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Do you TiVo? VCR? DVD-R/RW?
Tue, 23 May 2006 18:00:51 -0400
rec.arts.tv
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tv wotcha...
Gene E. Bloch...
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Bill's News...
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ISTR that it was easy to turn off that "feature." And with it went
any need for the foolish thumb stuff;-0) However, I gave my life-time
(of the product BTW not the owner) subscription and recorder to a
friend the day that my cable supplier made the Motorola HD-DVR
available (originally $9.00 per month, no up-front charge nor
purchase, no minimum contract).
Gene E. Bloch...
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It is documented as easy to do. I could not make it work. As I said
above, when I failed, I called tech support and they failed too.
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The only thing I miss from the TiVo feature set was its acceptance of
"wish-list" info for shows or performers not currently in its guide.
The Motorola, as implemented, only allows scheduling of shows
presently within the 12 day guide period. When these shows go
off-season, however, they are not deleted from the schedule and thus
become a next season wish-list, if you will.
Also, TiVo is/was field upgradeable to larger drives, Motorola is not.
Gene E. Bloch...
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ReplayTV is too. When I did it, the box was limited (by its firmware or
its OS, I forget) to 137 GB drives, however, so I upgraded mine from 40
to only 120 GB. That should be enough, but you know how it goes :-)
I also obtained S/W to allow uploading files to a PC, which I have done
in order to make DVDs from shows. Not fast or convenient, really, but
easy enough.
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Christopher Helms...
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I don't. There isn't all that much worth recording on TV anyway.
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Wes Newell...
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On a pair of 300GB hard drives.
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Is there anyone left who still tapes them on VHS?
jayembee...
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Yes. Well, S-VHS. For the once in a great while that my wife and I need
to either record one show while watching another, or record something
because we won't be home, we usually stick a tape in one of our VCRs.
Typically, it's my wife who does this for the shows she watches that
I don't. Any show I want to have a "permanent" (until it comes out on
DVD) copy of I download, and usually watch that.
Monday night, for example, my wife taped the finale of ALIAS while
watching the finales of "24" and MEDIUM. I didn't get home until 10:00,
so I downloaded "24" (which I do anyway) today and watched it this
evening.
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tlhumm...
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DVD recorder. Panasonic DVD-RAM for stuff I won't save and DVD-/+R for
stuff I want to save. without a hard Disk DVD RAM gives you great
quality up to 6 hours and lets you pause and rewind live TV as you're
recording it. I use the DVD-RAM 90% of the time. Also the Panasonic
finalizes the DVD-/+R disks so the'll play back on other recoders even
if they don't support the - or + format.
BTW don't buy a Lite-On, went through three of them before giving up
and buying the Panasonic which is superior in every way.
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Christopher Helms...
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No, but I did find a 1987 videotape of the Letterman show last year,
complete with 1987 commercials. Between YouTube and a few other places,
I can catch anything interesting that managed to show up on TV with the
Bill's News...
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The Hauppauge units sold in the U.S. are analog only, S-Video is their
best quality input and MPEG1-layer 2 stereo sound their best audio
quality. That being the case, the units make increasingly better
captures as your signal source increases from SD to digital to HDTV.
At least the S-Video out from the Motorola DVR supplied by the cable
company produces better quality images as the source quality improves,
others may not. The MPEG2 video captured over S-Vid of a simultaneous
digital, or HDTV replay of a recording, on the Motorola rivals or
equals DVD quality on a 42" 1080p display. The only issue to be
addressed is scaling of letter-boxed videos in a 640x480 frame (which
is how widescreen HDTV appears via S-Vid). Only my PC connection to
the HDTV monitor will properly scale to the full 1920x1080, while the
last DVD player I used would only scale within the 640x480 window.
Options to "fill the screen" on either the DVD player or the monitor
itself are a joke, since they merely stretch the image horizontally.
So, I'd continue to recommend the Hauppauge capture devices until some
sort of HDTV capture becomes available in the U.S. And, I'd suggest
looking in to the Snazzi capture products, if you have enough CPU
power for what at least one of them is capable of. The component
input it uses might be a limiting factor in connecting to a cable box
which may only have one component output set. If your cable box also
has DVI or HDMI, then you'd need to be concerned that analog outputs
may be shut down when either of those connections is employed.
Perhaps someone who is using the Snazzi can comment on this?
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computer along with weird, obscure stuff and even music videos I never
could have taped. Paperback Writer, Becks 'Sissyneck' or The Breeders
'Saints' just don't make it to television most of the time. Basically,
the selection is better in cyberspace so I don't bother to tape things.
Plus, "rewinding" is much easier on the computer.
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Anon Nymous...
