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Best Non-Subscription DVR?

Posted by Cliff on from the well-that-eliminates-a-TiVo dept.

ngc5194 asks: "I'm thinking about joining the 21st century and purchasing a Digital Video Recorder. However, I DO NOT want to subscribe to any services. I understand that this will limit what my DVR can do, and I'm fine if it just acts like a solid-state VCR. Given the constraint above (no subscription services), which would be the best DVR to purchase and why?"

6 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Clarify your question by Platupous · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From the way the poster asked the question, I just kind of gathered he wanted a non-PC based standalone DVR box.

    I know all about Myth / ATI MMC / Beyond TV etc, but I too would like to know about STANDALONE boxes, which have nothing to do with a PC.

    What's out there? Whats good?

  2. Hmm, tough choice... by HaeMaker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    MythTV with a $1000 PC, or $200 dual tuner TiVo with a year of prepaid service.

    Decisions, decisions.

    1. Re:Hmm, tough choice... by Gregg+M · · Score: 3, Insightful
      MythTV with a $1000 PC, or $200 dual tuner TiVo with a year of prepaid service.

      $1000 PC?

      Who pays 1000 dollars for a PC? I paid less for my gaming rig! All you need for a MythTV is a 1 GHz pc with 256MB of ram. I could find that in the garbage these days. All you need then is a 80 dollar PVR-150 and a video card with an S-video out. Storage is about a gig an hour for mpeg2 files. Besides Tivo costs 20 bucks a month for the subscription. Once I pay for the computer I'm done.

      --
      Linux is only free if your time has no value. Windows is only free if you threaten to use Linux.
  3. no subscription takes out the advantages by the+unbeliever · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hm, lessee.

    If you buy a DVR without a subscription, and use it as a solid state VCR, you take away everything that's remotely advantageous of having a DVR, in my opinion.

    Season Pass (or the equivalent) makes recording all new showings of your favorite programs hassle free. If you're using it as a VCR, and the show ends up swapping time slots without your knowledge (you're probably ffwing through commercials that would warn you...) you risk missing the show in it's new time slot. Or if it's pre-empted by another program, or delayed, etc.

    If you're not looking to pay a subscription, just download the shows off bittorrent or usenet.

  4. Re:If you're worried about artificial limitations. by crypticgeek · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You think an application called MythTV is ridiculously focused on TV? Huh? It takes two levels to look at other videos. From the main menu you go to Media Library then Watch Videos. Then you select a video to watch. The interface pretty easy to use, I don't know what more you want. MythTV is certainly not slow for me...even on a cheap moderately powered P4 based system which I use. I found the format, while not straight mpeg, is easy to work with. I've made numerous clips from tv shows using avidemux2 and it works just fine. I've heard nothing but the same from everyone I've helped set it up for. Your experience seems to be oddly negative, and I'm sorry that it was for whatever reason. Does your shell script grab listings data and record your favorite shows? Does it have conflict resolution? Does it support multiple tuners? What about commercial detection algorithms? Is it maintained by an enthusiastic community? Is it as easy to use as tivo? Could my mom, who uses mythtv, use it? I somehow doubt it.

  5. Re:If you're worried about artificial limitations. by SparkyFlooner · · Score: 2, Insightful

    2 reasons:

        * WMC is really nice
        * I don't have to learn to use another OS to use it