On Jan 18, 9:18*am, "
wrote:
On Jan 18, 9:10*am, bob haller wrote:





On Jan 18, 8:10*am, "
wrote:

On Jan 17, 8:27*pm, "Nono" wrote:

"mike" wrote in message

...

On 1/15/2012 1:38 PM, Tomsic wrote:
So, lightning struck a friend's house recently and fried most of the
electronics inside including two TV sets, their digital converter boxes,
a
telephone answering machine, VCR and a clock radio. *One of the TVs is
fixed; the other was replaced with a flat screen type and we tossed the
VCR.
It's time to convert to digital.

The question is how should we set up the system so my friend can record
TV
shows when he wants. *He likes to record shows late at night and when
he's
not around and then play them back when he has time. *The VCR worked
great;
but it doesn't make sense to use tape any more. *What black box should he
get to connect to the TV to do the recording that can be programmed to
just
record and play back -- no cable, no subscriptions or extra monthly
services
although I might convince him to get DSL internet service (he still uses
dial up).

TV recording/playback is the essential thing though.

Tomsic

Assuming you're in the USA??
There are several issues to consider.
The most of important is, "What do you mean by the plural 'shows'?"
If you want to record multiple shows AT THE SAME TIME, you've got
a problem.

Can you view ALL the channels you want to record with one antenna
direction? *If you've got multipath and have to turn the antenna
to get a channel, that makes multiple channel recordings, or unattended
recording of a single channel problematic.

Whatever you use has to have an internal or external ATSC tuner.
You can't buy a new VCR with an ATSC, at least not at a rational price.
Thank your legislators for preventing vendors including tuners that
didn't do ATSC. *So the vendors left 'em out.

That makes programming a nightmare. *You have to program the VCR AND the
tuner simultaneously. *I tried it for a while, but gave up trying to get
it right.

I tried a couple of DVD recorders without success. *If there was ANY
glitch
in the recording process, like a bad spot on the DVD or a pixelation
due to a plane flying over or ANYTHING not perfect, the recorder
gave up and aborted. *I ended up with the first few minutes of a show
before it ALWAYS found some reason to abort. *There was no recovery
process.

I ended up with two VCRs and four digital converter boxes.
I could set two channels on each recorder and program the VCR to record
either channel. *That worked fine, but since I'm home while the recordings
are happening, I ditched two of the converter boxes and switch it
manually.

I also have a TV tuner card in my PC. *ATI HDTV wonder. *It works mostly,
but if I do much else on the computer, the recording skips.
Also skips a lot on some channels.

I've tried a couple of other cards without success. *Either no drivers
or too resource hungry to run on a 2.8GHz computer. *There's a lot of
difference in the ability of a given tuner to get a reliable picture
in a multipath area.

Some of the older cable boxes will let you tune OTA hdtv without service.
So, I have a Hughes HTL-HD plumbed into the monitor.

So, I can record one HD channel on the computer if it's on a good
reception channel,
Two lowD channels on the VCRs and watch one HD channel on the computer
monitor.

The more popular shows can be viewed on network websites if you have
the bandwidth.

Most people would find this setup unacceptable.

People who report being happy have multiple dual-tuner cards
(with hardware assist) in a
dedicated multi-core PC.
But it ain't cheap.

It won't be too long before you can stream anything you want on demand.
But it will never be at a cost I'm willing to pay.
YMMV.

Yes, it's the cost thing that bugs both my friend and me. *Your information
is excellent though. *My friend knows as much about computers as his cat;
but he can carefully follow a set of instructions. * He does use a roof
antenna to feed his sets (the analog set is fed through a converter box) and
doesn't need to reposition the antenna to get all the stations in the area.
He's perfectly willing to record with one set and watch the other if two
shows are on at the same time. *But, he's more likely to do time shifting
and want to set a timer to record a show while he's at work or away for
viewing later.

So far from the comments here, I see two choices given his interests and
capabilities: (1) Get a TIVO or cable TV recorder system and pay the big
bucks forever

With Tivo you can buy a lifetime subscription for
about $300. *And the older units definitely worked
without a subscription, but it's then just a dumb
time/channel machine. *I've heard the new Tivos
won't work without the subscription, but not sure
if that's true.

The problem for you is that the cost of a new Tivo
with lifetimes is around $550- $600. *That can be
recovered in 3 - 4 years if you're replacing a cable
box DVR. *I'm saving $14 a month. *In your case,
with just antenna, it's a different proposition. *You
can check Ebay for used Tivos as well.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

do what i did buy a used tivo for 30 bucks whos service has
expired.try craiglist.

activate for 1 month as monthly. if it works well buy lifetime 300
bucks.

this gets your costs down to just over 300 bucks

craigslist has lots of tivos cheap.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'd be a bit careful. *That $30 Tivo was not HD, right?
And the older ones that are not HD may not be
compatible with an external ATSC tuner. *I no for a
fact that at least some of the early ones will not
work with an external ATSC tuner/converter. *If it
were me, before spending $300, I'd want something
HD compatible. * Also, there are Tivos on Ebay that
include the lifetime subscription, whether new, used
etc.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

mine is high def, it uses a cablecard provided by comcast but did work
OTA for awhile....... its a tivo premier unit that cn also use a
external hard drive.

you must know what your buying