Need advice -- Anything but TiVo

One of my 2 VCR's is now a lost cause and I can't see replacing it with another one.

TiVo is the first thought, but I am morally opposed to their invasive data collecting, and monthly fee. There use to be good DVR alternatives out there but that has all but dried up.

Comcast's DVRs are $14/mo which is ridiculous and I hear their interface is obnoxious. The ability to dump the raw data streams to a PC is possible, desirable, but not necessarily guaranteed.

I had always considered that on my next PC upgrade, I would build my old one into a media center... but I currently don't have the funds to go that far.

The best answer I've found so far is Philips DVDR3576H/37 (which is slowly disappearing in availability). On the plus side it's a DVR/DVDr without a monthly fee. It can record to either DVD or HDD and you can watch something else while that's going on.

It also has a high quality mpeg encoder that can encode at multiple quality settings up to 9500kbps vbr (which provides better quality than a DVD recorder which has to record at preset cbr settings). It can also rapidly burn HDD recorded programs right to DVD without re-encoding.

It isn't HD, but has 1080p upscaling, and can record HDTV shows downscaled to 480p. So all ATSC and QAM channels are pretty much fair game. Shows can be saved in their original anamorphic aspect ratios. It's also suppose to make some really nice captures from VHS input.

My real misgivings are that even though it can dump HDD programs unrecoded to DVD it IS re-encoding the broadcast when it first records: HDTV or SDTV. It does not save the raw streams.

The other serious drawback is that it downmixes/reencodes recordings to DD2.0 (it won't save a 5.1 stream). It also loses closed captioning from any digital broadcast (which is everything come February).

Anyone have a suggestion or is this one of those "it's the best of what there is, live with it" deals.

Doctor M said:

Anyone have a suggestion or is this one of those "it's the best of what there is, live with it" deals.

That's pretty much what it is.  You listed just about the best there is unless you roll your own.  You can build a really cheap HTPC these days (probably around $500, maybe a little more), so you might just want to save up some money.

I could build a HTPC out of my head, but I haven't been able to find a guide to what recent parts are recommended.

I have a few stuff laying around to offset the cost.  Can you recommend  a guide lordjedi?

Have you considered TiVo?

heheheh, sorry.

I noticed Haupage makes a weird TiVo like device... it's HD, but recodes everything into H.264... and is tunerless.

I can't believe TiVo owns the market.  Heck more than half of all VCR/DVD recorders are tunerless now.

It's like everyone said VHS is dead, TiVo wins, let's go home, and build BluRay players.  You'd think no one else wanted a piece of the market that lets people record a program to watch later.

I'll probably pick up one of those Philips units, fast, since they look to be discontinued with no replacement model on the way.

Shame they're not HD, or lossless, or, well, better.

TiVos recode all programs as well, don't they?

Just bought the Philips recorder. For all it's drawbacks, I can't complain when I buy it (new in sealed box) on clearance at Sam's Club for $84.01 (minus an additional $20 from a gift card they gave me for sending me to another branch 30 minutes away for no reason (but that's a long story).)

Doctor M said:

I could build a HTPC out of my head, but I haven't been able to find a guide to what recent parts are recommended.

I have a few stuff laying around to offset the cost.  Can you recommend  a guide lordjedi?

I see that you've bought something already.  The next time you think about a HTPC, give this site a go http://www.mythtv.org/  You can start your parts list from there to get an idea of what works.  If you decide to go XP or Vista, then you can just expand the parts list.

Pretty much all you'll need is a Hauppage card that can encode HD, a fast dual or quad core processor, and a lot of diskspace.

Next time I'll hopefully have a bigger budget.  For now this will do the job.

What's hilarious is people have been building HTPC for the last 5 years, starting with single core 3ghz cpus, but everyone keeps recommending faster and faster chips for them.

The cap cards do the encoding, the vid cards do the decoding, and the hard drives don't really use the cpu either.  It's just everyone wants a muscle-system.

I'll just build mine out of whatever old parts I have left over next time I upgrade my computer.  Stuffed in a HTPC case and with a cap card or two will do just fine.

Actually, the MythTV FAQs still only recommend single core CPUs.  I recommend a dual core CPU simply because the more CPU power you have, the better.  It's not actually because the cap card does the encoding, it's because once you build one, you realize how versatile it is.  I'm in the process of putting my entire DVD collection on mine.  The faster the CPU, the quicker I can encode the DVDs to smaller h.264 videos.  I get nearly the same quality, regular audio and commentary, and about 1/8th the file size.

Of course, the faster your CPU, the less you'll need a capture card that can do encoding.  If the CPU is fast enough, a simple USB encoder would work just fine.

True, but when I rebuild, my primary system will be cable of higher speed conversions like that.  And since I have a home network, I can then send the completed files to the HTPC.

I see your point though.