specialmama Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 what are the options? I went 10+ years without cable and now that I have it I am *so* into The Biggest Loser. Problem is, the live finale is on May 25th, that happens to be one day that I will be flying across the country to deliver my dd to my mom for a little vacation then flying right back. Sure, I could see some of it in the air, but going through the time zones, well I just don't know how that would work and I think I'd miss the first half hour at least. This is just one example of a time I'd really like to record a show for later viewing. What are my modern-day options for recording tv shows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OH_Homeschooler Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 DVRs, like TiVo, will change your life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 We use a DVR from our cable company. I love it. You can pause and rewind live television. If you pause for a while and start the show 20 minutes late, you can FF through all the commercials and still finish about the same time. You can set it to record a particular show, or set it for a "series recording" so you just watch your favorite show whenever is convenient for you (and FF the commercials). It's wonderful. I love my DVR. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS_ Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 And if you have a computer you can hook up to your TV that has Windows Media player, you can use a computer to record TV and then watch it off the computer, or burn it to a DVD (if it has a DVD burner). I have never wanted to pay for that type of service, and still have my VCR, but we have recently hooked up another computer to our TV that allows me to record programs. It's great, free, and we can watch Netflix instant movies through it, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary in VA Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 It's wonderful. I love my DVR. :) :iagree:We had never had TiVo and I dragged my feet forever in getting a DVR - didn't see what the big deal was plus we're not big tv watchers. We were back in the stone age using a VCR. Half the time I'd forget to set it. Then our cable provider had a promotion in December of free DVR for three months! It took one week and I was hooked. Love being able to pause the television to answer the phone, help my family with something, etc. and not miss who did it in my mystery :001_smile: Love being able to record a series and the DVR knows if it's a rerun or not. Love being able to skip all the commercials. With the DVR we can watch what we want, when we want, without the commercials, so it saves time. The DVR stayed after the three months :001_smile: HTH, Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfatherslily Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Or you can watch it later online. That's what I do. http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/video/categories/season-9/1188980/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Prepare to be spoiled for life, if you get a DVR. We had one back east through our cable company - and didn't get it here when we moved. Almost two years.. and I still forget that I can't pause the tv show. :laugh: Hey, since we're in the same place - check with SHAW. I know they had some kind of a sale on them if you bought it outright a while back...not sure if they still do... don't just go to the website though, call and make friends with a CSR. They can often 'find' you a deal that wasn't advertised. ;) [they do rent them, as well. It kinda sucks though because after a while of renting, you've now paid as much as you would have if you BOUGHT it..but you don't own it and can't apply the rental fees to a purchase] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Get a DVR....you'll wonder how in the world you managed to watch TV before it. We never watch shows at the time they air anymore. And we never watch commercials either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlotteb Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I agree with everyone else- a DVR will revolutionalize how you watch TV. Nearly all the shows we watch are recorded. Then we can watch them at our leisure and fast forward thru all the commercials! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alenee Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I don't know what your options are for buying a dvr so you don't have to pay a monthly fee but my dh built a computer that not only records and pauses live tv but also holds all our music, pictures, and does a ton of other stuff that is awesome. Look for "Myth" box or "Myth Web". It wasn't cheap but it's an amazing machine that I don't want to live w/o! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadiegirl Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I don't how we survived before we got our DVR from Direct TV...we can't stand when we have to sit thru commercials now. Our life is way too busy to waste time on commercials so we DVR everything we want to watch while we are outside having fun! It's the way to go if your family travels and you hate to miss an episode or hate the time of day a show is on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialmama Posted April 28, 2010 Author Share Posted April 28, 2010 Thank you all! I agree, life is too short to sit through commercials, and I find most of them to be unsuitable for viewing anyway. I always jump up and get my dd and I busy cleaning the kitchen during a commercial lest she hear about herpes, trojan condoms or see women behaving/dressing less than classy. Being able to skip through all those commercials would be WONDERFUL! I have a lot of research to do, because I really thought those