This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

On Jun 16, 4:28 pm, "J. Simmons" wrote:
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

You need a DVD recorder with a QAM tuner. That will have coax input
and receive unscrambled cable channels, just like your TV. If you
just record programs to watch within a week or two and don't need
permanent storage, a personal video recorder would be a better
choice. The ability to easily search for and schedule programs,
integrated program guide, ability to schedule recording of season's
passes, huge storage capability, etc make them a better choice for
that application.

Thanks!

wrote in message
...
On Jun 16, 4:28 pm, "J. Simmons" wrote:
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

You need a DVD recorder with a QAM tuner. That will have coax input
and receive unscrambled cable channels, just like your TV. If you
just record programs to watch within a week or two and don't need
permanent storage, a personal video recorder would be a better
choice. The ability to easily search for and schedule programs,
integrated program guide, ability to schedule recording of season's
passes, huge storage capability, etc make them a better choice for
that application.

"J. Simmons" wrote in message
...
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.



Go here
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/d...ingGuide.shtml

I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm suing the DVR from
the cable company.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message
...
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.



Go here
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/d...ingGuide.shtml


I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm suing the DVR
from the cable company.
Hi,
You mean Blue Ray?

On Jun 16, 4:56 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"J. Simmons" wrote in message

...

This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Go herehttp://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/dvd/recorder/DVDRecorderBuyingGuid...

I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm suing the DVR from
the cable company.

Good point to consider HD, I missed that. Your comment got me
wondering where all the Blu Ray recorders for use with a TV are?
There are a lot of them out there as Blu Ray burners to connect to a
PC at a reasonable price already, but I haven't seen similar targeted
at the TV market. Is it because that market is largely going to
personal video recorder instead? Those are available that are HD
compatible and if you don't need long term storage on removable media,
would be my choice.

wrote the following:
On Jun 16, 4:56 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message

...


This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Go herehttp://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/dvd/recorder/DVDRecorderBuyingGuid...

I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm suing the DVR from
the cable company.


Good point to consider HD, I missed that. Your comment got me
wondering where all the Blu Ray recorders for use with a TV are?
There are a lot of them out there as Blu Ray burners to connect to a
PC at a reasonable price already, but I haven't seen similar targeted
at the TV market.


We have the Sony PS3 to play Blue Ray disks.
Is it because that market is largely going to
personal video recorder instead? Those are available that are HD
compatible and if you don't need long term storage on removable media,
would be my choice.



--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Jun 16, 8:20 pm, willshak wrote:
wrote the following:



On Jun 16, 4:56 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message

...

This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Go herehttp://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/dvd/recorder/DVDRecorderBuyingGuid...

I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm suing the DVR from
the cable company.

Good point to consider HD, I missed that. Your comment got me
wondering where all the Blu Ray recorders for use with a TV are?
There are a lot of them out there as Blu Ray burners to connect to a
PC at a reasonable price already, but I haven't seen similar targeted
at the TV market.

We have the Sony PS3 to play Blue Ray disks.

Is it because that market is largely going to
personal video recorder instead? Those are available that are HD
compatible and if you don't need long term storage on removable media,
would be my choice.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

The discussion was about RECORDERS, not players

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message
...
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which
is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no
cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.



Go here
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/d...ingGuide.shtml


I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm using the DVR
from the cable company.
Hi,
You mean Blue Ray?

No, the DVD writers right now will save regular format, but not HD. I don't
know if Blu Ray is on the horizon or not.

My BluRay player has the ability to receive from a WiFi connection, but the
streaming video is only 720p, not 1080.

Keep in mind, though, this information is at least 24 hours old and the
market probably new 50 new players out there that did not exist on Monday.

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message
...
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which
is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no
cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will
the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression
the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.



Go here
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/d...ingGuide.shtml


I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm using the DVR
from the cable company.
Hi,
You mean Blue Ray?

No, the DVD writers right now will save regular format, but not HD. I
don't know if Blu Ray is on the horizon or not.

My BluRay player has the ability to receive from a WiFi connection, but
the streaming video is only 720p, not 1080.

Keep in mind, though, this information is at least 24 hours old and the
market probably new 50 new players out there that did not exist on Monday.

Following up from when I posted this, it seems that any future HD recorder
will be the Blu Ray format.

On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:51:30 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Jun 16, 4:28 pm, "J. Simmons" wrote:
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Mine does, but I don't know about others. I do have a QAM tuner like
trader4 says. It has both co-ax and rca outputs, and hdmi and
optical!

