What are the advantages of a dvd recorder over tivo?

[zanos]

Aside from being able to copy your vhs videos to dvd. I know with a tivo you can simply transfer the contents of your shows from the hard drive directly to your computer to author without any loss of quality. Does a dvd recorder produce better results at lower bitrates or something?? I am trying to understand their popularity still.

[olyteddy]

Well mine can record to Hard Disk or DVD. It doesn't have the one click program guide of a Tivo, but to me the main advantage would have to be not paying that nasty monthly fee. It does, however, still have the 'commercial skip' key that I hear is lacking in the current Tivos.

[zanos]

I am not aware what tivo is charging these days. Obviously if you bought into the lifetime plan you're in luck. But since most ppl have tivo anyway the cost is not an issue.

[jman98]

As a general rule, Americans have no interest in archiving TV shows or VHS tapes, so DVD recorders are not popular in the USA. In fact, most of the manufacturers are abandoning the US market which has clearly said that it wants DVRs and little else.

With regards to Tivo, I don't have one but based on what I've read it's easy to transfer shows to your PC from it, but I think they are still copy protected and can't easily be burned to discs. I don't keep up with the subject so I don't know how difficult or easy it is to get those files in a non-DRMed state.
I know that many DVRs copy protect what they record and it's usually quite difficult to impossible to remove the DRM, depending on the model.

[tmw]

Does a dvd recorder produce better results at lower bitrates or something?? I am trying to understand their popularity still.

TiVo requires a monthly membership fee, not unlike cable. I suspect few people who don't have cable would sign up for TiVo.

DVD recorder has no such fees, like a VCR. The resulting quality and bitrates aren't any better than contempary DVDs or TiVo.

Also, the tivo resolution is/was closer to computer resolution (640x480), whereas a DVD recorder uses the DVD standard (720x480). Most tivo customers and dvd recorder purchasers probably have no idea what that means.

[yoda313]

the tivo resolution is/was closer to computer resolution (640x480), whereas a DVD recorder uses the DVD standard (720x480). Most tivo customers and dvd recorder purchasers probably have no idea what that means.

Actually I need to clarify that a bit. When I was using my ANALOG series 2 before discontinuing it the max resolution was 480x480 svcd quality. That was at highest quality if memory serves. Now they did have half d1 resolution at 352x480 which was pretty decent quality and very easy to import to dvd programs after stripping the drm.

Now I don't have a newer high def tivo. I imagine they techinically are capable of recording the transport stream in 1920x1080i or 1280x720p resolutions. However I don't know if TIVO encodes these in mp4 or something. But I also don't know if they have tweaked their analog tuner in the model to allow for higher resolutions than the series 2. You'd have to go to a dedicated tivo forum to find that out.

[handyguy]

With a recorder you can watch a dvd when you are recording. Also take a look at LiquidTv.

[painkiller]

I have two Series 2 TIVOs. Love them.

The max resolution you can get out of them (via transfer over the TIVO/PC network) is 544x480.
The reason for this is I chose to use the SVideo connector instead of the usual RF phono connectors.

I pay $12.95 a month fir my first and $6.95 for the second TIVO.
I feel it is worth it since I no longer have to pay for a weekly TV Guide subscription, and these TIVOs - every evening - update their channel guides for a max of a 2 week look ahead.

[wabjxo]

..

[lordsmurf]

As a general rule, Americans have no interest in archiving TV shows or VHS tapes, so DVD recorders are not popular in the USA. .

Welcome to the A.D.D. generation, now in their early adult years. Some are already spawning. They record, watch, discard. Need a copy later, and learn it does not exist? Welcome to another aspect of their generation, the popular saying of "oh well".

Sad.

[jjeff]

[Zen of Encoding]

Aside from being able to copy your vhs videos to dvd. I know with a tivo you can simply transfer the contents of your shows from the hard drive directly to your computer to author without any loss of quality. Does a dvd recorder produce better results at lower bitrates or something?? I am trying to understand their popularity still.

I find that editing out commercials is easier and quicker on my Pioneer DVR-520H-S hard-drive DVD recoder
than using editing software on a computer. But, much of this ease of use is due to Pioneers well designed
interface. I also have an Accurian (same as Lite-on) hard-drive DVD recorder and it takes almost twice as long
to edit a standard TV show due to the GOOFY poorly designed user interface. My buddy transfers Tivo files to
a computer for editing and burning, still takes him longer than my Accurian to produce an edited DVD.

[painkiller]

wabjxo (and anyone else interested):

My Series 2 TIVOs will continue to work on my DirecTV system. Even after the switchover to all digital come Feruary 2009.

It isn't absolutely necessary that I changeover from what I have - to hdtv compatible DirecTV receivers.

[wabjxo]

..

[zanos]

That's interesting so Tivo doesn't use the standard 720x480 resolution?? I'm surprised by this.

[painkiller]

As far as I know, most of the Series models will not function (unless manually) without the service.

The max resolution for series 2 is 544x480 (via the S-video port). otherwise it is 480x480.

[usually_quiet]

In addition to using them for time-shifting, DVD recorders are useful if there are lots of family videos to transfer to DVD, and paying someone else to do it is not feasible. They are also useful if you frequently record things for friends or family members who can't record them for themselves for one reason or another. Transferring recordings from a TiVo may not be difficult, but recordings made directly to a DVD-R or DVD-RW are portable immediately upon finalization.

As a general rule, Americans have no interest in archiving TV shows or VHS tapes, so DVD recorders are not popular in the USA. .

