Basic question from complete noobie - re: burning to DVD

[Lemur]

Very basic question, I'm sure - but I'm a complete noobie when it comes to any DVR.

I tape, unfortunately, far too much -- currently, on VHS. Ideally, I'd like to record a show and then burn it to DVD. However, I don't THINK I want to burn it to DVD right from the recording device (as that will take too long to burn, perhaps).

Here is what I want to do -- not sure about the feasibility and/or equipment I need...

I'd like to record a show. Then (whether by sending it to my computer or not) burn that show(s) onto a DVD, for later viewing on a regular DVD player.

This way, when I get way behind in my watching, I won't have stacks of VHS tapes; I'll have a far more compact pile....

Is this something fairly common for people to do? Will the Cablevision ioTV DVR unit record to DVD quickly (or will it take as long as the actual show itself)?

Thanks!

Chris

 

[scottie_h]

If you're looking to save time in getting the programming to DVD, you might consider a [stand-alone] DVD recorder with a built in hard drive. You could record your programming to the hard drive, then recording from the hard drive to DVD only takes a few minutes (and you can even quickly delete all the commercials if you wanted).

I've never dealt with any DVRs that allow you to transfer files directly to PC via network connection, but I'm sure someone will chime in if there are any such options.

 

[Lemur]

Hi Scottie,

I'm not sure I follow exactly -- when you say to record to show to the DVD Burner's Hard drive -- you don't mean right from the broadcast...you mean, from a DVR or something like it - TO the DVD burner's hard drive...

Do they make DVD burners with hard drives that can record broadcast television??? If so - that may be my best option of all.

Chris

 

[bhelms]

Why not just get a DVR (TiVo or whatever) to do your digital time-shifting? That's what they do best, and have the obvious features like commercial skip-forward, real-time pause, etc. My bet is that you probably don't really want to save most programs past when you get to view them once, and again that's what a DVR does best. For shows you do want to save, you can leave them on the DVR's HDD, move them to an external HDD, or burn them to DVD for more "permanent" storage. Just my 3-cents (inflation, ya know!) worth...!

 

[Lemur]

I would like to do that - alas, Cablevision's DVR doesn't burn to a DVD.

The problem is that I can only watch TV in spurts, due to scheduling. It's likely - with 100 hours - that I'll fall far enough behind that the DVR will be "full" before I can watch shows (and thus, before I can erase them and/or record more).

So, moving it to an external hard drive is - in fact - a good idea.

Chris

 

[jayn_j]

I would like to do that - alas, Cablevision's DVR doesn't burn to a DVD.

The problem is that I can only watch TV in spurts, due to scheduling. It's likely - with 100 hours - that I'll fall far enough behind that the DVR will be "full" before I can watch shows (and thus, before I can erase them and/or record more).

So, moving it to an external hard drive is - in fact - a good idea.

Chris

I don't know what DVR Cablevision uses. My local Comcast uses a Motorola HD DVR. There are a lot of features that Comcast doesn't support that still work on the box that are documented on Wikkipedia. One feature is ripping content to a PC over firewire. You might want to do some web searches on your model #. Never know what might turn up.

 

[jvc]

Yes, you can get DVD recorders with hard drives (looks like a DVD player). You record the broadcast to the hard drive. You can edit out the commercials, when you want to burn it to a disc. If you do this, and it burns +R discs, don't forget to finalize the disc, as soon as you finish burning it. Here's one possibility:
Amazon.com: Philips Hard Disk/DVD Recorder 160 GB (DVDR3576H/37): Electronics

 

[richyrich]

Very basic question, I'm sure - but I'm a complete noobie when it comes to any DVR.

I tape, unfortunately, far too much -- currently, on VHS. Ideally, I'd like to record a show and then burn it to DVD. However, I don't THINK I want to burn it to DVD right from the recording device (as that will take too long to burn, perhaps).

Here is what I want to do -- not sure about the feasibility and/or equipment I need...

I'd like to record a show. Then (whether by sending it to my computer or not) burn that show(s) onto a DVD, for later viewing on a regular DVD player.

This way, when I get way behind in my watching, I won't have stacks of VHS tapes; I'll have a far more compact pile....

Is this something fairly common for people to do? Will the Cablevision ioTV DVR unit record to DVD quickly (or will it take as long as the actual show itself)?

Thanks!

Chris

I would use a SATA hard drive with a HD video input/output PVR device. They do make stand alone combos, consumer style, with DVD RW and the hard drive (called a DVR), plus the input of IEEE1394 so cameras and digital video files (todays standard is firewire). MACs all do this right out of the box, video/audio, that is. ALL VIDEO DEVICES with video/audio outputs, even channel 3 modulator style for old tv's, can work if the product you pick has this style of output/input, but digital is still firewire and optical is Dolby and AC3, so the high quality depends alot on quality of product.

You need to check what outputs you want to record from, then check the inputs on the device you want to record to, and of course, buy the one that matches the most and best...

All this said, consumer devices that record to DVD (even blueray) from most inputs (above) are now available, no computer, no hassle of plugging anything in (after you hook it up)/.