I'm looking at one now for $450.   I like that it can record 720 or
1080 broadcasts.  Or upto 50 hours of standard tv on just one tape.

What would be the negatives of buying this?
Any extra add-ons needed to make it work?

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

HDTV Digital VCR?? I think you mean a DVR (Digital Video Recorder, not
Video Cassette Recorder).

There are no tapes in a DVR. It records digitally on a hard drive.

If that's the case then yes, it's worth every penny.

  ..

MMVIII

cloud dreamer wrote:

There are many HDTV Digital VCRs on the market. Mitsubishi makes two.
Nice thing is that they will play all your old VHS/S-VHS tapes, and
record in that format if you so desire.

UCLAN wrote:

Show quoteHide quoteInteresting. I've never seen one. And for that price, I'd think they'd
much more enjoy a DVR. My PVR gets up to 180 hours of recording....no
tapes to fool around with.

Considering you're hard pressed today to find a new movie on VHS, it'd
be a step back to spend that kind of money on a VCR. I'd suggest the OP
really look seriously at a digital video recorder.

  ..

MMVIII

In article <12nj3qvsq165***@news.supernews.com>,
cloud dreamer <Inva***@Invalld.com> wrote:

Show quoteHide quoteThe format is called DVHS. The argument for it is that, so far, we have
no way of recording HD DVDs, so anything you want to save has to stay on
the DVR hard drive, and eventually it gets full. DVHS give you a
recording you can put on a shelf.

The minus is that you have to persuade your cable company to give you a
box with firewire jack. Big discussion about that here a few months
back.

Bill Steele wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteI delete 100% of everything that I record. I have a VCR still, but there
simply isn't anything I want to keep after I watch it.

I have 180 hours available on my Express Vu PVR and if it ever gets to
the point that it gets filled, then I have to rethink how much tv I watch.

Anything worth keeping on the shelf is worth paying the bucks to get on
DVD (or transfered cheaply to DVD from torrents).

  ..

MMVIII

cloud dreamer wrote:

Likewise. Every couple of years, I replace the tape.

You mean how TV you DON'T watch. If I haven't watched something I've
recorded within a couple of weeks, I figure I'll never watch it. But
that might change. It seems that they manage to stretch 3 months of new
programs over a year with reruns these days.

In article <1165610064.602987.22***@f1g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Show quoteHide quoteI have stuff I haven't watched since September, but it pays off when we
get to Christmas and there's nothing on for four weeks but animated
reindeer. 

Now let's take a hypothetical: You have 180 hours of HD programs on your
DVR. You happen to be a fan of, say, Dane Cook, so you'd like to just
save the Dane Cook routines and throw away everything else. How?

Bill Steele wrote:
Wouldn't it be the same procedure no matter what you had? Unless you have his
own separate show titled, like "LOST" or "24", then you would have to just go
through it all by hand.

If the recorder (of any type) didn't have the category of 'starring' and you are
able to search by them, it's all rote routine searches.

Though really, if you have any Dane Cook performances on the harddrive ... you
may have to just toss the whole system because of the infections. :) How else do
you get the stink off of you? :)

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 21:34:24 +0100, ~consul wrote:

I use Dreambox 500 satelite receivers. They can record to my linux server,
so I can make and see recordings from my living room without any moving
parts in my living room. The nice thing about such networkerd receivers is
that they have a web interface, so you can program it by that web
interface. Just display the program guide and klick with your mouse on the
timer button. All recordings are labeled with station name, time, and
program name or free text (you can enter whatever you like through the web
interface). So you can delete recordings quite easy. The nice thing about
this way of recording is that you record the input mpeg stream, so you do
not loose quality. The same box can play music from my MP3 archive and
show my mpeg home videos over the same network.

As for HDTV, I don't have any experience, but from several discussions I
understand the industry is working quite hard to prevent recordings in
several incompatible ways. Discussion about used techniques and ways to
overcome inconveniences is restricted by DMCA. That is why I don't expect
to buy any HD equipment soon.

Chel van Gennip wrote:
That free text field is the one. Good thing for it so one can search on that
catagory as well, besides the standards. I would have also figured that Dane
Cook would be in the generic "comedy" catagory, so it would help to cut down on
the searches.

There is that concern. Luckily, it may be just a software update or hack for me
to get by it. I really don't want to do that, and I wouldn't want to really save
it beyond one watching session. I like getting the dvd's of the shows I tape
later on anyways to support the industry.

Chel van Gennip wrote:

I've just recently ordered the cable version of Dreambox DM500 - the
same thing as yours, but with a DVB-C tuner. It's currently in transit -
the UPS guy hasn't shown up to deliver it yet.

