Tivo with or without DVD Recorder

[ellie jo]

Hi all,

I am about to buy my first TiVo and don't really know too much about this product. I have a regular DVD player (not recorder), but do have a DVD-RW on my laptop.

Should I buy the regular TiVo DVR or get the DVD recorder? These are the two choices on their website:

1. Factory-renewed 40-hour TiVo® Series2™ DVR with 12 months of service for $185.39

2. Factory-renewed 80-hour Humax DVD recorder with TiVo w/ 12 mos of service is $305.30


SO, is it worth it to buy a recorder for the above difference in price? And/or can I purchase a TiVo unit from another place for less money?

HELP!

Thanks all!

[Stainless Steele]

I love my DVD tivo's! It's really easy to dump stuff to dvd and faster than tivo 2 go.

Hopefully the 3rd gen tivo will be made by someone who puts a dvd-r in in it!

[evilipoo]

I LOVE my burner... It was tons of money at the time, but I still feel it is worth every penny. I'm personally am leery of refurbed stuff. You might try e-bay (though, of course that has it's risks too). Units with lifetime go for about the retail price, but you can find some nice devices that can't be found in retail. Unless season pass and home media are critical to you, you might try one that includes "lifetime Tivo basic service" to help bring your costs down.

[petew]

Love my Humax too. If you are going to want to save to DVD, it's worth the money.

[rkester]

Definately love mine. (Humax DVD 80 hr)

I offload content I want to keep onto DVDs, and delete stuff I just wanna watch once. THe DVD burner alone was worth the price of the ride.

[reggers]

I have the Pioneer 80hr version and now I cannot imagine life without it.

I was reluctant to buy the Humax (yes - I'm a brand-name snob). I also just purchased a new Toshiba 160hr Tivo with DVD Burner for approx $340 (but not with service).

I wish I had a reason to buy another one for myself.....

[windracer]

I have two standalones and then the Toshiba TX20 with the burner ... and like everyone else here, I love having the DVD drive built-in.

It's great to have the TiVo interface and controls for playing DVDs, and dumping shows quickly to DVD is so much easier with the TX20, even if you can edit out the commercials. I use it all the time to burn a bunch of kids shows to a disc before a family trip, so my daughter can watch in the car, or if a buddy misses an episode of a show, I can quickly get them a copy of it.

Bottom line, they're great.

[dirtypacman]

2 DVD Burner combo Tivo's
2 standard Tivo

I like the ability to burn without doing a transfer via TTG... so my vote goes for burner combo.

[windracer]

Originally Posted by dirtypacman

I like the ability to burn without doing a transfer via TTG... so my vote goes for burner combo.

Which reminds me we should probably mention that you cannot burn shows that weren't originally recorded on the DVD unit (i.e., you can't burn MRV'ed shows, or videos you transfered back to your TiVo via TiVoDesktop or Galleon).

[KingCrutch]

So, as a related question, another newbie to Tivo.

Between two sellers (eBay and Craigslist) I have the following options:

Tivo Series 2 40 HR Recorder + 1 year of Plus Service = $135

Humax DRT800 80 HR DVD Recorder + 1 year of Plus Service = $325

So, I am looking at $200 more to buy the DVD recorder version of Tivo, with the 80 HR capacity. Though I understand that the Humax records at a lower quality and is therefore equivalent to the 40HR Tivo.

I'm wondering if the DVD Recorder in the Humax is worth the extra $190 to have an integrated DVD recorder with Tivo. I'm thinking that if I want to add DVD Recorder support later I can add a pretty nice quality standalone DVD Recorder for $190 or less and come out even.

Thoughts?

[petew]

Originally Posted by KingCrutch

Humax DRT800 80 HR DVD Recorder + 1 year of Plus Service = $325

Or as the OP suggested by direct from Tivo fro $20 less see http://www.tivo.com/2.0.1.asp

As to value it depends on how many DVD's you plan to burn. The integrated unit makes it so easy. Simply select the recodings and insert a blank. 20 minutes later you have a disk complete with Tivo style menus and program details.

