Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a Digital Video Recorder that records to a removable SD (or micro-SD) memory card? Hopefully, it would sell for a reasonable price and have a small footprint such as the size of a paperback book and have a remote control. It doesn’t absolutely need to have a built-in tuner; I’ve got digital TV converter boxes that output a video signal and audio. I’d like to record programs in one room but view them in another. It would need the ability to set up times to record programs. I don’t want a DVR that requires me to pay for a subscription service such as Tivo I currently use VHS recorders for this but would like more flexibility and better video quality.
For about $25 you can get a digital converter box about the size of a paperback. These record to any standard USB interface, including thumb cards or external hard drives.
If , for some reason, you must use an SD card rather than thumb drive or external hard drive, you can buy an SD-USB adptor for about $15.
This would seem to be the cheapest solution that meets your requirements. It’s stand alone, has programmable recording, comes with a remote control, and is reasonably compact.
I’d be interested to know what format the above box saves files as. Does it convert them to analog first? Otherwise it seems like it, and any other removable-media DVR, would run afoul of the DMCA…
The ones I have seen save as Mpeg files. They all have their own proprietary extensions, but they work perfectly if just renamed as .MPG or if the file is associated with any Mpeg player.
No idea what the legal ramifications are, but they are sold openly by big name retailers, so apparently there are no problems.
Completely digital. I have one of those and it saves files as .mts and can record in 1080i. You can play them on your computer using VLC Player.
Or, as noted above, you can associate the file with *any *mpeg player, such as Windows Media Player or Nero. So long as the player has the mpg codecs, it automatically detects the actual format and selects them.
The Ematic AT103B sure looks like what I am looking for. I wasn’t able to find this myself using Google. I ordered one and if it works as advertised I’ll buy a couple more. An SD card would be more convenient but a USB thumb drive is a good second choice. 
Note, my post was not a recommendation for that particular device. That was just the first one of an appopriate size that Google image search threw up. I know nothing about the specific device.
I have had experience with several others brands, and they all work just fine, so I assume this one will as well.
Do these devices bypass the copy protection on digital HD signals or down convert to lower resolution analog?
Mine is part of a digital to analog broadcast TV converter. It picks up free local OTA channels, which are public and recording these signals should be as legal as recording with a VCR. They serve the same purpose as they are used for timeshifting programs to watch at a more convenient time.
The one linked to has RF-IN, RF-OUT, and HDMI-OUT (but not IN) and VCR cables (L-R-Composite) out. So you can only record over-the-air broadcasts from RF cable. Feed from a cable converter box, DVD/BR player, etc.? Typically HDMI or RGB nowadays - no way to feed it into this box, it seems. If your cable box converts to old-fashioned Channel 3 or something, maybe.
Missed the edit window:
Since it picks up free OTA broadcast signals, there’s no copy protection to bypass, and as noted, it does record at the resolution of the channel it’s tuned into, 1080i, 720p, or 480i.
Any box that does that is likely to be putting out an SD signal for older TVs without HDMI or component video inputs. There was a thread about this recently.
There are devices that will bypass the encryption, though. Any decent splitter will bypass it. I’m not entirely sure why they bother with encryption, really.
Here’s the thread asking about how to record the component signal at high resolution:
Are there TV RF modulators which output digital/HD on channel 3
There are boxes which convert the component signal to HD on channel 3, but they cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. The typical consumer product instead outputs lower-resolution NTSC.