How does the video quality of a DVD recorder compare to a VHS VCR or a standard DVD player?
DVD recorders can record video in resolutions ranging from DVD quality to VHS quality depending on the recording speed used, somewhat analogous to the different recording speeds on a VCR. Although there is some variation from manufacturer to manufacturer, DVD recorders typically can record in one hour, two hour, four hour, and six hour speeds. The one hour speed will be very close, if not the same, as DVD quality, while the four and six hour speeds will be more like VHS SP and EP respectively. One factor to ultimately consider however, is that, even at the one hour speed, the quality of the source material determines the quality of the recording. If you are copying an old home video that was recorded at VHS-EP using the one hour DVD recorder speed, you won’t get DVD quality; you can’t make something bad look better, however it won’t be any worse when using the one hour speed. By the same token, if you take a miniDV camcorder video that was recorded at 500 lines of resolution and dub it
