Hi,

HD Newb with more inane questions: (background: SD TV, wants HDTV tuner for picture quality not for hi-def images)

If I get a Dish Network or DirecTV satellite decoder box with built in OTA HDTV tuner and a built in DVR, could I leave the satellite side dormant and use OTA HDTV, and record the OTA HDTV on the internal DVR?

Do any of them support this?

The DirecTV models require a connection to the dish, a monthly programming subscription and a DVR fee before they will record OTA HD. I'm sure dish requires the same.

The Series 3 Tivo will work but it costs $800 and requires a $12/month subscription for guide data.

-Robert

Sony DHG-HDD250 (250GB, 20 hours) or DHG-HDD500 (500GB, 40 hours). Around $360 shipped on eBay, which is pretty good unless you can still find them on clearance at a B&M store. You should have posted this in HDTV Recorder Forum. There is no monthly fee associated with this unit because it is meant for OTA recording, and not affiliated with any satelitte provider.

If you can wait, I would certainly look into getting the new DVD Recorders with ATSC tuners built-in. There is a good amount of hype about these, and since you have an SDTV, would be a more practical choice since they are much cheaper.

Wait until mid-March when the mandated ATSC (digital) tuner equipted DVRs/DVDrecorder stand-alones will be availible.

Available? Not sure about that. It may be several months after the deadline before a good assortment become available for sale.

Available? Not sure about that. It may be several months after the deadline before a good assortment become available for sale.

Or maybe not. Check out these sites.

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6405217.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9675202-5.html

Jay

Those price tags are still in the same range as the devices jimcrow21 mentioned.

Whidbey, THANK YOU for that post. It helped answer questions I had about the current state of digital recording.

Maybe I'm old school, but:

a) I refuse to pay for cable. I have a life, and simply don't watch THAT much tv where I need to pay a monthly fee..... There's good stuff over the air (especially with digital signals and more and more HD shows), and mail-to-your-house movies help fill the gap.

b) I also refuse to pay a MONTHLY FEE for a digital recorder. Things like "TV Guide On Screen" have been free for a long time, and will likely continue to do so. I currently have a panasonic dvd recorder-- works great! But, it's analog only......

All I really want is-- a standalone unit that can record Digital (and hopefully HD) tv shows from my antenna. And for whatever reason, there just hasn't been much, at all, activity in that market. "directv" and "tivo" don't count, since they require subscriptions.

I was not aware of the additional FCC ruling and DVD recorders/etc. That's great news for people like me. I just purchased a nice large LCD tv set, and now it looks like this spring I'll finally be able to get a pretty decent recorder too-- WITHOUT having to pay monthly fees.

Companies like TiVO would be well advised to modify their business model if they want to survive!

It isn't clear to me that there is any business model which is sustainable in that space. The only one that seems even remotely viable is to simply offer service, bundled tightly into tiers of service, and subsidize the cost of the hardware into the monthly cost of the service.

a) I refuse to pay for cable. I have a life, and simply don't watch THAT much tv where I need to pay a monthly fee..... There's good stuff over the air (especially with digital signals and more and more HD shows), and mail-to-your-house movies help fill the gap.
b) I also refuse to pay a MONTHLY FEE for a digital recorder. Things like "TV Guide On Screen" have been free for a long time, and will likely continue to do so. I currently have a panasonic dvd recorder-- works great! But, it's analog only......
I also have a DVD recorder with TV Guide. It's a Lite-On 5007, and has given me some grief, but it works best for recording shows OTA. Friends always seem surprised I am getting the TV guide for free! Almost as good as a Tivo.

All I really want is-- a standalone unit that can record Digital (and hopefully HD) tv shows from my antenna. And for whatever reason, there just hasn't been much, at all, activity in that market. "directv" and "tivo" don't count, since they require subscriptions.
As do I. I want something that will take over from my 5007 when it become obsolete. I don't know why more manufacturers aren't jumping on the bandwagon of offering VCR and DVDR's which can receive and record a digital signal.[/QUOTE]

I was not aware of the additional FCC ruling and DVD recorders/etc. That's great news for people like me. I just purchased a nice large LCD tv set, and now it looks like this spring I'll finally be able to get a pretty decent recorder too-- WITHOUT having to pay monthly fees.

Companies like TiVO would be well advised to modify their business model if they want to survive!
I'm still waiting to buy a flat panel TV. I was willing to settle for a 32", but now my wife wants a bigger one to make sure it looks good in the space we want to mount it to the wall.

Jay

Or maybe not. Check out these sites.

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6405217.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9675202-5.html

Jay

Thanks for those links. It mentions that they will "upconvert" through HDMI to 1080i. Do you know if the DVR models will be able to record and playback in HD? And if so, just over HDMI? It didn't mention that, but I figure it should since it has the tuner and it's just writing to the hard drive.

I'm not worried about the removal of content through a recorder at this stage.


Thanks.

As far as I know, nobody has yet announced a DVD recorder with a digital tuner and a hard disk. The units that I've read about record directly to DVD or VHS tape.

Thanks for those links. It mentions that they will "upconvert" through HDMI to 1080i. Do you know if the DVR models will be able to record and playback in HD? And if so, just over HDMI?

The DVD recorder models will not record content in HD. Their storage capacity is too small. We will have to wait for Blue-Ray recorders to record in HD.

Jay