Substitute for DVR?

[rvchat]

our cable company charging $16+ a month for dvr. Any other similar replacements that are not this much per month?


thanks all

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Fifteen bucks a month for a year is 180 dollars.

For about what it costs to rent one you can buy one for 225-300 and after about a year and a half you will break even.............after that you enjoy it for free.

 

[DawnM]

Not really, you still have to pay the monthly fees for service.

Are you talking about something like Tivo? The monthly fee AFTER buying the machine is still $12.99 per month.

Dawn

Fifteen bucks a month for a year is 180 dollars.

For about what it costs to rent one you can buy one for 225-300 and after about a year and a half you will break even.............after that you enjoy it for free.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Not really, you still have to pay the monthly fees for service.

Are you talking about something like Tivo? The monthly fee AFTER buying the machine is still $12.99 per month.

Dawn

Not always. It does depend on the plan for the TIVO. We have a lifetime subscription that I paid upon purchase of our newest TIVO. No monthly fees involved now.

 

[tink576]

Get a Digital Hard Drive Recorder/DVD player. I love mine. It's probably missing some perks of the cable's dvr but once you buy it there are no added fees. I can still play my dvd's but it records all of my shows to it's internal hard drive. It's called something like an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

 

[DawnM]

Those aren't $225-$250. Those are between $600-$800. It would take over 3.5 years just to "break even" compared to $16/mo.

And then our cable company STILL charges $4 per month to put a cable card into the thing.

And then if your Tivo goes out, you lose completely. It may not have happened to you, but it can and has happened.

It may be worth it but many don't have the $800 up front to fork out.

Dawn

Not always. It does depend on the plan for the TIVO. We have a lifetime subscription that I paid upon purchase of our newest TIVO. No monthly fees involved now.

 

[DawnM]

A possible option if you have something like a Roku box and a PC.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20106051-1/playlater-records-your-online-video-for-$5-a-month/

We have replaced our DVRs with Roku with streaming content. Our PC has died (we only have Macs that work at the moment), but when we get it up and running I will most likely re-subscribe to Playon and the new Play Later.

Dawn

 

[squirrel]

Get a Digital Hard Drive Recorder/DVD player. I love mine. It's probably missing some perks of the cable's dvr but once you buy it there are no added fees. I can still play my dvd's but it records all of my shows to it's internal hard drive. It's called something like an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

I love mine! It's full of Disney Junior/Playhouse Disney. I have the one that stores it and then you can copy to a CD.

OP if you go with a DVD Recorder pay the extra to have the hard drive so you can choose what to copy to a CD. I don't know if they make them without a hard drive anymore.

 

[DawnM]

How many hours does the hard drive record?
Can you set it up (program it) to record an entire season of a show, or do you have to set it for times to record, or what?

Dawn

I love mine! It's full of Disney Junior/Playhouse Disney. I have the one that stores it and then you can copy to a CD.

OP if you go with a DVD Recorder pay the extra to have the hard drive so you can choose what to copy to a CD. I don't know if they make them without a hard drive anymore.

 

[momof1princess]

Get a Digital Hard Drive Recorder/DVD player. I love mine. It's probably missing some perks of the cable's dvr but once you buy it there are no added fees. I can still play my dvd's but it records all of my shows to it's internal hard drive. It's called something like an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

can you tell me more about this? i'm a techno-dummy, and our VCR, which we use to record all the shows we miss (because we're too cheap to pay for a DVR), is pretty much on its last legs. i'm thinking this DVD recorder/hard drive thingy is just what we need!

 

[tink576]

How many hours does the hard drive record?
Can you set it up (program it) to record an entire season of a show, or do you have to set it for times to record, or what?

Dawn

Mine get's just over 200hrs

 

[Mkebound]

Almost any show can now be watched when and where you want, for free, on the Internet.

NBC.com
Hulu.com
ABC.com
CBS.com

All have free, full length shows with no or limited commercials.

