Updated info on DVR Advice

[bazodee]

I went ahead and ordered the Philips DVR/Hard drive/DVD burner. It seemed to be the only machine on the market that accomplished everything I needed.

As soon as I placed the order, I got the ominous "Back Order" message and then the vendor just called to say this model is no longer available and has been discontinued. He did say however, that Phillips was releasing a new model of a similar device right after the electronics show (that evidently is going on in Las Vegas).

So for those of you who want to receive digital over the air, record programs on a hard drive and have the ability to write the content to DVD, it seems that there is new hope. No details were forthcoming on the new Philips product.

-Wayne

[ToLiveIsToFly]

I went ahead and ordered the Philips DVR/Hard drive/DVD burner. It seemed to be the only machine on the market that accomplished everything I needed.

As soon as I placed the order, I got the ominous "Back Order" message and then the vendor just called to say this model is no longer available and has been discontinued. He did say however, that Phillips was releasing a new model of a similar device right after the electronics show (that evidently is going on in Las Vegas).

So for those of you who want to receive digital over the air, record programs on a hard drive and have the ability to write the content to DVD, it seems that there is new hope. No details were forthcoming on the new Philips product.

-Wayne

To say it again, I am able to do all of these things with a Pinnacle HDTV Stick that I bought on Woot for $65, the computer with DVD burner that I already had, and my tv.

[Jeemie]

I went ahead and ordered the Philips DVR/Hard drive/DVD burner. It seemed to be the only machine on the market that accomplished everything I needed.

As soon as I placed the order, I got the ominous "Back Order" message and then the vendor just called to say this model is no longer available and has been discontinued. He did say however, that Phillips was releasing a new model of a similar device right after the electronics show (that evidently is going on in Las Vegas).

So for those of you who want to receive digital over the air, record programs on a hard drive and have the ability to write the content to DVD, it seems that there is new hope. No details were forthcoming on the new Philips product.

-Wayne

I'm sure there'll be something in the new device to gum up the works, otherwise ghost will have to look elsewhere for her giant conspriacy.

[frogman042]

I picked up the Phillips DVR and DVD Burner at Sam's Club this summer (so I could tape a specific game show) - it was under $200 and has a sizable hard drive.

I've recorded hundreds of movies off of TCM since then and burned them to DVD's. So far I've been very happy with it, but there is one quirk/bug. Every now and then it doesn't let you finalize a DVD after recording it. The fix appears to be to record a different show to the hard drive and then the Finalize functionality becomes available again for the same disk.

I don't know its shelf life but IMO it has paid for itself over and over as I now have an extensive personal collection of great movies.

---Jay

[Estonut]

So far I've been very happy with it, but there is one quirk/bug. Every now and then it doesn't let you finalize a DVD after recording it. The fix appears to be to record a different show to the hard drive and then the Finalize functionality becomes available again for the same disk.

Jay,

Have you checked the support pages of the Phillips website? Sometimes, once made aware of such problems, manufacturers will put out a firmware update that you can download from the web, burn to CD or DVD and then run it on the DVR to correct the software. You can also Google the model number and look for message board discussions of the same problem. If you haven't checked, it's worth a try.

[frogman042]

So far I've been very happy with it, but there is one quirk/bug. Every now and then it doesn't let you finalize a DVD after recording it. The fix appears to be to record a different show to the hard drive and then the Finalize functionality becomes available again for the same disk.

Jay,

Have you checked the support pages of the Phillips website? Sometimes, once made aware of such problems, manufacturers will put out a firmware update that you can download from the web, burn to CD or DVD and then run it on the DVR to correct the software. You can also Google the model number and look for message board discussions of the same problem. If you haven't checked, it's worth a try.

Great suggestions!

Thanks, I'll do that.

---Jay

[ghostjmf]

Jeemie says:

I'm sure there'll be something in the new device to gum up the works, otherwise ghost will have to look elsewhere for her giant conspriacy.

People (usually fuzzy-eared young university twits) have been arrested & fined for illegal downloads of copyrighted material. Dunno if anyone's come to the house of someone making disc copies (in real time because they were too lazy or too cheap or not smart enough to install the requisite software on the requisite machine to do it in file-copy time, but not too lazy or too cheap or not smart enough to install "legal hacking software" to make the copies happen at all) & hauled said offender off yet. If said-offender really is making one-offs, "for personal use only", & is not actually in the bootleg-disc business. but you could be the 1st! Your address?

Just call it "The Garth Brooks Law", & blame him, not me.

[cindy.wellman]

Just call it "The Garth Brooks Law", & blame him, not me.

I haven't heard of, "The Garth Brooks Law." What is it?

[ghostjmf]

In short, Garth Brooks (country singer) wanted to ban libraries having copies of his recordings, because you might just borrow one from a library & not buy one. G-d forbid you would make a "one personal copy" of that library recording, too. (Since, technically, the borrowers did not buy the merchandise, the library did, the borrowers don't have that right-to-make-one-copy.)

He & others in the industry were big pushers of "copy-protection" being written onto media, & into machines that copy media. So that the machines wouldn't copy copy-protected media.

Try saying that last fast 11 times!

[Jeemie]

In short, Garth Brooks (country singer) wanted to ban libraries having copies of his recordings, because you might just borrow one from a library & not buy one. G-d forbid you would make a "one personal copy" of that library recording, too. (Since, technically, the borrowers did not buy the merchandise, the library did, the borrowers don't have that right-to-make-one-copy.)

He & others in the industry were big pushers of "copy-protection" being written onto media, & into machines that copy media. So that the machines wouldn't copy copy-protected media.

Try saying that last fast 11 times!

Except for a small amount of money, you can defeat the copy-protection.

Perfectly legally.