On a seperate unit recording could take up to 4+ hrs with intervention required for each show.

For example dumping 8 episodes of a 1/2 hr sitcom. Humax 20 minutes, external recorder min 4hrs plus you'll need to manually select the next show every 30 minutes.

[rkester]

Setting up DVDs to burn couldnt be easier either. And those tivolike interfaces are appreciated when I loan discs out to people. They comment on how nice it is.

I'm SO glad I gone mine. My library of movies and shows has exploded as a result.

[KingCrutch]

Well the eBay seller claims the units are new. Hard to know whether that's true, but that's the claim, and the seller has sold a lot of units. So I'd basically be paying the $20 for a NIB unit rather than a Refurb. Of course I'm dealing with an eBay seller and waiting for the $150 rebate rather than Tivo directly, so perhaps it is a wash.

I appreciate your advice. Much like the OP, it's a hard decision as to whether to invest the extra $200 for the DVD burning unit. It is certainly appealing but since I've never had Tivo it's hard to know how much I will use it, or whether I will appreciate the DVD features for the extra money they cost.

Decisions...decisions...

Originally Posted by petew

Or as the OP suggested by direct from Tivo fro $20 less see {OP's Post}
As to value it depends on how many DVD's you plan to burn. The integrated unit makes it so easy. Simply select the recodings and insert a blank. 20 minutes later you have a disk complete with Tivo style menus and program details.

On a seperate unit recording could take up to 4+ hrs with intervention required for each show.

For example dumping 8 episodes of a 1/2 hr sitcom. Humax 20 minutes, external recorder min 4hrs plus you'll need to manually select the next show every 30 minutes.

[petew]

Originally Posted by KingCrutch

I appreciate your advice. Much like the OP, it's a hard decision as to whether to invest the extra $200 for the DVD burning unit. It is certainly appealing but since I've never had Tivo it's hard to know how much I will use it, or whether I will appreciate the DVD features for the extra money they cost.

Decisions...decisions...

Buy from Tivo with a 30 day money back guarantee. I doubt you'll want to return it.

[windracer]

Originally Posted by KingCrutch

Though I understand that the Humax records at a lower quality and is therefore equivalent to the 40HR Tivo.

Not sure what you mean there ... the capacity of TiVo boxes is at Basic quality, so you can get 40hrs of basic quality on the 40hr box and 80hrs of basic on the Humax.

What you may be referring to is that the DVD units record at slightly different screen resolutions that are DVD compliant so they don't have to do any transcoding when burning to DVD, but this should not affect quality.

[KingCrutch]

Originally Posted by windracer

Not sure what you mean there ... the capacity of TiVo boxes is at Basic quality, so you can get 40hrs of basic quality on the 40hr box and 80hrs of basic on the Humax.

What you may be referring to is that the DVD units record at slightly different screen resolutions that are DVD compliant so they don't have to do any transcoding when burning to DVD, but this should not affect quality.

Yes, I guess this is what I was referring to, I had been reading the reviews on Amazon and there are several complaints regarding the picture quality of the Humax compared to the standard Series 2 40HR unit.

[lubberwort]

One more question for those that have dvd burning units. Do any of those units play dvd movies that you didn't burn, like one you would buy at the store? If they do, what is the interface like?

[windracer]

Originally Posted by lubberwort

One more question for those that have dvd burning units. Do any of those units play dvd movies that you didn't burn, like one you would buy at the store? If they do, what is the interface like?

Yup, they'll play regular commercial DVDs. The control interface is just like watching a TiVo recording or Live TV: you get the green trickplay bar at the bottom, you can do the instant replay (last 8 seconds), and of course 1x, 2x, and 3x RW and FF. My Toshiba peanut remote also has DVD-specific buttons for "menu" and "angle."

[KingCrutch]

Well the missus has decided she would use the DVD recorder feature enough to justify the cost, so I guess we're moving in that direction.

Now to decide whether to buy the "factory-renewed" DRT800 direct from Tivo or try our luck with a "new" unit from eBay...

