[opendtv] Re: New Thread: What becomes of Legacy Analog Equipment

Surely you mean D-VHS, rather than the antique W-VHS recorder (which doesn't do 
DD5.1/AC-3)....
and probably never came with built-in ATSC tuner.

You can usually find used D-VHS units for much less, but new, they run about 
$800 for a unit with built-in 
ATSC (e.g. JVC HMDT100U)....and does full HD recordings with DD5.1.....for less 
than a used W-VHS.

Halfway "affordable" ATSC DVD (SD only) Recorders can be found for $150-200 new 
and about half if used/refurbished.

You can also get a new HD-TiVo with ATSC for under $300...with "on-line" guide 
and PPV....
If you like a program so much, you can spin it off to your current VHS recorder 
(in low-rez) concurrently--or later.
It even accepts CableCARD for encrypted cable channels.

holl_ands

=====================================
Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: At 6:57 PM -0500 11/22/07, Stephen W. 
Long wrote:
>
>Are there ATSC VCRs for sale?  I have never seen one, but I will start
>looking this shopping season.

The closest you may find are some old W-VHS recorders. I doubt that 
we will ever see a new tape based consumer format again. Bert likes 
optical media, but even he is using a DVD recorder with a hard disk 
front end for capture. Hard disks are where the action is, with 
millions and millions being deployed in the STBs offered by the 
multi-channel system operators.

The reason is obvious - cheap random access storage.

What Bert does not acknowledge, perhaps because he is dependent on 
the broadcasters for PSIP and program guide info, is that the real 
driver behind the DVR is the program guide, not the ability to 
record. Bert may be able to look out 24 hours at PSIP data, or rely 
on a program always being aired on a specific channel at a specific 
time, to program is DVD-R recorder; but the rest of us multi-channel 
subscribers get a one week window for potentially hundreds of chanels 
of content.

IMHO, the biggest reason that we are not seeing ATSC DVRs is the poor 
support for PSIP and program guides by broadcasters, followed closely 
by the small potential market size for ATSC DVRs. I would note that 
Media Center PCs get around this by using Internet based program 
guides to  drive the DVR function.

And then there is another reality that Bert often conveniently 
ignores. The cable industry, and to a lesser extent the DBS industry, 
have very tight control over their STBs. Despite many attempts by the 
politicians to open up this market, it has not happened.  IF and when 
these industries cooperate with the CE industry to support third 
party boxes, we may see an increase in the availability of DVRs that 
support both the multi-channel services and FTA broadcasts.

I doubt that we will see ATSC only DVRs any time soon, unless the 
broadcasters decide that they need a real "platform" and that they 
can compete with the multi-channel services. It could happen in the 
form of a Moviebeam type service that uses the broadcast spectrum to 
update the local DVRs...

Regards
Craig

>
>Stephen Long
>

       
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