I have noticed that some salesman try to confuse customers when buying a dvd recorder. I had a salesman trying to sell me a dvd recorder with hdmi output with a analogue tuner telling me saying it can record a digital signal. I saw an ad in the paper today advertising a dvd recorder as Digital when it also had a analogue tuner. A dvd recorder is not digital unless it has a digital tuner.

Is it my imagination but it seems that the average person still seems tol be confused about the whole topic of dvd recorders & digital tuners based on people I have spoken to. I find a lot of people dont even know about the 2//09 switchover to digital signals and end of analogue.

It is indeed very confusing even for those with above average knowledge in this area. For example, it is a common misonception that plays out frequently in these forums, that digital OTA/cable programming that can be received via a ATSC/QAM tuner is synonymous with HD when, in fact, HD is only a [relatively small] subset of all digital programming. Furthermore, the competing HD optical disc formats also serve to thoroughly confuse and confound consumers. Don't get me started on LPCM bitstreams vs. Dolby 2.0 vs. Dolby Pro Logic vs. Dolby 5.1 vs. DTS vs. Dolby 7.1 vs. mp3 vs. mp2 vs. AC3 vs. WMA vs.... well you get the picture. Same thing with mp4 formats Divx vs. xvid vs. mp4 vs. wmv vs. quicktime vs.... and on and on and on.

..... A dvd recorder is not digital unless it has a digital tuner.
....

umm, it is "digital" when it records a dvd....:)

Saying "Some retail stores give confusing information" is a lot like saying "Some salesmen are out to get your money." :D

Saying "Some retail stores give confusing information" is a lot like saying "Some salesmen are out to get your money." :D

Now you do not really believe that these salesman are smart enough to purposely deceive you. They just don't know what they are talking about. :confused:

Now you do not really believe that these salesman are smart enough to purposely deceive you. They just don't know what they are talking about. :confused:

Well, I agree that many are very ignorant of the products they sell, but yes, they do decieve purposefully. However, smart enough to decieve me purposefully, of course not!

....yes, they do decieve purposely.Especially at Best Buy, in my experiences.

umm, it is "digital" when it records a dvd....:)Exactly, remember that "DVD" stands for "Digital Versatile Disc"...

What's confusing people is the differences between analogue and digital in the stream of production and delivery of the signal to your digital recorder. Anyone remember the scheme they came out with when CDs were introduced? They had a 3-letter symbol that indicated whether the audio was captured, mastered, and recorded in analogue or digital. So AAD meant a traditional analogue recording pressed onto a digital CD, while DDD meant it was recorded, mastered and pressed digitally (since CDs are digital, the last letter was always "D").

Perhaps that's what we need for DVDs, where the three letters could stand (for example) for the production (shooting) and mastering of the original material, the delivery of the material via analogue or digital transmission and connections, and the final letter (which would always be "D") representing the digital bits on your DVD...

Especially at Best Buy, in my experiences.

I don't know that I would go as far as deceptive , but they are certainly woefully underinformed.