[schien]

Hi, folks,


I am really new to the digital cable world. So please forgive me if my questions seem too trival. I recently just got a digital TV service set up in my home from comcast. I am currently renting a digital setup box (tuner, or whatever it's called) from them.


I am interested buying a DVD recorder possibely with harddrive built in so I can record programs from the digital TV and burn them into DVD if needed.


I am wondering:


1. Does every or specific DVD recorder w/HD have build in digital tuner so I can bypass the box I rent from comcast? Honestly, I don't really like the box they provide (in terms of its look) and the fact that it has no component out.


2. If previous question is a no (i.e. I need to keep the box in my setup), will the DVD recorder be able to somehow communicate to the setup box and automatically change the channel to the one I like to record?


3. Panny E80 seems to be a common one here. Is there any other one I should consider?


Thanks a lot,


Stanley

 

[TomCat]

Quote:

Originally posted by schien ...I am interested buying a DVD recorder possibely with harddrive built in so I can record programs from the digital TV and burn them into DVD if needed...

Forgive me if I don't exactly understand your Q. Typically, recordings are not made from a TV, digital or otherwise, they are made from an input source like a cable STB or OTA or from a sat receiver. I guess it is possible to own a digital TV that includes a decoder that might provide an analog output that could connect to the inputs of a DVDR, but it sounds like you might have digital cable. That being said, I will broaden the scope of my answer, and hopefully in there you will find what you need.


I don't think any DVDR's have the ability to tune digital cable or DTV signals, but analog cable (and of course most of digital cable IS really analog) or OTA is something pretty much all of them do, just like a VCR. Even if you have digital cable, the bottom 80 core channels can still be split off to a DVDR. Some models from Pioneer have a cable mouse blaster included which should control a STB, but possibly not a digital cable STB.