[dgrrr]

Wow. to Petew -- just to be absolutely clear what you're saying about these HUGE issues...

Recording to dvd using a standalone DVD burner has to be done in real time. (is much more time consuming). AND it requires the user to do an edit between hte end of one program and the beginning of the other?

Whereas the tivo with built in dvd recorder could do this in 20 mins, and simply requires the user to choose the 4 shows at the beginning?

THat's such a huge diff, it can't be right...

thx!

Originally Posted by petew

The integrated (dvd) unit makes it so easy. Simply select the recordings and insert a blank. 20 minutes later you have a disk complete with Tivo style menus and program details.

On a seperate unit recording could take up to 4+ hrs with intervention required for each show.

[megazone]

Originally Posted by dgrrr

THat's such a huge diff, it can't be right...

No, that's right. It is the difference between an internal file copy (HDD to DVD) and having to play the video out the outputs and have it re-recorded on an external recorder, which must happen in real time.

Some DVD recorders have drives themselves, so you record to the drive on that system, then it does the copy to the DVD. But there is still the need to play the shows in realtime.

[HDTiVo]

I am considering buying a DVDR-TiVo for its ability to output component 480p and digital audio. I'd like to hook it up to an HDTV and see excellent quality 16x9 anamorphic mpegs.

I am hoping it will play 5.1 DD audio from uploaded mpegs through the digital out.

[sik209]

i dont really need thed dvd, because all i want is ipod video

[dgrrr]

Originally Posted by megazone

Some DVD recorders have drives themselves, so you record to the drive on that system, then it does the copy to the DVD. But there is still the need to play the shows in realtime.

"the need to play the show in realtime" refers to transferring from Tivo HD to non-tivo HD using analog cables, right? (rather than burning the dvd) And this again is the encoding issue?

I will assume that ONCE the show is on the HD Of the non-tivo unit, it can burn the DVD at the faster speed, like the integrated Tivo DVD burn? (20 mins)

And that most modern non-tivo units (e.g. DVRs, and HDD DVD REcorders) CAN transfer data to each other digitally, i.e. faster than realtime, via usb & firewire cables?



Also -- can you confirm if these basic assumptions are correct?
(a) a TIVO box (with or without DVD recorder) is a particular brand of DVR (aka PVR) whose hardware is specifically built to work with the Tivo subscription service
(b) a non-Tivo DVR wont' work with the Tivo service
(c) a Tivo box won't work with (record) a non-TIvo signal (?guess?)
(d) HDD DVD Recorders are not DVRs

[megazone]

Originally Posted by dgrrr

"the need to play the show in realtime" refers to transferring from Tivo HD to non-tivo HD using analog cables, right? (rather than burning the dvd) And this again is the encoding issue?

Yes.

I will assume that ONCE the show is on the HD Of the non-tivo unit, it can burn the DVD at the faster speed, like the integrated Tivo DVD burn? (20 mins)

Correct, speed will depend on the unit.

And that most modern non-tivo units (e.g. DVRs, and HDD DVD REcorders) CAN transfer data to each other digitally, i.e. faster than realtime, via usb & firewire cables?

No. Actually, *most* such units don't support transfers to another box at all. Some will, but most do not.

Also -- can you confirm if these basic assumptions are correct?
(a) a TIVO box (with or without DVD recorder) is a particular brand of DVR (aka PVR) whose hardware is specifically built to work with the Tivo subscription service
(b) a non-Tivo DVR wont' work with the Tivo service
(c) a Tivo box won't work with (record) a non-TIvo signal (?guess?)
(d) HDD DVD Recorders are not DVRs

a - true
b - true
c - There is no such thing as a 'TiVo signal' or 'non-TiVo Signal'. TiVo records from antenna (NTSC) or analog cable using the internal tuner, or an external cable box or satellite receiver. Same as just about every other DVR. The difference is this programming guide and the software.
d - false A Digital Video Recorder is any video recorder than records video using digital encoding (MPEG2 usually). Nearly all of these record to a hard drive. A HDD recorder is a DVR.