A VCR Replacement

...You Can't Always Get What You Want

A few months back, my VCR died. I decided to wait a few months as I still had my Ilo DVD Recorder, and some uncertainty as to the best replacement device. I had heard mostly positive things about set top hard drive recorders, so this quickly went to the top of the list.

In fact, I recently purchased an inexpensive hard drive recorder, the Polaroid 2001G, which retails for $219 at Wally Mart. I'll fill y'all in on all the gory details when I've had a chance to use it some more. In the meantime, maybe it's just buyer's remorse, but there are enough issues to get me to reexamine my selection and purchase.

If anyone thinks that this is simple doesn't want to take everything into account. First of all there is the lowly VCR. They still work, and can be had for less than $50 with some searching. The tapes are reusable for many times. However, it has had its day, and there are no new movies being released on tape at this point. In the end, it's very yesteryear, analog, and the antithesis of cutting edge.

The next step up is a DVD Recorder. This can theoretically write to DVD's, both of the write once, and the rewritable variety. My Ilo generally works ok, as long as the discs are the write once variety. I had some initial success with Imation DVD+RW's, but within the tenth use, the disc was already corrupted. Not exactly the thousand times promised. I've also lost content due to corrupted discs that were new, but didn't perform. I think part of the problem is that a TV stream is a fragile thing, and recording a DVD is hardly reliable in this day and age. These set top boxes, with their media compatibility issues, are clearly two notches less reliable than computer DVD writers.

So, after spending some time on the AVS Forum, I come to the conclusion that currently, the hard drive recorders are the best of the worst. These are units mostly made by Panasonic, Phillips, Pioneer, and LiteOn. They can record TV programs to their hard drive for later viewing. The better ones support basic video editing, live TV pause, and hard drives that can be swapped for a larger capacity disc. For content to keep, it is burned to an DVD disc. However, many users have issues with these products. These include clunky software interfaces, confusing remotes, and loud fan and drive noise. It is almost enough to cause you to scurry back to a cheap VCR.

Now that we're all up to speed, there are some more issues to consider. One is that if you want a really good box to record shows, you're often best off by building it yourself in the form of a home theater PC. This is sure to impress your friends, and annoy your significant other with a nest of cables running around and on top of the TV set. However, this will give plenty of hard drive space, and the ultimate in control of your media. I'll defer to Bill on the final word here as I know he's been going full force in this area for a while now.

Another monkey wrench that has me wondering relates to the end of the analog signal. After several false starts, it appears that early 2009 date is holding, and that broadcasters will go exclusively to an HDTV signal. Older televisions will reportedly be able to get a signal via some type of convertor box that sounds like an old style cable box. Set the TV to channel 3, for example, and use the convertor remote to select a channel. However, it appears that all these current analog recording devices, whether VCR, DVD recorder, or hard drive recorder, will not be usable. This hardly makes me want to spend serious money on something that is virtually guaranteed to be a relic in less than two and a half years.

Think I'm done yet? I warned you that this isn't easy! No, one more thing to take into account is that the networks are doing a better job of providing their content on line. For example, I missed Fox's “Vanished,” last night. I headed over the the Fox web site, and they will stream it to you. Across a DSL connection, the audio was quite good but the video was pixelated on some scenes on my 19” LCD. It may have looked a little better on a smaller screen. Still, for a personal viewing experience, it was adequate, although they only have the most recent episode so archivers will not find this acceptable. On the other hand, it was totally commercial free, and I could even speed it up so the episode played a little faster.

Ok, so now I've laid out the issues. I'll keep playing around with the Polaroid hard drive recorder to decide if it stays or goes. If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth writing an article or two about...

--Jonas

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