dvd recorder with dvd-ram, no hdd, gemstar tv guide, atsc or ntsc tuner.

[84transam]

I've been looking for a recorder with a dvd-ram, gemstar tv guide, and no hdd. I have not found one. Usually if a recorder has tv guide it also has an hdd and is pricy. I do not want to spend the extra money for an hdd. What I want to do is record tv programs to dvd-ram and work from a tv guide so the recordings use the program name e.g. "amazing race". This eliminates having to edit the title. I do not need a lot of storage space. A dual sided dvd ram disk can hold up to 8 hours of recordings on one side. That is more than sufficient for what I want to do.
Tivo's and comcast dvr's have duel tuners. There are times when I record 2 programs at the same time. If I can find a recorder low enough in price I will buy two of them and in a way have dual tuners. Anybody know if there is a recorder with those features? Thanks!

[trhouse]

As far as I have been able to determine the product you describe does not exist. The Gemstar TV Guide software is a program that runs on the hard drive. It appears to be about 4 MB in size. This is far larger than the firmware memory available in the popular one chip microcontrollers powering most dvd recorders. TIVO's are the same way. The code is on the hard drive.

[84transam]

Thanks for the quick reply. I can see now why I could not find that combination. I guess what I'll have to look for is a low priced unit with the gemstar/hdd combination. In my searching I found two companies that are no longer making dvd recorders with hdd's. I think it has something to do with tivo's copyrights. I should have known that gemstar and hdd's go together when I called Panasonic and they said all their gemstar units have hdd's. I know Sony has gemstar with an hdd but thier prices are up aroung $600. Thanks again!

[trhouse]

Pioneer DVR-531H or 533H's have the Gemstar TV Guide with a 80 GB hard drive as well. They go for less than Panasonics. One sold on eBay without the remote for $105 in the last few weeks.

[84transam]

I purchased a Panasonic dmr-ez27 on ebay for $120 with shipping. It has a dvd ram that stores 8 hours of recording on one side at ep speed. I have a 31" tv and the picture looks ok at that speed. It has thumbnails and makes it real easy to identify a recording. You can also give the thumbnail a name which makes it even easier identifying. The 8 hours of recording is more than sufficient for us as we only record prime time shows that run 1/2 to 1 hour. That's the upside. The downside is having to program a recording just like a vcr. It usually only take me a couple seconds. It is still not as good as a tv guide where you just select the program and hit record. When I had a dvr I could record two programs at the same time. Now I use my vcr for the second program. It is not a bad setup. I may look into the Pioneer and get rid of the vcr.