The rumor that they’re going to stop making VCRs has begun again, so it’s probably a matter of time before they really do stop making them. Since I enjoy taping shows to watch later/again, this doesn’t make me happy. I’m not interested in something like TVio that requires a monthly subscription, so my thoughts turn instead to DVD recorders.
You can hook them up to your tv and tape TV shows with them, right? Are there any that’ll automatically skip commericals? If not, I hope they work like a vcr and you can pause them when you want to…I know that some of them have hard drives, does this mean that it captures then burns later?
If anyone has one, I’d love to be educated about this machine, since I don’t really know much about them at all. obviously
Yes. Some use DVD-RAM (like my Panasonic), while others use DVD±RW. These formats can be re-used.
My Panasonic has a “Time Slip” feature which is like having a harddrive. You start recording on a DVD-RAM disc and you can watch the beginning of the program while it’s still recording. Sorta like a TiVo.
Yep. Just like any PVR.
You will find the built-in menu generating software leaves much to be desired (in mine, at least). Nothing fancy, just a list of what’s on the disc. It does have a character generator. There’s no options for sub-chapters, though. I use mine to copy stuff which I then transfer to my computer where I have a couple of different DVD authoring programs.
I’ve been slowly tranferring a lot of my old VHS tapes to DVD.
I bought one a few weeks ago, and I also have a sort-of Tivo (cable DVI). I have finally figured out how to record.
But if you just set it up like a normal VCR, you can put a re-writeable disc in and use it over and over, or put in a non-re-writeable disc and save it for posterity. There are DVD burners that also have a hard drive, so you can “record” without burning to a disc, and then burn to a disc if you want to keep the show.
And yes, it probably is the wave of the future…but maybe I shouldn’t mention the new blue laser disc format that is coming out soon that will probably make our current version of DVD’s somewhat obsolete…
I have a DVD-recorder with built-in harddisk.
I can record to harddisk then edit it to delete the commercials and burn it to DVD.
I particularly like the “Time Slip/Chasing Playback”-function, which allows you to watch a program while recording it, so you can put in on pause when you want to and Ffwd thru the commercials.