Question about DVRs

[zakkrusz]

So I was looking for one at my local Best Buy the other day and came away extremely disappointed. All the carry is the integrated kind that come with cable and satellite TV packages. I was looking for something a little more standalone like my VCR which just croaked on me, hence the switch. Something which I don't have to pay a stupid subscription fee to use.

Do they even exist? If so, can anyone recommend a good one and a place to find it?

 

[Spot's Meow]

As far as I know you have to pay a subscription fee for all of them. Going through cable or satellite service is usually much cheaper (I only pay $5 more a month for instance), but the quality can vary. And of course there's Tivo, but they are quite pricey. Honestly if you don't have cable or satellite already then your best bet is to just stick with a VCR.

 

[Prophet1701]

If you can find a used TiVo Series 1, they typically will operate as a digital vcr with no subscription needed (though you will get annoying reminder messages letting you know the subscription is out of date). You don't get any guide data (since that is what the subscription provides), but you can program based on time and channel.

 

[zakkrusz]

As far as I know you have to pay a subscription fee for all of them. Going through cable or satellite service is usually much cheaper (I only pay $5 more a month for instance), but the quality can vary. And of course there's Tivo, but they are quite pricey. Honestly if you don't have cable or satellite already then your best bet is to just stick with a VCR.

Wow, that's lame. I also looked at VCRs but all they had were those DVD/VCR combo players which I don't really want since I already have a DVD player with a nice audio system and it would be pretty redundant. It seems like my only option though.

I have digital cable but my bill is extortion as is. I was hoping for a simple standalone, one purchase device.

 

[Small White Car]

I have digital cable but my bill is extortion as is.

Well, check with them. Usually it's around $5 a month. At that rate it will take 5 years to reach $300, which is the starting price for a lot of the unorthodoxed methods. (Like using a computer with a TV input card.)

Plus, with computers you can only get the 'plain' channel as the higher up channels tend to be encoded with DRM that capture cards can't read.

Basically, the non-subscription methods will cost more and do less.

That's not a winning combination.

 

[Arrqh]

Plus, with computers you can only get the 'plain' channel as the higher up channels tend to be encoded with DRM that capture cards can't read.

Not if you run it through your cable box, which is what TiVo's do for digital channels anyway. It's also worth pointing out that the functionality of many of the DVRs is significantly less then what you would get with a third party solution, so while it may be cheaper I don't think it's really accurate to say that they're always do more.

If it's the only economical solution, then sure... but I've had some pretty big issues with all the cable company DVR's I've seen, largely stemming from what are some pretty horrible interfaces IMO.

 

[Small White Car]

Plus, with computers you can only get the 'plain' channel as the higher up channels tend to be encoded with DRM that capture cards can't read.

Not if you run it through your cable box, which is what TiVo's do for digital channels anyway.

Wouldn't you just be able to record the 1 channel the cable box is set to, then?

 

[Arrqh]

Plus, with computers you can only get the 'plain' channel as the higher up channels tend to be encoded with DRM that capture cards can't read.

Not if you run it through your cable box, which is what TiVo's do for digital channels anyway.

Wouldn't you just be able to record the 1 channel the cable box is set to, then?

Yes, which is what an IR blaster is for as it will let the DVR/recording device change the channel on the cable box.

It certainly isn't the most elegant solution to be sure, but it does well enough.