DVR/Tivo ideas. VCR died!!

Ok, my 10 year old VCR died like 9 years ago. Guess i will pitch it out soon.

Kinda stuck here. I have no Land Line phone service here. But it looks like Tivo needs to use the phone lines.

I am in need of a DVR or even a DVD recorder that will work like a VCR.
No need for any fancy VCR PLUS+ guide or any thing. If i can set the time to record and channel i am good.

Thanks
Rob

I believe that TiVo only uses the phone line to get the program timeline. Without that, you wont be able to tell it to record particlar shows, but you appear to not need that. I would think you could still tell it what time and channel without the phone lines though. Wish they had a way for it to check via internet or something as well...

-C

I have a Pioneer DVR, the dvr420h-s. Don't think they make this particular model anymore, but they probably have something similar. I have been very pleased with it. It has a 80gb hard drive, will record to either the hard drive or a recordable dvd. Editing stored video is a pretty easy and burning that video to a dvd is very easy.

I did not want to go the Tivo route. I am capable of looking up the shows I want to watch and programming them into the DVR. I don't want to pay a monthly fee to Tivo to do that for me. Tivo also maintains a little too much control over the process for my tastes, such as having the capability to flag broadcasts so that they auto-delete off the DVR after a certain period of time. I was also concerned about what would happen if Tivo goes bankrupt.

Some of the newer DVR's are offering similar channel information services as Tivo, but for free. The channel guides are broadcast on one of the channels and the DVR reads this information so you can display what is on T.V. without having to look it up.

I have been using tivos for 6 years now and definately recommend them. A survey revealed the tivo as one of the most loved home appliances and I agree.

The tivo can be setup to update via the internet using the home media option (series 2 and up). However, I suspect it is more difficult to get ethernet to your console than a phone line.

If you get directv + tivo (what we use and I definately recommend it), it uses the sat feed for the program data. Although the tivo can operate without that data, it seriously reduces the utility of the system not having those updates.

I modded my latest tivo, a dual tuner hughes directv model with a larger harddrive, ethernet connection, tivoweb, tytools, bash, caller id, etc. Watching tv with anything else than a tivo is just uncivilized.

The single biggest benefit is the ability to watch a show how you want and with minimal futzing. For a given set of shows (mostly sci-fi for me), the tivo has saved us hundreds of hours in commercials skipped. Although any vcr or dumb dvr can record a show, the tivo automatically accounts for schedule changes, overuns, finds similiar programs, resolves schedule conflicts, etc. This level of automation really is a time saver. Once you use it, the difference with this an a simple timer-based recorder is obvious.

Peter

My TIVO, and I believe pretty much all series 2, has usb ports to connect a wireless adapter. If you have a wireless network in place the TIVO never needs a phone line...

If you get one that includes "TIVO basic" it will do everything you are asking for with no monthly fee.

Well crud. no Wireless network or any internet at the house that is.
I use the verizon air card in my notebook and it goes with me on the road.

Looking into the pioneers at the moment. Looks like they are gonna be kind of hard to get ahold of. Wlamart online has a unit with the TV guide. But still searching. I like the idea of a DVR with DVD burning.

Rob

Does your laptop have wi-fi? You may be able to adhoc with the tivo through a usb to wifi adapter. The wifi and the air card would each have their own ip address with xp handling the internet sharing. If your laptop already has a dvd burner, then that gives your more choices of dvr. Figure the average 2 hour program is going to take about 1.6gigs and will transfer slower over a wireless connection but should still transfer fast enough to stream in real time.

Dvd is becoming obsolete. Why not store the programs on your network drives? We keep most of our movies and all of our regular shows on the network. Removable media is a temporary fad.

Peter

Gransee said:

Does your laptop have wi-fi?

Peter

Click to expand...

no built in WiFi now it died

Could buy one of them USB wi-fi's

Or just buy a new laptop.

Rob

hmm. USB to wifi and back to usb? That's going to be slower still. Ok for simple updates but archiving programs, loading them on your laptop for watching your programs on the road, etc is going to be slower.

Do you have cable, ota (over the air) or satellite?

If the laptop had built-in wifi and that failed after working fine for a long time (versus infant mortality), then there is a possibility that if that failure was stress related (dropping, surges, etc), that other parts of the laptop may also fail soon. It may also work fine for years to come.

I assume since you have a cell modem that you are on the road alot so using a tv to usb interface to record your programs to your laptop is not going to work for your situation. You probably prefer a stand alone box that can manage things while you are away and present them as little digital gifts when you get home.

