DVR for OTA??

[smokey982]

I have a friend that has an antenna for all of his TV programming, and is still recording programs with a VCR. He loves how my DVR (622) works but he's not interested in cable or satellite.

Do they make a DVR that would work with an antenna and OTA programming only? He would love to be able to record 2 different channels at a time if it's at all possible. Thanks.

 

[MW390]

I have a friend that has an antenna for all of his TV programming, and is still recording programs with a VCR. He loves how my DVR (622) works but he's not interested in cable or satellite.

Do they make a DVR that would work with an antenna and OTA programming only? He would love to be able to record 2 different channels at a time if it's at all possible. Thanks.

At present the only thing available is what I and many have. Sony DHG-HDD250 or DHG-HDD500. They are out of circulation but there is a healthy amt buying and selling on ebay

 

[haertig]

If your friend is technical, he can build his own. There are a number of solutions. I'm familiar with Linux/MythTV, but there are others. I only built an SD DVR myself, but HD tuner cards have been made to work. You can put in as many tuners (to record simultaneously) as you want. You run out of slots to plug them in to, you slave the work out to second and third computers on the LAN with more tuner cards installed.

I would recommend this only for techno-geeks who like to do this type of stuff and don't mind twiddling and spending a bit of money. There might be some equivalent in the Windows-world (Media center or something), but I don't know much about that.

 

[smokey982]

He is the opposite of technical. So that idea is out of the question. By the way, the DVR does not have to do HD. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

[Jim5506]

Try a Tivo or ReplayTV unit. Older ones can record OTA analog and many replay units have lifetime subscriptions. I found a Panasonic ShowStopper (by ReplayTV) for $2 at a garage sale, put a new HDD in it and it works like new.

 

[Tower Guy]

He is the opposite of technical. So that idea is out of the question. By the way, the DVR does not have to do HD. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

There are plenty of DVD recorders with hard drives in them. The current FCC rules require them to have ATSC tuners. They won't record HD on the hard drive or the DVD burner, but it will be all digital.

Here's one synopsis:
DVD Recorders - Current Top Picks for DVD Recorders

 

[Peter Parker]

Doa web search for DVD recorder with hard drive and you will finds some choices---and it will play and record DVDs as well.

 

[haertig]

Do any of these DVD/harddrive recorders support DVR-type functions, like pause, skip back, skip foward, etc.? Do they support guide-type data (input from where?) for scheduling recordings? HD recordings? I would definitely be interested in something like that for the future if it turns out my Dish 722 gets too expensive to run with all the Dish DVR/enabling/programming fees.