[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!

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.

 

[dgrrr]

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