Want to record OTA signals

[Will62]

In the past I never would have needed to post this message because it was very easy to obtain a DVD recorder that could record to a DVD. But apparently since I last purchased my Toshiba DVD recorder in 2010, things have changed and I can't seem to find a DVD recorder anymore.

I was reading about something called DVR but that is very pricy. Does anyone know of a way to find a new DVD recorder for OTA signals or a DVR that will record OTA signals via a built in tuner or some method to record channels from the TV without having to tune the TV tune it if you are watching a different channel? Would like to stay under $200 for this and also will not pay subscription fees of any kind. Just want OTA signals and the ability to record them for playback at a later time.

Any ideas?

 

[N6BY]

I think your best bet is a TiVo for OTA with lifetime service (A.K.A. "All In Plan").

I got a TiVo Series 3 with lifetime service and it is still working 15 years later. Had to replace the hard drive a couple of times, but I have certainly gotten my moneys worth!

 

[mwdxer1]

If you have a Fire Stick / Fire Cube, you can buy the Recast for $100+ on sale often (2 tuner), and the guide is free going out 2 weeks. I also have several Toshiba DVD recorders. I found my last two at Goodwill. Stand Alone DVRs for OTA is easy, but a generic one with A/V in for any video/audio source are hard to find. I also have one old DVD Recorder with a 500GB HDD, but it isn't that easy to set up.

 

[dishdude]

$299 but I think this is going to give you the best experience and should last many years. Probably still less than that DVD recorder you bought in 2010.

TiVo Edge for Antenna With All-In Service - Subscription Free DVR

TiVo Edge for Antenna With All-In Service is a Subscription Free DVR for your TV Antenna which will allow you to record all of your favorite TV shows and also gives you an on-screen TV guide.

www.channelmaster.com

 

[Lone Gunman]

So why do you want to make DVDs of TV programs you won't watch but once?

Everything we watch here at home is pre-recorded stuff so I can fast forward through the commercials but I don't make DVDs to do that. I have a Mediasonic Homeworx OTA receiver that records TV programs to an external laptop hard drive attached to the receiver via USB cable/adapter and it works fine for both record and playback.

 

[Jim5506]

$299 but I think this is going to give you the best experience and should last many years. Probably still less than that DVD recorder you bought in 2010.

TiVo Edge for Antenna With All-In Service - Subscription Free DVR

TiVo Edge for Antenna With All-In Service is a Subscription Free DVR for your TV Antenna which will allow you to record all of your favorite TV shows and also gives you an on-screen TV guide.

www.channelmaster.com

I bought a TiVo Edge from Channel master - the OTA tuner in it is pretty weak and there are only 2 OTA tuners. You'd be better off finding a TiVo Bolt OTA with 4 OTA Tuners and they are stronger that the tuners in the Edge.

Look on eBay or the like and find one with an All in Subscription - more expensive but no monthly fees so it pays for itself after a year or two. Make sure it says 4 tuners in the description.

With Lifetime (All-in -Service) they usually go for $250-$300 used - new they were ~$500.

 

[mwdxer1]

So why do you want to make DVDs of TV programs you won't watch but once?

Everything we watch here at home is pre-recorded stuff so I can fast forward through the commercials but I don't make DVDs to do that. I have a Mediasonic Homeworx OTA receiver that records TV programs to an external laptop hard drive attached to the receiver via USB cable/adapter and it works fine for both record and playback.

I have video recordings going back to 1976 and often I will watch old stuff not available any longer. Just like a music collection, videos have their place in a collection.

 

[Jim5506]

With almost any TiVo, you can transfer the recordings to your PC and then burn then to a DVD.

I use Video Re-Do to convert the .tivo files to mp4 or any other format you prefer - it has a built in DVD creator.

I find it more simple to just archive them on an external drive and not mess with ancient DVD technology.

 

[TheKrell]

I have video recordings going back to 1976...

What recording medium did you have back then? A VCR?

I find it more simple to just archive them on an external drive and not mess with ancient DVD technology.

Not to mention capacity. How many DVDs do you have, and do you want to hunt through and change, before you find the one you want? There are probably DVD changers with greater capacity than the one I owned (5). But even with 5 disks in there, I was always having lots of "fun" trying to select the right one. Nuts to that!

