DVR w/o the monthly fee?

[LuckyTaxi]

I've seen DVR devices on ebay that can be purchased w/o having to pay a monthly subscription. I rarely watch TV, but would love to record some shows while I'm away from home so I can watch them when I do have time. I don't want to pay whatever it is Comcast charges. With that said, I don't need anything fancy (some DVR has dual tuners?), I just want to be able to schedule the DVR to record X number of shows each night.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

computer + tv tuner + windows media center would give you a dvr without monthly fees.

I think most standalone DVRs will need guides which cost money to subscribe to, but I'm not sure.

 

[manimal]

HTPC ftw!

One can also buy the lifetime subscription with a tivo so techinically it doesnt have a lifetime either.

If you add the cost of a tivo +300 for lifetime the cost of a htpc and software should be about the same.

 

[sivart]

New choices:

• TiVO HD (~$800) (Cable / OTA)
• HTPC (Cable / OTA) (~$Varies, mine was $300 with dual tuners 640GB Hard drive, dual core)
• Dish Network DTVPal DVR (HD, OTA only) (~$300) -- Dual Tuner basically a hard drive based DVR -- Sears only right now.

-- None of these have any monthly fees (assuming you buy the lifetime for the TiVO)

Used Equipment:
-- You may be able to find these here, craigslist or ebay

• Sony DHG-HDD250 (or DHG-HDD500) - Cable and OTA (Single Tuner)
• LG LST-3410A -- Cable and OTA (I think there was a Zenith clone of this also) (Single Tuner)

All of the above record in HD. There were several Panasonic, Pioneer, Magnavox, Philips, etc DVR's that can record analog to a hard drive, but don't have digital or QAM tuners.

FYI, I need to add my DTVPal DVR to the For Sale / Trade area now that I have set up my HTPC.

 

[her209]

What about the encrypted channels? Would the cable companies be willing to program that information into the cable box?

 

[Slick5150]

Ahh. I miss my ReplayTV with lifetime subscription. Granted it wouldn't work anymore as it wasn't digital, but back in the day it was outstanding.

 

[sivart]

What about the encrypted channels? Would the cable companies be willing to program that information into the cable box?

For encrypted channels you will need a cable card from the cable company and a box able to accept the cable card. When you start talking about switched digital video which a lot of cable companies are doing you are looking at even more complications.

Maybe the new TiVO that might come out next year will be able to handle a 2-way cable card and switched digital video without an external device.

Honestly, if you want to record more than the locals in HD, you are best ponying up the $5-$10/month for the horrible UI cable company DVR.