Panasonic Combined DVD-R & PVR Device

Raetsel writes "Caught a commercial the other day hawking the device I've been waiting for. TIVO is a great idea, but what if you want to keep something more permanently? Enter the Panasonic DMR-series. The top-of-the-line DMR-HS2 ($1000 US) has a 40 GB hard drive, offers "Time Slip Playback" (TIVO's "pause live TV" function), and allows you to move shows off the hard drive onto DVD. Heck, you can even record straight to DVD-R or DVD-RAM discs (which is what the $700 DMR-E30(K/S) does). There's also a IEEE-1394 input, so you can record from sources that have a FireWire output. Oh, yeah... it's a progressive-scan DVD player, too."

Supports DRM Too....

[TXG1112]

From the article:

*Recording from the hard disk to a DVD-RAM or DVD-R disc cannot be done with images for which only single-generation recording is allowed. When recording these images to a DVD-RAM disc, the original image on the hard disk is erased.

I suppose we should be grateful that it supports any type of fair use.

Re:what i've wanted

[zsmooth]

Tivo doesn't re-record episodes it already has recorded. It looks at the schedule to see which episode is being aired and compares that to ones already saved.

Re:Formats

[Erv Walter]

The Firewire is likely intended to allow you to easily transfer video from a digital video camera to DVD using DV.

Re:How did this make it past hollywood

[Raetsel]

Perhaps it's this little "feature" -- (from the Panasonic site):

• "Recording from the hard disk to a DVD-RAM or DVD-R disc cannot be done with images for which only single-generation recording is allowed. When recording these images to a DVD-RAM disc, the original image on the hard disk is erased. "

There you go -- only one copy of a 'restricted work' can exist thanks to this device. But you can have it on reasonably durable media.

So it's got some sort of restriction ability built-in. Bad that you can only make one copy (but then burn more from your computer?), but good that you could save, say, the Angels winning the World Series for posterity.

Great idea, but....

[matlokheed]

... I didn't see anything in the specs that would help you get information off of the machine. I love the idea that it pauses live TV. I think it's terrific that it can store shows you want to record. Burning is a great thing to do with TV shows. But with no way to get the show off of the box (outside of using a DVD), there's no way I'd be able to cut out the commercials for my archiving of old shows I want to watch.

Why no ethernet port? Or even just a usb port that'd let it work like an excess hard disk for an external PC. It seems like it runs most of the race well, but gives up on the last lap.

This is NOTHING like a TIVO. Missing features!

[Viewsonic]

It doesn't have daily updates of program guide data to select shows to record, subscriptions, actor/director lists, no on guide info while watching. No thumbs up or down.. Basically everything that makes TIVO awesome is NOT on this. They're getting there, but I suspect the only people releasing something of what we want is TIVO themselves.

Works fine w/ Digital Cable

[alexhmit01]

I had a Replay hooked up to AT&T Broadband for a year. You use the included IR Blaster, which sticks to the IR Receiver and changes the box's signal. Now that I have DirecTV, my Replay connects via Serial cable, I just bought an older receiver that works with it.

I'm waitting on an HD Tivo Series 2 DirecTivo, which I expect to come out within the year. Then I can timeshift my HDTV programming. In the mean time, the 100GB drive I installed in the Replay should suffice.

I was tempted to grab this, as I could drop-in replace my Progressive Scan DVD player and get archiving capability. However, I really don't want to buy any more gear until the HD Tivo comes out.

Dish has an HD PVR in the works, I can't imagine DirecTV won't get one out soon, given that Tivo has gone on record stating that the Series 2 COULD handle it.

Alex

Re:DVR's and Digital Cable

[gss]

TiVo actually does work well with digital cable boxes. It uses an IR blaster to change channels, or if you're lucky you can hook up certain cable boxes with a serial cable, which is more reliable than the IR blaster. I'm not sure if the Panasonic devices have this capability but most others do.

Re:what i've wanted

[holmesIV]

There is a limit to the time it won't repeat. It will rerecord something it recorded over I think it is 90 days ago. I'm not sure it it would rerecord it if it still had it on the drive, but it doesn't avoid reruns.

Re:Formats

[Shabbs]

As per their page:

Inputs:
DV In (x1)
Video In (x3) (Phono)
S-Video In (x3) (S4P)
Audio In (x3) (Phono)

Why are people still buying TiVos?

[Anonymous Coward]

OK seriously, ReplayTV is:
Cheaper to purchase than TiVo
MUCH easier to upgrade the HD
Comes with a 10/100 NIC built in
Has a better menu system
AUTOMATICALLY SKIPS COMMERICALS
Is 3$ cheaper a month for service.
Lets you tell your DVR to record something from anywhere that has a net connection.
Ect, ect.
Ohh, and there is already easy to use java software to pull or push video from/to the ReplayTV with your Win/MAC/Linux/Whatever box.

