WWTBAM Bored

(from me, a few minutes ago):
Since I have an analog TV, & am not giving it up, I'd have to run the digital signal from the Phillips through a converter box to actually watch stuff on my TV in real time. If I've recorded the stuff to DVD, though, I can just play the DVD on my old, analog-output DVD-player built in to one of my VHS recorders. (I'd then have the problem of "but will these discs play"; my sister's Panasonic makes discs that do play on my Sony DVD player.) The Phillips would then be sort of a solution for me, but only if it tunes in #s that the stations are actually broadcasting on; it probably will, as the "astronomical # series thing" seems to be a cable-kludge.

ghostjmf wrote:What Estonut provided was a link to Amazon.com, mostly or all-ly. Those machines on Amazon are good machines; I should know, my sister has the Panasonic. However, they are no longer being made by their manufacturers. Many of them are used machines, & are advertised as such. My sister's very-used machine has been to a computer store at least once for hard-drive problems, so beware of used machines, even good ones. A few are listed as new; if you believe this on Amazon, then you believe this on Amazon. However, I doubt the manufacturer would honor the warranty coupon on a 5- or 7-year-old machine even if you just unwrapped the shrink wrap from a "really really unused" machine today. And I don't know how good Amazon dealers are at giving you their own warranties. (I obviously guess they are not very good at this. I'm not talking "money-back", I'm talking "replacement machines, or repairs".)

The Phillips machine macrae provided the link to is probably a better bet if only because Walmart will have to honor any replacement-machine or money-back warranty, even if the machine proves to be discontinued at Phillps itself. Store warranties usually only run for 30 days, though. At least at Sears; I admit I don't shop at Walmart if I can help it.

One world of warning, & its a big word: If you are planning to use this item as a tuner, it may not have "tuner numbers high enough" for where the broadcast is coming in. If you are attached to cable & are piping the cable into this set, you use the cable box to find the station & will be OK; but if you are for whatever reason depending on the machine you buy to find a station, it may be "out of numbers", depending on where in the numbering sequence your cable company puts a station. (My sister's cable company is currently piping the HD progams in on the 600+ number series, the digital but not high-def programs on the 200+ series, & the analog programs in on the low #series we all know. The Panasonic has an upper-limit on its tuner that is lower than the cable company's tuner. If you chose to use a connection that lets the cable-box tune for you, you get downgraded-picture-quality programs).

If you're like me, & don't have a cable company, & are tuning in broadcast signals, you have to be very sure that whatever you buy will be able to tune in whatever frequencies the signals are really being broadcast on.

Since I have an analog TV, & am not giving it up, I'd have to run the digital signal from the Phillips through a converter box to actually watch stuff on my TV in real time. If I've recorded the stuff to DVD, though, I can just play the DVD on my old, analog-output DVD-player built in to one of my VHS recorders. (I'd then have the problem of "but will these discs play"; my sister's Panasonic makes discs that do play on my Sony DVD player.) The Phillips would then be sort of a solution for me, but only if it tunes in #s that the stations are actually broadcasting on; it probably will, as the "astronomical # series thing" seems to be a cable-kludge.

bazodee wrote:What more qualified group of people exists to offer me some technical advice about DVRs?

I'm getting very conflicting opinions from the internet and big box store sales people.

I have a digital television with a built-in ATSC tuner. It's attached to rabbit ears and I get my digital reception just fine. Under no circumstances would I be willing to subscribe to cable, satellite or any pay service such as TiVo.

I would like to record shows from my digital TV frequently (usually BAM and Jeopardy). I need a device that will accomplish the following objectives (ranked in order of importance to me).
(1) Record programs and then watch them back. (I assume this is a DVR and it would need to have its own digital tuner). I would erase the show once I watched it; in most cases I do not want to burn a DVD. Given my viewing and travel habits, I would never need more than about 10 hours of programming to be recorded. Quality really isn't that important.
(2) In a few cases, burn these telecasts to a DVD (special events like Olympics, inaugural, friends on BAM)
(3) Also use the device to actually watch DVDs (and maybe VHS tapes). This would help consolidate the number of devices attached to the TV.
(4) Embark on a project to convert my own VHS tapes to DVD (personal use, not copyrighted material)

Is there anything out there that will meet all of these needs?
I realize that I could purchase a DVD burner and burn all the programs to DVD-RW disks but that doesn't strike me as an elegant solution.

I'd appreciate any insight you could offer.

Thanks... wayne

Oh? What's this then?: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QU ... B000QUN5HE

Yes, it costs an arm and a leg, but it's new, not used.

ghostjmf wrote:BobJuch says:

Oh? What's this then?: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QU ... B000QUN5HE

Yes, it costs an arm and a leg, but it's new, not used.

As with Estonut's references, its an Amazon link, is what it is. I just don't buy electronics from Amazon. New or used, because, as I said above (& other places), I don't trust the dealers on Amazon for electronics. I don't because I am not able to fix stuff myself. I know someone who is able to, & cleans up on Amazon, e-bay etc. But not me. And if I'm bringing stuff back to a store to get my money back, I'd like to be able to drive to the store, not to have to UPS stuff. I UPS stuff that doesn't work back to where-it-came-from all day at work, I know that weight costs.