Welcome to the A.D.D. generation, now in their early adult years. Some are already spawning. They record, watch, discard. Need a copy later, and learn it does not exist? Welcome to another aspect of their generation, the popular saying of "oh well".

Sad.

Record-watch-delete is not confined to one generation. My folks in now their 80's have used a VCR for 18 years. They saved only a dozen or so recordings in that time, generally to entertain their grandchildren when they visited. Most adults, regardless of their age, are not interested enough in watching something more than once to save it, and managing the clutter eventually gets to be too much.

It's the people who archive their recordings that are a little unusual. I only started doing it a few years ago, and find I am doing it less now than I used to. (Mostly for cooking shows, because I am too cheap to buy the whole season on DVD for the sake of only a few recipes.) I have become far more selective about archiving TV series than I used to be, and rarely save a movie now.

[olyteddy]

I have two Series 2 TIVOs. Love them.

The max resolution you can get out of them (via transfer over the TIVO/PC network) is 544x480.
The reason for this is I chose to use the SVideo connector instead of the usual RF phono connectors.

I pay $12.95 a month fir my first and $6.95 for the second TIVO.
I feel it is worth it since I no longer have to pay for a weekly TV Guide subscription, and these TIVOs - every evening - update their channel guides for a max of a 2 week look ahead.

Well, my DVR does DVD (720X480) resolution and at $19.90 per month, it's paid for in about a year...Plus I can edit out the commercials and back it up to DVD...

[samijubal]

I have a DVR with my satellite receiver and over half a dozen DVD recorders. I can't remember the last time I used the DVR but I use the DVD recorder all the time.

[rgs_uk]

have become far more selective about archiving TV series than I used to be, and rarely save a movie now.

TV has become much more disposable. Bad picture quality, nasty channel logos on everything. I recorded The New Avengers from BBC4 last week. It had a channel logo on it and by the time it had gone through MPEG2 encoding for Freeview and then my DVD recorder it looked pretty nasty. I would rather watch my 18 year old VHS copy. I record much less now too.

Making your product look cheap is not a good strategy in my opinion.

[handyguy]

Tivo 'lifetime subscription' refers to your specific unit itself (not you) & only as long as they don't change units.

[pepegot1]

When I tranfer VHS tapes to DVD, my JVC improves the quality of the recording noticeably.

[winifreid]

I am looking at getting a DVR or TiVo to record cable tv. Is there anyway to get a DVR to do one click record from an on screen schedule like TiVo? I currently use my computer, capture card and TitanTV to schedule recordings.

[usually_quiet]

I am looking at getting a DVR or TiVo to record cable tv. Is there anyway to get a DVR to do one click record from an on screen schedule like TiVo? I currently use my computer, capture card and TitanTV to schedule recordings.

Cableco DVRs do one-click recording, like TiVos.

There is one non-DVD DVR made strictly for use with an antenna and does one-touch recording, the DTVPal DVR. It's being sold now, but the first ones won't be ready for delivery until next month. It can use digital TVGOS or a guide generated from PSIP. Nothing like it for cable yet.

The only HDD DVDRs left in the US market use timers. There used to be some HDD DVDRs soild in the US that employed analog TVGOS and allowed one-click recording, but analog TVGOS is about to disappear, and nobody has made one yet that uses digital TVGOS.

[handyguy]

but analog TVGOS is about to disappear, and nobody has made one yet that uses digital TVGOS.

Not so. TVGOS is going to continue after Feb 2009. Says so on their website.

[usually_quiet]

but analog TVGOS is about to disappear, and nobody has made one yet that uses digital TVGOS.

Not so. TVGOS is going to continue after Feb 2009. Says so on their website.

[s:d76a147fa7]Would you provide a link so we can all read about it? [/s:d76a147fa7]

Never mind it's at http://www.macrovision.com/dtv/10053.htm?link_id=rightPromo

I have not heard anything about analog TVGOS being available OTA as it is now, only digital, which is incompatible with the existing analog devices. The information on the link confirms this, and the DTVPal apparently is not the solution people hoped it would be. Most have been unable to get it to work. Those with analog cable or satellite service may or may not be OK. It all depends on what their provider chooses to do.

[wabjxo]

..

[handyguy]

If you just have antenna, you'd have a converter box in Feb. That box has it's own style TVGOS.....

[usually_quiet]

If somebody is only using a CECB to watch TV, then maybe the guide they generate is sufficient. Recording devices are a different story. The DTVPal converter box was supposed to be able to supply a substitute analog TVGOS (converted from the digital TVGOS) to recording devices that need one for one-touch recording, so they could continue to operate as usual. However, it doesn't seem to work for most people in the real world. (See the DTVPal threads in the AVS forums.) None of the other CECBs even claim to do it.

That being said, all the coupon eligible converter boxes generate their guide from the PSIP data in digital broadcasts. At this time, none (not even the DTVPal), are using digital TVGOS to generate their guide. I use a CECB daily. and I can attest to the fact that the PSIP data available for some of them is always very limited, and for the rest of them, it is very limited at times. (It only lists "DTV Program")

The quality of the guide that converter boxes provide varies greatly. Some only provide a now-next guide for the channel they are tuned to. The DTVPal, which I own, has the best guide, that lists all the channels it receives. It is capable of storing several days worth of information, but I only have about 12 hours worth available most of the time, at best. The DTVPal's guide is the closest to an actual TVGOS/Guide Plus+ screen, but having seen both, I find that they are definitely not the same.