You need a DVD recorder with a QAM tuner. That will have coax input
and receive unscrambled cable channels, just like your TV. If you
just record programs to watch within a week or two and don't need
permanent storage, a personal video recorder would be a better

What do you mean *personal* video recorder? What is the other choice?

Do you mean one that records on a hard drive? I have one of those,
but afaik, there are only two models for sale in the US, and while
both get the job done, they both have a lot of small shortcomings.

Is there a better brand than Philips and the other one I forget right
now?

choice. The ability to easily search for and schedule programs,
integrated program guide, ability to schedule recording of season's
passes, huge storage capability, etc make them a better choice for
that application.

On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:39:10 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Jun 17, 1:08 am, mm wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:22:15 -0700 (PDT), Ron
wrote:



On Jun 16, 10:51 pm, mm wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:51:30 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
On Jun 16, 4:28 pm, "J. Simmons" wrote:
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Mine does, but I don't know about others. I do have a QAM tuner like
trader4 says. It has both co-ax and rca outputs, and hdmi and
optical!

Make and model?

Philips, model 3576H. (I think the other company that makes one with
an HDD is Toshiba, but it's a little less fancy I'm told.) AFAICT
mine is pretty much only sold at Wal-Mart, and maybe online at a
couple places. I don't like wal-mart but becaus it's mechanical and
complicated, I wanted to buy it in a store, so I could take it back
easily if it didn't work.

I've had it for 2 years and I've only made 3 DVDs. The other 20 hours
a week is recorded on the harddrive, then play them and delete them.

YOu can record one thing while playing a recording, either HDD or DVD.
You can copy from DVD to HDD and back.
It has lots of timing slots and versatile timing settings
and lots of other good things.

But, when it records a program, it saves the channel and time, but not
the description. You have to watch the preview, which is often
commerccials, or watch the show and remember what you recorded.

When you record a program, at the end, the whole machine turns off,
whether it was on or off when it started recording. You can stop it
with the remote, but they didn't make allowances for someone who was 2
flights downstairs and didn't want to run upstairs.

There's no easy way to stop it from recording. If I set it to record
a show manually for 2 hours, if there is a pre-set recording slot an
hour in, it stops what it was doing and records by the timer. I'm
pretty sure my good VCR, let what was running finish recording.

If a time is coming up and something you don't want to record is on
this week, there's no way to just turn off the Timer. YOu have to
modify the timer slot, or let it start recording and stop it. Alsmst
every VCR I've seen required you to take out the tape, but since this
doesn't rely on their being a dvd in place, that sort of thing won't
work. M\y good VCR just had a simple switch to turn timer recording on
and off, without changing what would have been recorded if the timer
were on.

You can see the program Info when not recording, but not when
recording.

If you want channel 26 to be pre-set for surfing, you have to also
include 26.2, 26.3, and 26.4. My set top box, designed later, will
let me choose any of these separately.

BTW, I have nothing but old tvs so I have to use an RF modulator.
They start at 17 dollars including shipping, so that's not bad, but...
well I'll explain the solution and you can imagine the problem.

Someone on an electronics ng told me about RF modulators that don't
insist on using only channels 3 and 4. They'll use almost any channel
up to 100 or 150.

This means I can have put a settop box next to the dvdr, set it for
channel 3, and set the modulator for channel 8, then just use the
remote control in various rooms to change inputs to the tv.

When I tried to use channel 3 for one and channel 4 for the other,
they interfered with each other. When I tried to use channel 3 for
both, I had to go to the other room to turn off one of them. When I
tried to use an A=B switch, it was fine for a while until the firsr
modulator broke after only two years and the new one was stronger, and
interfered with the set top box even when the A-B switch was set to
the set-top box! I have to pull off the unwanted co-ax too. (I use a
speed connector for it now, not the screw-on I used to use.)

If anyone wants a fancy modulator like that, I have the brand and url
nearby. Instead of 14 it's 50 for one device and 30 for each extra
device up to 4. 4 models, you have to decide how many inputs before
you buy it.



You need a DVD recorder with a QAM tuner. That will have coax input
and receive unscrambled cable channels, just like your TV. If you
just record programs to watch within a week or two and don't need
permanent storage, a personal video recorder would be a better

What do you mean *personal* video recorder? What is the other choice?

A PVR is just another name for a DVR.