I'm also getting a Dreambox DM7025 (terrestrial version, with two DVB-T
tuners) which I'm going to set up for my parents - once I'll get there
for Christmas. It is going to be interesting to see how that will turn
out. (I'll be practicing some VHS VCR exorcism there.)

I take it from your name and email address that you're from the
Netherlands, right? (I'm from Finland.)

Digital tv broadcasts are currently all the rage in Europe, but HD is
still very much in its infancy. At least up here in the North, it's
almost exclusively only SD stuff that is being brodcast on digital right
now, and things will probably remain that way for a good while.

This far, HD has only appeared on some satellite channels, and in some
experimental cable broadcasts (which no-one could have watched anyway,
since there are no HD STBs in the stores.)

Ordinary people are not really aware of HD yet, or expecting it, even
though they're well aware of "normal" (SD resolution) digital tv
brodacasts. (The situation as a whole is quite different from the US,
where HD has been one of the selling points of digital tv.)

According to the current Finnish plan, analog broadcasts will be
switched off by the next September. This switchoff will be conducted
simultaneously in all networks, terrestrial and cable alike, on August
31st. People have been buying DVB set-top boxes (and new tv sets with
integrated DVB tuners) in preparation of that event - otherwise the
switch-off ceremony would become the last pictures they will see on
their old tv sets.

However, despite the fact that people are well-prepared, (nearly) all
DVB STBs (and tv sets with an integrated DVB tuner) currently on the
market can only decode and display SD broadcasts, not HD broadcasts.
This is mainly because European digital tv started out as an SDTV
project. The exact nature and technical details of the European HD
broadcast standards just hadn't been settled yet. The pieces are only
now coming together.

Thus, HD will get a slow start here. Now that people have just been
forced to buy their SD-only digital set-top boxes, they surely will not
rush in the shops to buy new HD-capable boxes in the next couple of
years when they will become available. This established base of SD-only
equipment will place severe restrictions on the broadcasters - they will
practically be forced to broadcast in SD on their main channels for
years to come.

Hence, my prediction is that European HD will only start appearing
slowly and in trickles - as some sort of experimental luxury -  first
only on the pay channels and the like, then on the secondary channels of
FTA broadcasters. The broadcasters will have to wait 10 years or more
before they'll be able to switch off the SD broadcasts for their main
channels - at least in the pioneering countries. (Digital latecomers
might get to that point sooner.)

When things really start rolling on the HD front, the general consensus
has been that the European HD broadcasts will be MPEG-4-based, unlike in
the US where they're MPEG-2-based.

Probably not DMCA here in the Euroland. But there's the EUCD... :P

Then again, as you say, recording the current digital SD broadcasts
straight in their original format is not a problem with the current
devices. (There's no "broadcast flag" to worry about, or anything
like that.)

Dream Multimedia has already announced DM8000 - a new model with
(supposedly) enough "oomph" in it to decode the forthcoming MPEG-4 HD
broadcasts:

<http://www.satellitehelp.co.uk/portal/content/view/71/2/>
<http://google.com/images?q=dreambox+dm8000>

(It's still only vaporware, though - not a released product.)

No wonder it's so difficult to record HD. You gotta by separate boxes
(recorder + receiver) that are incompatible with one another & make
time-shifting (daytime recording) nearly impossible.

Jukka Aho wrote:
Yeah here in the U.S. networks like NBC or FOX are already showing HD
material. And stores are filled with sets capable of showing those 720
or 1080 HD broadcasts. (Hence my own interest in getting something like
a vcr to record them.)



last week of February 2009 in the USA. The government is handing out
$40 checks to buy digital-to-analog converters for old sets. Cable will
still operate as analog.



That sucks. Almost kills HD before it even started. :(  I'm glad that
U.S. networks are going straight to HD.

Thanks for sharing your Finland experience.

Show quoteHide quote

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

To add to the previous description, the primary selling points for
digital tv in Europe are, or have been:

- Full-screen 16:9 broadcasts (but as of now, primarily
   in SD, not in HD yet!)

- Better picture quality and reception, especially in bad
   conditions. (Well, there's clearly potential for that,
   but the outcome is sometimes debatable. Some broadcasters
   use pretty low bitrates, so you may end up trading in
   analog  ghosting, grain and noise to MPEG artifacts. And
   some viewers in extremely difficult conditions would prefer
   a grainy and ghosty analog picture over a digital picture
   that intermittently breaks up in blocks.)

- More channels, and pay channels for terrestrial reception,
   too. Not in all countries, though.

