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We finally decided to get another DVR -- we have a Panasonic DMR-E80H that we purchased several years ago. We were thinking of HD, but there doesn't appear to be any (except TIVO). Sony had one a year or so ago, but it appears to have been discontinued almost the day after it came out.
Looking at the Panasonic web site, the newer ones no longer have hard drives. The ones that do seem to be discontinued (checking places that sell them). At SonyStyle, all the new DVD recorders do not have tuners (WTF?)... Haven't checked any others at this point, still trying to get the lineup together...
I know there's TIVO Series 3, but our Living Room doesn't have a phone connection anywhere near and I don't feel like running one (or buying a device for $800 and having to pay another $250 on top of it just to get the unit to work).
What's going on with DVRs?
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People are using the cable company pieces of crap. The standalone, retail DVR business tanked as a result.
Or, more succinctly: people are stupid.
Get a MythTV box, or any of the other solutions. Use a Macintosh, like BGnR does.
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And we don't have cable either (nor any plans in the near future to get it)...
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MythTV works great once you get it going, but it can be tricky to install if you're not familiar with Linux. Actually, it is kind of tricky even if you are familiar with Linux. MythTV puts you in charge though. You can save your files anywhere, stream them through your home network to any computer via a web interface. If you want to schedule a recording it can be done via the web interface as well. Stream music too. Manage your Netflix queue.
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With the recent change in federal legislation allowing for non cable providers to sell cables boxes directly to the consumer starting this summer, the hope is that the consumers will fare better and have more choices than dealing with the cable company provided DVRs (pieces of crap, as elmo3 has said).
We are making due with our aging ReplayTVs which work great but don't do HD. We do have 2 Comcast (Motorola 6412) HD-DVR boxes, but I am hoping that the forthcoming SageTV HD extenders due sometime in Q2 will let me get rid of the Moto boxes.
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I have DISH PVR's. There is no additional charge.
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[quote SDGuy]I still get crap from my friends over owning a Panasonic DVR recorder, instead of subscribing to Tivo or ReplayTV like they do. I ask them how they archive what they've recorded onto DVD, and it seems to involve a long, drawn out process involving a PC. Yeah - much easier than just dubbing it using one box.
I don't "subscribe" to TiVo, I own it (guess they've changed the deal now, but not my problem). I added a 250GB HDD to the 80GB drive it came with, and now I don't need to archive anything. There will never, ever be enough shows broadcast that are worth keeping to fill the 250GB drive... and there's still the 80GB drive to capture the daily crap I'll need to forget by next week.
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jimbrady, is it much trouble swapping out HDs in a Tivo?
