FAQ or guide to basics on TIVO DVD recorders?

[wmshax]

Does anyone know of an FAQ or guide to the basics for TIVO DVD recorders with DVD burners? I'm new to TIVO and in the market for a TIVO box with the capability of burning DVDs, but I find it difficult to find any comprehensive discussion of basic issues and features I should look for, brands available, etc. Some of the questions I'm looking to have answered:

a) since I have a high-def TV, I suspect I'll want to record programs at the highest quality possible. Yet the HUMAX DVD burner seems to have a rather small hard disk size--is that an issue? What alternatives are there if I want a larger hard disk and recording capacity?

b) I've learned that TIVO presently doesn't support high-def. But can I hook up a TIVO recorder-burner to my system and still see high-def programming on my cable service, even though I can't record it?

c) It's always important to anticipate what might be coming down the pike. Any news or rumors about when high-def might be supported? Any news or rumors about new recorder-burners that may be coming on the market soon?

Even a site with good side-by-side reviews would be helpful. (And, yes, I've checked out the obvious places like c-net.) Thanks!

[rkester]

We do need some kind of comprehensive info here for comparing options eh.

HDD size... remember that if you get one that does DVDs, you will probably be recording to DVD pretty often. I know I've had my Humax DVD for a year and have made hundreds of DVDs with it. I only keep content on the HDD if I want to watch it and delete, or if i havent gotten to putting it on a DVD yet. Mines 80gig, but you will be OK with a 40GB just the same until you decide to upgrade the HDD. Also keep in mind that at Best quality, you only get 1 hour on a DVD of video. (High = 2, Medium = 4)

HD content... you should be able to run a S-Video line out of your HDTV tuner box (cable box) assuming it allows multiple outputs to run the content at the same time. Then just run the S-Video into the Tivo unit for recording. When watching HD content, just watch it directly off the cable box via the component/hdmi/etc. Wont record in HD but will let you record the programming.

The Series 3 units have HD support but aren't out yet. However there are options for HD DVR content off cable out now.

[etsolow]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I'm looking for a "TiVo w/ DVD FAQ" as well. I'm switching to cable from DirecTV (for the new S3) but I can't justify two S3's yet, so I thought I might replace my old old DVD player with a new TiVo/DVD unit, to get a third tuner for analog cable and the spiffy TiVo interface for playing DVDs.

Is there a consensus on which of the units (how many models are there even?) is the "best"? I know some are faster, some have different sized hard-drives... are there any other basic differences between the models?

Thanks!

E

[megazone]

The Pioneer units (and the Toshiba SD-H400 *player*) are based on the 2xx reference platform and are noticeably faster than the Toshiba and Humax units which are based on the 5xx reference platform.

Feature-wise they're all pretty much the same. Pioneer and Toshiba units have TiVo Basic, Humax doesn't. The Toshiba boxes and some Humax boxes have Firewire input, Pioneer doesn't.

Personally, having used all of them, I recommend Pioneer.