How can I meet my requirements?

[jr4939]

VCR's seem to be a fading technology. I had found and used some that were more or less satisfactory for many years. But, by the time I needed to replace my last one, it was hard to find a replacement VCR. I finally did recently - and it was virtually a replica of my old one - same brand & most features - but crappily constructed and now, it appears, too quickly breakable.

I thought my requirements/wants were simple and could be easily met by the DVR machines on the market. Here they are:

- Must have ability to watch one TV program while recording another.
- Must have ability to fast-scan through advertisements.
- Must have ability to pick up and display Closed Captions (if TV program has them).
- want ability to jump to next stored program without scanning for it (indexing?)
- want ability to use VCR+ numbers for programming, but this isn't essential if manual setting can be done efficiently and fast enough.
- want ability to store up to 40 hours worth of programs (on one or more discs or tapes pr drive)
- *don't* need ability to record from the DVR to a CD disc.
- don't currently subscribe to *digital* cable TV (and need to know if I'd have to)
- don't want to watch TV programs on my PC

The universal retail sales response to this has been - "get TiVo", though I'm not at all sure it would actually do all of the above. But I'd certainly prefer not to pay a monthly ransom (beyond what I already pay for cheapest cable TV).

Some friends have said I can do it by buying a small computer, connecting it to my TV, and recording on hard disk with "the right software", but I haven't found anyone to tell me what the right software and computer requirements actually are.

Brand names would help too.

[Krispy Kritter]

The first hurdle, is whether or not you need/use a cable box to tune in the channels. Since you state you have the "cheapest cable", then I expect you are only getting the basic channels which can be tuned by most TV's and VCR's. All you need in this case is a standard DVR (many brands and sizes). A standard DVR works the same as your current VCR. When it is recording, you just use your TV to tune in the channel you want to watch. You could also get a dual tuner DVR, and use the DVR to always tune the channels.

TiVo is nice and really easy to use, but not necessary. Most of the items you list above are standard on all DVR boxes. The fast-scan is usually just a function of FF, either manual or with a set time to "skip ahead". All of the units I have used, require you to exit back to the main file listing to choose what you want to watch. Recording times vary by hard disc size and recording quality.

[jr4939]

Thanks very much for your helpful response, Krispy Kritter. - Guess it was misleading to say I have the "cheapest cable TV". What I was thinking of was that I don't subscribe to any premium channels, nor to digital TV, nor do I need a cable box. But I do have "extended" cable, including channels like A&E, TNT, Discovery Channel, etc. My present VCR can do an automatic scan to tune these channels properly (e.g., A&E is locally broadcast on channel 47). -

[dphirschler]

I got a Philips DVD/HD recorder at Wal-mart that does what you want. It even plays Divx CDs/DVDs. The bad news is it has a poorly designed remote... something that really irks me since I really appreciate good design. But anyways, it does what you want. I have been using it for that very purpose for a few months now.


Darryl