- More efficient use of a limited natural resource
   (frequency bands set aside for tv broadcasts)

The current breed of tv sets available in stores throughout Europe are
generally equipped with the EICTA "HD Ready" logo (see
<http://www.eicta.org/cms/site/showdoc.asp?id=672>, pages 10 and 11.)
They have HDMI, component, and RGB inputs, and can display 720p or
1080i, given a suitable signal source, but what they don't have is a
built-in HD tuner/decoder, since (as mentioned before) the HD standards
in Europe are still "work in progress". (As of now, you would mostly get
HD signal from some recent game consoles. HD DVD players and the like
haven't entered the public consciousness yet, either.)

Some of these sets _may_ have a built-in DVB-T or DVB-C tuner/decoder
for receiving the current (SD resolution) digital broadcasts/cable, but
that only comprises a small handful of them. Most are still sold with an
analog tuner only.

Interesting. Some sort of governmental subsidy mechanism has been
discussed here as well, but it now seems it isn't going to happen. (Then
again, there's an upcoming parliament election in March. I'd be
surprised if the analog switchoff won't be mentioned in the campaigns at
all.)

People with cable have been a bit reluctant about the whole
digitalization effort here. Sure, they'll get a better picture too - but
not drastically better, as cable systems are mostly immune to the kind
of multipath (etc.) problems that plague analog OTA reception. Cable
viewers might get a better channel selection, too, but the change is not
as obvious as it is on the terrestrial side.

The benefits are quite obvious for most terrestrial viewers, though.
This far, Finland has had only four nation-wide analog terrestrial
networks, and very little local tv activity. Now, due to digitalization,
the number of OTA channels has multiplied to about 20, so the whole
playing field has changed. Some of these are pay channels, and there are
more channels to come once the old analog transmitters have been shut
down and their frequencies have been freed for digital use. Even though
the channel selection is not as great as it is on the cable, nor it ever
will be, terrestrial is now becoming a viable alternative to cable,
anyway, and gives more choice to people in small towns, villages, and
outside urban areas (summer cottages and the like) where cable tv is not
available.

It will be interesting to see how the SD -> HD transition will be
handled when the time comes, but it's still too early to tell, and the
powers that be want to switch analog off first.

I was shopping for a twin-tuner (DVB-T) HDD recorder a couple of weeks
ago and thinking about this dilemma. Felt a bit awkward about putting
lots of money in something that can only handle the current SD
resolution digital broadcasts. But then I thought what the heck - it
will be five years or more before HD broadcasts will make any
significant inroads here where I live, so I just can't future-proof it.
Better to get the most out of what's currently available.

Thanks for sharing yours. :) Now that were (again) in a situation where
different countries are using different broadcast standards - and the
digitalization didn't quite resolve that problem even though it removed
some of the differences - it's nice to learn about how these new-fangled
dijital thingamajigs - work in other countries.

Jukka Aho wrote:
The U.S. doesn't have a widescreen SD format. It doesn't exist.  It's
either widescreen HD or its normal "square" SD.



U.S. law makes it mandatory for sets to have HDTV receivers.  Last year
it was all sets 30 inches or bigger.  This year its 20 or bigger.  Next
year all sets even small ones will require HD receivers built-in.

No more separate boxes allowed. Lawmakers want average folks to walk
in, buy a TV, and walk out w/o needing any extra equipment.



The money for the $40 checks is coming from the sale of the unused
analog channels. So channels 60 to 83 get sold off & the money gets
distributed to the taxpayer via those $40 digital-to-analog converter
vouchers.




Never thought of that. But you're right. Most people are happy with
their crystal-clear cable reception.

In the U.S. cable channels 99 and down will probably stay analog for a
long, long time.  The FCC doesn't regulate cable companies so they can
just sit on the old analog technology indefinitely.

Some of the wealthier americans upgraded to get digital cable (channels
100 or higher) for the better picture & to have something to see on
their HD sets.

And of course Antenna channels 2 to 59 will be pure-digital.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

Hmm... There's a widescreen ATSC SD format listed here:

<http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/what_is_ATSC.html>

Or, actually, three such formats - all 704×480 16:9.

16:9 full frame ("anamorphic") DVDs are also based on the same format,
or its 720-pixel wide variant. DV camcorders produce similar widescreen
pictures as well.

Yes, I've heard about that law. Seems to me it's fairly a good system
for easing out the transition pains.

The current situation in Finland is a bit curious: devices such as DVD
recorders with analog tuners are still being sold and advertised even
though they'll be obsolete in 10 months. (OK, you _can_ use a DVD
recorder with an analog tuner even post-ASO but you'll need a separate
set-top box for recording any TV. I wouldn't regard that kind of
combination as too convenient, and it involves a needless
digital-to-analog-and-back-to-digital conversion.)

The Finnish market for new tv sets is not large enough for dictating
what the manufacturers should do. The larger European countries will
have to kick in the high gear before we'll start seeing sets with
integrated DVB tuners in large numbers (and before the new devices with
analog tuners only will be truly gone from the stores.)

