I Need Help (Gadget Help)

[gonzai]

So, I've been thinking of getting a DVR - reading about them, looking at stores and prices, etc but not feeling comfortable enough about them to pull the trigger. Due to circumstances yesterday, I no longer have the luxury of time - I need one, NOW. Thus I turn to the internet for help.

I know I need a DVR with a VCR combo - we have too many VHS tapes still floating around here, and the downstairs still records on VHS.

As I understand it, a DVR with its own digital tuner can record one channel while you watch another? If so, I need that. We often have 2-3 shows on at once we want to see.

The new television which occasions the need for the DVR appears to be a 1080i (the manual says nothing and my brother, who surprise-gifted us with said TV, doesn't know.) Therefore, I think an upconverting DVR would be a worthy compatriot to the new telly. So, desired, but not a dealbreaker.

The big question for me is in the actual recording. Do programs record directly onto a DVD, or do they record to a hard drive in the machine? If the former, is there any way to edit what goes onto the DVD (ie, cut commercials?) If the latter, do you record to the hard drive and then burn it to DVD at your leisure? Can things recorded to the hard drive be transferred to a computer instead? (I have plenty of portable and external hard drives, and I know how to make DVDs on my computer.) I've just never quite gotten the hang of this particular aspect.

I'm willing to pay a fair amount amount to get a machine that does what I want and will last a few years - up to around $300 or so.

With those criteria in place, what should I be getting/looking for? Any particular brands, models, or stores I should go to? I did look at Circuit City before they closed, but they only had floor models that you weren't allowed to test, and I'm not paying that amount of money to gamble, I want something under warranty that I can return if need be!

All advice is most appreciated!

Comments

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

A DVR records shows to a hard drive.

I've never heard of one with a VCR built in - they may exist (maybe you've researched it?) but I'd be surprised if they're easy to find; VCRs are dying out as a technology.

If you want a built-in DVD player/recorder, that's a different animal. I once had one with a built-in DVD recorder and it was pointless. This was several years ago and the tech may have changed, but at the time, the quality of the image was nowhere near as clean as what I would get if I .. um... ahem'd the episode on my computer and burned it to DVD. Plus, the DVR recognized copy protect software, so there was lots of stuff I couldn't record at all. And, I don't know what kind of TV set up you have, but I just have a regular TV and cable. Many stations broadcast widescreen shows in standard size format - i.e., they chop off the edges so that, say, Supernatural, which is a widescreen image, doesn't appear with letterboxing but loses part of the image on the sides. If you record that to a DVD, you still have the same problem- but if you... ahem the episode, you'll get the full widescreen.

If you have cable, I recommend contacting your cable company. Many of them offer DVRs instead of a regular cable box. You pay a higher monthly fee, but they work well, they coordinate well with your cable, you can record two shows at once, etc.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm confused, but what you describe as a DVD player/recorder is what my DVR is. It looks like a DVD player, plays DVDs, but it also records things to its own internal harddrive (not a harddrive in the sense that it's at all connected to my computer). It can also record/burn what I had previously recorded onto its harddrive onto a DVD, and it plays normal DVDs as well as DVD-Rs that I've made on my computer. Maybe there are different kinds of DVRs? This is the one I have.

ETA: I've been calling it a DVR because that's what it says on its body. But now I realize that it's a hybrid thing. NEVERMIND.

ETA2: I just pulled out its manual because I feel like I'm going crazy, and it calls it a "DVD Video Recorder". I guess that's why I thought all DVRs are like this one.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

What you have is a combo. You can also get a plain DVR - which has no built in DVD player. If you just say DVR with no further clarification, that's typically what you'd mean.

I was just saying that I don't think it's worth it to get the combo - i.e., it's better to just have a separate DVD player - because in my experience, the DVD record function is useless. But maybe it's different for you.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

the DVD record function is useless
Do you mean recording from the harddrive onto a DVD disc, or recording onto the player's harddrive as something airs? Recording onto a DVD looks exactly the same as it looks when you watch it on the harddrive. But recording onto the harddrive from the tv station is hit-or-miss in clarity, doesn't have as clear a picture as when I *ahem* things online. It's always watchable, and usually I wouldn't notice anything if I didn't have something clearer to compare it to. Othertimes it's perfectly fine. I thought it was just me or my reception, but you're saying that's how it is for most people with these?