Usually, the program listing can be downloaded for the next 2 weeks. As long as you are not away longer than that, it should grab all your programs on time. Although, it is better to update more often just in case the lineup is changed at the last minute.

To bad we can't yet get all of our tv programs via the internet. Pay for what you watch, ignore the rest. The hardware would be a bit more straightforward.

If your typical use is just 1 or 2 programs that don't change much each week, then a simple timer-based dvr should be fine. But if you watch more than that and the programs sometimes change and especially if you have satellite or digital cable, you can get a program based dvr usually for pretty cheap with your service. For example, direct tv had a promo going where you could get a tivo for $50 and the program data is $4.95/month (regulary $12.95/mo). I don't know what the current specials are.

Peter

Your problem sucks man! I can't concieve of life without my Tivo! Though it HAS done a couple things to make me VERY angry....

Though I keep a season pass to things like 24 and BattleStar Galactica it screws up once in a while and I never saw the last BSG last season...

Edit: I hardly EVER watch purely live TV. I scan the saved list and watch able to blast through the commercials!

Get a standalone PVR with a built in hard drive. I got my Liteon model???? over a year ago and absolultely love it. Has a 160gig hard drive. Set it up to record just like a regular vcr and let it do its thing. :rock:

http://www.mythtv.org/
Just need a TV tuner card for your PC.

Take a look at SageTV, it's a software PVR with many options that uses hardware encoding tuner cards like Hauppauge PVR150. I've been using it for almost 2 years with a single tuner card in my office with a DirecTV D10 receiver. Timeshifting, Placeshifting, Tivo-like future recording, all the bells and whistles. I have a DTV R10 Tivo in the living room, and I prefer the SageTV setup. Only thing that prevents me from converting the living room TV is the Wife Acceptance Factor, Sage use requires a brain.

Rob

The easiest thing for you to do would be to get a new VCR. They are dirt cheap these days.

I would love to have a DVR but cannot get one with our cable. I tried the Panasonic version of TIVO but without a phone line you could not program it to record it all, just to fast-forward live TV, so I had to take it back.

Nothing is easy- our house has 5 TV's, all of them small and fairly old, and 2 VCR's. We have plain analog cable, otherwise we would have to have cable boxes or satellite decoders for each TV AND VCR. Maybe we are too addicted to TV, but sometimes, like tonight, we watch one show while recording 2 others, hence 2 VCR's. We could do this with 2 Satellite DVR's, but it might take 3 TIVO's. With our VCR method, I've got 21 tapes setting on top of our den TV, containing shows that we have been recording since September. I'm still several episodes behind on "Lost" and "Invasion".

I have the Panasonic DMR-EH50 and have been happy with it. A bit of a learning curve at first, but once you get the hang of it it does very well. Once you learn which buttons do what, it programs just like a VCR. I don't have cable, just an antenna, so I can't comment on the TVGuide feature.

I have a Dish Network w/PVR with some shows I'd like to burn to a disk on my PC. What card do I need for my PC?

TIA

bjn70 said:

The easiest thing for you to do would be to get a new VCR. They are dirt cheap these days.

I would love to have a DVR but cannot get one with our cable. I tried the Panasonic version of TIVO but without a phone line you could not program it to record it all, just to fast-forward live TV, so I had to take it back.

Nothing is easy- our house has 5 TV's, all of them small and fairly old, and 2 VCR's. We have plain analog cable, otherwise we would have to have cable boxes or satellite decoders for each TV AND VCR. Maybe we are too addicted to TV, but sometimes, like tonight, we watch one show while recording 2 others, hence 2 VCR's. We could do this with 2 Satellite DVR's, but it might take 3 TIVO's. With our VCR method, I've got 21 tapes setting on top of our den TV, containing shows that we have been recording since September. I'm still several episodes behind on "Lost" and "Invasion".

Click to expand...

Thats why you need to get a "standalone" "PVR" you dont rent them and they dont require a pay service such as tivo. Theyre just like a vcr except they record to dvd and the built in hard drive.

Like tree and dbhs suggested......
I picked a used stand alone JVC HM-HDS1 a year ago. It needs no subscription, has no TV guide, but has VCR+ for BOTH of it's functions. (S-VHS and HDD)

It's a single tuner 40 hour PVR sharing a chassis with an S-VHS vcr. It records and copies both ways, and works almost exactly like a standard vcr, even when using the hard drive. It does not have any DVD function but I really like it's picture quality and it's ease of use. SUPERIOR VCR results also. I paid like $240. from eBay for it. They come up for auction from time to time....