• VCRs mostly come in combination with DVD players today.video tape with labels image by jovica antoski from Fotolia.com
  
  Video recorders first became readily available to the public in the early 1980s, first through Betamax cassette tapes and then VHS tapes. Over the years, the types of video recording media have evolved. Most commercial forms of video recorders are still used in some fashion, with advantages and disadvantages to each of them.
  
  

Cassette Recorders

• Video cassette recorders were the first video recorders to be commercially available to many people. These devices use cassettes of magnetic tape to record and play back video images. One of the biggest advantages that VCRs have is that tapes can easily be used multiple times. One recorded video can be dubbed over, or you can first erase it with an electromagnet to make future recordings clearer.
  
  A main disadvantage is that tape does degrade over time, especially when played back several times, leading to a reduction in picture and sound quality. Also, the 7x4x1-inch cassettes can take up a lot of space once they accumulate in numbers. Additionally, due to the increased use of digital media, VCRs are becoming increasingly hard to come by.
  
  

DVD Recorders

• Digital video discs, like the compact discs they were developed from, use lasers to record on and play off of their plastic surfaces.
  
  Recorders that burn video onto DVDs have increased in availability since the start of the 21st century. The discs are much smaller and lightweight compared to cassettes, and they can be purchased in large quantities. Because they record digitally, there is no loss in quality compared to analog tapes.
  
  A disadvantage of DVD recorders is that while they have dropped in price since coming on the market, they remain more expensive than cassette recorders. Another disadvantage is that DVDs, for the most part, can only be recorded on once. Rewritable discs are available, but they and their recorders are even more expensive. This means that the discs can accumulate in even greater numbers, as you would need to keep acquiring more. DVDs can also be at greater risk of becoming damaged; the playable side is exposed, and scratches can ruin the disc.
  
  

DVRs

• Digital video recorders are like small computers that record video off of a TV receiver like a cable/satellite box and save it onto a hard drive. This can eliminate the need for extra storage devices like cassettes and discs altogether, as you can store hours of video onto one box the size of a VCR or cable box.
  
  Unfortunately, however, like discs and cassettes, the hard drive has a limited amount of storage space. Once the space runs out, you will either have to erase one or more videos or transfer them to a disc/tape anyway.