I have a good friend who is getting a tad eccentric in his old age. He really really wants to have physical CDs for all his music. I drive around a car with a thumb drive containing over 3000 tracks of my favorite music. I can address them by name, artist, genre, etc. etc. When my CD collection exceeded 300, I had a hell of a time finding anything, even when it was all supposedly alphabetized. Now I just rip it to a hard drive and find it easily.

 

[Will62]

I will look at the different recording devices mentioned and research each.

I don't watch a lot of TV but there are times when I am not at home and want to record a football game, hockey game, ice skating etc. DVD has been fine but apparently it is a dying technology at least where recording TV shows is concerned. May pick up the same unit I have at present off Ebay until I can make an educated decision on a new unit of some type.

 

[TheTechGuru]

In the past I never would have needed to post this message because it was very easy to obtain a DVD recorder that could record to a DVD. But apparently since I last purchased my Toshiba DVD recorder in 2010, things have changed and I can't seem to find a DVD recorder anymore.

I was reading about something called DVR but that is very pricy. Does anyone know of a way to find a new DVD recorder for OTA signals or a DVR that will record OTA signals via a built in tuner or some method to record channels from the TV without having to tune the TV tune it if you are watching a different channel? Would like to stay under $200 for this and also will not pay subscription fees of any kind. Just want OTA signals and the ability to record them for playback at a later time.

Any ideas?

The original AirTV (must provide your own USB external hard drive so add $50?)

Amazon product ASIN B0777M7X84View: https://www.amazon.com/AirTV-Streaming-Media-Player-Adapter/dp/B0777M7X84/

 

[mwdxer1]

What recording medium did you have back then? A VCR?

Not to mention capacity. How many DVDs do you have, and do you want to hunt through and change, before you find the one you want? There are probably DVD changers with greater capacity than the one I owned (5). But even with 5 disks in there, I was always having lots of "fun" trying to select the right one. Nuts to that!

I have a good friend who is getting a tad eccentric in his old age. He really really wants to have physical CDs for all his music. I drive around a car with a thumb drive containing over 3000 tracks of my favorite music. I can address them by name, artist, genre, etc. etc. When my CD collection exceeded 300, I had a hell of a time finding anything, even when it was all supposedly alphabetized. Now I just rip it to a hard drive and find it easily.

Just like people collect anything, books, CDs, etc. I have my library alphabetized and in order. It takes me 5 minutes or less to find any DVD. Movies & TV Shows are in separate areas. I am old fashioned. 300 CD's, try over 12,000 DVD's. Also 2,000+ VHS/Beta tapes I have been slowly burning to DVD. I have collected video in some form since 1976.

 

[MartyDe]

I have used a USB TV tuner with my laptop and recorded shows. It's possible to burn a show if your PC has a DVD burner. This is just an example.
Amazon product ASIN B015IL0FIWView: https://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-WinTV-DualHD-Tuner-Windows-1595/dp/B015IL0FIW/ref=sr_1_5?gclid=Cj0KCQiAys2MBhDOARIsAFf1D1fG4A4MLIrhaY5saMobsYeZgAf_3qFIJ8WQx9mACiaa0mGaOUJJfCEaAsyLEALw_wcB&hvadid=177353419144&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9003236&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=2705735863114917811&hvtargid=kwd-54266186&hydadcr=18911_9698412&keywords=usb+television+tuner&qid=1637095427&qsid=147-0724966-9221109&sr=8-5&sres=B0864RNGZQ%2CB08651YJ66%2CB015IL0FIW%2CB07BXFDH6S%2CB01N6NDUHG%2CB083VZPNR7%2CB097FF4Z7S%2CB08WH4Z5CM%2CB0992RXTL3%2CB07T9197KQ%2CB097S8QWQX%2CB07MC9KHK3%2CB093J8LZFT%2CB097TKT654%2CB08129Q548%2CB095XMWZB2

 

[TheTechGuru]

Just like people collect anything, books, CDs, etc. I have my library alphabetized and in order. It takes me 5 minutes or less to find any DVD. Movies & TV Shows are in separate areas. I am old fashioned. 300 CD's, try over 12,000 DVD's. Also 2,000+ VHS/Beta tapes I have been slowly burning to DVD. I have collected video in some form since 1976.

