DVD Recorder With HDD

[siddiqir]

I have panasonic dvd recoder which I bought two years ago. I recently broswed panasonic and pioneer website and noticed they stop selling dvd recorder with hdd. Do you guys have info. why companies stop make recorder with hdd.

[Frobozz]

They weren't profitable in the U.S. It wasn't worth it to modify them for the mandatory change from NTSC tuner to ATSC or no tuner. The future is in devices that can record HDTV such as DVR's.

[trhouse]

In the US, the market for hdd recorders is dominated by DVR's from places like TIVO, Comcast, DirectTV, etc. Search the listings on eBay with the word TIVO and nine pages will come up and the prices for many are low. I picked up a used DirectTV TIVO for a friend who had one go bad for $25 with a 40 GB hard drive.

It does not edit or burn to a dvd but allows a real time copy from composite outputs on the back. It is very easy to use for timeshifting and fast forward through commercials.

[edit]One interesting note. It can be hacked so it records unencrypted to the hdd and the USB connection can be used to port the video directly to the PC.