DVR Help

[jamisonweber]

My wife and I love the ability to be able to record shows and watch them whenever we want. Of course that ability only works when you remember to put a tape in the VCR. This problem has cause a few arguments in my house, and not to mention missing some of our favorite shows.

Since I recently took the plunge and bought an HDTV (Toshiba 50H82) I have been seriously thinking about spending even more money, after I pay for the TV, to by a Digital Video Recorder. Unfortunately I have never done any in-depth research on them and don't what brands I should stay away from and what ones I should look at.

I have noticed that several people who post here own a DVR and was hoping for some help.

What brands should I look at?
Where should I go for a good selection? Most stores have only 1 if any.
Do you have to subscribe to their service?

Or any other advice that you may have.

I know that satellite companies offer this service but I am (dare I say it) happy with the service I get from TWC and don't want to switch.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[jlegge]

There are a couple of things to consider when buying a DVR. Are you more willing to pay more upfront or do you want to pay the smae amount in the long run? I ask this because in keeping your TWC service, you essentially have 2 choices. You can either get into a Replay unit (owned by SonicBlue) or get yourself into a TIVO unit.

1. ReplayTV and TiVo are personal television (PTV) products. Sometimes they go by personal video recorders, digital video recorders, digital network recorders, smart TV, video recording computers, time-shifted television, hard disk recorders, personal television receivers, television portals, or on-demand TV. Choose your favorite, or coin your own lingo by mixing and matching the above terms. Some naming conventions distinguish between the hardware unit (supplied by a third-party manufacturer) and the personal television service (supplied by SonicBlue or TiVo). This site only covers "stand-alone" units. Other personal television systems are available that combine functionality with satellite receivers, televisions, and cable boxes.

2. What do they do? They sit in between your television and your cable box, satellite receiver and/or antenna. Ideally, they act as a personal assistant, changing channels for you, recording programs that interest you, and helping you watch them when you want. They are more than just digital VCRs. Features common to both units include live TV buffering (the ability to pause/rewind television shows as they are broadcast), simultaneous digital recording and playback (the ability to watch a recorded show while recording another), short-term storage of recordings, dumping of recordings to videotape for long-term storage, an electronic program guide (EPG), time-shifted viewing, and timed recordings.

3. ReplayTV Models. SonicBlue's primary offering is the 5000 series, consisting of the 5040 (40-hour, replacing the 4040 and 4504), 5080 (80-hour, replacing the 4080 and 4508), 5160 (160-hour, replacing the 4160 and 4516), and the 5320 (320-hour, replacing the 4532). Panasonic's "Showstopper" models are discontinued, which were the PV-HS1000 (20-hour), PV-HS2000 (30-hour), and PV-HS3000 (60-hour). ReplayTV manufactured their own models for a while, back before they were acquired by SonicBlue. These were the 2001 (10-hour), 2003 (14-hour), 2020 (20-hour), 3020 (20-hour), 2004 (28-hour), 3030 (30-hour), and 3060 (60-hour). It is possible to still purchase many of these older models, and they will still work, although only the SonicBlue models will receive any further software upgrades.

4. TiVo Models. TiVo is now manufacturing their own branded unit, called the TiVo Series2 (60 and 80-hour). AT&T Broadband sells the 130040/230040 (40-hour), 140060 (60-hour), and 240080 (80-hour), all Series2-compatible. Philips models are designated PTV100/HDR112 (14 hours), HDR212 (20 hours), PTV300/HDR312 (30 hours), and HDR612 (60 hours), but it appears only the 60-hour is still in manufacture. Sony discontinued model SVR-2000 (30 hours), but recently released the SVR-3000 (80 hours), which is Series2-compatible. Thomson's model (40 hours) is manufactured under the Scenium brand and available in the U.K. only. All the discontinued models are forward-compatible and will work with the TiVo service.

5. The Replay unit costs more upfront, but there is no service fee with tunit. The Tivo tends to cost less upfornt but there are 2 options as far as service is concerned. There is the $250 one time lifetime fee or the $10 per month service charge. Keep in mind, both units need to be connected to a phone line to access the guide data.