I admit all I have bought so far on Amazon is year #1 of a TV show that wasn't being broadcast here, because it was advertised as "new" but sold for "used" price. It had new shrink wrap, but a disc #2 that played initially in English but with French subtitles showing. Fortunately, using my DVD player to turn off the subtitles did work.
I'd rate it as "probably really new, but not exactly in perfect shape; sort of a 2nds sale, but dishonestly not advertised as such". But certainly watchable. However, watchable for a DVD is not the same as watchable for a DVD-recorder/player, not by a long shot.


I do buy used electronics, of the audio kind historically, from a local shop that fixes stuff until its up to spec, & warranties the units. I don't believe the owner is doing hard-disc video stuff, or I'd go there. They do fix up non-hard-disc VCRs, but only the very high-end ones. Or, ones that were the very high end ones before the moving hand writ & moved on. And they're good, too, steady motors & all, don't need no steenking "tracking" to make the tapes play, but I'd bet don't tune in those high tuner #s!

First, you do realize you can't hook a recorder up to your TV and record shows from it, right? You'll need to have a device with a tuner and split your cable to it.

I have a digital television with a built-in ATSC tuner. It's attached to rabbit ears and I get my digital reception just fine. Under no circumstances would I be willing to subscribe to cable, satellite or any pay service such as TiVo.

Also, since TiVo leased through a cable company is generally upgradable to the latest version, why, if the cable company has such an offer, would someone who has cable want to buy their own TiVo?

ghostjmf wrote:But bazodee had said in bazodee's initial (I'm not just being me-C here, I really don't know bazodee's gender, not off the top of my head anyway) post:

DVD recorder/VCR unit is hooked up to DVR, which is hooked up to TV.

But bazodee signed bazodee's initial post as "wayne." I think it's safe to assume bazodee is a he.

Will this work if you have something on the DVR's hard drive, & want to zap it to the DVD recorder?

dimmzy wrote:I do it every day BUT ... and this may be a technical issue ... I basically PLAY the DVR "show" on my TV and then record the show I'm watching directly to my DVD recorder. So it's a real-time transfer, but I can edit out the commercials etc.

ghostjmf wrote:BobJuch says to bazodee:

First, you do realize you can't hook a recorder up to your TV and record shows from it, right? You'll need to have a device with a tuner and split your cable to it.

But bazodee had said in bazodee's initial (I'm not just being me-C here, I really don't know bazodee's gender, not off the top of my head anyway) post:

I have a digital television with a built-in ATSC tuner. It's attached to rabbit ears and I get my digital reception just fine. Under no circumstances would I be willing to subscribe to cable, satellite or any pay service such as TiVo.

Not to batter the point unmercifully here, but to batter it just a little, "under no circumstances" re cable/etc means what it means.

But if you just mean "hook up the line, which I guess could technically be called a cable, from your antenna to it", you are off that hook, & I remove the batter.

Big diff between bazodee & me is that bazodee has the digital TV, so will not need converter box by Feb 17th to watch programs on it.

Another big diff is that I am not making "cutting discs from VHS" a project unless I can upconvert the signal 1st to digital-like in a way that pleases me. Otherwise you'd get a really bad DVD.

Yet another big diff is that in my insatiable TV watching I find I need at least 2 simultaneous recording devices that can burn discs as well as record to hard drive, coupled with one live-watching device. (I now have 2 simultaneous VCRs, & of course a TV with its own tuner as well.) But I may make do with watching stuff on the web, when its on there, rather than hook up a 3rd converter just to live-watch.


Just to set the record straight-ish on TiVo: You can buy them without buying them through a cable-company, as I had thought. Because I had never, ever, ever seen them advertised except through cable. But they will not work without subscribing to a monthly-fee service for the program menus. Either that, or no-one who buys them, however they buy them, wants a VCR-like time/station/date menu, so haven't checked that option. TiVo doesn't advertise it, if they have it. I do want a time/station/date menu, & have no use for "click on program" menus; too many shows run a few extra minutes, or are time-shifted because they're on after a game. I prefer to tape a time block which I select.

Also, since TiVo leased through a cable company is generally upgradable to the latest version, why, if the cable company has such an offer, would someone who has cable want to buy their own TiVo?

Important to me, & it appears bazodee, note: TiVo does not offer anywhere I can see a model that records from its hard drive to DVD.

While a TiVo does not have a DVD recorder as part of it, you can always output it to one or do as I've done and hook both of them to an Ethernet router and transfer unprotected recording to your PC then edit and burn a DVD. That's what I've done for several BB's.

ghostjmf wrote:If you have a PC (or Mac!) at home & want to do that, I agree its the easiest "fix" for the mysterious lack of a DVD burner in TiVo (or DTVPal DVR). That lack isn't so mysterious when you note that "no easy burning of DVDs" means the media companies won't then be pressing charges because they think you might be able to burn a DVD of something copy-protected. Of course, the fact that you might be able to would mean their protections didn't work (or someone hacked them away). The media companies just don't care, these days, about VHS tape copies from a VCR.

What part of outputting a TIVO/DVR to a DVD recorder's input is "not easy" for you?