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Anyone here an expert with DVR's?

S

Salvador

Diamond Member
Hi.

I'm looking at some DVR's and I have no clue on what to get. I've never had one, so I'm clueless. Price isn't that big of consideration. I kind of like the newest DVR's that have the hard drive and the burner built in together. The only thing is that I know that I want a DVR that burns several different kinds of media (+R, -R, +RW, -RW, etc..), so I don't get stuck with a Betamax.

The other thing that I have to make a decision on is whether to go with a Tivo device and pay for the service or get one of the DVR's that records of TV Guide information. I'm leaning towards the TV Guide thing because I don't have a phone jack near my tv and I'm not a big fan of paying subscription fees or having a service that wants to record everything for me that I "might" like. I have no idea how both of them work, so I'm kind of at a loss here.

I would absolutely love to talk to someone via pm or email, but if that's not possible, please post any information you might have.

TIA,

Sal
 
Do they make DVRs that can burn DVDs? I think it's either/or right now. You can get a DVD burner that is just like a VCR...or you can get a TiVo like device that records to a harddrive.

If you have DirecTV, don't consider anything but a DirecTiVo receiver. If you are cable, you'll have to pay for a subscription if you choose TiVo or ReplayTV. Neither of these can be used without a subscription unless you get an older model used somewhere.

ReplayTV is the easiest for quick setup on your network. You can transfer over and burn onto disc from your computer. I do think TiVo has this as well now, but I'm not positive.
 
Do you want a DVR or a set-top DVD Recorder?

I know they make both in the same unit, but I think those only come in the TiVO flavor.
 
Originally posted by: royaldank
Do they make DVRs that can burn DVDs? I think it's either/or right now. You can get a DVD burner that is just like a VCR...or you can get a TiVo like device that records to a harddrive.

If you have DirecTV, don't consider anything but a DirecTiVo receiver. If you are cable, you'll have to pay for a subscription if you choose TiVo or ReplayTV. Neither of these can be used without a subscription unless you get an older model used somewhere.

ReplayTV is the easiest for quick setup on your network. You can transfer over and burn onto disc from your computer. I do think TiVo has this as well now, but I'm not positive.
Click to expand...

Humax makes one....

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm...m/ccd/productDetail.do

Tivo and DVD Burner Combined...

And to the original poster, you can turn off predictive recording (so it will only record what you want), and it can be networked into your wireless network with the appropriate wireless adapter (so you won't need a phone like for anything except the initial setup).
 
There are other (major) brands that do have the burner and hdd in the same chassis. They are clearly a bit more pricey than just the regular DVR's. Is there a drawback to going to this route besides price? I just thought that it would be handy to have a burner in there as well, so I could transfer the movies saved on the hdd to disc when I wanted or just record straight to disc.

Some of these devices record from the TV Guide markers and don't require a service fee and others are Tivo based. I'm still up in the air about which to go with. With Tivo, I'd have to have a phone line run to near the tv wouldn't I?

Sal
 
Here's a Toshiba unit with Tivo and dvd burner.

Toshiba

Here's the Sony unit that I've been looking at. What I like about this one is that it records to many different types of media. The Panasonic unit only records to -R (not -RW even) and DVD-RAM. Both of these players use the TV Guide On Screen guide instead of Tivo.

Sony Unit

I guess this type of player is new. I had no idea because I just started looking at DVR's.

The other option that I have is to just rent one from Comcast. I don't know the fee's, but I've seen it advertised. It might be the easiest solution for a while until I decide what I want to buy and wait for prices to come down a little bit on these combo recorders.

Sal
 
Thanks Rossman! Question: What do I do with the video once the hard drive fills up? Can I transfer it off and save it somehow? Also, do I need to hook up to a phone line even with basic Tivo?

Sal
 
Salvador,

You're welcome, always happy to help out a fellow Hot Dealer :thumbsup:

Also, do I need to hook up to a phone line even with basic Tivo?
Click to expand...

I always assumed you need to dial in using a phone line for the initial setup. Read BornStar18's post dated 12/12/2004 03:45 PM.

CompUSA had the Netgear MA111 on sale for $4.99 AR, it works PERFECTLY with our WiFi network and Tivo series 2.

:thumbsup:
 
It looks as though any Toshiba unit comes with TiVo Basic (including the one you linked to) which means after paying for a month or two to get the rebate, you can drop that and switch back to TiVo Basic. You only get 3 days of programming information and you can't do season passes or anything like that. That was my original intent when getting my SD-H400 however I can't seem to bring myself to cancel TiVo Plus.

edit: if you need any help getting the TiVo to work with just a network adapter, let me know. To my knowledge you have to start with a wired adapter to get the first update.
 
That Toshiba you listed comes with TiVo basic. This gives you 3 days of programming information. It doesn't include the season pass stuff, but it does act like a VCR. You can set it to record say Thursdays at 8:00pm - 9:00pm. No subscription service is required if the unit comes with TiVo basic (most 3rd party DVD units and others).

 
Lots of great info! Thanks!

