dvr Converter

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What is the DVR format?

The Microsoft Digital Video Recording, also known as DVR-MS, is a multimedia container developed by Microsoft. It's used for storing TV content recorded by Windows XP.

It was released in 2004, and its filename extension is .dvr.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of the DVR format

The DVR format brings various benefits that make it a suitable video format. Those are:

Advantages

  • DVR records TV broadcasts in good quality.
  • DVR supports metadata about digital rights management.
  • DVR is compatible with all Windows devices with XP and above.
  • The format, however, is not perfect and has the following drawbacks:

Disadvantages

  • Copyrighted DVR content can't be played outside the device it was recorded.
  • Editing DRV files is complicated.
  • DVR is outdated and doesn't use the most advanced compression technology.

DVR Format FAQs

How to open DVR files?

You shouldn't have problems when opening DVR files with Windows devices. Since Windows XP, PCs support this format natively. If you have issues playing DVR videos, updating the Windows Media player should be enough to solve the problem.

How does the DVR format work?

The DVR format is a multimedia container or metafile. That means it's not the video itself but stores it.

Multimedia containers embed video and video data in a single file to make simultaneous playback of both possible.

DVR format can contain MPEG-2 video and MPEG-1 Audio Layer II audio. It also supports Dolby Digital AC-3 audio.

The format can contain copyright restrictions to protect the content from piracy.

Is DVR a suitable video format?

DVR offers acceptable quality and is smaller than uncompressed formats. So it's the best format to record TV content with your computer if you have an old PC.

But DVR is outdated, and it's not good to today's standards. It doesn't have many features and doesn't manage high resolutions well enough. Its compression ratio is also lower than modern formats.

Is DVR a suitable video format?

DVR offers acceptable quality and is smaller than uncompressed formats. So it's the best format to record TV content with your computer if you have an old PC.

But DVR is outdated, and it's not good to today's standards. It doesn't have many features and doesn't manage high resolutions well enough. Its compression ratio is also lower than modern formats.

How to open DVR files on other devices?

The only devices that support DVR natively are PCs. Others can't because DVR is proprietary software. However, that doesn't mean it's impossible to open DVR files on other kinds of devices, like Mac computers. You can do that by downloading a third-party media player that supports DVR.

The best option for that is the VLC Media Player. It's a free media player that supports several formats.