Tommy G

In the market.....Now what?

Alright fellow HTFers. You have helped me in the past with such items as front projection, what screen to get, etc. I am now in the market for a dvd recorder and have some questions. Here is the dilemma. I would like to record television without "babysitting" like a vcr and then editing out the commercials. I have heard that with Tivo, this is not possible. I currently have dishnetwork and can get a pvr from them and then a dvd recorder to record on to dvd if I want. Or I can simply purchase a dvd recorder with a hard drive. However, I know nothing with regards to compatibility etc and am hoping you can help. I don't have HD capability yet so that is not an issue. I simply need some help in selection. I had my eye on the Panny E85 but have read about some issues in its guide. If someone else has the same setup as I and can recommend, it would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Please release The Goodies on Region 1 DVD
My DVDs

Stephen Tu

My primary recommendation is to get a DVR first, no matter what. You can get the one from Dish Network, but strongly consider switching to DirecTV for the much better software + dual tuners. (DirecTV DVR available for ~$50). Dish has a dual tuner unit but they want more money for it, I think.

If you are like most people, you'll end up watching 99% of the time from the DVR disk then deleting the show eventually, never bothering to burn to DVD. After all there is not a ton of broadcasts really worth saving forever, and a lot of those eventually come out for purchase, commercial & bug free with a lot better quality than you would get burning a DVD from TV broadcast.

With the DVR you'll get better quality recordings than with an external DVD-R solution, since you don't have to re-encode. If there really are shows you want to burn that aren't coming out for purchase, then get an add-on DVD-R also with hard drive, then you can edit out commercials on the drive before burning.

Tommy G

Stephen, you're probably right and I guess I'm worried I'll get extremely backlogged on my 24 viewing this season and if I really wanted to keep the episoded I could always buy it when it comes out later on. I think I'll pull the trigger on the dishnetwork PVR and buy a recorder somewhere down the line.

Please release The Goodies on Region 1 DVD
My DVDs

Robert_J

I thought you didn't want to "babysit" your recorder. Dish PVR's are timer based like VCR's. Set it to record Monday's 8pm to 9pm and it will. If your program is moved to a different time slot, different day or has a "super size" episode then you have to manually make the change to your recording.

Not with Tivo. I had no idea that Scrubs had been moved three different times last season. I still don't know what day it really comes on. I set my Tivo up to record the series and it does. Plain and simple. I set it up to record my favorite college football team. If they are playing on TV any time, it records the game. I've also picked up some great classic games on ESPN Classic because of the same Wish List.

-Robert

Tommy G

Robert, I went with the dish offer because the receiver is free right now with the monthly $4.98. I am going to test this for the time being and eventually pull the trigger on a dvd recorder. The more I think about it for the here and now, I'm mostly looking to get this for when I am forced into certain chores and I know I am going to miss a ball game or if church keeps me late on Sunday and I'm going to miss kickoff of the Giants game. If I get frustrated, I may switch to the dual tuner from dish. Thanks to all.

Please release The Goodies on Region 1 DVD
My DVDs

Stephen Tu

Tommy, you may think so now, but once you have it for awhile you'll realize it's best just to record everything, not just the stuff you know you'll miss. Then every show comes on your schedule, and you can skip over the commercials etc.

Tim Jin

I just got a HD DVR from Time Warner and it has its own issue, but the playback for HD materials is pretty nice. It also has dual tuners. So, I can watch something and record something else at the same time. Or, I can record two different shows at the same time Overall, it does the job.

Have a DVR really makes a difference at viewing your shows. I no longer have to stay up to watch Night Line or whatever.