Anyone seen a Good plain jan Digital VCR that recorded to a hard drive, my Sony Hi-fi finely Died and I was getting annoied at having to find good tapes to record my shows on anyways I don't have a Tivo I don''t feel the need to pay 12.95 a month to have a tv guide I just want a vcr that recorded to a hard drive, with a timer No PIP no suer duper laser widget just a plain hard drive VCR anyone have a suggestion or shall I build a 2 u p4 system with a tuner card.

I don't think anyone makes one. Based on the previous recommendations here, I'd say that MythTV is probably your best bet.

There are actually a bucket-load of DVR solutions right now. All of them have some bells and whistles, but you don't need to use all of them. I can't name them all, but I'll try to collect some literature tomorrow (I'm at CES right now).

Bruno

Thank you I have looked at the Freevio and the mythTV both are a bit "beta" for my liking I could build a Windows media Center PC and do the same thing and have yet one more "GREAT" " Stable" Microsoft Product

Really don't need a full blown computer with a tuner card just to record tv but looks like all the no service ones I have seen are just a PC with a build in tuner.

I'd second a Myth box, but certainly over in the UK there are a couple of systems that do simple DVR. We had a Panasonic unit at work that was an HD with a DVD-R we used to use to timeshift BBC 3 on the local ringmain. In fact here it is....

I don't have a Tivo I don''t feel the need to pay 12.95 a month to have a tv guide

I think you may be missing the point about Tivo. What you said is comparable to someone saying "I don't need a $1500 computer in my car just to play an MP3 file."

The $12.95 a month service (combined with the Tivo, of course) is so much more than a TV guide. It is an intelligent programming service that accommodates itself to your particular preferences.

Once you tell Tivo to record a few programs (and you don't tell it to record "..Wednesday night at 9pm", instead you just tell it to record "West Wing" and Tivo will find it wherever or whenever it might be on) Tivo will start recording, all on its own, other programs that it "thinks" you might like. You'll never miss an episode of a show because you forgot to record it or because it aired at a non-standard day or time.

After a few weeks, you won't even look at the "TV Guide" as you put it, you won't even care what's in it because Tivo will have recorded everything you want to see. You won't ever watch television again, in fact -- you'll only watch Tivo because when you turn it on, you've always got 30 or 50 or 80 hours of programming you like and want to see stored on the Tivo -- more than you can ever find the time to watch.

You really need to personally experience the power and flexibility of the Tivo interface to appreciate it. It's like trying to describe to someone who's never seen an empeg why it is so much more than a CD changer. Spend 15 minutes playing with a Tivo and you'll see what I mean.

tanstaafl.

I also want a hard-drive VCR, preferably one with two tuners, and the capability of recording from both simultaneously. Pausing live TV also goes without saying.

But not Tivo, or any other subscription based thing. Especially not TIVO -- AFAIK they still don't have a program listing service here in Canada, so it would really be extremely useless here.

MythTV, here I come.. if I ever get enough time to set it up.

Cheers

Quote:
You really need to personally experience the power and flexibility of the Tivo interface to appreciate it.

Agreed. But I do agree with others that $13 a month + hardware is steep. I love it to peices, but I pay $5 a month for as many Tivos as I want to activate through DirecTV. I may not be as happy if I had to pay $13 x 2 per month.

Like this?

12.95 A month is 155.40 a year I could Buy 3 Vcr's per year with that money. Plus I don't have a Phone line here so I would need to add one or use the more spendy broadband Tivo and all to record 3 shows SImpsons if its new, enterprise and Myth Busters. seems kind of spendy to me. As for Tivo's great guide my friend has tivo and says 50% of the time the guide is wrong for discovery channel anyways



I think The $12.95 a month service (combined with the Tivo, of course) is so much more than a TV guide. It is an intelligent programming service that accommodates itself to your particular preferences.

Once you tell Tivo to record a few programs (and you don't tell it to record "..Wednesday night at 9pm", instead you just tell it to record "West Wing" and Tivo will find it wherever or whenever it might be on) Tivo will start recording, all on its own, other programs that it "thinks" you might like. tanstaafl.

Can't you just pay the one-off payment to Tivo?

It's the old thing. Great for people who value their time above a certain threshhold, not so great for other situations, necessarily.

Not ususally worth it, imo. By the time it is, you'd probably want a newer model.

Pace make a twin Freeview recorder, but it gets a slating here. The piece talks about the bug in Sky+ but mentions the Pace units at the bottom.

Hope this helps.

Well here in the UK there is only one model and probably always will be as Sky+ now seems to have taken over the recorder market