DVR Reccomendations

[Chicago1871]

I'm considering possibly picking up a DVR for my folks (and maybe requesting one for myself). What experiences do people have with their own DVRs? What do you reccomend, what features do you value most?

What is a good DVR for my parents (i.e. a simple to operate, hard-drive only), and what might be a better one for me (i.e. little more complicated with more features, space, and potential burning to DVD capability)?

I know Tivo is pretty quality, but their business woes make me a bit apprehensive to purchase one because of the subscription requirement. And yes, I am doing outside research, but you guys are always great resources.

[Quango]

I have a DVR through Comcast. My favorite feature is its dual-tuner. Basically, I can record or pause one channel and swap to the other tuner to watch record something else. I can record two channels at once and watch a recorded show at the same time. This would be the feature I'd look for. Q

[dark knight]

Yes, I'm a Tivo zealot. I have a Tivo DVD Burner all-in-one made by Humax (and a second Tivo 186 hour Series II) both with lifetime subscriptions paid. I really like having the DVD burning capability, but if you are thinking of getting it, the main use I get out of it is taping shows for friends so don't do it if you want to be everyone's personal VCR. Also, with Tivo-2-go you can transfer shows to your computer's hard drive by networking your tivo to your home network and then burning them to a DVD (you can also transfer shows between tivos in the house (e.g., living room to bedroom). I haven't done much research into what you need to convert what you transfer to a format for burning to a DVD for playback in a DVD player, but you may need to buy additional software.

One of the features I like best about Tivo -- I wish it had a dual tuner but since I have two Tivos it's not really an issue for me -- is the ability to get to work, realize I forgot to record the Champion's league game, and then go on-line when I get to work and tell my tivo to record it.

I was vaguely worried about the going out of business issue when I bought my Tivo, but after 5 years, I've already gotten my money's worth on the subscriptions.

[Achtung]

One of the features I like best about Tivo -- I wish it had a dual tuner but since I have two Tivos it's not really an issue for me -- is the ability to get to work, realize I forgot to record the Champion's league game, and then go on-line when I get to work and tell my tivo to record it.

Yes, the Home Media feature is absolutely brilliant if you forget to record something.

I also have two Tivos, both standalone, one Tivo-branded and the other one from Humax. I've been more than pleased with them over the past couple years. I don't use Tivo To Go though because personally I prefer using my video capture box for saving and recording to DVD with my laptop.

A simple Tivo for your parents would work well, the 80-hour one most likely. Even though there have been reports of business problems there, its more likely that with such a dedicated following, if things were to ever get really bad, they would be bought by another company. I pay the monthy subscription though, so them going out of business isn't as huge a concern for me.

[Chicago1871]

So, as I understand it right now, dual tuning lets me watch something on one channel and record something else on another channel at the same time, but oddly this isn't a standard feature on some DVRs. Tivo does not have this, I'd have to purchase two? Is this correct?

[dark knight]

A simple Tivo for your parents would work well, the 80-hour one most likely.

Yeah - I haven't used the Cable companies' version of Tivo, but it's hard to imagine it could be any easier to use than Tivo. I've heard the cable versions can be a little buggy at times - I've heard a number of stories of having to return multiple boxes, and I have very low tolerance for dealing with Time Warner. My Tivos have been very solid - at first I had the occasional malfunction of changing channels incorrectly, but nothing in a long time. I also had a minor hardware issue on my previous Sony Tivo, but that resulted in my getting to exchange it for the DVD Recorder after having used it for 3.9 years which was great. (I always get the long warranty.) The biggest problem I have with Tivo is that cable companies occasionally shut off their boxes which can result in black screen recordings.

[dark knight]

So, as I understand it right now, dual tuning lets me watch something on one channel and record something else on another channel at the same time, but oddly this isn't a standard feature on some DVRs. Tivo does not have this, I'd have to purchase two? Is this correct?


Yes and no. The dual turner of the cable companies' dvr's allows you to record two cable channels simultaneously. In order to record two cable channels simultaneously with Tivo, you would need two tivos and two cable boxes. You can record a cable channel and watch another channel with 1 Tivo, provided you either have another cable box or another means of reception.

[Chicago1871]

You can record a cable channel and watch another channel with 1 Tivo, provided you either have another cable box or another means of reception.
This would be my biggest gripe with Tivo. Maybe even be the dealbreaker.

[dark knight]

This would be my biggest gripe with Tivo. Maybe even be the dealbreaker.

You mean that you can't record two channels or that you can't watch another cable channel without a 2nd box? It is a deal breaker for some - at one point there was talk of a 2nd tuner for Tivo, but who knows when it will happen, if ever.

It is a fairly sizeable tradeoff, but for me all the other capabilities outweigh that - networking, on-line access to schedule, ease of use, smart season pass option (has cable DVR's caught up on this aspect?), and hackability. Plus I just can't stand Time Warner and being dependent on them for anything drives me nuts. After paying the lifetime subscription, eventually the Tivo can be paid off as opposed to constantly giving TW more money.

[Chicago1871]

You mean that you can't record two channels or that you can't watch another cable channel without a 2nd box? It is a deal breaker for some - at one point there was talk of a 2nd tuner for Tivo, but who knows when it will happen, if ever.
That I can't watch one channel and record a show on another simultaneously.
It is a fairly sizeable tradeoff, but for me all the other capabilities outweigh that - networking, on-line access to schedule, ease of use, smart season pass option (has cable DVR's caught up on this aspect?), and hackability.
Tivo does have the best features, by far, of any moderately priced DVR I've found. It seems like every one that I look at has one major flaw that just kills it's desirability.