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DVD Recorder.. It's cheaper than Tivo and the media (the actual writable
DVDs are quite cheap too).
Mr. Finsky...
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I operate 3 VCR's in different rooms, all for time-shifting. All three
are easier to program than a DVR. I can watch in one room and view in
another, unlike a DVR. All three have commercial advance, which
automatically skip over commercials. 2 of the 3 list all the unwatched
programs when you want to find what to view, plus learning to use index
searching on a VCR is not that hard. These keep me from wasting money
on digital cable for the 2 extra channels worth having. I pay no TIVO
subscription fees. I have been using some of the same $2.00 tapes for
over ten years. If you have a brain, a good VCR (which I concede is not
and was not easy to find) is perfectly good for time-shifting. If I buy
movies, I like the packaging of a well-desined DVD.
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I'm gonna DVR the Stephen King movie on ABC tonight.. Desperation
something or another.
coley...
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what kind of dvr do you have? anyone have a DVR with a hard drive?
Tonester...
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All DVR's have hard drives.
Vocalize...
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Digital Video Recorders?. . . The three I have and the others I know about
have hard drives. I'm curious as to what you mean. If not onto a hard disc.
Rick Blaine...
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No longer in production, but still available:
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. . What?
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Keith Williams...
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I've had a LiteOn DVDR with a 160GB hard drive for a little over a
year.
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jgp...
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I like my Toshiba RS-TX20. 32-140 hours (best-worst quality) on the
hard drive. 1-8 hours on a DVD-R/RW (single layer). You always record
onto the hard drive, you can then copy one or more shows onto a DVD.
It includes Tivo Basic, the free (no monthly fee) stripped down version
of Tivo. They run about $250 on Ebay.
Two negative aspects are that it provides no editing capabilities (eg
to remove commercials) and the quality you record to the hard drive at
determines the quality you can put on the DVD. While I haven't tried
yet, I assume you can work around both of these by just writting to
DVD-RW and doing editing and/or recoding on a PC.
LeeAnn5ft...
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Any reason not to record on your Tivo and dump the data out the USB to a
DVD recorder (standalone or PC)?
jgp...
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I don't believe Tivo lets you do that. The only supported way to get
non-protected video out of the box is to the internal DVD writer.
Rich Clark...
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Not true, unless I'm misunderstanding you. TiVo-to-Go is a TiVo feature
supplied specifically to allow you to move recorded programs from the TiVo
to a PC on your network, where it can be viewed or burned to DVD. It
requires a Series 2 TiVo or later. I do this frequently.
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There are other methods of video extraction discussed in the various
Tivo hacking groups but they all sounded complex enough that I decided
to just buy an RS-TX20.
If there is some easy approach I'm missing I'd love to hear about it. I
have a bunch of stuff on an SD-H400 that I'd like to copy to DVD.
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ANIM8Rfsk...
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Um . . . anybody have a DVR that DOESN'T have a hard drive?
Seth...
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Some are DVD-R/RW only with no hard drive.
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Clark W. Griswold, Jr....
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Yep. I have a Liteon 5005 that will record direct to DVD and does not have a
hard drive. Works very well... I also have a Dish Network receiver with a HD...
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Scott en Aztlán...
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I'm assuming you mean one that records directly to a DVD-R disc?
I wouldn't want one like that. First of all, a hard drive is a lot
more forgiving of minor glitches than a DVD-R (I've got the coasters
to prove it) - if your direct-to-DVD-R recording session hoses up,
that's it - that recording is lost forever. At least with a HD-based
DVR the show will be saved correctly, and you can retry the DVD burn
if it fails. Second, I wouldn't want to archive EVERY show I watch
onto DVD-Rs - that would be a pretty expensive way to time-shift, say,
the evening news, sporting events, daytime soap operas, or anything
else you want to watch once but don't want to keep forever.
Perhaps I'm missing something, and these non-HD direct-to-DVD DVR
units have found a way to mitigate these issues?
Alan Moorman...
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Yeah, if you buy blank DVDs in stacks of 50 or 100 they only cost
about 79 cents apiece.
A non-HD recorder for video would either be VHS tape, or a DVD
recorder.
I doubt if there is any way to mitigate those issues -- except that
VHS is pretty forgiving. As long as the machine starts recording and
stops recording at the right time, you should have a watchable tape.
Not as high quality, of course, but it should be there.
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Randy S....
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I wouldn't say it's quite as bad as the poster makes it out to be (it's
certainly possible to use DVD+-RW's at least and use them over and over
again, rather than archiving them), but most of the points made are
valid. The key is cost, DVD burners w/out harddrives are significantly
cheaper than those with HDDs, and that's good enough for some folks.