The UK has been pretty active on the European DTV front (with BBC and
all). However, as I've understood it, most of the interest and fuss
there has been about terrestrial viewing ("Freeview" [1], as they call
it), not digital cable.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview>

I just read on the paper that the Netherlands has apparently switched
off their analog terrestrial broadcasts. But according to the same
story, they only had a minuscule amount of terrestrial viewers, so
practically no-one even noticed. :)

The local situation up here in the North is a bit different than that of
Central and Western Europe, anyway. About 40% of households here are
terrestrial viewers. 50% of the households have cable. From
broadcasters' viewpoint, both groups are - for all practical purposes -
equally important. (The remaining part of the populace is probably lying
about their tv viewing habits as there's a tv license system in force
and they don't want to get caught.)

Sat viewing in Finland can be mostly disregarded - it is much less
common here than it is in Central Europe or the UK. This is both for
geographical reasons (you need a larger dish here and a clear view to
the South) and for language-related reasons (if you can't get
programming in your own language, or at least subtitled to your own
language, the whole thing is somewhat less alluring for the general
public than e.g. in the German-speaking part of Europe which can receive
all kinds of sat services in German with a tiny dish. Finnish just isn't
one of the major world languages, and we're on the edge of coverage for
sat services, anyway.)

Can you get a decent HD STB with mere $40?

I'm on cable. My parents aren't, so I've seen both sides. I have already
bought a couple of STBs for them, and the change was dramatic - from
four analog channels with less than stellar picture to about 12 crisp
and clear FTA digital channels. They could watch movie channels now,
too, if they were interested in that sort of thing. The only problem was
that recording to VHS tapes through an STB is inconvenient, so I'm now
getting them a twin-tuner HDD recorder instead. Since the HDD recorder
has an Ethernet port, recordings can be also transferred to a PC and
burned on a DVD with the original broadcast quality.

As for my own cable viewing... well, being forced to get an STB doesn't
bother me much personally, but I know some people who don't like that at
all. I've been postponing the purchase of a cable box this far but I
just bought one to get over with it. I've already had a digital cable
tuner (DVB-C card) on my computer for a while.

Here, cable companies have already removed all pay channels from the
analog side and moved them to the digital system. You can now only watch
free channels in analog format... up until the next September when those
will disappear, too.

Those apartment buildings (and the like) that aren't connected to cable
but have an antenna on the roof and some sort of centralized RF
distribution system, aren't allowed to convert digital broadcasts to
analog after that date, either. (The broadcasters don't want that people
would degrade their fancy digital signals and services that way.)

Not all European countries do it this way, though. I believe there are
lots of those countries that will take the same route as the U.S. and
allow analog channels on the cable (and analog distribution in
centralized distribution systems) even after the analog terrestrial
broadcasts are gone.

Jukka Aho wrote:
Ooops!  Didn't know that.  I thought widescreen SD was only used for
anamorphic DVDs, not for tv broadcast.  ------  The networks like NBC,
FOX, CW are using 720 or 1080 aka HD, skipping over SD completely.



Wonder how they can call it Freeview when viewers still have to pay a
$200 a year tv tax?



Nope.




U.S. cable companies know if they abandoned Analog stations, there'd be
an uprising amongst their customers with old analog sets.  So U.S.
companies will keep offering analog for many years.

In article <1166126525.982367.211***@j72g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

Dream on.  I have seen several "uprisings" which had no effect
whatsoever. And I chortle whenever I see those "Call your cable company
to get Channel X" announcements. As long as the cable company is a
monopoly it will make all its decisions based solely on maximizing
profits.

Bill Steele wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteIts losing its monopoly.  More-and-more competition is coming from
Satellite & Phone companies offering tv service.  The threat of Dish or
AT&T undercutting the Comcast monopoly is pressuring them to keep
prices low.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote in
That is false.  The US DTV standard, called ATSC, has 18 different formats,
all various combinations of 16:9, 4:3, 480, 720, 1080, p, and i.

In article <12nvadn4l5iq***@corp.supernews.com>,
Tony Calguire <calguire@tcfreenet.invalid> wrote:

Show quoteHide quotefred_h_haddad is apparently Troy Heagy.  You're being trolled.

On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 07:20:23 -0000, Tony Calguire
<calguire@tcfreenet.invalid> wrote:

    You're being trolled by Troy Heagy.  He's spawned a new psuedo
and is up to his usual tricks.

    If any of these IDs ring a bell, make a note - they're all the
same guy:

Troy.He***@gmail.com
videonov***@yahoo.com
videonovels2***@yahoo.com
telenov***@yahoo.com
fred_h_had***@yahoo.com

        HR

Hunter Rose <hunt***@newsguy.com> wrote in
Show quoteHide quoteLook guys, I know it's Troy.  But you shouldn't let false information sit
out there anyway.  It needed to be corrected, if not for Troy's sake, then
at least for the sake of the peanut gallery.