Hahaha. Thanks.

Do you mean one that records on a hard drive? I have one of those,
but afaik, there are only two models for sale in the US, and while
both get the job done, they both have a lot of small shortcomings.

Is there a better brand than Philips and the other one I forget right
now?

TiVo.

I forgot about those. I don't want to pay a monthly charge.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes, just twice so far and not on a
major network, the Info doesn't match what is actually playing. TIVO
would get confused by that, wouldn't it, if it were set to record
episodes of a particular show?

Tivo eliminates all of the problems you describe above. When they
came out a decade ago they were referred to as "personal video
recorders", a name that made sense because of the features. That's
why I called it that instead of a DVR. Besides Tivo there are others,
including DirectTV or rental of cable box units that include them for
about $10 a month. I've used both Tivo and the Scientific Atlanta
cable box version and the Tivo is far superior and worth it. You can
get the Tivo with a lifetime subscription to the program service for
about an additional $300. So, it's about $600 for a HD unit with
lifetime service.

The Tivo blows away the current Scientic Atlanta box from Cablevision
and anything else I have seen. With Tivo the channel guide and human
interface is far superior in terms of seeing what's on, seeing a good
description of the program instead of half a sentence, finding
programs, setting them to record, etc. You can put in wishlists to
automatically record programs based on things like an actor's name, a
subject or a keyword. So, if you want to record any Robert De Nero
movie or any program about wine, etc, that comes along, you can do it
easily. You can get a seasons pass to a show and it will record all
of them even if some weeks the network makes it a double length
episode or moves it by an hour, etc. The new units also connect to
the internet and you can download and store video on demand from
Netflix and Blockbuster. And they can record 2 different HD shows
while watching a third that is stored.

It's very rare for Tivo to have the wrong program info. The thing you
do have happen occasionally is for some program schedule to change at
the last minute and that can affect what it records. An example
would be some show that follows a football game.

$600 may sound like a lot for that, but if you compare it to paying
$120+ per year for the cable company version

I don't have cable either. It's all too much money.

There's enough tv on the air, on RTV and THIS.


and the far superior
functionality, it's well worth it. You really have to use one to
really appreciate how cool they are.

On Jun 16, 3:28*pm, "J. Simmons" wrote:
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Yes, the coax cable just daisy chains into the DVD and out to the TV.

I kept my old VCR, fed the output of it into the DVD, then the output
of the DVD into the TV.
Now my TV source is cable or DVD, while my DVD source is cable or
VCR. That way I can
have all the features of the DVD, but still have the capability to
watch movies and recorded
videos on my VHS tapes. Takes 3 remotes to do it, but it works well.
Red

[snip]

When I tried to use channel 3 for one and channel 4 for the other,
they interfered with each other.

IIRC, since one of these modulators lacks the filter used by a TV
station or cable system the output will interfere with the next lower
channel (that is, ch 4 will prevent the use of ch 3). This still
applies to the higher channels (for those more flexible modulators),
but you can put them farther apart (generally, you should have 1 or 2
channels between the ones you modulate on).

When I tried to use channel 3 for
both, I had to go to the other room to turn off one of them. When I
tried to use an A=B switch, it was fine for a while until the firsr
modulator broke after only two years and the new one was stronger, and
interfered with the set top box even when the A-B switch was set to
the set-top box! I have to pull off the unwanted co-ax too. (I use a
speed connector for it now, not the screw-on I used to use.)

If anyone wants a fancy modulator like that, I have the brand and url
nearby. Instead of 14 it's 50 for one device and 30 for each extra
device up to 4. 4 models, you have to decide how many inputs before
you buy it.


My modulator (Netmedia NM73, IIRC) will work on any of the following
channels:

14-69 (UHF broadcast)
70-94 (cable)
100-125 (cable)

The three channels should be within the same group and a range of no
more than 10. To avoid conflicts with the cable system here, I use 90,
92, and 94.

[snip]


I forgot about those. I don't want to pay a monthly charge.

ReplayTV was much better than TiVo (and no monthly charge with a
lifetime subscription). Too bad they don't make them any more.

How about this: http://moxi.com/us/home.html ?

[snip]
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he
would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the
New, he would be insane." -- Robert G. Ingersoll

[snip]


Following up from when I posted this, it seems that any future HD recorder
will be the Blu Ray format.

