Digital SD/HD OTA DVR???

[BryanSat88]

Since I have trouble receiving my satellite local spot feeds (tree in the way), I have to pick up my local channels via an OTA antenna, luckily my signal strength is OK. My satellite DVR doesn't have a digital OTA tuner built-in so I am shopping for an OTA DVR that doesn't require a subscription (basically something to replace my ancient VCR and record OTA to a harddrive). Obviously, I want it to do the new format digital TV (ATSC) SD (and possibly HD) and be able to feed an analog signal (composite or S-video) to an older analog CRT TV.

What are some products I should consider???

All I can find are subscription boxes, such as TiVo (and I am not sure they will even work with digital TV).

 

[dodge]

ota DVR

Echostar TR-50


http://www.satelliteguys.us/2008-co...orum/120656-video-echostar-tr50-atsc-dvr.html

EchoStar TR-50: HD DVR for the antenna crowd - CES 2008 - Consumer Electronics Show - CNET.com

 

[jgantert]

For SD, you could get a DVD recorder with hard drive.
Magnavox 80GB DVD Recorder w/ Digital Tuner - Wal-Mart

For HD, there's the new TR-50 (see above), or a TiVo HD unit $250 plus service fees.

I currently have the TiVO HD and am very happy with it. Depending on price/reviews, I might pick up the TR-50 as well for another TV. Unfortunately in my area the OTA guide data doesn't go very far out (8-12 hrs) so the TR-50 might not be as useful for me.

-John

 

[BryanSat88]

Exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks!

It has analog and digital OTA abilities and 80GB harddrive.

Any idea about programming method? Is it reminicent of old VCRs or does anyone know if it uses a DVR like program guide GUI interface?

Either way it has all the features that I need.

Thanks again,

Bryan

 

[dodge]

The Tr 50 has the same guide format as a Dish vip 622. As for analog, no it does not do analog. Analog going bye bye as of Feb 17 2009 1 yr away, why would you want analog it sucks anyways.

 

[EricBskiVT]

The TR-50 is not available until July. For the interim, Panasonic has a couple of good DVD Recorders, the DMR-EZ17K or the DMR-EZ47VK that have ATSC tuners and can use dual-layer DVD-RAM disks. By lowering the recording resolution a little, I can get 16 hours of HD programming in 16x9 SD. Both are upconverting via HDMI so the recordings look pretty good on a 32" set. I use mine to supplement my VIP-622 when the new season starts to capture the new shows the 622 can't get because of conflicts. Once I weed out the shows I don't care to stick with, I only use the DMR-EZ47 occasionally.

 

[jgantert]

Any idea about programming method? Is it reminicent of old VCRs or does anyone know if it uses a DVR like program guide GUI interface?

I assume you're referring to the Magnavox (80GB hd). I owned the standard Magnaovox DVD recorder, and it was just like an old VCR. No program guide, you had to enter times by hand, and you can only have a fixed number of recordings set to go (8 on that model, I think the model with the hard drive has more).

Problem with the non-hard drive model is that you can't record two shows back to back on different channels without missing a few minutes while the DVD recorder finishes writing the first show. This is not an issue while recording to the hard drive, but if you record to the DVD you will still have this issue.

Also it appears if you record to the hard drive, then use high speed dubbing to write to a DVD, you will actually get more time available to record on the DVD. Not sure why, but AVS has reported this.

This model still gets OTA program information, so I think when it saves the recording to the hard drive, it keeps this info.

-John