VCRs and DVD players are being replaced with next-generation DVD recorders. For archiving TV shows and personal content, DVD recorders are the easiest and most cost-effective consumer electronics product on the market, but their ease of use hides the complexity of their design. DVD recorder designers must take into account a variety of audio and video compression standards, recording formats, broadcast standards, tuner options and many other considerations.
DVD recorders with hard disk drives are also becoming increasingly popular. The complexities of the DVD recorder market multiply as manufacturers include these popular combination products in their product line. Combination products with hard disk drives or PVR (personal video recorder) functionality require co-ordination in real-time that is transparent to the user, such as recording one program in the background while time-shifting (rewinding, fast-forwarding or pausing) another live channel.
A digital video recorder can be used in a variety other markets, but one in particular tends to stand out the most due to recent events. Video surveillance security solutions that are based on the high performance Digital Media processors. They are capable of handling both video and audio encode and decode for IP based video surveillance applications.