DVR newbie here

If you have digital cable or satellite, you're probably stuck using whatever the cable or sat provider uses.

There's ways to do a PVR using a computer that has a TV tuner card. Look into BeyondTV, or MythTV.

Look here:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/42-hdtv-recorders/1460149-2014-list-consumer-available-dvr-s.html

That's a comprehensive list of most if not all available DVRs on the market today.

Thank you, both, so very much for your replies. I appreciate it a lot. The links are very helpful. It seems like, if I want to record from broadcast, there are more subsciptionless options than for trying to record from cable. If I'm understanding this right, it has to do with how they encode it, right?


I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.

Not sure what you mean by subscription. All OTA channels in the US are free AFAIK.

The models that provide their own EPG usually charge for that, because they're buying it from Tribune Media Services. If you don't mind checking every day, most OTA stations send out as much as a day's worth of future programming, which is free but does require more diligence on your part. You can always use TV Guide or Zap2it to know when to program shows ahead of time.

I didn't really know what else to call it. Yes, OTA is free but I'm wanting to record from cable channels. Is EPG some kind of program guide?

I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.

EPG stands for "electronic program guide", yes. And generally speaking, cable is a pay-for service that you must subscribe to to get any channels. And in most cases you'll have to rent some equipment to view any of those channels. Most throw in the EPG for free.

With broadcast every broadcaster is a free agent. Most channels include up to 24 hours of EPG data in their live signal, and many DVRs can read that data. If you want to see beyond 24 hours, you'll need to subscribe to some service, be it online or on the DVR.

I already subscribe to cable television. Back in the 80s and 90s, I could plug up a VCR to that cable system and record whatever, so why does it cost a monthly fee to do the same thing with a DVR? Is it because of the EPG?


I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.

I'd say it's because of greed and unregulated monopolies. 

You mean to tell me that you've never seen a scrambled analog cable channel? If so, consider yourself lucky!