Is there video harware like TiVo without the subscription fee?

Question

I guess basically like a VCR but with a hard drive instead of a tape. Any other bells and whistles would be icing on the cake.

Answer 1

That's exactly what I wondered for a long time, and it finally came around. DVD recorders have gotten quite reasonable in price, but still I wanted a hard drive. Now I have that, too, and even built-in TV Guide. Generically, what you want is a DVR -- a digital video recorder. You can get them with or without separate DVD recorder capability, I think. I settled on a Pioneer DVR/DVD-recorder combo. While it doesn't do everything TiVo does, from what I understand -- or at least doesn't have as nice a user interface for programming -- it does have free TV Guide service included. (A case of getting what you pay for, but one I can live with.) As you said, it's basically like a VCR but with a hard drive (160 GB in the model I chose), and the ability to record either to the hard drive or to a blank disk directly. The beauty of recording to the hard drive first is that you can then edit out commercials or other junk before copying to DVD. Or you can simply watch a show and hit the delete button when done! What a joy, after years of trying to edit tapes! Another wonderful advantage with the hard drive is that if a show is about to start and you want to record it, you can just hit the record button and it will find its own blank space! No need to fumble around looking for a blank tape or section of tape. Plus this unit gets the title of the show off the cable signal and puts that in a list of recorded programs you can sort through easily. I've had the unit for about five months and love it, with one exception. The TV Guide service comes and goes! It may be gone for days at a time. But when it works, it's a joy, and you don't *need* the TV Guide to record anything; there's still a way to set it up just like you did your VCR when you know the show's day and time. And like a VCR, you can set the recording speed, with higher speeds translating to better quality and more media (disk space in this case) being used up. There are more speeds to choose from, with SP no longer the best -- but quite good enough! There's so much more to say about this unit, which cost me $500. But the short answer is yes, there is hardware that will do what a TiVo does, without the monthly subscription fee, even if you don't choose this brand and model. Oh, by the way, my hard drive is now filled to capacity, but I was recording things like crazy. It holds quite a lot of video, much of which I never deleted! And the owner's manual is quite large, but I found I learned a lot just by pushing buttons, too. It's fairly intuitive. Sorry to ramble, and good luck.

Answer 2

Yes there are other types of DVR's that you can get and use, some are stand alone like a TIVO and others use a computer. I have a couple of the ones that use a computer. My main one is an MSI Personal Cinema, which was made by Nvidia. They have discontinued that one, even though it was really cool. The other one, which you can still get for a good price is made by Advantek Networks. They both came with remotes, but the Advantek unit uses a small remote that is really neat. I still have some issues with making the remote work in XP, but the DVR works really good. The MSI does NOT work in XP, but it works in 2000 just great. The Advantek seems to work very well in 2000 also, but I haven't had any real time to test it completely. I hope this helps for the PC side of the DVR, I am not sure who makes the DVR's that are stand alone, but Pioneer and Sony are to have some, but what they are kinda is hard to find out about.

Answer 3

If you have DirecTV ..Their DVR only costs $5 additional a month.. I pay around $60 for TIVO, DirecTV in 3 rooms, and about 600 channels - including music videos and the Spanish TV package

I have been VERY happy with both DirecTV and TIVO

Answer 4

There is no video harware like TiVo without the subscription fee.
Thats my answer.
Thanks.

Answer 5

Yeah Dishnetwork gives you one free with their service. But after the first year there is a small monthly charge.

Answer 6

Try dishnet work they got a similar device but its free once you have paid for the subscription for the satilite.

Answer 7

I rent a dvr from cox communications - it holds 40 hrs & is less than $10 a month! I LOVE it!!!