doo-hickeys were called tae-bows, but I guess I got my Billy Blanks workout confused with this stuff... which I can't even remember the correct words for again :lol: I'm so 80's! :lol: Thanks again for all the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Love, love, love my DVR!! Although we now mainly use the recording option through our satellite TV company (DISH Network - previously we had DirectTV which was also great). I rarely watch live TV anymore - we just record our favorites (American Idol, The Office, Modern Marvels, Curious George, and My Name is Earl re-runs :)) and watch when we have time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoffeeChick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 You can also watch it on hulu -- http://www.hulu.com/the-biggest-loser I watch most of my tv there because I like to watch it late at night instead of when it comes on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 You can also watch it on hulu -- http://www.hulu.com/the-biggest-loser I watch most of my tv there because I like to watch it late at night instead of when it comes on. Hulu thinks Canadians smell funny. :thumbdown: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoffeeChick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Hulu thinks Canadians smell funny. :thumbdown: HUPH! I did not know that. :001_huh: That is horrible. I don't know what I'd do without hulu! :willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 We love our dvr. We purchased ours and record "normal" tv, no monthly cost involved at all. I like recording right to the hard drive and not needing to mess with discs or tapes. I think it is a Phillips brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 Does anyone know how to record from a DVR onto DVD? :confused: It used to work fine (a year or so ago), but now there seems to be some kind of signal that prevents you from copying onto DVD. I've got over 40 hours of documentaries stored on the DVR that I want to copy off, most of which relate to history or science topics we'll study in the next 12-18 months, and we're running out of room on the DVR. We have DISH network and a Sony DVD recorder, and I would love to find a work-around. (None of the programs are HBO or pay-per-view or anything like that, just documentaries from the History Channel, Discovery, Science Channel etc. ~ the things you used to be able to record on a VCR with no problem.) Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 We just used the VCR to record shows until the "digital revolution" happened. Now the VCR doesn't recognize the channels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 And if you have a computer you can hook up to your TV that has Windows Media player, you can use a computer to record TV and then watch it off the computer, or burn it to a DVD (if it has a DVD burner). I have never wanted to pay for that type of service, and still have my VCR, but we have recently hooked up another computer to our TV that allows me to record programs. It's great, free, and we can watch Netflix instant movies through it, too. You must elaborate! This sounds too good to be true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS_ Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 You must elaborate! This sounds too good to be true. Dh is the computer guy here, but here's my explanation :tongue_smilie: If you have an extra computer or are able to connect your regular computer to your TV, and it has Windows Media Player, and has a TV tuner card, there will be an option in Windows Media Player to record TV. It will ask questions to get it setup with your local cable, and then will have an onscreen guide, or allow you to search by title/keyword, etc., and then has options to record one show or record the series. We just got a new TV and the computer is hooked up to it via an HDMI cable (purchased from an Amazon seller for $3 including shipping). If your computer has the TV tuner in it, but you can't hook it up to your computer, but can run a cable for the TV to it, you still can record TV and either watch it on the computer or burn a DVD and watch it on a DVD player. Here's the Microsoft page about it: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Record-TV-in-Windows-Media-Center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 Does anyone know how to record from a DVR onto DVD? :confused: It used to work fine (a year or so ago), but now there seems to be some kind of signal that prevents you from copying onto DVD. I've got over 40 hours of documentaries stored on the DVR that I want to copy off, most of which relate to history or science topics we'll study in the next 12-18 months, and we're running out of room on the DVR. We have DISH network and a Sony DVD recorder, and I would love to find a work-around. (None of the programs are HBO or pay-per-view or anything like that, just documentaries from the History Channel, Discovery, Science Channel etc. ~ the things you used to be able to record on a VCR with no problem.) Jackie It probably varies from dvr to dvr but when I was saving stuff from the dvr to dvd some programs were too long to burn to disc. Our dvr lets us break long recordings into parts and then I could burn the dvds. I've heard of not being able to copy dvds because they are coded somehow but I've never heard of not being able to record from the tv and then copy it...maybe a setting got switched or maybe like me the recordings are too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 Get a DVR....you'll wonder how in the world you managed to watch TV before it. We never watch shows at the time they air anymore. And we never watch commercials either. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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