How to Burn a DVD From a DVR

Contributor

By Kent Ninomiya
eHow Contributing Writer

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(7 Ratings)

Burning a DVD from a DVR is a simple and straightforward process. Digital Video Recorders store video data on an internal hard drive. This data is usually recorded from cable or satellite television broadcasts and can easily be transferred to a DVD recorder that can then "burn" the data onto a blank DVD.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

DVR
DVD recorder
Composite video cables
Blank DVD

Step 1

Locate the audio and video outputs on your DVR. These will be three plugs on the back of the DVR marked "video," "audio L" and audio R." They are usually color coded yellow, red and white. Make sure that the jacks are marked "Output."
Step 2

Locate the audio and video inputs on your DVD recorder. These will also be color coded yellow, red and white. Make sure the jacks are marked "Input."
Step 3

Plug composite video cables into both the DVR output jacks and DVD recorder input jacks. Composite video cables come connected in sets of three. Some are color coded, while others are not. If they are color coded, plug the yellow cable ends into the yellow jacks, red into red and white into white. If they are not color coded, you must make sure that all the cables match the corresponding colored jacks.
Step 4

Place a blank DVD in the DVD recorder. It is important to know whether your DVD recorder uses DVD+ or DVD- discs. These are different systems, and they are not interchangeable.
Step 5

Burn directly to a DVD. This is the slower of your two options. You can do this by playing the program on your DVR and pressing "record" on the DVD recorder. The program will be recorded on the blank DVD in real time. That means a 2-hour program will take 2 hours to record.
Step 6

Burn a DVD using the DVD recorder hard drive. This is a faster option if you are burning more than one copy of a DVD. You must first download the DVR program into the hard drive in real time. Press play on the DVR and record the program to the hard disc drive or HDD. You can then edit, create chapters and give titles before burning the DVDs at high speed. A 2-hour recording can take as little as 12 minutes at high speed.
Step 7

Remember to "finish" the DVD. This is an important step so that the DVD can be viewed on any DVD player. Select "Finish DVD" from the Record menu. It will ask you to select a menu slate, then spend about 1 minute finishing the DVD. The process is now complete.

Comments

kip29 said

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on 7/15/2009 DVRs really are great. It is nice to be able to watch TV on your schedule, rather than having to be home to catch a show. I did not know that you could record a DVD from your DVR though, that is very cool!