" I use a cheap STB (AU$40) with a USB socket and HDMI output. I can
record any program in HD to a USB flash drive. The file format is
playable on a PC using VLC video player. No need for VCRs anymore. In
fact I'm told that you can even burn the recordings in DVD format so
that they can be played on a regular DVD player. "

STB = Set Top Box ? (just making sure)

If you're talking one of those USB video convertora we better ask Lenny if he has a computer that doesn't say "ENIAC" on it LOL. IIRC he was in here a while back looking to fix something on a 386 or something for some old software, or something like that.

I'm running a PC that's OK (AMD , 2 Ghz FSB, 1.5 GB RAM) and I don't trust it to run one of those things without dropped frames etc. When they say minimum system requirements, remember they STILL want to sell their product. Plenty of times I've bought things that my system just barely qualified for and it ran like ****. The manufacturer's support (if any) usually would say that I need a better PC.

Anyway even if I did decide to use the PC as a recorder, I would need a DVI output to watch the recordings on TV anyway, and that's a feature that's still not quite universal on new motherboards. Many do have it now, but go back just a few years and they were not so common. That would mean another vidcard.

Then, capturing from a convertor box in 480i gives you 480i quality. Of course a VCR makes that even worse. Maybe a standalone DVDR would be better, some of them might up and downconvert. More expensive ones - of course.

Anyway, if two event timer record is desired, you would need either to be able to select video inputs in the timer menu or else it has to have a tuner.. With a tuner concievably you could use two convertors and have one set to channel three and the other to four. Just leave them both on.

Why don't standalone DVDRs have something like a cable mouse, like on old Sony 920 ? (maybe some do ?)

J