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DVR's

B

b344077

OK everybody (to quote Harry Carey):

I have been searching for a DVR to replace my soon to be "junk" analog recorder.

It seems that all recorders (TIVO, etc) have a monhly fee associated with it with the gear often proprietory to a delivery system (DirecTV, Comcast, etc.) Are there DVR that are available for a decent purchase price that are not tied to a monthly fee? ???
 
b344077 said:
OK everybody (to quote Harry Carey):

I have been searching for a DVR to replace my soon to be "junk" analog recorder.

It seems that all recorders (TIVO, etc) have a monhly fee associated with it with the gear often proprietory to a delivery system (DirecTV, Comcast, etc.) Are there DVR that are available for a decent purchase price that are not tied to a monthly fee? ???
Click to expand...

I have a Philips DVDR3575H/37 hard drive/DVD recorder that doesn't require any monthly fee. Works nicely. Bought at Circuit City about a year ago. Built-in ATSC tuner is considerably more sensitive than the one in my TV, though not quite as good as the one in the converter box I have on the other set.

Downside: you have to program by time & channel - you can't point at a program & click on it - though I suppose one should expect that from a device with no monthly fee!

Also, it only records in SD - it downconverts HD programs to SD.

I consider those minor issues.
 
I had a Toshiba DVR (NTSC tuner) a few years ago. It had HDD and DVD recording capability. These type of units seem to have disappeared from the market, though. We looked for them for our news department to record/analyze/spy on other stations' newscasts, but wound up using TIVO.

I wonder what, if any, reason is given for not building them anymore?
 
Thanks all. It in my belief that today's DVR's tend to be over engineered, i.e. record 4 channels simultaneously.

Frankly, I'd be just as happy with a VHS tape recorder that can tape from digital channels. I'm sure the picture will be degraded but to tape and discard; so what.

All I want to do is time shift programs occasionally as the majority of viewers probably are asking for.

I bought a digital recorder a couple of years ago. When I found I could not record over previously recorded DVD's, I re-installed the VHS model.

Somehow, I bet a group of tech's who produce an inexpensive "dual" (DVD player and digital- VHS) model could make a killing.

Just think of all of the folks who just want to tape one or two shows a week and want to use the same tapes repeatedly till the tape wears out. Then throw the tape away after hundreds of uses vs one use or vs the over engineered TIVO that is costly to buy and maintain.

What do you think?

Bruce
 
I just wish the dish and and direct tv folks enabled the usb ports on the back so I can get my television programs OFF of my DVR.

Of course, they don't want you to do that. God forbid, you save something, move it to another device and play it there. How silly.
 
A couple of years ago I picked up a 80Gb DVR/DVD recorder on closeout from Radio Shack for about $90. Works great for the time shifting I need it to do and if I want to record digital channels I just patch in my cable converter.

Got an old computer laying around? Get an inexpensive TV tuner card and use a freeware DVR (e.g. GB-PVR). Most of these apps have a fee-free EPG built-in.
 
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