Besides, he wasn't trolling me... he was having a conversation with another
induvidual.  I simply butted in with the correct information.

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 04:41:29 -0000, Tony Calguire
<calguire@tcfreenet.invalid> wrote:

Show quoteHide quote    Yes, Troy was trolling you.  He posts bad information to get a
rise out of people.

    And I was "butting in" with correct information myself.  The
*reason* the information was bad was because the poster was trolling,
and knowing this ID is a new nym for a known troll informs readers
that they can discount whatever it posts in the future.  This
ultimately saves a lot of time and effort individually refuting each
false claim, which is what the troll is after in the first place.
People can killfile the new ID as they have all the others and ignore
him as they should.

    "I'm surprised I have to explain this" - Joe Bob Briggs

        HR

Hunter Rose wrote:
..



You people are soooo paranoid, you're making yourself mentally-ill.
(Might want to secure an appointment with the psychiatrist.)  Yes I
sometimes post bad information but it's the result of an ACTUAL
MISTAKE.

I guess you never make mistakes?
Or are you TOO trying to deliberately post errors?

I am no different than you are.

In article <5g61o2pdbnvt38qt06pcvjl9ifhvlsp***@4ax.com>,
Hunter Rose <hunt***@newsguy.com> wrote:

Show quoteHide quoteI have nothing to add to that but my sig:

Tony Calguire wrote:
Ooops!  Didn't know that.  I thought widescreen SD was only used for
anamorphic DVDs, not for tv broadcast.  Sorry.

In article <elkfcn$db***@gist.usc.edu>,
~consul <con***@INVALIDdolphins-cove.com> wrote:

You've sort of missed the point.  You record a one-hour Letterman show.
Dane Cook comes out and does five minutes.  You record three hours of
Comic Relief. Dane Cook comes out and does three minutes. You don't want
to save four hours to keep eight minutes.  So you play back those bits
and record them on your DVHS machine, or to a computer hard drive (which
will also fill up eventually).  Or maybe in the future to an HD DVD
recorder.  But there's no way to sort it out on just a DVR. 
I chose Dane Cook to be sarcastic...

Bill Steele wrote:
I got that. My point was that it didn't matter what singular unit was used. You
would always need to have to be to a secondary unit to copy to. One would have
to find the bits to save, and copy it to the harddrive, or to the dvhs, or
another dvr.

Perhaps there is a way on the dvr as well to do it internally by burning it to a
disk.

The JVC D-VHS i was looking at included a built-in tuner.  You don't
need a firewire.  I think?  Just regular coaxial.

In article <1165616468.756662.142***@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com>,
fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

If you want to record over-the-air broadcast HD signals. But to record
any of the digital HD channels on cable you need the firewire
connection. Perhaps HD DVD recorders will come with component or HDMI
input.  Along with lots of DRM restrictions.

Bill Steele wrote:
Digital cable costs $100 a month where I live so I chose to boycot it.
I only record HD/DTV off the antenna.

My concern is my current analog tuners in my S-VHS vcrs will be
worthless in 2009. I need a digital vcr or dvr to replace them.


These businesses are going to make time-shifting nearly impossible.
People won't be able to record daytime soaps or late-night tv like they
do now & ultimately it will hurt the tv shows with reduced viewership.

Stupid.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

TV is already suffering. Pretty soon all we'll able to do is watch
television programs on our computers. We'll be able to "time shift" be
playing the show any time we choose. They'll come up with something
that won't let you skip through the commercials. But you can still
ignore them.

Mike Rivers wrote:
Nah. As long as we still have our old analog VCRs we can still tape
anything at anytime. But when the analog signals disappear (2009) those
VCRs will tune in nothing but static. I'm worried I won't be able to
watch/tape shows when I'm not at home.




That's okay if you have DSL or Cable. If you have a phone dialup
connection you're left out.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

What I meant was that TV is losing viewers. We have the Internet. We
don't have time to watch TV any more. It's true.

But then, you could always make an analog recording of any copy
protected digital audio recording (as long as you had the means to play
it) - but did people really do that? Nah, they whined and complained
about the copy protection and that they were denied a certain "right"
to make a direct digital copy with their computer. It's human nature.

On the other hand, I can no longer watch a TV show between 9 and 11 PM.
I fall asleep in the middle no matter how engaging it is. So it will
probably be a while before I get cable or a digital-capable TV set. I,
or my present vintage 1980 TV set, might be dead by 2009. Who knows?

Mike Rivers wrote:
Yes true but I still need a digital receiver if I want to set my analog
VCR to tape David Letterman in March 2009. Else I'll just record dead
air.