It is possible to record HD on a regular DVD, but it would be playable
only on a computer.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he
would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the
New, he would be insane." -- Robert G. Ingersoll

On Jun 17, 12:50*pm, mm wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:39:10 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
On Jun 17, 1:08 am, mm wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:22:15 -0700 (PDT), Ron
wrote:

On Jun 16, 10:51 pm, mm wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:51:30 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
On Jun 16, 4:28 pm, "J. Simmons" wrote:
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Mine does, but I don't know about others. I do have a QAM tuner like
trader4 says. *It has both co-ax and rca outputs, and hdmi and
optical!

Make and model?

Philips, model 3576H. * (I think the other company that makes one with
an HDD is Toshiba, but it's a little less fancy I'm told.) *AFAICT
mine is pretty much only sold at Wal-Mart, and maybe online at a
couple places. *I don't like wal-mart but becaus it's mechanical and
complicated, I wanted to buy it in a store, so I could take it back
easily if it didn't work.

I've had it for 2 years and I've only made 3 DVDs. *The other 20 hours
a week is recorded on the harddrive, then play them and delete them.

YOu can record one thing while playing a recording, either HDD or DVD.
You can copy from DVD to HDD and back.
It has lots of timing slots and versatile timing settings
and lots of other good things.

But, when it records a program, it saves the channel and time, but not
the description. *You have to watch the preview, which is often
commerccials, or watch the show and remember what you recorded.

When you record a program, at the end, the whole machine turns off,
whether it was on or off when it started recording. * You can stop it
with the remote, but they didn't make allowances for someone who was 2
flights downstairs and didn't want to run upstairs.

There's no easy way to stop it from recording. *If I set it to record
a show manually for 2 hours, if there is a pre-set recording slot an
hour in, it stops what it was doing and records by the timer. *I'm
pretty sure my good VCR, let what was running finish recording.

If a time is coming up and something you don't want to record is on
this week, there's no way to just turn off the Timer. *YOu have to
modify the timer slot, or let it start recording and stop it. * Alsmst
every *VCR I've seen required you to take out the tape, but since this
doesn't rely on their being a dvd in place, that sort of thing won't
work. M\y good VCR just had a simple switch to turn timer recording on
and off, without changing what would have been recorded if the timer
were on.

You can see the program Info when not recording, but not when
recording.

If you want channel 26 to be pre-set for surfing, you have to also
include 26.2, 26.3, and 26.4. *My set top box, designed later, will
let me choose any of these separately.

BTW, I have nothing but old tvs so I have to use an RF modulator.
They start at 17 dollars including shipping, so that's not bad, but...
well I'll explain the solution and you can imagine the problem.

Someone on an electronics ng told me about RF modulators that don't
insist on using only channels 3 and 4. *They'll use almost any channel
up to 100 or 150.

This means I can have put a settop box next to the dvdr, set it for
channel 3, and set the modulator for channel 8, then just use the
remote control in various rooms to change inputs to the tv.

When I tried to use channel 3 for one and channel 4 for the other,
they interfered with each other. * When I tried to use channel 3 for
both, I had to go to the other room to turn off one of them. *When I
tried to use an A=B switch, it was fine for a while until the firsr
modulator broke after only two years and the new one was stronger, and
interfered with the set top box even when the A-B switch was set to
the set-top box! *I have to pull off the unwanted co-ax too. *(I use a
speed connector for it now, not the screw-on I used to use.)

If anyone wants a fancy modulator like that, I have the brand and url
nearby. * Instead of 14 it's 50 for one device and 30 for each extra
device up to 4. *4 models, you have to decide how many inputs before
you buy it.

You need a DVD recorder with a QAM tuner. *That will have coax input
and receive unscrambled cable channels, just like your TV. * If you
just record programs to watch within a week or two and don't need
permanent storage, *a personal video recorder would be a better

What do you mean *personal* video recorder? *What is the other choice?

A PVR is just another name for a DVR.

Hahaha. *Thanks.

Do you mean one that records on a hard drive? *I have one of those,
but afaik, there are only two models for sale in the US, and while
both get the job done, they both have a lot of small shortcomings.

Is there a better brand than Philips and the other one I forget right
now?

TiVo.

I forgot about those. * I don't want to pay a monthly charge.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes, just twice so far and not on a
major network, the Info doesn't match what is actually playing. * TIVO
would get confused by that, wouldn't it, if it were set to record
episodes of a particular show?

