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Buying a PVR that Doesn't Require a Subscription?
vchew asks: "I have been looking high and low for a decent PVR ala TiVo which doesn't require subscription, since I don't live in the US, and I don't need my PVR to call home every now and then. I can't find one! I don't want a Do-It-Yourself type like WinTV PVR, but a box which I can take home, plug in and just work! Tell me, is there no way for me to buy a digital equivalent of the 20 year old VCR? Well, if it lets me pause-live-TV, that would be cool, but I am willing to live with a digital VCR which does not call home, allows me to select air/cable input, PAL/NTSC output, and allows me to enter record timing slots like every other VCR instead of phoning some central master server to download some TV schedule (and maybe some personality change to go along with that)! Does this have anything to do with TiVo's recent patent?"
One issue though is that ReplayTV/Panasonic doesn't offer a toll-free number if you happen to be long distance from one of their dial-in numbers.
Tivo requires one initial dial-in, with no service activation required, to download who-knows-what (like the software).
After that it's manually programmable with no phone link, or subscription.
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
Most people who want something that is easy/convenient to use (assign names to shows, not have to swap removable media, etc) also want the other ease-of-use features too. An automatically maintained and integrated TV schedule is an important part of that. If you don't need this stuff, I suspect that puts you into a very small niche, where there aren't likely to be any mass-market consumer products. Home-brew is probably your best bet. (And once you manage to get a home-brew solution working, I bet you'll end up downloading schedules from somewhere anyway. ;-)
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As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Unless you have a subscription.
If you are willing to do without the guide, you can do all that stuff with the TIVO. Pause and rewind live TV, record by time/date/channel/duration.
What is it you don't think you can do with a TIVO?
About the closest you can get to your criterion is to buy an old TiVo that still has a version 1.3.X system (or reinstate it with a backup). TiVo originally offered the option of purchasing the unit for use without guide data (they now cripple this severely), with pause/rewind functions and manual recording of time/channel allowed. The 2.0.1 upgrade was supposed to grandfather in old units, but now includes a vast array of reminders that make it pretty painful (see the recent slashdot story). A fix is promised with 2.5 sometime in the fall (or much later, judging by 2.0 delays).
Contrary to some other poster's comments, you don't have to call in to TiVo and download software if you aren't using guide data (the only thing you need is the date). You can make a test call only to sync up the date/time or set the date via bash prompt by hooking up a linux box to the serial port for a terminal session. A full call will upgrade you to 2.0.1 and introduce the subscription reminder advertising spam.
Any TiVo can be converted to PAL input/output and newer UK units come set up for PAL already (I'm told, I haven't tried either). Note that this conversion is also incompatible with 2.0.1. You can find more info about PAL, etc. at the AVS TiVo forums. Expect to pay about $150-200 for one on ebay or the TiVo community garage sale, but you'll need to look around carefully to find one that still has the 1.3 system (general upgrades went out to connected recievers in April or so).
Regards, RJS
Tivo needs to make a PVR device with an integrated Digital TV tuner. HDTV takes about 7GB per hour to record. So, you'll need a couple very large disks. Or, as a compromise, the device could convert the stream to 480p for storage.
Well, I am thinking more in terms of usability when going digital. Think about this, I can record as many shows as I want without worrying about tapes. I can assign names to timer slots, and when I get home, I will be presented with a list of shows I have recorded. I will just have to select a particular show, and presto, I will be watching it. With tapes, I have to figure out which tape to pop in. Sometimes, if I record two shows back-to-back and I have only watched one, I can't reuse that space because I still have another show on tape... blah... blah... you know what I mean... the various advantages of going digital.
I don't get it... isn't this easy (at least for people in the business)? Just pop in a HDD and an MPEG2 chip, and you have a digital VCR? Well, I agree there are advantages with downloading the TV schedule, but can't we have a low-end model that is just the digital version of an analog VCR?
Well, if someone can point me to a good and affordable MPEG2 encoder card (with Linux drivers), I'd be glad ot build one myself. I have done some searching on Google, so far the furthest ahead is the Video Disk Recorder project. Man, the DVB-S card itself is the price of a TiVO!
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TrackEngine - VCR for the Web.
You can buy a professional PVR but they are not called pvr's they are DDRs for Digital Disk Recorders. A company called Doremi Labs makes a unit the V1-UHD that will record UNCOMPRESSED HDTV in 720p or 1080i and the unheard of 1080p which is the best HDTV format out there but will never be availble to the public. And another company called Fast Forward Video makes DDR's. I remember another company that makes one that the user can remove the drive for upgrading or if that drive is full put in another just like a videotape. But all of these units are at least $2500 and up so if you have the money they are out there.