Posted by jmpc on 05/21/06 15:29

This is a real 101 set of questions as I've mostly ignored the whole
Tivo DVR advances in recent years and now I want to get involved. I
would be appreciate if someone can look at
the two sets of information below and give a bit of advice.

First here is a basic list of what I want to be able to do when I buy
whatever it is I end up buying:

I want to be able to digitally record television to see just once and
then erase (or record over or hold until the space is needed), and I
can do this the old fashion way of figuring out what channel something
is on and when it begins and when it ends and use on screen
programming. I don't care about intuitive help to cut corners for me
in this regard, such as searching and programming by program name.

To a lesser extent I want to be able to record tv while I watch it,
pausing tv commercials
as I can now do with a vcr, with a remote control in my hand. This
could be straight onto a disc or into cache to put onto a disc later
(whether it is finalized then or later)

I want to also be able to dub videotapes onto DVD (direct to disc or
not) even if I have to connect my old vcr by component cables to a DVD
recorder.

I don't especially care about onscreen tvguide or finding or
programming by name, or programming to tape the same show every time it
is on.

And finally the following things would be nice to have but definitely
not completely necessary:
Live buffering or watching a show which is broadcast say 9-10 but not
beginning until say 9:15 while it is tillon, not waiting for it to
finish.
And to be able to watch one recorded or live program while another
copies.

Ok now here is what I can gather from a little research

There are DVR's (like Tivo) or the one Directtv offers
Then there are DVD Recorders which have hard drives
And there are hybrids
You can cache items to "burn" to disc later and when you do so you
can program chapters and menus, and even some basic editing.

>From reading all this I am not quite clear where a DVR is so popular or
what it offers, and I especially do not understand why it is a service
for which you pay a monthly fee.
Paying a monthly fee is definitely something I wish to avoid.

Should I assume the only downside of a hybrid is cost?

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