Tivo eliminates all of the problems you describe above. * When they
came out a decade ago they were referred to as "personal video
recorders", a name that made sense because of the features. *That's
why I called it that instead of a DVR. *Besides Tivo there are others,
including DirectTV or rental of cable box units that include them for
about $10 a month. *I've used both Tivo and the Scientific Atlanta
cable box version and the Tivo is far superior and worth it. * You can
get the Tivo with a lifetime subscription to the program service for
about an additional $300. * So, it's about $600 for a HD unit with
lifetime service.

The Tivo blows away the current Scientic Atlanta box from Cablevision
and anything else I have seen. * With Tivo the channel guide and human
interface is far superior in terms of seeing what's on, seeing a good
description of the program instead of half a sentence, finding
programs, setting them to record, etc. * You can put in wishlists to
automatically record programs based on things like an actor's name, a
subject or a keyword. *So, if you want to record any Robert De Nero
movie or any program about wine, etc, that comes along, you can do it
easily. *You can get a seasons pass to a show and it will record all
of them even if some weeks the network makes it a double length
episode or moves it by an hour, etc. *The new units also connect to
the internet and you can download and store video on demand from
Netflix and Blockbuster. *And they can record 2 different HD shows
while watching a third that is stored.

It's very rare for Tivo to have the wrong program info. *The thing you
do have happen occasionally is for some program schedule to change at
the last minute and that can affect what it records. * An example
would be some show that follows a football game.

$600 may sound like a lot for that, but if you compare it to paying
$120+ per year for the cable company version

I don't have cable either. * It's all too much money.

I have satellite because cable isn't in our neighborhood. I'd
*gladly* pay for cable, if it were a decent company (Charter isn't,
even if they were available).

There's enough tv on the air, on RTV and THIS. *

That must be the first time I've *ever* heard that there is enough to
watch on (OTA) TV.

On Jun 17, 2:28*pm, Mark Lloyd wrote:
[snip]



Following up from when I posted this, it seems that any future HD recorder
will be the Blu Ray format.

It is possible to record HD on a regular DVD, but it would be playable
only on a computer.

Out of curiousity, there must be some caveats here no? Are you
saying I can take any old consumer DVD player including those that are
stand-alone units used with a TV, as opposed to a computer, and I can
record HD on it as long as I only play it back on a PC?


--
Mark Lloydhttp://notstupid.us

"If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he
would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the
New, he would be insane." -- Robert G. Ingersoll

Mark Lloyd wrote:
[snip]


Following up from when I posted this, it seems that any future HD recorder
will be the Blu Ray format.

It is possible to record HD on a regular DVD, but it would be playable
only on a computer.

Huh?

http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdr...drecgfaq14.htm

"keith" wrote
I don't have cable either. It's all too much money.

I have satellite because cable isn't in our neighborhood. I'd
*gladly* pay for cable, if it were a decent company (Charter isn't,
even if they were available).

There's enough tv on the air, on RTV and THIS.

That must be the first time I've *ever* heard that there is enough to
watch on (OTA) TV.

That was my thought also. Most of what we watch are the cable channels not
available OTA. Discovery, History, Travel, NatGeo, TLC etc. Take them
away and I'd hardly turn the TV on except for the news.

I can proudly list many sit-coms and celebrity gossip showes I've never
watched.

On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:45:25 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
m...

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message
...
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which
is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no
cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will
the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression
the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.



Go here
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/d...ingGuide.shtml


I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm using the DVR
from the cable company.
Hi,
You mean Blue Ray?

No, the DVD writers right now will save regular format, but not HD. I
don't know if Blu Ray is on the horizon or not.

My BluRay player has the ability to receive from a WiFi connection, but
the streaming video is only 720p, not 1080.

Keep in mind, though, this information is at least 24 hours old and the
market probably new 50 new players out there that did not exist on Monday.

Following up from when I posted this, it seems that any future HD recorder
will be the Blu Ray format.

I have my doubts about the Blu Ray format really catching on and
becoming a long-term standard (mainly due to its higher cost plus
being released during a long recession). But, all you really need is
a means of saving video and playing it back which can be done with an
inexpensive PC with a half-terrabyte storage drive and a tuner card.
The more resolution, the larger the file. I find it amazing folks are
paying a monthly fee for a Tivo type device or DVR cable service when
that is not needed. It's my guess there will be fewer discs (of any
format) and more wireless streaming to your TV screen. And then there
are these low-cost high-capacity non-volatile memory thumb drives (the
"new" hard drives) that can store a hi-res movie or two.

