Info required on PVR use...

[Slowburn]

I'm thinking of buying one of these as I don't capture directly to my computer anymore.

If the PVR has it's own tuner, are you able to record from one channel and watch another
like recording to VHS?

Also, once captured to disk, what type of file has been captured? When I captured to my
computer, I got an .mpg file, which I was able to author and burn to DVD.

I have checked the company spec sheets on this item (Toshiba DR-7), but cannot find the
information I need.

If anyone has used these devices, can you shed some light on this question?

Thanks

[usually_quiet]

Toshiba's DR-7 is a DVD recorder with an NTSC tuner, which means it can only tune analog over-the-air broadcasts and analog cable. It has an RF out pass though for connecting to a TVs RF in, so if you have analog cable service or have analog channels available via antenna, you can watch one channel and record another without using a splitter. If you use a digital cable box, or satellite receiver, it isn't possible to watch one channel and record another without a second box for the DVD recorder.

Since Canada is switching to digital for over-the-air TV in July of next year, the DR-7 is not an ideal choice for recording over-the-air broadcasts. It would require an ATSC DTA converter for recording digtal TV from an antenna.

DVD recorders record using MPEG-2 for video and most often .AC3 for audio. If video mode is used, the DVDs will have a normal DVD file structure where the recordings are contained in VOB files. Many DVD recorders assign each recording session its own VOB set, but I can't say whether Toshiba's do that. If VR mode is used for recording, the recorder creates a VRO file instead, which contain all the recording sessions in one file.

DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD-RW need to be finalized before a computer can read the discs without using specialized software like ISOBuster. DVD-RAM and DVD+RW discs don't require finalization.

[handyguy]

There are 2 tuner models :
SiliconDust - HDHomeRun Network-based Dual Digital - HDTV Tuner Ethernet Interface Item #: N82E16815327005

[Slowburn]

Thanks all. Project abandoned.