Digital Video Recording (DVR) has come a long way in the last few years. You can now obtain personal DVRs that are easily portable. With these devices you can record audio and/or video from standard video and audio sources. The main difference between a Digital Video Player (DVP) and a DVR is the players only play. However there are more subtle differences in functionality. For example a portable DVP can be a portable Digital Video Disk (DVD) player. A portable DVD player only plays DVDs. At the time of this writing I have not seen any portable DVD based DVRs. Not that I would want one, I believe the features offered by a hard drive based DVR would be superior to a DVD based DVR. However, there are obvious advantages for a Digital Video Player (DVP) to be DVD based. At the time of this writing there are no combination DVD/Hard Drive based DVRs but that would be the ultimate setup for both playing (DVD) and recording (hard drive).
The main driver for my need of a DVR is for recording video and audio while traveling. Specifically to record what I see and hear while driving. There has been much talk of so called "black-boxes" for automobiles that record video and other data for forensic purposes. In my case I have witnessed several people driving left of center on my to work. I do not know why there has been a recent surge in this lethal activity around here but it was the cause of an automobile crash that robbed me of my beloved Murano causing great grief while I waited to get a replacement. It could have cost me my life. The one thing you would expect people to respect is the yellow line. That yellow line when transgressed can kill the transgressor as well as the transgressed quite easily. People do not realize the energy equation of bodies in motion. The amount of energy involved in a front end collision is phenomenal. Still, this ominous behavior persists in this vicinity and I intend to record it.
Of course it is nice to have a portable unit that can play movies while on airplanes or hotel rooms. It is also nice to be able to store pictures and music and data on a portable device as well. And with the right camera, a DVR could serve as a rudimentary camcorder. Such a device is best served by a hard drive based portable DVR. These hard drive based portable DVRs use standard laptop hard drives for media storage. These devices range in size and features. The trend today seems to be a built in Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and range in size from a few inches to several inches. As with any electronic device, be sure the rechargeable battery is either Li-ION or NiMH and user replaceable.