On Jun 26, 1:48*pm, Phisherman wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:45:25 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"





wrote:

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
m...

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"J. Simmons" wrote in message
...
This may be the wrong group But...I want to replace my vcr with a DVD
recorder but am not sure about the
connections. My cable service comes in on a Coax cable (75 ohm?) which
is
connected directly to a vcr and then to a cable ready TV. I have no
cable
"box". I assume I need a DVD recorder with a built in tuner but will
the
coax cable connect directly to the DVD recorder. It is my impression
the
recorder has RCA inputs. Thanks.

Go here
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/d...rderBuyingGuid....

I'm waiting until I can get one with HD. Meantime, I'm using the DVR
from the cable company.
Hi,
You mean Blue Ray?

No, the DVD writers right now will save regular format, but not HD. *I
don't know if Blu Ray is on the horizon or not.

My BluRay player has the ability to receive from a WiFi connection, but
the streaming video is only 720p, not 1080.

Keep in mind, though, this information is at least 24 hours old and the
market probably new 50 new players out there that did not exist on Monday.

Following up from when I posted this, it seems that any future HD recorder
will be the Blu Ray format.

I have my doubts about the Blu Ray format really catching on and
becoming a long-term standard (mainly due to its higher cost plus
being released during a long recession). *But, all you really need is
a means of saving video and playing it back which can be done with an
inexpensive PC with a half-terrabyte storage drive and a tuner card.
The more resolution, the larger the file. *I find it amazing folks are
paying a monthly fee for a Tivo type device or DVR cable service when
that is not needed. *It's my guess there will be fewer discs (of any
format) and more wireless streaming to your TV screen. *And then there
are these low-cost high-capacity non-volatile memory thumb drives (the
"new" hard drives) that can store a hi-res movie or two.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

dvr's offer a convenience that is hard to match with what you
propose. I tell it to record new episodes of House. That's all I
have to tell it. The dvr's integrate the schedule with what you want
recorded.

"Phisherman" wrote
I have my doubts about the Blu Ray format really catching on and
becoming a long-term standard (mainly due to its higher cost plus
being released during a long recession).

The DVD guys have conceded and Blue Ray is the future (at least until
something better comes along). Cost is coming down considerably. Remember
when a Betamax was over $1500 and then a VCR was down to $20 over time?


But, all you really need is
a means of saving video and playing it back which can be done with an
inexpensive PC with a half-terrabyte storage drive and a tuner card.
The more resolution, the larger the file. I find it amazing folks are
paying a monthly fee for a Tivo type device or DVR cable service when
that is not needed.

Only if the PC has all the programming capability that a cable company DV-R
has for setting schedules. I don't know if they do or not yet. Nice to
know that even if I'm away my series recordings will start without me
intervening, even season to season.



It's my guess there will be fewer discs (of any
format) and more wireless streaming to your TV screen. And then there
are these low-cost high-capacity non-volatile memory thumb drives (the
"new" hard drives) that can store a hi-res movie or two.

Agree there. From what I can see though, the downloaded product is not the
full resolution and can be even lower if you don't have a fast enough
connection. Blu Ray give 1080p but the downloaded is only 720p or less from
what I've found. Of course, that may change too.

all you really need is a means of saving video and playing
it back which can be done with an inexpensive PC with a
half-terrabyte storage drive and a tuner card. The more
resolution, the larger the file. I find it amazing folks
are paying a monthly fee for a Tivo type device or DVR
cable service when that is not needed.

Only if the PC has all the programming capability that a cable company
DV-R has for setting schedules. I don't know if they do or not yet.
Nice to know that even if I'm away my series recordings will start
without me intervening, even season to season.

I have two Hauppauge HVR-1600 tuner cards, and a Hauppauge HVR-2250 dual
tuner card in my computer. My 1600's are connected to an outdoor antenna
to pick up over-the-air broadcasts (HD and SD), and my 2250 is connected
to my cable company to pick up free QAM channels (unencrypted channels
accessable without a cable box, mostly local broadcasts and a couple of
extras like Discovery channel). If I had enough slots available, I would
use two HVR-2250's, but right now I have more PCI slots than PCI-e slots.

I have a 1 terabyte hard drive I dedicate solely to video, though I'm
currently using less than half that space despite dozens of music videos,
home movies, and over a months worth of HD TV recordings. This leaves me
plenty of working room for editing home movies and whatnot.

