse some of these player to get more information and view technical details, visit our Region-Free DVD Recorders section.