Rooster_Ties Posted March 1, 2004 Report Posted March 1, 2004 (edited) Our 10-year old VCR is on it's last legs, and I think I'm gonna need to replace it this time. (A good cleaning of the heads won't do it this time.) So, I'm looking at fairly inexpensive VCR's (in the "less-than-$100"-range --- and more in the "near-$50"-range). But I also realize that I'm pretty much only interested in having a VCR in order to time-shift my viewing of programs. So, I guess TiVo is probably something I ought to consider too. I don't know the first thing about TiVo, other than I'm sure it costs more than $50 or even $100. Anyway, any thoughts on the subject?? We're planning to get an inexpensive DVD player sometime in the next few months, but I'd like to stay away from a combo "VCR-DVD" unit, out of concern that eventually either the "VCR" part, or the "DVD" part will fail, and that repair costs will be nearly as expensive as just going out and buying a new one. (I'm also opposed to combo "TV-VCR" units, on the same theory -- that it's more likely that half of the thing will fail at some point, and then you've a thing designed to do two separate functions, but only one of the functions works.) More food for thought. Does anybody here have TiVo?? Or am I just as well off buying as cheap a "major-brand-name" VCR as I can find?? Thanks!!! PS: We have fairly old TV's, and we're certainly not interested in "state of the art" TV viewing. We don't rent movies all that much, and picture and sound quality aren't a big concern of ours. I just want something that's decent, and will work for at least 5 years, without any problems. Any danger of them phasing out blank videotapes?? (VHS) Edited March 1, 2004 by Rooster_Ties Quote
medjuck Posted March 1, 2004 Report Posted March 1, 2004 Unfortunately I don't think there's any way to get TiVo cheap. you might be better off getting a new VCR and waiting till your cable company offers it as an add on. The dish companies all offer it now I think but I'm not sure of the cost. Quote
PHILLYQ Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 RT, You might be better off getting a cheap VCR- they can be had at very low prices now. If you buy Tivo, it costs about $200 for the box and then there's a monthly fee on top of that. Worse yet, Tivo spys on you! Tivo can tell HQ what you watch and what you like to record. If you want to record a program, Tivo searches similar programs also, leading to some weird suggestions. A box similar to Tivo is available to customers of some cable systems, and in a few years to probably every cable system. For the use that you describe, a Tivo box is a waste of $- get a cheap VCR, and tell your wife that you saved so much money by going that route that you can now afford a Mosaic set! Quote
vibes Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 My father got Tivo (or something like it) for my mother for Christmas last year, and I must say I was impressed with the recording quality. I think he got it for around $100, as part of a Dish TV subscription. There is an extra monthly fee for Tivo (as has been mentioned above), or a lifetime fee of $299 if you pay it up front, so that's something you'll want to consider as well. Tivo also needs to be plugged into a phone line or broadband network (not necessary with a satellite system). For your purposes, though, a VCR will probably be the most cost effective solution. Quote
catesta Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 RT, you can probably find a decent VCR at places like Best Buy in the $50-$70 range. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 What's a VCR? Is that something they used to have back in the days of those LP thingies you guys go on about? Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 VCRs go pretty cheap these days. I think these kinds of electronics are so inexpensive that you replace rather than repair. If you get five years out of it then fine. Not bad for $60. Then Best Buy tries to sell you some kind of repair warranty. I just tell them that the only insurance I buy is health, life, auto, homeowners. Maybe I'll consider long term care down the road. Quote
GA Russell Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 The friends I have with TiVo are very happy with it, but they watch a lot of TV. If I were you, I would get a cheap VCR. I recommend you get the Best Buy warranty. The cheap VCR will very likely not last five years. With the warranty they replace it free within the time period, so you are guaranteed five years no matter how many units it takes. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 I recommend you get the Best Buy warranty. The cheap VCR will very likely not last five years. With the warranty they replace it free within the time period, so you are guaranteed five years no matter how many units it takes. Ahem! I have one of those cheap VCRs which has lasted at least five years! Of course, maybe they aren't made as well now, plus maybe I just got lucky or, I don't really use it that much. That might explain it. B) Quote
Jazzmoose Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 I'm with you, Paul. As cheap as VCRs are these days, I can't see raising the price by buying the extended warranty. But then I never buy the extended warranty, and I've never had any regrets. On the other hand, I already went for the long term disability... Quote