I found the Sony at Amazon for $700. It's currently out of stock, but I can wait. It's better than $800 I guess. 😉 That's even if I go that route. It seems to do just about everything that I need it to do except that it has TV Guide instead of Tivo. BTW.. Sony's seem to be the only burners that will do DVD-R/RW and DVD+RW/R media. I don't want a burner that will only do -R and DVD-RAM. + seems to be winning the battle and I'd be stuck either paying higher prices for the media or it won't be available. On top of that, I'd rather use re-recordable media if I could.

The question still remains on whether I should go with Tivo or the players that use this TV Guide function. Has anyone ever used both?

Thanks again!

Sal
 
At this point in time with dvd writers you cannot burn dvds straight over. you have to rip the movie to your computer then burn it as a dvd. but id suggest a lite-on my friend just got one off of newegg really nice dvd-rw that should handle all your burning need from what I understand


oops i thought you meant pc burners my bad!
 
Here are some reviews of the Humax at Amazon. I'd take it with a grain of salt, but some of the things that are being said, I'm not too crazy about.

Loud fan and no on/off switch. Poor reliability and video quality. I think that I might take a pass on Humax. Saving $300 isn't worth my sanity.

In comparison, one jerk gave the Sony burner/dvr one star because of the price. Most any player that does what the Sony does at this point is expensive.

Humax Review Link At Amazon

Sal
 
Note: The Humax doesn't come with the limited 3 day Tivo service like the Toshiba DVR/DVD-r does. Rats, and I got in on the Humax price mistake at CC.
 
If it's like the TV Guide Plus that's in RCA televisions, it's decent. Not exactly the best thing ever but it does it's job for the most part. It may not get listings for every channel you have. My parents and I both have an RCA set with TVGuide Plus on them and both are missing some stations in the lineup (we receive the channel but it's not in the guide). Also, and remember these sets are a few years old, it isn't setup in order of your channels. It's got it's own list starting with network channels, then movie channels, then your cable channels.
 
Sal-

I recently went through a similar process of selecting a DVR, and here is my input...

I went with an 80 hour TiVo Series 2 unit. I was able to get it for ~$175 after coupon and rebate at Best Buy. The longer you wait, the lower the prices will get. Series 3 is coming out sometime soon, and it will offer better features, and may not require phone line setup at all. That is my only complaint about TiVo is that you need a phone line for the initial setup. I had to set it up at a friends and borrow his phone line. However, after that, I purchased a USB network adapter, and now my TiVo goes on-line to obtain the channel guide and any other content.

The TiVo will also allow you to record to a VCR, meaning that it will play a recorded program and output the signal to a recording device, such as a VCR or a video capture card on your computer (meaning you could burn DVDs on your PC).

The Toshiba TiVos don't require a subscription, but they only download 3 days of programming information, and they don't allow you to record via a season pass. I think the season pass feature is one of the most convienent features about the TiVo. It allows you to record all showings of a particular program, so for your favorite shows, you don't ever need to worry about "programming" your TiVo. I bought my TiVo as a VCR replacement, but since the technology is better, I don't feel that I should need to remember to program my TiVo to record my favorite programs. Also, the search features are so powerful that you can figure out what is on and record whatever you want with relative ease.

This all being said, I can understand not wanting to pay for a subscription service. I wasn't able to find much or any information about set-top boxes that did not require a subscription service of some sort. If you are a computer guru, and would want to build a machine to be a DVR, you could get everything you want out of the device and more (it could be a home theater PC... music server, DVD player, etc). If this is something you are interested in, I would suggest looking at MythTV (Linux) or SageTV (Windows). Both of these packages would require you to build a dedicated computer (with lots of hard drive space) with a video capture and video output. Neither set of software requires a subscription. MythTV is open source (freeware), but you would need to set the software up to "mine" the TV guide information from available sources. SageTV costs $60 (maybe more?), but the company organizes your channel guide information. If the company folds, or stops supporting the software, you would need to figure out how to download and process channel guide information. From what I've read, this isn't too difficult.

I guess it is all in how much money you want to spend... If you want a set-top box with an integrated burner, I would recommend going with something that requires TiVo subscription. You can buy a LIFETIME TiVo subscription for $300 (the subscription is good for the life of the TiVo box, not your lifetime), and you could consider this part of the capital cost. I don't mind paying the subscription fee... They bill my CC, and I consider it part of my entertainment budget for the month. With the amount of time I'm not at home, and with the joy it brings me not having to worry about programming a VCR to record my favorite programs, I think $13 per month averages out to be extremely cheap entertainment.

Anyway, please feel free to PM me with any questions.

Ryan
 
Originally posted by: rgwalt
That is my only complaint about TiVo is that you need a phone line for the initial setup. I had to set it up at a friends and borrow his phone line. However, after that, I purchased a USB network adapter, and now my TiVo goes on-line to obtain the channel guide and any other content.
Click to expand...
That's not much of a complaint any more. If you follow RossMan's link to one of my posts I give detailed instructions on how to get a new Series2 TiVo online without needing a phoneline. Hopefully Series3 will come out with an integrated NIC so we won't have this problem in the future.
 
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