Not only could you save $16 per month for the DVR, you could complete cut cable TV all together.

For many people this could be a savings of more than $1,000 per year.

 

[tink576]

yes and no...Some of my favorite CBS shows don't even go online and many companies are switching to they go up a week after the show airs and come down two weeks after that.

That said I don't have anything more then CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and TLC on my television and get by using the internet beyond that.

 

[sam_gordon]

yes and no...Some of my favorite CBS shows don't even go online and many companies are switching to they go up a week after the show airs and come down two weeks after that.

That said I don't have anything more then CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and TLC on my television and get by using the internet beyond that.

You get the four main networks and The Learning Channel? Odd combination.

 

[jwfla422]

I've had a DVD recorder for 6 yrs, actually has a VHS and Dvd in it. I originally bought it to transfer all of my home movies that were on VHS to DVD but it also records tv programs. I've been using it for years. Works great.

I paid $299 back in 2006 for it. I wouldn't hesitate buying just a DVD recorder which go for $100-$200 at Walmart. Then you'll have it for years to come.

 

[skruggie]

this is the best choice that can be bought new it's programable like a vcr. No on screen program guide:

http://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-MDR5...DE1E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317075669&sr=8-2

 

[DawnM]

My question is this:

Can you program it to record a show every time it airs, like a DVR, or do you have to program it each time you want to record a show?

I assume it does not pause live TV and record it while you are watching? That is one thing I really do miss about a DVR.

Dawn

this is the best choice that can be bought new it's programable like a vcr. No on screen program guide:

http://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-MDR5...DE1E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317075669&sr=8-2

 

[DawnM]

I can't stand watching things on my computer. In fact, most of the time I watch TV while surfing.

I have watched a couple of things I didn't have another way to watch, but I much prefer to have our large TV for viewing shows.

I have already cut satellite but I do have Netflix through a Roku for viewing as well as a rooftop antenna.

Dawn

Almost any show can now be watched when and where you want, for free, on the Internet.

NBC.com
Hulu.com
ABC.com
CBS.com

All have free, full length shows with no or limited commercials.

Not only could you save $16 per month for the DVR, you could complete cut cable TV all together.

For many people this could be a savings of more than $1,000 per year.

 

[tink576]

You get the four main networks and The Learning Channel? Odd combination.

Tell me about it. I was shocked that I got TLC, I also get NBC from two different cities (it's interesting to see how the programing actually differs).

My question is this:

Can you program it to record a show every time it airs, like a DVR, or do you have to program it each time you want to record a show?

I assume it does not pause live TV and record it while you are watching? That is one thing I really do miss about a DVR.

Dawn

As to your first question. You can't tell it to record XYZ show every time it airs, BUT you can tell it to record channel 4 weekly from 4-5 or daily from 4-5 (or just that one time). So I just set mine to weekly and make sure to fix things if the schedule changes for whatever reason.

For your second question. I can't pause live tv, but if I'm recording live tv and watching it through my recording (you can watch the recording as you record) you can pause, fast forward, rewind your recording all while it's recording. Wow that's a lot of recording in one sentence .

Hope that answers your question!

 

[DawnM]

Ok, more questions.

So, can you watch one show and record another? I assume it only records one show at a time, unlike DVRs that can record two at a time????

Thanks,

Dawn

Tell me about it. I was shocked that I got TLC, I also get NBC from two different cities (it's interesting to see how the programing actually differs).



As to your first question. You can't tell it to record XYZ show every time it airs, BUT you can tell it to record channel 4 weekly from 4-5 or daily from 4-5 (or just that one time). So I just set mine to weekly and make sure to fix things if the schedule changes for whatever reason.

For your second question. I can't pause live tv, but if I'm recording live tv and watching it through my recording (you can watch the recording as you record) you can pause, fast forward, rewind your recording all while it's recording. Wow that's a lot of recording in one sentence .

Hope that answers your question!