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ANIM8Rfsk...
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See, I wouldn't call a DVD recorder with no hard drive a DVR. That's why I
neillmassello...
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Neither do electronics retailers, from what I can see. "DVR" is used to
designate a device with a hard drive, whether or not it may also have a
DVD drive. A device without a hard drive is referred to as a "DVD
Recorder", never a DVR. Not strictly logical, given what DVR stands for,
but it seems to be the current usage in the industry.
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asked.
Randy S....
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No, that why you wouldn't *buy* a DVR without an HDD, not why you
wouldn't call it a DVR. Anything that records video digitally is a dvr
(hence digital..video..recorder). Just because you don't like it (and I
would tend to agree with that sentiment) doesn't mean it's not a DVR.
Typically the straight to DVD DVRs have been popular because they're
relatively cheap at $100-$150 or so, compared to DVR's w/ HDDs and DVD
recorders that start at $300 and up.
Randy S.
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Bob Ward...
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What DO they record, then, if not igital ideo?
Wes Newell...
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Actually, they record NTSC analog video in a digital format. They sure
Scott en Aztlán...
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Semantics. A DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorder takes an analog signal,
runs it through an Analog-to-Digital Converter, and records the
digital data onto the tape oddly enough as an analog signal (magnetic
flux changes). Nobody would argue that what is being recorded is
anything other than digital audio.
The only difference between a DVR that records the ATSC or DVB digital
data stream and one that digitizes an analog signal is where the ADC
takes place. In the former case, it takes place at the broadcaster's
uplink; in the latter, it takes place in your DVR. In all cases, it is
digital video tht is being recorded onto the medium.
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won't record native ATSC digital broadcast as I do. Although I think DVR
would still describe them since they are digital video recorders even if
the signal they get is encoded to a digital format. I assume the newer
HD-DVD recorders will record ATSC broadcast, but that's just a guess since
I've never had a desire for one and don't care.
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Bob Ward...
Clark W. Griswold, Jr....
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There's very little OTA material that I want to record, so I use the DVR feature
of my sat receiver to record to HD, then replay to the DVD recorder for archival
purposes. If I had cable, I would get a Liteon 5045 or equiv, which does have
the HD builtin.
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Darrel Christenson...
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Yep, Panny E50.
drc :)
ANIM8Rfsk...
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That's a DVD recorder, right? Not a DVR?
Seth...
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DVR = Digital Video Recorder. It's not specific as to what medium it
records to. Can be hard disk or DVD as long as it is digital and records.
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sj...
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Panny EH75V here. :o)
ANIM8Rfsk...
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How does a Panasonic EH75V not have a hard drive?
sj...
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Ooops. It does - 80GB. Sorry -- thought I was replying to the original
question! :o)
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coley...
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well i thought some just recorded on discs, not on the machine itself..
sorry for asking a question.
ANIM8Rfsk...
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Sorry, nikki, I wasn't picking on you; I was serious. I wouldn't call a DVD
Anon Nymous...
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i have a cheap DVR that I bought at target last year for under 100
bucks. The brand name is TRUTECH.... But hey it still works. It takes DVD+RW
Alan Moorman...
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As, you should call this a DVD recorder.......
then we know what you have.
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Alan Moorman...
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Anyone who has a DVD recorder . . . .
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recorder a DVR, but from the other replies it looks like some people do.
Alan Moorman...
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Right! A DVD recorder is a DVR, but a DVR is not necessarily a DVD
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Dave...
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Yes, and there are no fees (monthly, upfront or otherwise) and it's not tied
to any content provider. Pioneer DVR633HS. -Dave
Seth...
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Yes, there was an upfront fee on your Pioneer, the purchase price.
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Alan Moorman...
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I 'time shift with on VHS.
I play movies on DVD (from Netflix, mostly).
Some day, I'll probably have something more elaborate, but only when
they are really cheap and easy to use. (Note: Any system that
requires a monthly fee is not 'really cheap' in my book!)
John Theune...
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I find it interesting that you are willing to pay a monthly fee to
netflix but not to Tivo. Why is that?
Alan Moorman...
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On Fri, 26 May 2006 10:06:01 -0500, Mike Berger
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Alan Moorman...
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Thank you, Mike. That's the answer!
John Theune...
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But without the abilty of Tivo to find the content that is delivered by
cable or broadcast you don't access it. I really don't think you can
compare the ability of Tivo to find content for you with a Vcr. You are
paying for the search engine capabilties of the Tivo.
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trike...
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We still do that. The main reason being that I've long given up being
an early adopter, and only replace broken or completely-outmoded
technology.
me...
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I'm curious..... why is that above?