[dark knight]

That I can't watch one channel and record a show on another simultaneously.


Well - like I said, you can do this, assuming your TV is new enough to have more than one input (s-video, co-ax, and/or watchamacallit - the red, yellow and white wires), but the number of channels you can watch while taping depends on whether or not you need a cable box or not. If you don't need a cable box, you can just split the cable input and watch and tape simultaneously (without tivo functionality while watching -- pause, rewind, etc.). I do need a cable box, but when I split my cable input line, I get more channels than I do over an antenna, so I can watch TBS, and a number of cable channels this way.

[Chicago1871]

The more I read (it's a slow day at work) the more it appears like that the dual turner (the ability to watch and record different channel simultaneously) is hard to find on many systems. Replay TV is getting good reviews, but does not have this capability. It does, however, seem to have some pretty nice hacks built for it.

Damn, I wish that dual tuner capability was more prevelant on these things. That's a top feature for me. Maybe I'll just rent a box from the cable company until the technology grows a bit more.

[dark knight]

Whatever you do, get something fast, especially if you have a significant other. The days of missing goals, dialogue, etc. are over once you can pause and rewind. My girlfriend likes to joke that this feature saved our relationship because no longer do I get upset when she talks to me during big games. The negative of this is you find yourself becoming a little obsessed of always knowing exactly what was said - which with a show like Deadwood can be really time consuming. Since I hate to leave captions on, it can be especially bad when you have to rewind, turn captions on, play, turn off captions, and then resume.

[dark knight]

I didn't read that closely, but it looks like there may be cable card Tivo coming in January (or at least news of such)?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3469855&highlight=dual+tuner#post3469855

[Quango]

Damn, I wish that dual tuner capability was more prevelant on these things. That's a top feature for me. Maybe I'll just rent a box from the cable company until the technology grows a bit more.

Which cable company are you looking at? I'm with Comcast. There are definitely a lot of bugs in the box but nothing that usually keeps me from watching or recording my shows. Recording during daylight savings time created some really weird things.

Q

[Chicago1871]

Which cable company are you looking at? I'm with Comcast. There are definitely a lot of bugs in the box but nothing that usually keeps me from watching or recording my shows. Recording during daylight savings time created some really weird things.

Q
Comcast. I'd love to hear more about your experience with the provided box.

[Kryptonite]

After paying the lifetime subscription, eventually the Tivo can be paid off as opposed to constantly giving TW more money.

Good point.

For everything bad to say about something, there also can be something good. I don't know what TiVo can do for you if it breaks and needs replaced, but obviously with a cable company DVR, they can just drive out and replace it for free.

My friend has a HD-DVR through Time Warner, and it works pretty good. Monthly service fees are the same as a standard DVR, plus the cable box rental fee.

But still, like you said, the fact that you can pay it off over time and not worry about the DVR fee ever again is nice. I wish the cable companies had something where you could pay for 22 months but get 24 months (2 years) service.


Although, it is nice not to have a lot of boxes on top of the TV. You could have your DVR + Cable/Satellite box + DVD player + VCR (if you still have one), or you could combine the cable box and DVR and make that 2 boxes. Some people just think "the fewer boxes the better".

[Kryptonite]

Whatever you do, get something fast, especially if you have a significant other. The days of missing goals, dialogue, etc. are over once you can pause and rewind. My girlfriend likes to joke that this feature saved our relationship because no longer do I get upset when she talks to me during big games. The negative of this is you find yourself becoming a little obsessed of always knowing exactly what was said - which with a show like Deadwood can be really time consuming. Since I hate to leave captions on, it can be especially bad when you have to rewind, turn captions on, play, turn off captions, and then resume.


So true. I bought a satellite radio with rewind capabilities. Now I find out that i'm obsessed with catching every little thing.

But it sure is nice to be able to pause it, go answer the phone, get some food or whatever, and come back without missing a thing.

[Kryptonite]

Which cable company are you looking at? I'm with Comcast.

Keep in mind that the same cable company may have regional issues. IE - Time Warner in Atlanta might have some bugs that Time Warner in Milwaukee doesn't have.

[dark knight]

Good point.

For everything bad to say about something, there also can be something good. I don't know what TiVo can do for you if it breaks and needs replaced, but obviously with a cable company DVR, they can just drive out and replace it for free.

My friend has a HD-DVR through Time Warner, and it works pretty good. Monthly service fees are the same as a standard DVR, plus the cable box rental fee.

But still, like you said, the fact that you can pay it off over time and not worry about the DVR fee ever again is nice. I wish the cable companies had something where you could pay for 22 months but get 24 months (2 years) service.


Although, it is nice not to have a lot of boxes on top of the TV. You could have your DVR + Cable/Satellite box + DVD player + VCR (if you still have one), or you could combine the cable box and DVR and make that 2 boxes. Some people just think "the fewer boxes the better".


The other thing that someone pointed out when I was doing some research about this question (there are a lot of discussions about Tivo vs. generic dvr on tivocommunity) is that there is also a good potential for resale of old boxes especially when they have lifetime subscriptions attached. My old Sony 3000 is a popular box because they are so easily hacked.

NYTimes discusses DVRs today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/technology/circuits/17basics.html