I'm still young. ;-)  I'll only be 36 when the Analog dies.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:
You know, I wonder if there is a cheap tool that downconverts from digital to
analogue. There must be. I know it is a lesser quality, but I've heard of folks
like that that only keep their tivo series 1(or 2) and not upgrade to tivo 3
because they jacked the software or  something?

~consul wrote:
Yeah the ATSC tuner/digital receiver. Captures the digital signal
broadcast over the antenna & converts it to analog NTSC for old
sets/vcrs.

It's pretty pricey at $200 though.

And I don't know how well it would work: What if I want to record
channel 8 in the a.m. and channel 2 in the afternoon?  I can not
because I will not be home to change the ATSC box

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:
I guess I must be confusing situations. Right now, my aquos lcd has a built-in
digital tuner, my 2 vcrs have analogue tuner. The next set of tvs after the
change will only have a digital tuner, if any, only. At that point, I would try
to see if there was a tool that would convert the digital signal into analogue
so I could still record on my analogue vhs.

~consul wrote:
Yep. And you probably can feed the DTV signal out of your Aquos
television and into your vcr via some coax jack or s-video jack.
Right?

But what happens when you want to record channel 8 in the morning, and
channel 2 in the afternoon, but you're at work? Who will change the
channel from 8 to 2 in your DTV? The old analog VCR can't do it.

So, you're stuck w/o a solution.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

I used to use a mult-function remote controller (Memorex brand) that
had a programmer in it which solved that problem. You could set it up
so that at a certain time, it would send the appropriate channel-change
commands to the VCR and cable box, and start the VCR (or you could save
a step and let the VCR programmer start the VCR.

I'm sure there are still gadgets like that. I remember that Steve St.
Croix wrote about one in his Mix column a couple of years ago. I can't
remember the brand, but he was sure impressed with it. I think it cost
about $150.

On 12/12/2006, Mike Rivers posted this:
Show quoteHide quoteThe Philips Pronto line can do that for sure. They have a range of
devices from not cheap to *really* not cheap.

They come with computer software (PC only, IIRC) to help set them up
for all your devices, and you can create graphical screens that can
have all sorts of icons on them (also in color, on the more expensive
ones). You can download codes for many devices, including, if you're
lucky, discrete codes. For instance, there might be a code turn a
device on only and a secnd code to turn it off only, rather than
toggling power. Handy for programming as above, since you can be sure
you are turning the set-top box *on*, not just changing its state.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteI assume you are referring to what I would call a set top box?
Is that for a HD unit, or SD?

My el-cheapo SD set top boxes do all of that just fine.   (Here in
Australia most of our digital programming is in SD.)   I can set up to
eight events to switch on/change channels/set duration daily, weekly,
once only and other combinations.

Perhaps I am missing something in the thread?

Oldus Fartus wrote:
Yep.



In the USA there's no such thing as an SD-only digital receiver.



Good! That's what I need.

Show quote Hide quote There will always be patches to disable whatever no-skip features the
networks/studios try to put into broadcasts.

  -- Rob

Rob Jensen wrote:

But are there? And can "normal" people find and install them? I keep
updating pop-up blockers on my web browser, and they keep building
better pop-ups. Any "patch" solution is onlly temporarly.

As are corporate blockers.  It's always a give-and-take until the
corporation finally realizes that they've made it so difficult for
consumers to operate the given system that they give in and give the
consumers what they wanted in the first place. 

I mean, it's why the original DiVX format for DVDs was Dead On Arrival
in the first place. 

  -- Rob

Rob Jensen wrote:

DivX and DVDs are not the same standard.  (Hey you got to pick on me
with the FOX/ABC Family nonsense... now I get to pick on you.)

You missed my point, which is as with the original DiVX, viewers will
reject any and all attempts by the networks to thwart
commercial-skipping because viewers/consumers have an aversion to
anything and everything that makes viewing the given show/movie itself
more difficult.

  -- Rob

cloud dreamer wrote:

Will it play all of your archived VHS tapes? Will it record on a tape
that you can view in your bedroom VCR or on your neighbor's VCR? Will
it play a tape borrowed from a neighbor?

Humorous comment inasmuch as your suggestion of a DVR instead DOESN'T
PLAY *any* prerecorded media. Why use that fact against the HD D-VHS VCR
but not the DVR?

In article <CCjeh.9593$un3.4***@newsfe14.phx>, nom***@thanks.org (UCLAN) writes:
Speaking of those last questions, what (if any) digital rights management
restrictions does the current crop of HDTV digital VCRs (or even DVRs)
include?  There hasn't been a lot of talk since the broadcast flag was
put on hold, but manufacturers seem to include such "features" even when
not legally mandated.  For example, my old NTSC DVR recognizes various copy
management flags, imposes resolution restrictions on some transfers, and
completely refuses transfers from media that can't express a DRM policy,
e.g., DVD-R.