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

I have found that the function that records TV shows to DVD is pretty useless - between copy protection and the fact that the quality was far inferior to what I could find online and the fact that some widescreen programs were broadcast in standard size and thus would be copied that way. So I never used that function. I never tried copying a DVD to hard drive I think because again, the copy protection made it impossible and I had nothing else I was interested in copying.

Anyway, that's what it was like for me, for a machine I bought in maybe 2005- maybe they're better now, but right now, I find an ordinary DVR (gotten through my cable company) plus a cheap all-region DVD player, plus my computer DLs, serves my needs.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

This machine I have is quite old, around or before 2005, possibly 2004. I think it might be on its last legs. There are probably cooler ones now. The way this one goes is that for making DVDs, there are 2 steps. 1) Record shows onto the harddrive. 2) Then transfer/record shows that have been saved to the harddrive onto a DVD--it calls it "dubbing" a disc on the program menu. As far as I know, I can't record anything straight to a DVD disc, bypassing the harddrive. You can also just watch things that are saved on the harddrive, without putting them on a disc. Unless I want to keep it on a DVD, I usually watch the show on the harddrive & then delete it.

Like you, I've also never been able to copy a DVD onto its harddrive, go in the reverse direction, because of copyright protection. But that never bothered me because I was mostly using it to record & watch shows that were airing.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

Mine probably functioned the same way - I'm just saying that some shows wouldn't record onto DVD because the machine detected copy protection, and even when it did record, the quality was poor. So for me, it wasn't worth it - I ended up only using the DVD part for playback, and if that's what you're doing to do, it's probably easier and cheaper to get a regular DVR (possibly through the cable company) and a cheap DVD player.

Let me clarify: Some shows are broadcast with a signal that some TVs and DVRs can detect that prevents recording onto a DVD. Like, Doctor Who on BBCA - I couldn't record it onto a DVD.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Hmm, thanks, I'll have to keep this in mind for when my current thing kicks the bucket.

I have to say, I am envious of people who can record more than one thing at the same time. Mine can't do that. So, since more people in my house want to watch The Office & 30 Rock, we record that instead of Supernatural, which is on at the same time. I'd love the magic power to record both channels!

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

re: your ETA.

An example of my machine's lameness: It can only record channels with up to double digits. (It literally only has 2 spaces for channel numbers.) So, around here BBCA is one hundred something (110, I think?), I can't record that. It's pretty lame. Because now there are some pretty cool high channels.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, this is why I think the cable company DVR is the way to go, if it's offered in your area. You don't buy it - you rent it the same way you do a cable box, only it's more expensive per month. And at least in my areas, you can record two things at once, and the channels go as high as you like. I mean, you use it instead of a normal cable box. In my area, there's no option for one with a DVD player.

[gonzai55.livejournal.com]

I took a look at that one - it's out of my price range and the tuner is analog, so that specific one is out, but Amazon referred me to a Toshiba that looks like it may be the sort of thing I'm looking for. The reviews are really contradictory though. http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-DVR660-Upconverting-Recorder-Built/dp/B00141AYWS/ref=pd_cp_e_2?pf_rd_p=413863501&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001415ENM&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0H8AT824NBRXP1E6CAGJ

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't rec mine, it's so old & outdated that Amazon doesn't even sell it--just had those links to sellers with used ones. The one in your link looks neat. And you found one with a VHS component!

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

giandujakiss's comment has confused me now to what a DVR is exactly. Can that Toshiba one act as a DVD player & play DVDs? I can't tell.

[gonzai55.livejournal.com]

The Toshiba is definitely both a recorder and a player, as they advertise it will upconvert standard DVDs, so it must be able to play those DVDs. That's one point where I haven't been too confused, I'm pretty sure most if not all of them play and record. Apparently not all DVRs will record all TV broadcasts though. And I have standard cable, but most listings for DVRs seem to be for people with antennas.

The Toshiba and a Panasonic model both keep coming up on lists of DVRs with decent customer reviews (although the reviews are all either really positive or really negative, the other brands are universally negative.) And they both come with and without the VCR. Right now it's looking like I'll get one or the other brand. The other possibility right now is to keep using the old VCR until FiOS comes to my area in a couple months, and then see what the costs are for Verizon and their DVR.