Jon Gum

HD OTA DVR? Options?

I saw that TIVO series 3 will record HD for OTA braodcasts. Are there any other HD recorder options out there for a guy who gets his HD OTA? I have an antenna in the attic hooked up to a Samsung DTV box for decoding and have been really happy with the picture (and the fact that it is free), but would love to get DVR in the mix as life is just too short.

Let me know if anyone has some options that I can start looking into (that are hopefully cheaper than the $800 for a series 3).

Thanks much,
Jon

BenS

Re: HD OTA DVR? Options?

My current HD-Tivo HR10-250 will record OTA HD right now.

Thanks,

Ben

Jon Gum

Re: HD OTA DVR? Options?

Ben - Thanks, but I had already done research on that:

http://www.solidsignal.com/HR10-250.asp

Per the above website:

"(2) Do I have to have an account with DIRECTV to receive "over-the-air" HD broadcasts?
Yes. The new HD Tivo DIRECTV DVR will not operate without a valid DIRECTV account on file with DIRECTV. "

Therefore, I assumed no direct TV subscription = no OTA HD capability.

Question #5 on the same website talks about just needing an antenna, but I assume they have a way of policing the fact that people like me would just buy the unit for OTA use.

Any other thoughts from anyone?

Stephen Tu

Re: HD OTA DVR? Options?

Other options for OTA:

-the discontinued Sony DHG models. (con - only single tuner)
-discontinued LG models (e.g. LST-3410A, massive limitation in that it can't play back previously recorded show while recording new one, which in my mind practically disqualifies it as a DVR)
-HTPC solutions (also limitations with playback while recording, though I am not well versed with current state of the art on HTPC, someone else chime in?)

GordonL

Re: HD OTA DVR? Options?

With a 4 tuner setup - 2 ATSC, 2 NTSC, MCE 2005 - you should be able to simultaneously record using all tuners while watching a previously recorded show. DVico has claimed up to 7 of their ATSC tuners with their software.

Joel...Lane

Re: HD OTA DVR? Options?

I've got the same problem. My tv watching is OTA and was looking for some sort of DVR that doesn't require a monthly fee.

I was a little shocked to find that Tivo is pretty much the only player out there. I would've thought there would be more competition.

There seems to be a fair bit of DVD recorders but I'd prefer a hard disk recorder.

I just don't want to pay a monthly fee to record free OTA signals, ya know.

Jon Gum

Re: HD OTA DVR? Options?

Thanks to everyone for the input. I just found a SONY DHG-HDD500 on clearance sale at a local store. I installed it tonight and am very happy with it so far (the TV Guide is currently loading, so tomorrow I will give it a big test run).

Thanks to everyone for the input. I never would have found that solution without the input from this forum!

Jon