                Dan Lanciani
                ddl@danlan.*com

I thought VCR was a dead format. Not sure what the advantage would be
over a DVD recorder, since the DVD media is smaller, able to be read by
computers and media is cheaper,  and lasts longer. Plus hard to find
movies in VCR these days.

But then again, this is the first time I have heard of a digital vcr.

HLady wrote:
Only D-VHS can record 720 or 1080 high-def off the tv.

No other format can except hard-drive recorders + separate dtv
receivers;  and they are costly at $600 combined.

On Dec 8, 2006, fred_h_had***@yahoo.com <fred_h_had***@yahoo.com> commented:

There is also HDV, as well as several other pro HD formats (D5, HDCam,
HDCam-SR, and so on) that will do the same thing, though they'll be
impractical for home users.

I think the reality is that D-VHS is on its way out.  It's unfortunate,
because I think it was a good idea ten years ago, but I think marketing
realities are going in another direction today.

--MFW

HLady wrote:

How plentiful are *HD* DVD recorders? What is their price? Have any
suggestions as to make/model of *HD* DVD recorder?

They've been around for years.

UCLAN wrote:
Yeah meant what I said. D-VHS VCR.  And found two models
1 - JVC DVHS
2 - JVC DVHS w/ HDTV tuner

Model number one is cheap but no tuner == you need an expensive
external receiver. And you can't record from it unless you're sitting
in front of the machine.  So I couldn't tape stuff while I'm at work.
So no good.

Model 2 includes the receiver but at $900 is waaaaay expensive.

What about DVRs?
- Can they record NTSC analog signals?
- Do they require expensive external HDTV receivers?
- Can I use a plain-jane antenna?
- When the 'hard drive' is full, can I eject it & put in a new one?

All I see is:
- DVR w/o receiver = $250
- Receiver = $300
- TOTAL of $550 == ouch. 550 is a lot of dough.

thanks!

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/j/i/18326?cid=46
http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/j/i/18326?cid=47

UCLAN wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteI don't see any prices?
And nothing about integrated digital tuners.(I'd have to buy them
separately?)

In article <1165602946.782327.260***@79g2000cws.googlegroups.com>,
fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

Yes.

No.  Most standalone DVRs don't even support HDTV at all.

Yes.

You could, although it voids the warranty.  Many people replace their
hard drives just to get more capacity than the ones that come with the
unit.

Most DVRs now have network connections, so rather than "ejecting", you
can simply copy the shows to your PC.

Barry Margolin wrote:
Then that's no good. I want something that can record 720 or 1080 HD

<fred_h_had***@yahoo.com> wrote:
But what is there to record?
--scott

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Don't understand why people keep asking this question? If I had a
HD-vcr I'd record

heroes
jericho
24
smallville
lost
family guy

just to name a few.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:

Would you ever watch them? I can see recording an occasional episode if
you're a regular watcher and you just happen to be out one night. Or in
the special case where you're a night worker and don't care much for
daytime TV. Otherwise, you'd probably find yourself with a whole lot of
recordings that you never watched.

Mike Rivers wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteEvery weekend I watch my tapes of shows I missed during the workweek.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
I will for LOST, 24, and ... crap, I forget. But those for now.
Essentially the shows that I don't have time to watch live, so I tape on the VCR
that is broadcasted OTA in HD.

I just ordered and will receive later this week the Win TV-HVR-950 Hybrid USB TV
Tuner. Which will let me use my desktop to receive and record hdtv. I got that
as I don't have cable or sat, and as I use my desktop as my dvd player and music
player, with video ported to my 32" lcd tv, so this will just complete my
'entertainment center'.

On Sat, 09 Dec 2006 00:11:11 -0500, Barry Margolin
<bar***@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

The ones that do, like Trios Series 3 model are very expensive
themselves.
I believe that the Series 3 Trios come with USB ports which allow you
to just plug in an external hard drive.

Or to your VCR or DVD recorder if you have one. Trio has had this
ability almost since the beginning.

Also, you might want to check Trio.com and Circuit City's website for
prices on Trio. If you sign up for their monthly service they will
literally give you the DVR. (Of course they'll more than make that
money up over time with the monthly fees.)

In article <96gln2l6eekr3vlntc3cpu79fcjitl8***@4ax.com>,
Zombie Elvis <DELETEMETOREPLYrobertocasti***@ameritech.net> wrote:

You keep saying "Trio".  Don't you mean TiVo?

Barry Margolin wrote:

I just noticed that at Best Buy a TiVo is $219.95 and you get a $220
rebate when you sign up for the service.