Serious question?
trike...
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8-track tapes. Never again.
Fortunately, I learned my lesson before committing to either Betamax or
VHS, and I never fell for laser discs because they struck me as the
8-track tapes of the digital world. Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? I'll let time
and the market decide. Until then, VHS is fine.
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The only exception was moving from a 25 inch TV to a 37 inch about 8
years ago. Prices dropped so drastically that the 37 incher was
actually *cheaper* than the 25 we'd bought just a few years before.
When HDTVs come down in price similarly, then we'll rotate one in and
the 37 will take the 25's place in the bedroom.
We have two VCRs we bought about 6 years ago for $40 each that still
work fine, plus an earlier model that is fully functional. It's not
the viedo/audiophile's dream system, but for taping CSI and My Name Is
Earl for later viewing, it's fine.
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Darrel Christenson...
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Direct to dvd-r from digital cable. But I still have
vcrs and can tape something for someone if they need
a hand.
Richard Evans...
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I too have a DVR, with two tuners. I routinely find myself wanting to
record more than two shows, so also have a VCR. It would take four
tuners to keep me really happy.
shawn...
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Really? Do you find you need four tuners on a regular basis? For me,
Richard Evans...
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Three would do it 90% of the time. Conflicts arise between what I want
and what my wife wants. If it was just me, three would be adequate.
Tonight, for instance, I want Stephen King's "Desperation" from 8-11,
"House" from 9-10, and "Overhaulin" from 9-10. Throw in whatever my
wife wants, and the conflicts expand.
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three tuners would be just about perfect. Every so often I will come
upon an occasion when I might wish for more, but it's no more than 3
or 4 times a year. While I find myself needing three tuners at least
20 times a year. (Though I am able to fill in the lack by recording
some shows when they repeat or downloading the shows, if necessary.)
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Steve Meyers...
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4? u think you're Charlie Sheen?
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drc :)
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rdclark...
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I currently use TiVo for most time-shifting, and the TiVo-to-Go feature
to transfer recordings to my computer for DVD archiving.
We still use an S-VHS VCR in those instances when we need to reford two
things at the same time.
Our system is still all-NTSC, so I'm resisting spending any more money
on recorders until we make the transition to DTV.
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LindaY...
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Incidentally, just got a new HD antenna and receiver from Dish. Did not
get the DVR--I really should have asked the price, but I didn't, just
ordered the plain receiver--but the receiver itself can be programmed
to record to your VCR as long as the VCR is on and has a tape in it.
All you have to do is find the program on the schedule and tell it when
(once, weekly, daily) you want it to record; no programming the start &
start time into the VCR and it changes the channel on the cable box
automatically in case you forgot. Unfortunately I haven't figured out
how to get it to record to the DVD (same unit, Panasonic DMR-E75VS)--it
may not.
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Craig...
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Since I bought a VCR/DVD-R/-RW combo, I use the DVD-RW rather than VHS
tape. Not only is the quality better, but I can choose a recording speed to
allow (I think) 1, 2, 4, 8, or 10 hours of DVD recording AND when playing
back, the DVD player has a 30-second Commercial Skip so a few CM Skips and
I'm back to my show, something I can't do if recording on tape! I've seen
VCR/DVD Recorders (either DVD+ or DVD-) for as low as $150, so I'm happy. If
I didn't have some old VHS tapes, I'd even consider dropping the need for a
VCR/DVD combo and go just with a DVD recorder.
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chicagofan...
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Yes... there's one dinosaur here. I've been waiting 2 yrs, now, for my
cable company's promise of DVR service, which keeps moving out by quarters.
Bought a combo VCR/DVD player last year to get movies through NetFlix. I
refuse to pay them for a cable box and digital service *without* a DVR. :\
bj
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Curtis CCR...
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I still have a pile of VHS tapes, mostl;y children's programs, so there
is still a VCR in my stack. But I use the DVR in my Dish receiver all
the time.
I have had the DVR for three or four years I think - quite a while
anyway. Simple to use. From time to time I wish I had a dual tuner
model that could record two things at once - mainly during basketball
season when games conflict with the handful of shows we record. Most
of what record is for our kid... Sesame Street, The Wiggles, etc.
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bat...
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yes, go-video, which then cuts the commercials.
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me...
Wes Newell...
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I'm sure there are, but I went all digital HD a while back and the old
VCR's or Tivos won't record it. I did leave on vcr also hooked up to my
wife's TV for here old stuff, but she's never used it since I added her TV
to the MythTV network.
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JacquesZMonkey...
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I'm still recording with my Betamax.
When it breaks down and I have to take it to the shop, I use a tape
recorder and hire a courtroom sketch artist.
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