Recording with USB stick on a Polaroid TV

[dellsam34]

It still is not I believe, Unless you sneak one out from a global supplier that wasn't marketed for US consumers. The last time US law protected consumers right to record the programs they pay for was back in early 2000's where the FCC mandated the availability of a firewire port on each cable box and OTA set top box to record the programs on a separate recorder such as a D-VHS machine or a PC, the law did not mandate the removal of the copy protection though. That got turned over in a bill that was passed when all senators are off for the holidays (that's usually the case to pass corporate interest bills, Christmas eve or thanksgiving).

[usually_quiet]

It still is not I believe, Unless you sneak one out from a global supplier that wasn't marketed for US consumers. The last time US law protected consumers right to record the programs they pay for was back in early 2000's where the FCC mandated the availability of a firewire port on each cable box and OTA set top box to record the programs on a separate recorder such as a D-VHS machine or a PC, the law did not mandate the removal of the copy protection though. That got turned over in a bill that was passed when all senators are off for the holidays (that's usually the case to pass corporate interest bills, Christmas eve or thanksgiving).

I think that technically, people living in the US still have the right to record linear TV, although not necessarily for free or on equipment that they own.

There are OTA set-top DVR boxes and PC TV tuners available that allow one to record free terrestrial broadcast TV. Sometimes the set-top DVR boxes allow one to export recordings and sometimes they don't.

Although it costs extra, paid linear TV services generally provide a way to record programming as long as said programming isn't a pay-per-view event, delivered on-demand, or via a premium channel like HBO. It is still possible to record US cable TV with TiVo CableCARD models, the cable provider's own rented physical DVR, or a Cloud DVR service subscription. Recording satellite service requires paying extra to have the feature activated on the receiver or paying extra to get a DVR. I think the paid streaming services that deliver linear TV, such as SlingTV, provide cloud DVR service for an additional fee.