Thing is most of those DVD's are available in high definition and even 4K now...

Why watch The Hunt for Red October or Titanic off a crappy DVD when it's available in 4K...

I personally consider owning the DVD as giving the right to own the movie in any form so I'd just torrent (using a VPN) 4K/HD copies of all the movies you already own on DVD. Disc rot is a thing so you may find yourself having to anyway or re-buying movies every time a disc rots. Half my HD-DVD's have rotted and about 3-4 BluRay's have.

I bought a 10TB hard drive and have used MakeMKV to rip every BluRay, HDDVD, and DVD I own to the drive.

 

[edisonprime]

In the past I never would have needed to post this message because it was very easy to obtain a DVD recorder that could record to a DVD. But apparently since I last purchased my Toshiba DVD recorder in 2010, things have changed and I can't seem to find a DVD recorder anymore.

I was reading about something called DVR but that is very pricy. Does anyone know of a way to find a new DVD recorder for OTA signals or a DVR that will record OTA signals via a built in tuner or some method to record channels from the TV without having to tune the TV tune it if you are watching a different channel? Would like to stay under $200 for this and also will not pay subscription fees of any kind. Just want OTA signals and the ability to record them for playback at a later time.

Any ideas?

You can plenty of DVD recorders (keep in mind they are probably both used and old) on websites like eBay. It's possible that you could could find a new one (as in never opened, but not a current product) but you will have a harder time finding one and if you do it'd be pretty expensive.

 

[Will62]

You can plenty of DVD recorders (keep in mind they are probably both used and old) on websites like eBay. It's possible that you could could find a new one (as in never opened, but not a current product) but you will have a harder time finding one and if you do it'd be pretty expensive.

Yes, I just found the same Toshiba model on Ebay for $100 with the remote. Have purchased it and will use that while I more closely research the new technology mentioned above. Figure if I can get a year or two from this unit I will be happy. That gives me enough time to learn more about the new recording technology and determine which one is best for my situation.

 

[edisonprime]

Yes, I just found the same Toshiba model on Ebay for $100 with the remote. Have purchased it and will use that while I more closely research the new technology mentioned above. Figure if I can get a year or two from this unit I will be happy. That gives me enough time to learn more about the new recording technology and determine which one is best for my situation.

I wish you luck!

 

[Jim5506]

Amazon has FireTV Recast on sale $100 off for $179.99, 4 tuners 1TB HDD. 2 Tuner model is $129.99. If I didn't already have 6 TiVos, all but 1 with All-In-Service, I might get one.
Amazon product ASIN B074J1GPB8View: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074J1GPB8/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=amazonstore023-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B074J1GPB8&linkId=80dd86798cf13859ae40181e588cda2e

 

[fayrich]

Check out a Tablo ota tuner/recorder. Costs 5 bucks a month. But you will probably need a separate hard drive as well. Have had this set-up for a number of years, and it works great. Actually I think the newer Tablo's have built-in hard drives. The 5 bucks is for a interactive program guide. Well worth it.

 

[edisonprime]

I myself would recommend either the TiVo Bolt or TiVo Edge for Antenna. If you get the TiVo Edge for Antenna, make sure it's the earlier four-tuner model, not the newer two-tuner model. Keep in mind that you can't find the four-tuner TiVo Edge for Antenna on the TiVo website anymore, so I'd recommend the website Weaknees (spelling?), eBay, or you could Google search it. Of the TiVo Bolt and the TiVo Edge, I prefer the Bolt since I can use both the TiVo Slide Pro and the TiVo Lux remote with it. (I interchange.) There's also the TiVo Vox remote that works with it, but it's the same as the Lux remote. The only difference is that the Lux is backlit, which I prefer. Also I can't remember if there is a 500 GB version of the Edge for Antenna, but I do remember that there is one for the Bolt. Instead of the 500GB models, go with the 1000 GB/1 TB models instead. Just my two cents. Like the other poster stated, Tablo OTA DVRs are good too (from what I hear), so do some research and figure out what you want and go with that. Another one I hear good things about is the Amazon Fire Recast, but you need a Fire TV device or Fire Stick to go with that.