DVD recorders let you burn your favourite TV shows to disc and them put them away on the shelf.

If you're looking to reduce the number of gadgets in your lounge room, a DVD recorder makes a handy all-in-one device - although they do have their restrictions.

What to look for in DVD recorders

Firstly look for all the things you'd look for in a DVD player, such as a HDMI output, upscaling, region-free playback and the ability to handle a wide range of audio, video and image formats. You'll also want to look at inputs for recording from devices such as video recorders and camcorders. Some DVD recorders feature a DV (Digital Video) input and are compatible with camcorder formats such as AVCHD.

The next thing to look for in a DVD recorder is television tuners. At least one digital tuner is a must. Unfortunately most DVD recorders only feature standard definition digital television tuners, with the exception of Panasonic's range of DVD and Blu-ray recorders sporting high-def tuners.

Most DVD recorders also include a hard drive, which means you don't need to keep shuffling rewritable DVDs just as you did with video cassettes. Such recorders will let you record television directly to DVD or the hard drive, but it makes more sense to record to the hard drive and then copy it to DVD later. Some will let you perform basic editing before you transfer your recording to disc. You can still run into problems playing recorded DVDs on DVD players of different brands.
 
Just like a Personal Video Recorder, most DVD recorders let you pause and rewind live TV plus watch the beginning of a show while you're still recording the end - a trick known as "chasing playback". Unfortunately many won't let you change channel while recording or record two programs at once. They also lack the advanced EPG, scheduling and remote access features of PVRs such as TiVo.

Early DVD recorders were split into three categories - DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD-RAM. The DVD disc format war eventually become irrelevant, but there are slight differences between the formats so look for a DVD recorder that handles all three. It should also handle both rewritable (RW) and write-once (R) discs, along with dual layer (DL) discs that hold more data.

Review the Comparison.com.au database of DVD recorders, view the latest releases, the lowest priced models or models by brand. Create a shortlist of DVD recorder models by selecting features and functions important to you.