BERIGAN Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 (edited) Rooster, I as usual, have ALL the answers! Seriously, you seem to have concerns about and I quote...Any danger of them phasing out blank videotapes?? (VHS) So, I assume you have a fair bit of taped off TV stuff, right? Whatya gonna do with all those tapes without a player? Don't be a playa hata!(Sorry, just got in tonight, and am a bit loopy, bare with me!) So, consider a tape player for tape playing and recording permanently. Do you have cable? I guess it all depends on what you are willing to pay...We had full blown cable (My Mom is more or less housebound at this time, and so lots of TV options are pretty important) and were splitting a nearly 100 a month cable bill! Crap picture...I read that the DISH network had a TIVO like system called DVR, thought that would be good for my Mom....well, I won't bore you (More than I already have that is) with details of the piss poor installation job...in fact, it worked out well, that they didn't have a box for my room....It meant I could get use her DVR box, and watch different channels than she was, in my room! So, what does this mean? You have heard the lame TIVO ads about pausing live TV. I never quite got that...I figured that only could happen when you were purposely recording a program. Not true! It is always ready to be paused, or "re-wound" If you don't change the channel you can go backwards on that channel up to 2 hours! Or if you just need to go to the bathroom, answer a call, pause, then hit play when ready! And, you can also set up the timer to record and store 100 hours of programming! Play a show and tape with your VCR if it is worth keeping! Of course, the dope who installed the system bypassed my VCR, but with some help from their tech support (They actually answer calls pretty quickly) I was able to have it go through my VCR, which needs to be on channel 116! I am a bit scattered with the old thoughts, but damn, it is so cool to just leave my TV on a channel like VH1 Classics, and run the footage backwards (At speeds from 4x to 300X) and catch and record(on tape) any ancient video that catches my fancy...or hit the record button to tape the Simpsons repeat that starts in 1 minute(Without looking for black tape) to watch whenever I want... I don't seem to want to clog up the hard drive space, so I usually delete soon after watching. I am guessing that removable hard drives will be in the near future. Hell, who knows what else it can do, it came with a 80 page booklet, I never looked trough it! Oh, forgot to mention price, didn't I? Well, we got this set-up a month ago, but we were able to get the DVR box more or less tossed in(We did go for 4 box set up, that may be why, but they only had 2 regular boxes and the DVR one) in fact, we are paying less for Satellite than we were for cable, and we can record live TV, have a much clearer picture than we did with cable, better digital music channels, and better info guide to boot! We did have to pay for the first 2 months first though! Oh, if you(Or anyone) does go the DISH network route, please help out Parkertown...cuz I forgot! Just dug up this post on an old thread I started, he even touted the DVR system! Posted: Oct 24 2003, 10:40 AM Veteran Groover Group: Members Posts: 390 Member No.: 93 Joined: 8-March 03 Location: Rocky Mtns I've been a Dish Network customer for several years, and it's always been great! Right now, I can get you a deal for a free 2room systems (one with a built-in Digital Video Recorder! ) with free premium installation, plus $49.99 off your first bill. For my referral, they will give me $60 bucks credit, spread over 12 months. I've got this system and have been totally happy with it's performance. Hell, you can even record the movies including their Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, if broadcast that way. If interested, please PM me. Good luck! http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...02&hl=satellite Edited March 2, 2004 by BERIGAN Quote
vibes Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 Any danger of them phasing out blank videotapes?? (VHS) Not likely. Blank tape is one of the products I work with, and we still sell a ton of VHS tapes, especially when the fall TV season starts. I don't see that demand going away any time soon. Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted March 2, 2004 Author Report Posted March 2, 2004 FYI, I'm not concerned too much taping things and keeping them for the long term. 99% of what I tape is simply for short-term "time-shifting" purposes. Quote
jazzbo Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 Get a cheap vcr, or a dvd/vcr combo; I don't think you need worry too much about them failing independently, something in the combined output section is likely to fail! I have a combo player and really enjoy it. Quote
Dr. Rat Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 I just can't beleive anyone thinks anything on TV to be worth recording. Get a DVD player! --eric Quote
Soulstation1 Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 vcrs will always be around. hey i'd sell you my laserdisc playa, real cheap i think you could buy BOTH a inexpensive vcr and a inexpensive dvd for around $100 total. my sony vcr is going on 12/13 years old. shoot, i still have a cheap emerson that i've had since high school. it still plays and records. i need to transfer my vhs porn to dvd ss1 Quote
Jazzdog Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 Yeah I think I'd rather just get a combo player, as long as I had another dvd player around just in case it hacks up. Right before her VCR broke Miranda bought a bunch of cheap VHS tapes at Amoeba...She was so excited at her goldmine, that no less than two weeks later the thing started acting up...needless to say its not working at all now and it has not been replaced. Furthermore, I was recently shopping around find a new shelf unit cd player and I couldn't find any that just play cds. Everything now is DVD but the technolog is the same so they read everything. It's almost inexcusable at this point in time to not had a dvd player. Quote
Soulstation1 Posted March 2, 2004 Report Posted March 2, 2004 bestbuy has a sony cd/dvd/mp3 unit for about $150-160. i'd also say to buy a service policy/extended warranty. things are made as cheaply as possible these days. Quote
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