Non-subscription DVR?

rvten wrote:
For$5.00 a month. I use DirecTv DVR. If it dies they replace it.

Umm.. you don't get the DirectTV satellite programming for $5.00 per month. That is the DVR RENTAL fee.

Try more realistically something on the order of $100 per month for DirectTV programming including the $5. DVR rental and not to mention all the additional "fees" and taxes that get tacked on to your bill..

Over the years there have been standalone Media Players which have a analog composite video input (SD 480i) and have the capability of recording SD video. These units tend to ignore Macro Vision which comes in handy when moving video from my Sat PVR..

I have several from a company called Argosy which feature a timer so you can set the timer and record from the analog inputs. The draw back is there is no tuner so if you want OTA recording you will need to use a OTA tuner box and manually set the channel.

Do a search for media player/recorder, there are a few on the market the ones I have have been discontinued.

You can also get PVR with OTA tuner USB dongles which you can plug into your desktop or laptop PCs. The downside of these is you will need your PC on during the recording and you will be only able to play back the files on THAT PC. The files are protected so you can't play them on other devices nor can you burn them to DVDs.

You can also watch for a used standalone DVD/hard drive recorder but you most likely will need to use an OTA tuner.

Or you can buy a standalone DVD recorder but now days they do not include a tuner so once again you will need a OTA tuner box.

Do be aware that standalone DVD or DVD/hard drive recorders will honor Macrovision and prevent you from recording those protected videos.

There are very little options for standalone HD video recording for consumers in the US all due to copyright laws. You can find some which have HDMI inputs but those are meant for Non US usage and will feature tuners which do not work inside the States and are not marketed or sold in the States..