I have 3 DVRs through Dishnetwork. One is HD and the other two are SD. I also have two DVD recorders. One is a combo unit. I also have a VCR still hooked up. I can record 9 programs at the same time. Of course, I would neer have time to watch them.
This works pretty well. Sharp's menus aren't the easiest to work with. They need to have some gals program these things instead of the development engineers.
18 years in electronics and I am still being referred to as "gal"...but first you must pull us out of the kitchen, right, boy?
In reality, you are a man, I am a woman.
For god's sake, why can't you leave it like that and let us do our jobs....for the same money of course!!?
April, AD in Electronics, 1985
i record tv shows either from my tv to my dvdrw recorder from the tv
or straight to my vcr on same machine then run the vcr and copy to my dvdrw recorder off same machine which is a go recorder 1 side is dvdrw the other side is a regular vcr theres no subciption price at all .... all you need to do is hook it up to the tv and go and it
records both dvdrw plus and minus plus records and plays cdr's and cdrw's disks but has problem recording copy protected vcr tapes and dvd's but it plays them all it even plays mp3's on it as well thats how i record them if theres a way thats better tell me now lol
kerry higgins
I do a lot of educational and fun recording for my son and I also record certain NASA shuttle flight information therefore I use a variety of units. First the units involved. Three
Toshiba units models RDSX 32,52 and 54. These have both HDD and DVD recording capabilities. One Panasonic DMR-ES30V that has DVD and VHS recording capabilities. Both the Toshiba and Panasonic models can also record on RAM disk and –R/W disks so that helps in transferring data between the units. One TIVO type unit from Cox cable that has an HDD for recording only and you cannot get data from it – easily. Because the Toshiba units have HDD’s I can first record data to the HDD, edit out unwanted data and then record to the DVD. These units are also great for editing home movies etc. The Panasonic is one button to transfer data from VHS to DVD or the other way if needed. The TIVO type unit is great because I can record programs for my son and he choose which ones he wants to listen to. To make life easy I use the smaller Toshiba to duplicate what is being recorded on the TIVO. This allows me to use the Toshiba to edit and then record to DVD his favorite programs so that when the TIVO fills up I can delete those shows and still have them on DVD for my son to watch.
I use a Sony VRD-VC20 external DVD writer. This is a double-layer DVD burner with video capture capabilities. I first used it to copy VHS cassettes to DVDs. Later I connected it to available S-Video and audio outputs on my cable box. I use the box's built-in DVR to record programs, then play them back at my convenience and record them to DVDs.
One factor that limits the programs that I can record is copy protection. What's frustrating is that either Comcast or the broadcasters keep adding and removing copy protection without informing the customer. You can expect that the premium movie channels and the pay-per-view titles will be copy-protected.
If you want to try recording them anyhow, have a non-protected program ready to be recorded in its place. The reason is that you get the best reliability when you format the disc, record the program, and finalize the disc all at one time. You don't want to have a formatted disc sitting in the recorder for any length of time, and if you remove the disc and reinsert it later, it might not work.
The recorder is also fussy about disc quality. I've gotten the best results from Taiyo Yuden single-layer DVD+R discs, although Sony's discs are also okay. For double-layer DVD+R DL discs, there are few choices. Verbatim seems to have the best ones. I buy discs and DVD cases from supermediastore.com.
I bought the VC20 at Costco about two years ago for about $180. The current version, the VC30, sells there for about $200.
I used Instantcake on my Hughes HDVR2 to connect it to the wired LAN. Transfer programs to the PC, and process with TyTool into mpg's, then write to DVD's.
I have a vcr and dvd player combined. with direct tv. i record my soaps everyday. mev65usa@yahoo.com
We have 4 TIVO's of various ages, one is newest type that works on std tv.
No wide screen set yet.
3 have lifetime service.
Its the best thing since sliced bread. I can watch one program while recording another. The only thing I don`t like about it is the tendancy for it to decide on its own whether the program I want to record is a valid program. I have to double check all the programs I have set it to record to make sure it is actually going to record them every week.
Dish HD DVR here too. Whatever kind of gadgetry I buy, and I buy a lot, I look for that which will require shortest possible learning curve (most intuitive) and least possible hassle. With the Dish DVR, when I have two programs I'd like to watch, I just push the record button on one, watch the other now, then watch the recorded program later. On perusing Dish's on-screen future listings menu, when I find something I'd like to see I just push the record button, then later sometime in the future I select it to watch at my leisure.
So far, this Dish DVR and my Amazon Kindle e-reader are the coolest of all my purchases in recent years. I might add that the two of them share that one characteristic I worship most in the world of technology, you don't need to keep an operator's manual handy or call your geek friend to help you work through an issue centered around equipment complexity. I've been buying and fighting MS PCs since there have been MS PCs and quite frankly I'm just tired. Between my iMac, my Kindle, and my Dish DVR I've finally reached a level of comfort in the world of technology.
It's some centrios model, piece of crap, the interface is sloppy, the controls are fumbly and the recording quality, well, lets say that I've seen better on aerial. Not supremely satisfied, but it works and theres no way I'm upgrading my computer or buying a new one, so it'll do its job of recording the occasional tv show.
We record everything on our DirecTv dual tuner DVR and it has been great. After years of dealing with two VCR's to record programs simultaneously, our DVR records weekly shows (two at a time if necessary) automatically. It is programmed by title, not calendar, so if a show is broadcast at a different time or day one week, the DVR gets it. Can also be set to ignore reruns. Programs or movies that we enjoy enough to keep get transferred to DVD-R on a Panasonic recorder.
I use my TiVo to record, once it is recorded it is pretty much available to everything on my home network. My TiVo gets me what I want the way I want.
I like it fine! It's Energy Star compliant (very important to me), it has a beautiful picture when just playing movies. I bought one that gave out after six months for no good reason, so I got another one, and this one has been more reliable. I'm new to this, so it's hard to know what is user error and what's the nature of digital recording. I've got mine piggybacked to my ten-year-old Panasonic VCR for videotape viewing through one of the DVD recorder's Auxiliary channels.
What I like about the Samsung is that it's very slim and elegant, and it's completely black, so it matches my VCR as well as my television. It's one of the thinnest devices with a tuner that they make. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to use it after next February, though. I try to practice voluntary simplicity, and I don't like a house full of gadgets.
What I don't like are the copy protection, of course, and that a DVD recorders functions are more complicated. On my JVC player, for example, you turn it on, it says hello, and you don't go through a sea of menus to play your disc. But the Samsung needs to know what you want to do, and you have Disc Menu and Title Menu to choose from, you can't just push a button and instantly find the chapter menus and audio commentaries. I miss the simplicity of just having a player attached to a television. Also, the Samsung remote is a nightmare. But, my universal remote lets me access almost all of what I need in a more sane fashion.
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