Question about the Philips or Magnazvox PVRs

You can't do this, as the OTA broadcast bandspace overlaps with what's used on cable; you'd end up with a jumbled mess, and many (possibly most) channels unwatchable/unrecordable.


Unfortunately you're going to have to deal with the fact that the units you mention (in this and other respects) lack many of TiVo's features.

You want to replace the HD PQ of the TiVo with the Maggie/Philips' SD PQ?

I hope you're at least not watching on an HD display.

That's a foreign model, and it's "Guide +" feature won't work in the US.

Can't you just pay the lifetime fee for the TiVo? Otherwise, you would really seriously be downgrading.

You might want to also consider a used Sony or LG HD DVR (I have the Sony, and it has separate RF inputs - I'm not sure about the LG, though. You'd have to check it's thread).

This whole plan doesn't make much sense to me. You can get a lifetime subscription for the TiVo on ebay for $330. A new Magnavox H2160 costs $229.

Here's a table comparison:

		Magnavox H2160	DTVPal DVR	TivoHD	Moxi
PRICE
	Price online	$229	$269	$250	$799
	DVR fees	None	None	$129/year $330-$399 lifetime	Included
	Total online cost without any future fees	$229	$269	$580 - $650	$799
TUNERS
	Tuners for off-air antenna	1	2	2	None
	Tuners for analog and digital cable	1	None	2	2x digital cable 1x analog with dongle
	Supports encrypted digital channels on cable			X	X
BASIC
	Program guide		X	X	X
	High-definition output		X	X	X
	Pause and rewind liveTV on both SD and HD channels	X	X	X	X
	Record one channel while you watch another live		X	X	X
	Record one HD channel as SD while you watch a previously recorded SD show	X
	Record two different HD channels, while you watch a previously recorded HD show		X	X	X
	Pause, replay, 30sec skip, slow mo, and multiple speeds of FF and RW	X	X	X	X
	Skip-to-tick or comparable function (i.e. skip 15 minutes at a time)			X	X
	Progress bar (on trickplay) shows current position in video	X	X	X	X
	Dual live buffers (i.e. saves pause position and video on inactive tuner)			X	(Does not save position)
	Remembers where you left off in every recording	X	X	X	X
	Conflict management (i.e. ability to skip a scheduled recording to record something new)			X	X
	Closed captions	(Analog only)	X	X	X
RECORD
	Records HD at 100% original quality	(Only records in SD)	X	X	X
	Records all programs using VCR-like timers (ex: every Monday from 8:00-8:30pm)	X	X
	Records and tracks programs by their name			X	X
	Ability to record only new episodes and ignore repeats			X	X
	Automatically adjusts record schedule when programs change their days, times, and/or lengths			X	X
	Series manager to prioritize what two programs are recorded when 3+ programs conflict			X	X
	Automatic rescheduling so programs missed due to conflicts are recorded the next time they air			X	X
	Overlap protection to eliminate conflicts when three or more programs overlap by up to five minutes			X
	Automatically deletes oldest recording (not set "keep until I delete") when space needed for new recording			X	X
	Start recordings early or end late		X	X	X
	Keep only the last X episodes of a show			X	X
	Keep recording until I delete or until space is needed		X	X	X
GUIDE
	Create recording from program guide selection		X	X	X
	Guide filters and favorites			X	X
	Delete individual channels from guide		X	X	X
	Days of program information	None	8 days on most channels (Check availability)	14 days on all channels	14 days on all channels
	Detailed episode information and original airdate; distinguishes between new and repeat episodes			X	X
	Program information always available; not dependent on broadcaster to offer TVGOS			X	X
	Downloads guide data without an Internet connection (wired or wireless) or phone line		X	(Requires Internet or phone)	(Requires Internet)
	Integrates off-air and cable channels into a single guide		N/A	X	N/A
	Maximum number of 30min timeslots shown on guide screen		6 in grid	3 in grid, 8 in TiVo-style	6 in grid, 4 in Moxi-style
SEARCH
	Search program titles and descriptions		X	X	X
	Search program titles, descriptions, actors, directors, and categories with boolean operators (AND/OR/NOT)			X
	Record a single program found with search		X	X	X
	Automatically record all future programs matching a saved search			X
DVR UI
	Single-click delete			X
	Deleted Items folder with recording undelete			X
	Number of programs shown on recorded list screen	?	6	8	10
	Recorded list shows name of every recording		X	X	X
	Recorded list shows date of every recording			X	X
	Recorded list can be sorted by name, date, or grouped		X	X
	Program groups (folders) can be sorted by name or date		(Name only)	X	(Name only)
	Inside program groups (folders), recordings are sorted by recorded date			X	X
	Inside program groups (folders), episode names are listed			X	X
	Record schedule shows names of upcoming programs			X	X
	Recorded history shows why programs didn't record		(Limited)	X
	Free disk space estimate	X	X	(Recently Deleted)	X
	No advertising of any kind	X	X	main menu, pause (hidable)	X
STORAGE
	Built-in capacity	160GB	250GB	160GB (1TB on XL)	500 GB
	Supports external drive expansion			Up to 1TB	Up to 6 TB w/ RAID
	Allows internal hard drive upgrades	X	X	X	?
TRANSFER
	Allows download/transfer of HD and SD recorded files to a computer			X
	Allows transfer of PC videos to DVR for viewing			X
	Allows streaming of PC videos to DVR for viewing			(Limited)	X
	Software to automatically download favorite series and convert them for portable players (ex: iPhone)			X
MULTIROOM
	Access and view recordings on a DVR in another room			X	X
	Pause a recording in one room and resume it in another			X	X
ONLINE
	Connects to Internet time server each night to set clock			X	X
	Download software updates using ethernet connection		X	X	X
	Remote scheduling via the web and mobile phone			X	X
	Real-time conflict management for remote scheduling				X
	Edit and/or delete scheduled recordings online				X
	View list of recorded programs and upcoming / scheduled recordings online			X	X
	Subscribe to specific RSS video feeds and podcasts (i.e. so they automatically download when available)			X
	Support for Amazon's "TV Passes" (i.e. purchase a cable series and new episodes are downloaded in HD)			X
	Support for Netflix SD/HD streaming			X	Netflix SD Only (Requires third-party software)
OTHER
	Requires phone line? Requires Internet connection? Requires one or the other?	No/No/No	No/No/No	No/No/Yes	No/Yes
	Native output mode to output all video as is without conversion			X	X
	Downconverts HD video to SD over s-video and composite connections for non-HDTVs	X	(Composite only)	X	X
	All SD and HD outputs active simultaneously		X	X	X
	Allows 16:9 anamorphic output through SD connections			X
	Built-in DVD writer	X
WARRANTY
	Parts warranty	One year	90 days	One year	One year
	Cost to replace after warranty expires	?	$269	$150	$?
	Cost to transfer lifetime service to a replacement DVR for three years	N/A	N/A	$0	N/A
	Cost to transfer lifetime service to a replacement DVR after three years	N/A	N/A	$199	N/A

