VCR vs DVR

[BananaHunter]

My dad wants to record stuff on TV, but he's technologically ********. So he turned to me for advice. We haven't used our old VCR for ages and after testing, I concluded that it doesn't work cause it's too old.

So, I need to buy a device that would let me record TV shows. We use rogers cable so we have a cable box. I recently learned of DVRs, which let you record on DVDs. My dad is indifferent between VCR and DVR. What should I buy and best place to buy them? Of course, in RFD fashion....I want things for cheap!!!

Any additional info would be greatly appreciated! Like...special set up techniques, do I have to contact rogers? etc.

[fidoguydo]

I got a Philips DVD recorder for my dad awhile back at xscargo. I think I paid like $79. Works fine for him. Not really tha tmuch different from a VCR. Plus he doesn't have to rewind it. The programing of shows is pretty much the same as a VCR.

[Aske001]

A DVR is potentially better than a VCR. It offers better recording quality and more flexibility, and most people are now very familiar with how DVDs work.

Unfortunately DVRs suffer from two significant drawbacks that make them problematic for the VCR crowd:

1. Over 90% of the cheap DVRs available in North America come from Funai and a couple of other el-cheapo suppliers who are completely clueless about user interface design and user manuals. They go well beyond bad - abomination is the word I would use. I don't want to single out any specific "brand" name you see on the outside of the box - I've owned a couple and installed several more for friends and family, and they're uniformly terrible. This alone is a serious challenge for the inexperienced user. DVRs are nowhere near as simple and intuitive as a VCR, and a lot of people couldn't ever figure out how to get their VCR to stop flashing "12:00".

2. DVD recording is not reliable. There is a lot of incompatibility between drives and media, making it pretty much hit-or-miss to find a combination that works most of the time. Even then you are going to find random batch and unit failures with the DVDs. It's made worse by the way these cheap DVRs use the cheapest possible DVD writer drives - way cheaper than anything you would find in a computer DVD writer drive. With a VCR, if you get a bad or less-than-ideal tape, you get a slightly worse recording quality, or maybe a few momentary glitches in the picture. With a DVD recorder, it will just stop recording at random, usually with no error message to explain what went wrong. It can be terribly frustrating for the inexperienced user.

The only real solution is to buy a recorder with a hard drive, and buy a brand name that has a good reputation for quality, support and comprehensible user manuals.

[rabbit]

DVR = DVD Recorders with hard drive.

They're no more difficult to use than a VCR, as far as recording to the HDD.

Dumping stuff you want to keep to a DVD is an extra step, which isn't that difficult, but you have to format the disc and finalize it when you're done (usually).

Picture quality is way better than VHS.



> Any additional info would be greatly appreciated! Like...special set up techniques

Since you have a cable box, if you do timer recordings, look for a machine that has IR Blaster, so the recorder can work your cable box automatically. Mind you, you can always record analogue cable just fine by plugging in the coax directly to the recorder.

> do I have to contact rogers?

Nope.

[_Allan_]

IF your dad is already using the Rogers Scientific Atlantic Explorer, just get the PVR version for a few dollars more a month, and let him use that. NO major changes from interfaces, and if you BUY it from an online source, there are ways to clone the original HDD to a larger HDD.

So in conclusion: BUY him Rogers PVR

[rabbit]

Yeah, PVR is the way to go if you don't need to archive shows. Mind you, if you ever drop Rogers, the PVR may end up being useless.

[Kakarot]

what is a vcr?

I could not live without my pvr... best invention ever

[rabbit]

Sorry, my retract my previous post ... sort of ... :).

PVR is the way to go if: a) you don't archive shows; b) for ease and convenience.

For myself, I prefer a DVR, since it's less expensive (at least, I think it's less expensive) and you're not semi-locked-in with it (sort of like GSM vs CDMA phone networks).

edit// fixed spelling (convience)

[ppl4golf]

Yeah, PVR is the way to go if you don't need to archive shows. Mind you, if you ever drop Rogers, the PVR may end up being useless.

That's pretty much it...I can't picture the way Rogers ROFLMAO when anyone actually pays money to buy a PVR and to get hooked for at least a number of years.

For SD content, there are so many cheap and easy ways to do it and to do it in better quality and flexibility. HD content is not as easy I'll admit.