When out shopping for something to record your TV onto, or watch back your recordings on, there are plenty of devices and formats to choose from. RIP to confusion!

1. A decent PVR (Personal Video Recorder) will have an on board electronic programme guide or EPG, to show you what is on TV now, in the next week or so, and each programmes synopsis. Some clever PVRs also have an ability to search for keywords, for example “Croquet” or “Dirty” or “Dirty Croquet”!
2. Definite advice would be to get yourself a PVR with two tuners in (if you are considering a PVR that is). If you choose one with only one in, then you can only watch and record the same channel, not record something on the other side whilst watching something else. Trust me, it’s such a drag if your stuck with that.
3. If you have an HD TV, but you want to stick with DVDs then try getting an upscaling DVD player. It will make your images crisper on your TV because it will add extra pixels to the frames. The look isn’t that bad either.
4. Lastly, if you want the best of both worlds (DVD and PVR) you can also get DVD Recorders and PVRs in one. So if you want to save a copy of your recorded programme to disc, you can, or you can just watch back something and delete off the hard disk drive later.

Tags: HD, TV