Ota Hdtv Dvr

[guck2277]

Does anyone know of a economically priced DVR that you can use to record OTA shows with an OTA antenna, and record them in HD.  For the life of me, I can find one that you can purchase just the equipment, and have no monthly service fee like TIVO.  Can anyone steer me in the right direction on this or know of a place to purchase this?  Thanks in advance for your help.

[Jimboy]

Although not available yet, the Echostar TR-50 looks promising.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=972197

[Martyus]

Does anyone know of a economically priced DVR that you can use to record OTA shows with an OTA antenna, and record them in HD.  For the life of me, I can find one that you can purchase just the equipment, and have no monthly service fee like TIVO.  Can anyone steer me in the right direction on this or know of a place to purchase this?  Thanks in advance for your help.

You may want to consider an HTPC. If you are running Vista Home Premium on a home computer, you likely have most of the hardware needed. Add a tuner card (i.e. Hauppauge HVR-1600) and you will be set to record HD (no monthly fees).

[Will]

I've been looking for an OTA DVR for a while as well.

Tivo HD can be had for $698 with a lifetime subscription.  That's obviously not a cheap date.  Google can help you here, if you're looking to do that (you have to be a current subscriber, or get a current subscriber number from someone).  

There were a couple of OTA DVRs out there that are no longer being produced.  Sony had the DHG-HDD250 / 500.  LG had one too, I think.  They rely on Gemstar / TVGuide data sent OTA, and may not get data after 2/2009.  You can find these on ebay.

Vista does work OK, but there are some glitches you should be aware of.  Subchannel data for OTA is not supported by Microsoft at this point.  You can tune them after you manually add them to your list, but the guide data will replicate the main analog channel for ALL digital subchannels.  For example, you'll see channel 10's guide data for channels 10, 10.1,10.2,10.3, etc thru 10.8.  There is a kludgy fix available, but it's a pain (involving a registry hack, apparently).  See http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/1/223089/ShowThread.aspx and http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/forums/showthread.php?p=43996#post43996.

I'm anxiously awaiting the Echostar TR-50.  Hopefully the price will be reasonable, and it won't make the $700 Tivo option look good in comparison.

[Bebop]

If someone is going to pay $700 for a OTA DVR. It might as well be a Mac Mini with a USB tuner. It is a lot more flexable.

[Jayflap]

I use the Windows XP Media Center Edition to record. The only station that has an issue (that I have noticed) is channel 10.1 - 10.8 as mentioned above. I then use my Xbox 360 as a media extender to get it from the computer room to the HDTV in the living room. I works great and I am VERY happy with the picture quality.

J

[cjucoder]

If someone is going to pay $700 for a OTA DVR. It might as well be a Mac Mini with a USB tuner. It is a lot more flexable.

Are there any Mac Mini flavors that have the horse power for recording and playing back HD?

There were a couple of OTA DVRs out there that are no longer being produced. Sony had the DHG-HDD250 / 500. LG had one too, I think. They rely on Gemstar / TVGuide data sent OTA, and may not get data after 2/2009

I have both that LG box and the Sony box, and yes they both may be obsolete in a year since that guide is delivered OTA via analog channels.  Gemstar is working on an ATSC solution (which is what that Echostar will be using), so maybe we can get some kind of an update.  Not holding much hope for that.

[voodoo032]

I built an HTPC with Windows XP and SageTV.

PC probably cost me 400.  Sage is 70 or so.  I use the HVR-950 USB tuner  and the AverMedia Combo PCIe both in the 60-90 dollar range.  Guide data comes in over the air. Added on Free automatic commercial skipping software.  Automatically Converts all my videos to a smaller format for storage.  Would not trade it for a Tivo.  I can do everything I need to with it.  No monthly fees and I can add as many tuners as I have space.


Drawback are that you need to be somewhat proficient or know someone who is to set everything up right.

[tazman]

Although what I have is not TRUE HD...  It's not bad!  I bought a Sammy DVD-AR650 DVD recorder / player / Analog and digital Cable and OTA tuner all in one unit last year.  I think I paid around $170 or less for it.  It will receive all non encrypted analog and digital OTA and Cable signals.  The incoming signal is down converted to what can be recorded on a standard DVD-+R or DVD-+RW disk.  The out put of the receiver is then re-up converted to what ever you set it to, 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i.  The image is a little softer than what the same signal looks like from a true HD receiver.  But like I said it's not bad.  Any program, HD wide screen or standard def. can be recorded to a standard DVD and played back with no visible loss of quality.  It has an electronic program guide for OTA.  You can set programs to be recorded from the guide.  I believe it also can do time shifting.  But don't quote me on that.  If your looking for a way to record HD programs, or any programming for that fact, digitally at a reasonable cost.  Take a look at this unit.

http://cnet.nytimes.com/dvd-recorders/samsung-dvd-ar650/4505-9141_7-32432864-2.html

[TAS]

http://cgi.ebay.com/9000HD-HIGH-DEFINITION-HD-TV-SATELLITE-FTA-RECEIVER-PVR_W0QQitemZ120238823901QQihZ002QQcategoryZ67888QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

does fta hd also