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."

This is dumb.

[Penguinoflight]

If you have a spare $1000, just make your own unix box, setup your own implementation and you dont have to worry about "service" fees later. You don't have time?? then why are you watching TV!?!?!?

No Program Guide, though

[jcrash]

The complete lack of a mention of a program guide and this statement:

A list of recording dates, times, channels and (user-entered) titles are shown on screen.

...make me think that it has no program guide. The lack of a guide is a "deal-breaker" feature to me. Plus, once you've had a PVR with two tuners - you can't go back.

DMCA

[e8johan]

Isn't this a violation to the DMCA... By playing back a DVD in a player encoded for one region and burning it down in another I break the copyright! Go out and arrest some engineers, see if you can get a CEO too...

This makes me wounder when TV broadcasts will come with a signal saying that the show can only be seen once, then the recording will be deleted.

Except from my fears of stupid politicians, I think that this is great progress. If I wait for half an hour before watching the movies on TV, I can fast forward past all the ads... hmm, I like that!

Re:This is dumb.

[Junior J. Junior III]

That's fine for geeks, but a lot of people who have the time don't have the know-how. For them, spending $1000 on a fairly dumb appliance is a lot happier a prospect than spending 1000 hours swearing at Unix manuals.

DVR's and Digital Cable

[Dyvim]

The only I don't like about TiVO and the rest of the DVR's is that they don't work well with Digital Cable settop boxes. I have AT&T Broadband, and you can only record the channel that the cable box is set to. This kinda removes all functionality of the TiVO, since it can't change channels when a show is on, and it can't record one and watch another.
I heard that the TiVO for DirectTV can do this stuff? Anyone have one and is it true?
Anyone know of a future release where the TiVO and the set-top boxes work together?
The DVR's are cool, but until they get this functionality, they are limited in use.

In other news...

[InterruptDescriptorT]

Jack Valenti sees press release, has massive breakdown and is committed to a mental institution, rocking back and forth, muttering softly to himself.

Seriously though, how long will it be before this thing ends up on the wrong end of a protracted legal battle? If the networks, MPAA and whoever else controls the content don't like the mere PVR, imagine the controversy that this little box should cause.

The lawyers rejoice yet again.

Riding the wave of technology into the future

[RichMan]

The consumer technology industry is moving so much faster than the media giants brains it is amazing. I bet the RIAA would nuke the factories making these devices if they had the ability.

Archeaologists have been able to recover sounds from pottery spun thousands of years ago. The recording industry (AKA the people that charge $ for recordings) is going to have to adapt to the fact that once something is transmitted broadcast, acted or spoken out, it is released into the collective state of existance and is available to all.

Re:I had to check

[devnullkac]

Interesting how Amazon jacks up the "List Price" by $300 (vs. Panasonic's MSRP) so they can claim that "You Save" that much.

Missing Tivo features? Good.

[iainl]

I've seen a few complaints in these posts about the fact that it acts like an old-fashioned VCR, and needs to be told when to record by time, rather than the Tivo-like functionality of downloading programme schedules. Thats a cool thing to have, but currently these devices charge a monthly contract fee for that, while this device is just a pay once and you're done box. Personally, I don't actually want a box that I have to pay a monthly subscription on, and doesn't dial home to let them know that I recorded last night's Scrapheap onto DVD to watch again later.

I know better than to think that there is a single /. hive-mind, but these people complaining they want programme guides are different ones to those that bang on about privacy rights, aren't they?

Devices like this are needed...

[debest]

..so that Joe Average user might start actually to see these in Best Buy ASAP. If combination PVR and DVD recorders begin to combine the benefits of VCRs (removable, permanent recordable storage), DVD players (high-quality video), and PVRs (instant random access, freeze, content searches, etc.), then I think that these could be huge. As demand kicks up, watch the price plummet.

If these things get market penetration quickly, then we will be able to more effectively deflect the **AA's various fair-use restriction attempts. It's one thing for /. geeks to be up in arms over this, its quite another when a bunch of people start getting used to their "new VCR thingy", and some new laws come down which says that they'll never be able to buy another ever again!

Market penetration is what is needed, though. The industry can afford to piss off the early adopters of analog HDTV sets (that may be obsoleted by embedded permission tags in transmissions) because there just aren't very many HDTV sets out there. And of those, a bunch don't use it to its fullest advantage (ie. won't miss 1080i broadcast quality 'cause they never saw it to start with). For these PVR/DVD-R's, we need people literally replacing their VCRs and DVD players and using the features as they were designed to be used!

Re:Riding the wave of technology into the future

[RichMan]

Values will shift. That is the dynamic of society.

I see plays and live action still performed. I see bands still playing live performaces. Live entertainment will still exist.

I see actor salaries at $10e6 for a movie or $1e6 per episode disappearing. I see that as good.
I see professional sports salaries of $5e6 a year disappearing. I see that as good. Live events will continue at much more reasonable levels.

Books and other media will continue in some form. Possibly paid from some large pool based on recognition and contribution to society. A whole lot of distribution and sales people will be removed from the process.

Societies change. The free information age is bringing change.