I have an older, analog one looking at the analog line output of a digital cable box:
Cable box -> DVR -> TV
The cable box selects the channel.
C Band satellite is set up like this:
Sat Receiver -> DVR -> TV
Again, the receiver selects the channel.
I have to set a timer for the receiver and another on the DVR.
From Time Warner, the DVR IS your cable box.
Same with Comcast; the DVR and the cable box are one and the same. Which is not to say that all cable boxes are also DVRs. Presumably they have ones that only serve as cable boxes.
BTW, a few years ago, Cablevision was looking into a system where they could offer a DVR service where the programs were stored at the cable company, instead of on a hard drive in the customer’s home. Presumably this would mean cheaper cable boxes and perhaps could also mean that they could maintain one copy of a program for all the customers who recorded it.
I got my first Tivo when they first came out, so although I may be off on the cost of the plan, I’m quite sure I didn’t pay $399. Perhaps I got in on a promotion. It was 10 years ago, so who knows? I certainly wouldn’t pay $399 for a lifetime plan now.
Can you edit the recorded program?
The DVD recorder with a hard drive can edit and dub, high speed duplicate from HD to DVD. The best of both worlds would have edit/dub capabilities with the convenience of TVIO, Dish Networks rip off of TIVO and the cable DVR being able to select programs from the screen.
Note that with a program called “Tivo desktop” one can copy programs from the Tivo to your computer (and vice versa). There are programs to convert the .tivo format to .mpg (a quick operation) and from there you can do whatever you want in terms of editing/burning/etc. You can fill up a 500Gb HD in no time this way. No time at all.
The only real plus of Tivo-type system over a standalone DVR is the programming features. You can find and schedule programs by title and such. If a program is shifted one week, it takes care of it. Things like that. While it can be used VCR-like and schedule by date and time (I do this for programs the DVR is too stupid to understand between first run and repeats), usually the networked programming feature is used.
And in return you get to donate an excessive amount of money to Tivo. A lot of people don’t like this so Tivo’s subscriber base has actually been decreasing the last couple of years. They are in danger of going into a death spiral given they’ve been on the edge financially since Day 1.
One big hit we’ve taken lately is that our dual tuner lost 80% of its functionality lately. The cable company turned off most of the old analog channels and you need a converter box to access them. But the DVR can only control one external box. (Despite having two methods of control: IR relay and direct connector.) Once the remaining analog channels are cut off, we’re down to a single tuner DVR. Ugh.
I have Comcast DVR and got it on a whim a few years back when it was just $8/month. It’s now $16, but it’s the best money I spend per month. If you think about it, that’s just two hours of a minimum wage job. We watch about 60-90 minutes of programming a night; at 10 minutes of commercials per half hour block, that’s 30 minutes of time saved per night. In my mind, it pays for itself. There’s no “find something to do during the commercials”, or get up and do dishes, crunches, go back to the computer. I find myself much more able to focus, stay focused, and finish the program, and go back to another task. The continual multi-tasking wears on your mind, IMO.
I don’t believe I can record to a separate DVD, though I’ve never looked into it. I believe there are options for multi-room DVR’s as well.
For me, the biggest benefit is not watching commercials. I think I’m a somewhat easily impressionable person when it comes to commercials, so the benefit is huge - I’m not lured by some doodad or new sandwich or what have you. For $16/month, I’m not spending money on the crap or being enticed/tormented by it as I previously was. If you have kids, this is a big bonus as well.
Actually, my comcast DVR can do all of those things; it does series recordings, where it records all new programs, all new and repeats, or all showings of the program at all. Most DVR’s has been able to do this for 2-3 years now. The only thing TiVo has that DVR lacks is the “suggestions” - if you like one program, TiVo may know another you like.
(On my post about Tivo-type systems.)
Which is why I said “Tivo-type” system rather than just Tivo. You have a Tivo-type system. Some DVRs are not like this and require completely manual programming.
No, it’s essentially for time shifting. You can fast forward through commercials and such, but you can’t really get at the saved program in any meaningful way, as far as I remember. I think you can record to VHS.
The benefits of a cable provided DVR/cable box over a VCR is the ease of use.
With a VCR you had to know when the show was on and program the VCR for the correct channels and start’stop times.
A cable/satellite provided DVR works in conjuction with the on-screen channel/show guide. You browse through the channel guide for today or any day in the future and just highlight and click the shows you want recored. Or if you want the same show recored everytime it comes on you pick that option.