What I'd like to know is what is a TiVo (or what is it not) if you
don't sign up for the service? Can you still feed it a video or RF
signal (I didn't see one open so I don't know what the gozintas and
gozoutas are) and record to its hard drive? And if it'll do that, does
it have an internal timer so I can record when I tell it to record, and
on what channel, just like on my VCR? If it will work that way, without
all the fancy "we know what you watch so you'll never miss it" setup,
I'd pay $220 for that. I assume I'd get better recording quality than I
do with VHS tape (unless it buggers it up with some sort of data
compression to make a disk drive go further).

In article <1165701654.869808.72***@16g2000cwy.googlegroups.com>,
I'm not sure about TiVo, but ReplayTV is a doorstop if you don't
activate the service.  You can't even do manual recording like a VCR.

Is there a minimum amount of time you have to sign up for?  If not, then
buying a TiVo and canceling within a month or whatever sounds like a good
way to get a cheap hard drive.

Excalibur wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteProbabyl they have an early cancelation fee of $3-400.

fred_h_had***@yahoo.com wrote:
I think the reason fred says $3-400 is that it depends on how much time has
passed. They rate your fee depending on how long you've been an actual
subscriber, so they get back the money that you would have given them for full
service.

On Sat, 09 Dec 2006 15:30:05 -0500, Barry Margolin
<bar***@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

Damn spell checker. You've betrayed me for the latest time!

<fred_h_had***@yahoo.com> wrote:
There's nothing much worth recording, and there aren't any prerecorded
tapes.

Programming.
--scott

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Aren't the networks cbs, fox, cw and so on broadcasting 720 or 1080
high-def? That seems worth recording?

On 12/08/2006, fred_h_had***@yahoo.com posted this:
Whether it is worth recording is, of course, a  matter of personal
preference. I guess you and Scott don't agree with each other :-)

And the world being what it is, I'm sure I provide a third mutually
exclusive opinion...

My cable box will record HiDef, but I haven't yet felt the urge to
record anything (beyond trying it to prove to myself & my SO that it
works). However, right now I'm kind of not recording *anything*, so
don't judge by me...

I only recently became aware of the existence of D-VHS, but it looks
pretty cool to screw around with!  I will pick one up one of these days
when I run across one in the Goodwill for $20.  I just picked up a JVC
S-VHS prosumer VCR for $19 at the goodwill that originally cost over
$1300 so I'm sure that one of these days the Digital VCR will be setting
there waiting for me!!  Anyways, video is fun to play around with and it
seems that the D-VHS is the best so.. it shall be mine someday, oh
yes...it shall be mine....

Douglas

Show quoteHide quote

Macintosh Dragon wrote:
Damn. Mine only cost $100 (new).  It's got all the editing features
like frame-step & flying erase head & is quite nice.

I'm hoping someone in this conversation can help with a problem.

I have just added a Hauppauge HVR-950 HDTV tuner to my Media Center
with an existing Hauppauge Dual tuner hooked to two Dish Network STB.
Everything works perfectly.  The digital channels show up in the Guide
as 4 digits (1002, 1004, etc.) and when selected from the Guide the
correct channel comes up.

The problem comes when using the remote. When on the digital channels,
the channel up/down works.  But I can't figure out how to jump directly

to another digital channel.  For example, I am on digital channel 1010
and want to go to 1002.  When I enter 1002 (or any digital channel), I
end up on the Dish Network channel 100.

My setup can tune 4 digit channels from the analog tuner (like 9900 to
test Dish 500), so it can handle 4 digits.

I have noticed one other thing.  Looking in the History at a manually
recorded digital channel, I see that it shows the channel as 10101
while in the guide it shows as 1010. But when I try to enter the 5
digits on the remote, only the first 4 digits appear and I get Dish
Network channel.

It must be possible as I can use the Enter button on the remote to jump

back and forth to the previous channel.  This works for digital to
digital, digital to STB (with a slight delay while changing tuners) and

STB to digital.  So the remote knows what to send.  I just can't figure

out what keys to press on the remote.


Any ideas??

Ed J



telenovels wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

jutrased wrote:
Which remote are you using?

I have the original that came with my Dell 8400.  Looks like the
Microsoft remote.  Also have a programable remote URC-300 (the
Customizer) from Universal Remote.  I can't get either to directly tune
the digital channels.

Ed


~consul wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

SONY DCR TRV27E Shutter speed and Gain?
fair use / copyrights
DVD Camcorders
Microphone recommendation and Digital Cinematography question
what computer features to look for- for editing video files?
Dazzle DV-Bridge Installation Problem
magazines and websites?
Re: deceptive ad on videoguys.com?
Help: GY-DV5100U or GY-HD110?
Re: deceptive ad on videoguys.com?