Samsung

...
DVD-VR357
DVD-V6700
DVD-V9700


BTW. I believe these three units are all tunerless (they have neither NTSC nor ATSC tuners) and should be removed from the list; however, I added the JVC to the list on Wikipedia.

I am looking into getting one of these. I went OTA a few months ago, and would love to pick up the digital channels for my old tv. I looked at getting an ASTC tuner, but figured for the price I may as well throw in a hard drive!

Do any of these unit have the capability of having a EPG? I was looking at the Philips DVDR3575H, and the only thing stopping me is the lack of a guide (if one were available in another unit).

Is my only option a HD TIVO for this? I just cut my need for a subsciption so won't be going to TIVO.

ATSC broadcasts feature an EPG in their PSIP data. This means that a proper ATSC reception box should be able to show the EPG data that the channels are sending out.

Sorry Stampeder, I'm confused.

One of the cons of the unit is no program guide. Is not having a guide unique to this unit or am I asking the wrong question. I would love to press a button and see what is on TV (if only what is on the digital channels)...

Do most of the other devices have program guides (EPG) or the review incorrect?

Thanks

When I'm watching OTA DTV channels on my HDTV I can press a button on the remote to open the EPG to see what all the DTV channels are showing. My HDTV got that info by gathering what is called PSIP data from those DTV channels. It is data carried by the channel along with its audio and video signals. Some channels like CBC HD tend to put in several days of EPG data, while others like CTV HD are quite variable for looking ahead.

I would assume that most ATSC-equipped consumer electronics products would make use of that PSIP data for their EPGs, but apparently the machine you mentioned probably doesn't do that. Some might use TVGOS, others might need network connections to use Zap2it or Schedules Direct for their EPGs.

I've never tried out a Philips DVDR3575H so I cannot tell you exactly which system it uses.

To the best of my knowledge currently only the Samsung DVD recorders with ATSC tuners have an EPG. All the other brands of DVD recorders lack this feature, but this may change with next year's models.

Some of these were available years ago - check out this story from 2003 about the Zenith/LG HDR230 http://ultimateavmag.com/hdtvsattuners/1003zenith/

So this is basically like a Sumsung 260, but with a hard drive built in so I can do PVR stuff. ?


Just found a picture of the unit.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20080104/TR-50DVR_Front_540x291.jpg


I also found a Youtube video of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei2wwnKIlQ4

Some of these were available years ago - check out this story from 2003 about the Zenith/LG HDR230
The picture of the back of that reciever looks very similar to the back of my old Sony satellite/OTA reciever. Wonder if they were actually made by the same company.

Does anyone know where in Toronto (or failing that, by mail or southern Ontario) I can buy an ATSC STB tuner? As of a year ago or so the best one seemed to be Samsung DTB-H260F, but if anyone has any ideas about brands, that too would be appreciated. I have searched through the site and have not found any specific information about brands and suppliers, other than one reference to a store in Windsor, which reference I could not seem to find again (and I am hoping to get it closer to home.) and the reference by Stampeder about a year ago to the Samsung DTB-H260F as the benchmark brand of ATSC tuner.

I have also been reading about DVRs here. I am new to this stuff and a bit uncertain what to get. Some of the posts above refer to DVRs with the ATSC/NTSC tuners built in, meaning basically you get the tuner plus the ability to record programs for later viewing. Perhaps it would be better just to get that instead of a plain old ATSC tuner. Can anyone recommend brands, and more importantly where in Toronto they sell this stuff? I have tried a bunch of places and they look at me like I am from mars when I ask for an "ATSC STB tuner".

Incidentally, it seems to be trivially easy to find these in the States but difficult as anything to find them here. Does this mean they have a more robust OTA culture down there? Sorry if questions seem dumb - I am new to OTA and this site.

Incidentally, it seems to be trivially easy to find these in the States but difficult as anything to find them here. Does this mean they have a more robust OTA culture down there? Sorry if questions seem dumb - I am new to OTA and this site.Unfortunately, outside of Toronto and a few other major cities plus Windsor, ATSC OTA is almost unheard of in Canada. In the US OTA analog broadcasting ends in 13 months so you will need one of these receivers if you still plan to get OTA. In addition, the few Canadian stations that are broadcasting OTA signals are doing so at very low power levels so you need to be very close to the transmitters to receive them. This contrasts to US stations - if I point my antenna to the Southeast I can receive Rochester stations even though they are about 90 miles away.

It looks like, with the coupon program launching just now in the US, the ATSC receivers are ready to explode on the US market. I figure once this happens we will see lots, or at least be able to order lots on places like ebay.

I was going to go out and order the Samsung, but with pricing in the US looking to be in the $40-$60 range or one of the new tuners not quite on the shelves yet, and the Samsung you can currently buy being at $170 at a US circuit city or best buy, I am going to wait.

The only think I think you can get today in canada is a ATSC tuner in a recorder unit, but still slim pickings or expensive.

mcinnejo,
I gave up looking in the Oshawa area (BB & FS are clueless)& got Panasonic DMR-EZ35 off ebay...works fantastic! Has NTSC & ATSC tuner. I paid about $150 . They have 4 models to choose from EZ17 being the lowst of the ATSC but same tuner, no VHS, & no HDMI. E27 has HDMI,depends what you want.
Make sure if you buy off ebay, ship USPS! not UPS- you will pay $40 ontop handling fee..
Paul

I just purchased this PVR. I was looking for a Hard Drive recording device that could pick up ATSC signals. I was pretty surprised to see how slim the pickings were . . at least here in Canada. I was able to get the Philips DVDR3575H from Best but and they were able to match the price from NCIX so I walked out of the store with it for 327 dollars after tax. Now I have 30 days (29 left) to figure out if I should keep it. It does what it is supposed to. However, the quality of the recorded digital picture is sub par IMHO. I realize that it is only recording at or below 480p.

So my question to the group is this. Is there a unit that is better than this? What is considered the best PVR with a hard drive that picks up OTA ATSC?

Thanks

You might want to check out the Panasonic DMR-EZ27, and there are other models listed in this thread. :)

That Panasonic looks nice, but a hard drive is a must and as far as I can see that is only DVD. What I am really hoping to get from this community over the next "28" days is real lfe experience from some of the other brands out there including the ones on the list above. I would like to hear what people have seen with their own eyes. If what I have seen from this Philips is the best I can expect at this point I will keep it.

While I'm on this particular unit, has anyone noticed that the video recorded from the digital tuner is very dark in contrast. I have tried to compensate for this with my TV but it really doesn't help.

That unit might be set with "black crush" turned on - do you see any menu items related to black levels? There are some DHC FAQs that cover black crush.

video recorded from the digital tuner is very dark in contrast

This is often the case when recording to a hard drive, and especially when you take that recording and archive it to DVD. Images appear darker even on my Media Center PC hard drive.

I have tried setting every menu item related to contrast and brighness to no avail. However, after some research I found a solution. I switched to S-video from HDMI. That fixed the problem. There appears to be no loss in quality either. The dark only occurs on the digital stations. Therefore, I use S-video when watching recorded digital shows, the digital tuner in my TV for live TV, and the HDMI cable when watching DVD's from the unit. There is no 'dark' issues with the analog stations or while watching a DVD through the HDMI cable.