Sure you pay a monthly fee but that pretty much covers the rental of the DVR and the interface of the cable companies on-screen guide with the DVR.
And as others have noted, the commercial skip feature of turning a 1/2 hour show into 20 minutes and hour long shows into 40 minutes is indespensable.
I have watched NFL games in 30 minutes and not missed a single play.
Thank you for all the responses. I’m not going to respond to everyone individually, but I will try to summarize what were the important points for me.
I currently have Time Warner as a provider, but in my area Time Warner recently took over from comcast so my cable box says “Comcast digital” on it. I looked at my bill and I am paying $8/month for the “digital cable” box. I’m pretty sure that this box doesn’t have DVR capability but I will be asking the cable company to find out for sure. I’m thinking now that I’ve looked at the bill that $8/month just for the cable box seems excessive, but I’ll discuss that with them.
Playing the cable company an extra monthly fee for DVR capability wouldn’t be cost-effective for me. Suppose it’s $8/month: in two years I would have paid the price of a stand-alone DVR, and the stand-alone DVR can still be used even if I go away from cable and to some other system like AT&T Uverse or satellite. I won’t be recording that many shows. It’s not that I think I’m too good for TV, but I just don’t have the time. Not that this is relevant, but I pay the bare minimum to my cable company, just enough to watch the channels that I could be getting for free over the air (I pay the cable company because otherwise my reception would be below average.)
If I want to record a show to the DVR and then burn a DVD, this means that I would have to buy, in addition to the DVR, a separate DVD burner?
If I buy a stand-alone DVR, this means that the DVR doesn’t really control the cable box, so if I want to record something at a certain time, I need to somehow make sure that the cable box is turned on and tuned in to that channel at the same time that the DVR is recording. And this would probably mean programming the cable box AND the DVR, or just leaving the cable box turned on (at the right channel) for the show to record. Is that correct?
With the cable box/Dish Network DVR, yes. With the standalone link I gave, no.
If a TV can tune the cable without the box, the DVR can. Premium channels would need the box.
It probably depends upon the cable company.
I think that you’re correct that you’d have to leave the cable box set to the correct channel, or you might be able to use an IR blaster so that the DVR can change the channel on the cable box. But a big advantage of the cable company DVR is that it’s integrated with the program guide and the cable box. So I can simply scroll through the schedule and click on programs I want to record.
And another thing. How many stand-alone DVRs are available? The last time I tried to look for such things, I couldn’t find very many, apart from the Tivo boxes, which require a $13/month subscription on top of the cost of the box.
I’ve used a Sharp and a Magnavox, much better results with the Magnavox.
Google “DVD recorder with hard drive”.
At one of the sites found from from carnivorousplant’s Google search, link, I found this article: The Case of the Disappearing DVD Recorder: Why DVD Recorders are Getting So Hard to Find
Their conclusion: because of recording protections that content providers (e.g. movie companies, HBO) include in their television signal, there are less things you can record, and even less things that you can record permanently. From the article: “[t]he era of widespread video recording of TV, cable and satellite programs we once enjoyed in the VCR era is slowly coming to end.”
I think a good match for the OP would be an older tivo with a DVD burner built in. A Humax DRT800 tivo with a previously purchased lifetime subscription. If you don’t mind getting something used that is. They come up on ebay fairly often. Probably in the $200-$250 range.
No monthly fee and you can burn your recorded tv shows to dvd, or input from a camcorder, etc.
That bodes ill. If I pay money to rent the Dish Network DVR and all the related fees, I want to be able to keep The Sand Pebbles when I record it. Steve McQueen films are chick magnets!
OK, I found a Magnavox DVD recorder with HDD at Amazon for $250. That’s OK, but it’s only one tuner and it’s not nearly as convenient as a Tivo box or a cable company DVR.
It is likely just for the digital box. DVR costs more usually, around $10/month.
It depends on the things you want the DVR to do. One option, if you don’t need an hd DVR, is to purchase one of the older model DVRs that come with a dvd burner and free lifetime tivo basic service. The tivo basic service is minimal, but may be enough for your needs. You would have to buy one of these DVRs used form ebay since they no longer sell them. Some examples are the Toshiba RS-TX20 and the Pioneer DVR-810HS. Those models will play/burn dvds, come with free lifetime tivo basic, and can be found for around $75 on ebay.
In all cases, you should be able to set up the tivo to control the cable box. They come with a tuner that will change the channels at the appropriate time so long as both units are on.
An older TIVO will be analog, and a new cable may very well be digital.