Re:DVR's and Digital Cable

[MindStalker]

Hold on, did you just say you have AT&T Broadband?
http://www.tivo.com/2.0.asp
They are apparently now selling a version just for AT&T for only $199 dollar

Give 'em time-- or get a Series 1.

[raygundan]

I don't think the series 2 units are hackable like the series 1 tivos were. There is some sort of cryptographic signature check on the config files, so it's not just a quick edit to the files to give yourself telnet and ftp.

Somebdy will figure something out though-- in the meantime, check out the tivo forums here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdispla y. php?forumid=8

When I peeked just now, the very first thread was titled "No, you cannot hack a series 2 box (yet)" and had quite a bit of good info. Be patient, though-- somebody will figure it out. :)

Nope

[Anonymous Coward]

these people complaining they want programme guides are different ones to those that bang on about privacy rights, aren't they?

Nope. I want a program guide and I care about my privacy. That's why I have a Tivo. They have a comprehensive privacy policy that the software actually adheres to (as verified by independant parties.. aka hackers). The data it sends back by default really and truly is anonymous. You can opt-out thru their phone number, and they send a command to the box itself to stop sending data back (also verified independantly). Or, if you like, you can opt-in to identify your data and let it be used for more useful things, although there's not much point in that as of yet.

Re:DVR's and Digital Cable

[tswinzig]

I heard that the TiVO for DirectTV can do this stuff? Anyone have one and is it true?

Yes it can do this because the TiVo is built into the DirecTV unit. In fact, it has two tuners, so you can record two shows at once, also. (That is how it allows you to watch TV while it's recording another show... dual tuners.)

Anyone know of a future release where the TiVO and the set-top boxes work together?

This would involve your cable company releasing a PVR, because the PVR and digital cable box have to be integrated in order to do what you're talking about. It would also need dual tuners.

I know TimeWarner announced plans to release their own PVR for their digital cable service, but no news lately. As a die-hard TiVo user, and a TW digital cable subscriber, I am torn. I love the TiVo, but if TW's PVR is integrated nicely with their digital cable, I would definitely consider switching over.

(When they made the announcement, they didn't specify who was providing the PVR technology ... it could be "in-house" or perhaps they're leasing from TiVo or someone else.)

NEWS FLASH... I just did a news.google.com search, and found this article [usatoday.com], which states they are already testing it in 2 markets, and hope to have it in 18 markets by year's end. It is $5-$10 per month for the PVR service, and you get the box at no extra charge!

Not all encoders are equal

[cvd6262]

I like this thing, but, as a professional DVD author, I have to warn you that not all encoders produce equal quality video streams.

You only have to look as far as QuickTime's encoder. Yeah, it's a software encoder that works at 2X, but it does not produce anywhere near the quality most people want, especially at low bit rate.

Of course, this could have hardware encoding, but the real quality, either software or hardware, comes from multiple passes. If this is recording to DVD in real time, it has no chance of doing VBR.

On pass VBR is worse that CBR.

So, I guess you could record, but only at VHS quality.

More on TimeWarner DVR

[tswinzig]

I did some more digging to followup on my previos post about TimeWarner's integrated DVR/Digital Cable box. They are testing it in Rochester, NY, and they have a page up here [twrochester.com]. There is a movie (infomercial) about the service where you can see what the UI looks like... does not resemble TiVo at all, so I doubt they are using TiVo. Probably custom software from Scientific-Atlanta, the people that make their digital cable box. It's called the Explorer 8000 [sciatl.com].

It will have an 80GB drive. It will allow for PIP, watching live TV while recording another show, or recording two shows at once.

There is no cost for the device from TW, you pay around $10 a month for the service. No installation charge if you already have TW service.

Looks like a good '1.0' version...

[Anonymous Coward]

... but after reading in a review (epinions) that it doesn't play well with a satellite receiver, I'll be waiting for the next revision. Besides, I saw one in BestBuy over the weekend, and the front panel is straight out of 1978.

Seriously, this looks like it would be a 'killer-app' product with just a little more attention paid to the user interface. If it would talk to my DirecTV box, I'd have bought one of these already.

Re:Linux solutions?

[RC Pavlicek]

FWIW:

Here's a page describing a US$300 Linux solution I put together:

http://linuxprofessionalsolutions.com/pavlicek/tv. html [linuxprofe...utions.com]

Re:Yeah, that's great and all...

[RC Pavlicek]

FWIW:

Here's a page explaining how I constructed a Linux-based TV recorder for about US$300:

http://linuxprofessionalsolutions.com/pavlicek/tv. html [linuxprofe...utions.com]

It creates files that can be burned to VCDs. I have no DVD burner, so I can't say what would be needed to create DVDs from the output. But it's using all Open Source software, so you can tweak it until it does what you want.