I use the excellent free software "GBPVR" to schedule and record my TV
shows, with a $20/yr subscription to "Schedules Direct" TV listings. This
allows me to schedule recordings up to two weeks in advance, as well as
automatically recording repeating series episodes or other recurring
shows.

Then I use Comskip and VideoRedo to automatically locate and remove
commercials from my TV recordings.

We use a Tvix M-6600 media player to stream my recorded shows from the
computer, over our home network, to our TV in the living room. I only
have the one media player, but I could easily hook up other media players
to watch shows in other rooms if I wished.

Surprisingly, this all has minimal impact on my computer resources. I
can easily record 4 HD shows at once, while streaming a prerecorded show
to the media player in our living room, while my wife plays Farmville on
Facebook.

Of course, this means my computer runs 24/7, but it's usually running
other tasks like defragging drives, or processing other files anyway, so
that's not an issue.

Admittedly, there's a bit of a learning curve and tweaking to get
everything setup properly. But being able to record four shows at once,
while watching a fifth, and no subscription fees makes it more than worth
it. True, we're basically limited to the major broadcast networks, but
I'm not interested in paying for the extra cable channels anyway.
Combine our TV recordings with a couple of movies from Netflix each week,
and streaming Netflix movies through my BluRay player, and we have WAY
more shows to watch than we have time for.

Oh, and for those rare shows on a channel you can't get, you can usually
find them online or as a torrent download.

Anthony

"HerHusband" wrote
I have two Hauppauge HVR-1600 tuner cards, and a Hauppauge HVR-2250 dual
tuner card in my computer. My 1600's are connected to an outdoor antenna
to pick up over-the-air broadcasts (HD and SD), and my 2250 is connected
to my cable company to pick up free QAM channels (unencrypted channels
accessable without a cable box,

Admittedly, there's a bit of a learning curve and tweaking to get
everything setup properly. But being able to record four shows at once,
while watching a fifth, and no subscription fees makes it more than worth
it. True, we're basically limited to the major broadcast networks, but
I'm not interested in paying for the extra cable channels anyway.
Combine our TV recordings with a couple of movies from Netflix each week,
and streaming Netflix movies through my BluRay player, and we have WAY
more shows to watch than we have time for.

Interesting setup and not too costly. We don't get any OTA reception to
make putting an antenna feasible though. I'd still need a decoder as most
everything we watch is on the encrypted channels. History, TLC, Science,
Nat Geo and all pay-for.

How is the resolution on the Blu Ray downloads? I understand they cut the
resolution if you have a slower connection. Seems like a handy way of
getting movies though.

Ed,

We don't get any OTA reception to make putting
an antenna feasible though.

Have you checked your location at www.antennaweb.org?

You might need a larger antenna, but I would be very surprised if you
couldn't get ANY OTA reception.

I'd still need a decoder as most everything we
watch is on the encrypted channels. History,
TLC, Science, Nat Geo and all pay-for.

You can still use GBPVR and the tuner cards with cable boxes, but you
have to use IR emitters and whatnot if you want to change channels. You
would also need a box for each tuner if you wanted to record more than
one show. I've never looked into that, but I know people on the GBPVR
forum discuss it all the time and could probably provide more info.

Also, I thought I read somewhere that most cable companies carry the
local broadcast stations unencrypted (Free QAM). The cable companies
usually won't tell you that though, as they want you to rent the box.
But, I haven't looked into that in a while, so that could be outdated
info.

How is the resolution on the Blu Ray downloads? I understand they cut
the resolution if you have a slower connection. Seems like a handy
way of getting movies though.

Are you talking about Netflix? If so, I really haven't paid much
attention to the resolution, as some movies are SD and others are in HD.
I don't know what res the HD movies default to, though the quality
setting changes depending on the speed of your network connection. I
have a 42" plasma and have been pleasantly suprised by the quality of the
Instant viewing.

Of course, only a small subset of the Netflix movies are available for
instant viewing, mostly old movies, or those that are less popular. You
won't find many (any?) new releases for instant viewing.

Also, I think Netflix downloads are limited to stereo audio. Last I
checked, 5.1 audio is not available.

If you're talking about torrent downloads, the quality is whatever the
person who encoded it used. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's
horrible. Sometimes the picture is excellent, but the audio is in a
foreign language. But, I limit my torrent downloads to TV shows I
can't record myself, and rent Blu-rays through Netflix.

Take care,

Anthony