Now, if you are one of those people that suffers from the "loss of analog tuner" bug on the TivoHD (see Known Issues section in the TivoHD FAQ) and have no intention of subscribing to digital channels on cable to get USA-HD, TNT-HD, SyFy-HD, etc, then I can see how one might want an alternative.

Be aware that TiVo includes a three-year guarantee with every lifetime subscription, so if your DVR dies in the next three years, they'll transfer lifetime to a replacement at no charge.

TiVo charges $149 for refurbished DVR replacements outside of the warranty period, which you can avoid if you replace the drive yourself. If you can replace the drive in your notebook, I really don't think you'd have any trouble replacing the drive in a TiVo. If you're really not comfortable spending the 45 minutes to do a backup/restore, then there are a dozen vendors on ebay who will do it for a $30-$50 premium over the cost of the drive (example). At that point, it takes 3-5 minutes to swap out the drive.

You could give up the high-definition picture, second tuner, and much of the functionality you have now by moving to a DVD recorder, but I can't imagine being satisfied with that on a HDTV. As Rammitinski noted in another post, there's also a good possibility that your basic cable channels (i.e. non-locals) will no longer be available without a CableCard in a year or two. Certainly, that is true for a number of providers, which have firm plans to eliminate their analog cable channels in the next 12-24 months. Digital-only cable is the future, as that frees up bandwidth for new HD channels and faster Internet tiers.