Recording tv shows with DVD recorder?

I'm thinking about purchasing a DVD recorder so I can record my favorite tv shows when I'm not home. After doing some research online, however, I'm a bit concerned about the usefulness of a DVD recorder for this particular function. I read that some companies have installed a computer chip in their DVD recorders which, when activated by information contained in certain programs, stops the recording because of copyright infringement. One customer review stated that any programs which will eventually be marketed for sale are unrecordable. Is this true of all DVD recorders? I'd like to be able to record popular shows such as Grey's Anatomy, The Office, etc.





Thanks in advance for your help! :)|||Just about all DVD recorders will respect copy protection signals.





What you may want is an HDD based DVR, which should record and play the programs regardless of copy protection, but won't let you archive them to DVD recorder or other systems if copy protection says not to.





Generally, the broadcasts channels will not have copy protection.|||There are copyright protection signals encoded with some broadcast programmes. Most of these will be on Premium channel feature films so I don't think that you need to worry about things like Dad's Army.





Some copyright protection signals will allow you to record the programme onto the DVD Recorder's hard disc so that you can "time shift" it, but they stop you from making a copy onto a DVD. This is to prevent people pirating TV programmes and selling them on.





There's not much that you can legally do about this so unless you intend to deal in pirate broadcasts you should go ahead and buy your DVD Recorder.





As with all things, get the best that you can afford - not the cheapest that you can find. Then you will not be regretting it later when the grotty cheapo box breaks down.