I have an Ultimate TV (stop laughing....) and I will NEVER EVER be with some sort of DVR EVER again. Hell, my wife wouldn't let me! Now that she knows how to use it, I have to look for programs that I like that are on the middle of the night because all primetime is dedicated to her likes! (again, stop laughing!) I love the ability to record 2 programs at once while watching a prerecorded show (effectively doing 3 things at once), however this feature appears to only be available in the sattelite TIVO units.

I hope this helps.

[Gregg Lengling]

Just a note...all of these DVR's from what I understand do not record HiDef...they only record SD signals.  I use my computer with the HiDTV Pro card to record programs.  It comes with free service from TitanTV that allows me to schedule recordings.  The only drawback is the amount of Hard Drive space that HD recordings take up (typically just under 10GByte per hour).  I am seriously thinking of buying a D-VHS recorder.  This is a High Def recorder.  This is the only stand-alone HD recorder I know of right now, but one of  the advantages is that the HiDTV Pro card supports it, so I can interface it with my computer and let the computer do all the scheduling for taping.


Just my 2 cents worth.

[jamisonweber]

Thanks to the both of you for all the helpful information.  

From your comment John it sounds like satellite might have have a few more options, or at least better options. I might have to re consider my stance on staying with TWC, and possibly stop out at Flanners and and see what you do have in stock.

Gregg
Being a computer geek in training I like the idea of using them to record my other love TV. And since disk space is not an issue for me I will look in to that option as well.

Again thank you both for the great information.  

[ugyvel]

Note also that Tivo with Direct TV is only $5.00 per month (recently dropped) and billed along with the Directv bill.

A couple of weeks ago at the CES, didn't they announce a HD Tivo that would come out this fall?

[RickNeff]

Of course, one certainly can't discount the possiblity of using a DVD-Recorder either.   I have the Panny E30 recorder (no hard disk, just the DVD-RAM/DVD-R) which I'm quite happy with.  Like the PVRs, it can't record HD signals however.

(And it doesn't solve the problem of forgetting to put a disc in either.)  But, you don't have the subscription charge per month and you still have the ability to time-shift watch while it records, which is similar to the functionality of a PVR.

[Gregg Lengling]

Don't hold your breath for a DVD recorder for HD.....first off a DVD (single layer) recorder can only do some 4.? G of data.  HD transport stream is over 9G per hour.  There is talk about a blue laser DVD system in development that will allow 20G on a disc...but that's like waiting in 1988 to buy a new tv until HD and Digital broadcasting would come out...I'm glad I didn't wait to replace my 13" set in 1990 or I would've fought will that little sucker until 1999.

[kjnorman]

Jamwe,

I also have the TW digital cable and I use a Sony SVR2000 (first generation) stand alone TiVo.

My tivo has a fully paid up life time membership and so I have no recurring monthly fee.  I believe that the lifetime fee is still an option though I do not know the current price.  I think the monthly fee otherwise is about $13 a month.

To use a TiVo or any other PVR with digital cable is a complicated process, as you will need to get one standard definition cable box dedicated for your PVR.  Then you can use your SA3100HD cable box to watch TV (SD or HD) or listen to digital music channels while the PVR controls the other box.

This is the arrangement in our house and it works for us.

However, it is only like this because I already had a TiVo before we got digital cable.

If I were to get a PVR now, I would seriously look at a DirectTivo with a Directv subscription.  This box will allow youto record two shows simultaneously while watching another from the harddrive.

It also records everything digitally and so the picture is better than the stand along which has to encode analog to MPEG real-time.  The only downside to this box is that you need to subscribe to locals if you want to record them.

Kerry

[mcq]

Just my two cents on the issue... While the HiDTV is spectacular, it only records OTA for me. It will not record from Direct TV. I thought that one could hook digital cable to the card, but I really never looked into that.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I have been enjoying Shania over and over, and have printed an excellant cap of her...for my brother-in-law, of course.