I’d like to get my wife a DVR for Christmas but I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for. We have basic cable (not digital) and I don’t really want to have to subscribe to something like Tivo and pay the monthly fee. I really would want to be able to record one show while watching another, so something with a tuner would be good.
Any suggestions?
I’m sure people will recommend great stand alone units for this, so instead I’ll give you another option.
It doesn’t take too much computing muscle to record non HD TV content so you can put either your main PC to the task by getting a TV tuner, or either build or purchase an older PC for $80-$150 and add a tuner to it. You’ll get the benefits of a DVR, plus the ability to easily upgrade your storage, and the ability to copy your DVD collection/music collection, etc unto it.
If those bonuses do not appeal to you however I would then recommend a stand alone unit, which I don’t know much about so I’ll let the pros give you suggestions for those.
IMO, TivoHD is worth it, it’s only $12 a month. Very intuitive and polished interface.
Otherwise the only simple solution I know of is the DTVPal DVR, it’s about $250 but isn’t out yet. There are also DVD recorders with hard drives, but I don’t know much about them. From the reviews I’ve read they don’t sound very user-friendly, but more so than a VCR.
I just this year bought a Philips DVR that has a hard drive and I absolutely LOVE it!!! The model number is 3575H and I got it online from Circuity City for about $300 (I think) after shipping and taxes. I believe the unit itself was $240.
I found this unit to be very easy to use and I now hate my old VCR (but I still use it as I have a ton of shows on at the same time, it seems!)…
You can record to DVD or Hard drive. You can watch DVDs while a TV show records, and you can watch TV like usual on one channel while the DVR records another. If you watch TV using the DVR, you can pause live TV and pick up where you left off – however, that show is not saved to the drive to watch later. As soon as you hit Stop, it’s gone. Found that one out the hard way. But, no biggie, I just use the regular record feature and then I’m guaranteed to get my show!
You can even copy the recorded shows to DVD, if you want.
I went to see if I could find the page about it, but they’ve changed the model # to 3576.
See this link for more info:
http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/en/us/consumer/cc/_productid_DVDR3576H_37_US_CONSUMER/Hard-disk-DVD-recorder+DVDR3576H-37
This is where I’m a bit unclear on what exactly I need to look for. The link says it has an SDTV and can also receive NTSC signals. Does that mean it will work with my standard cable signal? Or do I need to hook it up to an antenna?
I would second the Tivo option.
Brynda and I bought one about 4 or 5 years ago and have loved it ever since. One option which we took advantage of was to sign up for the Tivo service for the life of the unit. The price was a one time fee which was the same as the cost of the unit. Based on the length of time we have had our unit, we are way ahead or where we would have been had we paid the monthly subscription.
I have not used any other DVR service, so I don’t know how the features compare, but I like the Tivo features (I’m sure there are comparable ones on other units).
Put me down as a huge Tivo fan.
What does subscribing to TiVo get you that just getting a DVR won’t have? Since we are on basic cable, we don’t really need some of the features such as finding similar shows or even searching every other channel for when a particular show is on. I’ve heard lots of great things about TiVo but I don’t quite get what I get for $600 from them (the unit + lifetime subscription).
Perhaps this is a silly question, but will your cable provider not rent you one? It’s usually about $5 a month or so.
According to the comcast website, DVRs are available to digital cable subscribers. I haven’t asked that specific question, though.
We bought an LG DVR last year (LG is the brand name), and I have really regretted it. It started having trouble recording programs just as the one year warranty ran out - we now have about five shows each week that it won’t record - it gives us a “Signal blocked for recording” error (other people in Calgary recording the same shows on a different brand of DVR have no problem). It also burns movies onto disks that we can’t play on any other DVD player. Next time I rent. On the other hand, we have a Sony dvd player that is six years old and going strong, with no problems at all. For what it’s worth.
That would be a decent option, probably. I don’t know how good the Comcast DVR interface is.
Tivo is good in my opinion because the interface is intuitive and polished. Friends and family have sat down and been able to figure out what they’re doing in only a few minutes. When you set up a Season Pass to a program, it just works, even if the program switches to another day or time. You do need to have Tivo hooked to an Internet connection, or a phone line if you don’t have broadband.
TivoHD has two tuners, so you can record two programs at a time, assuming your cable setup supports that. If you need a cable box to see your channels, then the Tivo will only be able to tune to one channel at a time. You can also watch a program while two other programs are recording.
I love TiVo and have two, but I would strongly recommend you go ahead and pick up a DVR box from your cable company. It will be cheaper and less hassle. Having both types of DVRs in my house, I find that the UI on the Time Warner (formerly Comcast) Motorola DVR is not nearly as good as the TiVo, but it’s good enough and much better than some others I’ve seen. It has dual tuners that will allow you to record two shows simultaneously, or record one while watching another live, or even record two shows while watching a previously recorded third show. It allows you to set recordings similar to TiVo, with somewhat less sophisticated options, and recurring options similar to TiVo’s “season pass”. It will give you all of the digital tier channels (yes, you’ll have to pay for them, but TiVo isn’t free either) and will give you HDTV when or if you end up getting an HDTV display. It will also make you immune to future cable changes such as SDV or reduction of analog availability of channels, either or both are inevitable eventually.
Yes, there are cheaper options (setting up a PC, buying a DVD recorder, etc), but IMO the most hassle-free and rewarding option is to just let your cable company take care of it.
I think you can buy a TiVo and use it without a subscription. It essentially turns into a VCR for recording, though you can still pause live TV.
The subscription gives you the TV listings and the like.
At least, this is how it used to be. Please don’t take my word for it!
I’m pretty sure you’d have a lot of trouble doing it that way. As soon as you power on the box the first time, it starts asking for an Internet connection. After that they have you. I’m not sure if there’s any way to circumvent that. Let’s just say I’m cheap and would have gone without a subscription already, but was fairly convinced it wasn’t feasible.
This is FALSE for every TiVo with the exception of the very first units produced many years ago.
Good to know.