SCHELL SHOCKED home is VCR-less

[Trevor Schell]

That's right!!
No more VCR's hooked up in this house!
This was made possible with the new
Bell ExpressVu PVR 5800 Satelite Receiver Recorder.
You can record a total of 52 hours onto the built in hard drive.
What is really incredible is the fact that which ever channel
you are watching is instantly being recorded up to one hour.
If you miss something or want to see a reply ,,just press reverse
to view it back. Then continue to watch the program as usual.
This also allows you to fast forward past commercials.
I should have had one of these long ago..
Highly recommended. :T




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[brucek]

Trevor,

Yeah, I got a 5800 in December when ExpreesVu's great swap program was running, and I agree.....it is the single coolest, most useful, well thought out device I own.

The one hour trailing memory is very useful to look back and see what you've missed and then run it in slow-motion for a better look. Great for hockey games and quick flashes of girls you want to see again ops:

Another great feature is the fact that it stores about three days of guide instead of the pitiful couple of hours that my old receiver use to store. I can now look ahead a few days very quickly and see what's on.

Another great feature (that I thought rather silly at first), but now I use all the time, is the SEARCH function. If I want to look for any shows with a certain actor in the next three days, I just type in his name and it shows me every show he's in. Or, if I want to see when Alias is on tomorrow, I can type in the actors name or the shows title and it shows me all the occurances of when it's on in a list. Select one and it programs to change channels at that time..... Or, if I want to see all the shows in the next three days that have the word 'golf' in the guides content listing, type it in and it tells you every show. Very cool.

I got it at a great price in December. They gave me $50 off the list price and then I got $150 credit applied to my bill and then I sent in my old (much sought after) 2700 receiver with prepaid shipping and they sent me a cheque for $100. So it ended up fairly cheap to do the switch.

My only beef is that when it's very quiet in the house, and there is no sound from the system, I can hear the disk writing. Not really a problem, and I suppose since the remote is RF, I could hide the receiver.

brucek

[Andrew Pratt]

Trevor if you don't have a VCR in the rack how are you going to know what time it is :LOL: That's about the only function mine gets used for these days :roll:

[brucek]

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

[Trevor Schell]

Ha Ha Andrew!!
So true!!

Good one Bruce.!

Anyways,
Bruce,,
I agree, it is a very well thought out device.
I also like how it puts out a PIP of your current channel when looking through the channel guide.
I can hear the hard drive but have to be right next to the unit in order to hear it. It's pretty quiet.
I also have the 2700 and it is now going into the garage.
You sure got some good deals. I got nothing and had to pay the full $500 for the unit.
I wonder if I got sideblinded on that?




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[aud19]

Congrats Trevor

It's bound to happen to us all eventually...(the slow painful death of the VCR seems to be picking up pace)...

I myself have been doing research on building a HTPC for a friend of mine and I'm seriously considering making one for myself some time in the next year or two to use as a DVR/scaler/game system/etc/etc. Seems you can build a pretty nice one with a HUGE Hard drive for not much $. My biggest concern at the moment is noise from the fans and as Bruce stated Hard drive(s)... That and it looks to be finicky to set up with satellite/cable STB's

Looks like more research is needed

Jason




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[Jeff Aguilar]

About 6 months ago our VCR finally died. It's not that we used it much. Actually, we did not use it at all. My wife wanted to watch her sister's wedding and the VCR ate the tape!! 8O

Instead of investing in another one, we got the DirectTiVo. I love the TiVo and will never be without another one. We do not miss the VCR AT ALL! Who wants to watch their sister-in-law's wedding anyway?

This actually came up at work this past week. They were passing out video tapes from one of the manufacturer's and I told them that we did not have a VCR in our house. I got a strange look from the owner of the company. We've moved on to DVD, what can I say?

Jeff

[Dr C]

Welcome to the world of time slipping hard disk drives

Been using an RCA DRS7500 for just under a year now and cannot tell you how useful it is. Was also evaluating the DRS8000 DVD+RW recorder as well (work for Thomson so I get to field test products )

Consumers have been feeding back that they prefer DVD recorders but the length of time one can record with them is limited to a max of 4 hours (at a low bitrate quality) before you have to change disks. What if you need to go away for a week ! However the one good thing about the hard disk drive recorder is the USB input where you can transfer old VHS tapes or new DV movie clips to DVDs for posterity. The machine can also index the disks saving you time.

The best solution would be a combi Hard Disk + DVD recorder. problem is the cost. Will be getting my hands on one within H1 2004.

rgds - Dr C

[Ryker]

I haven't had a vcr since I got my dishnetwork pvr. And Andrew is right I had to go out and buy a wall clock.

[David Meek]

We purchased a Tivo a couple of years ago and have been VCR-less since that time, too. Personally, I use one of those new-fangled inventions you may have heard of - a wristwatch.





David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[George Bellefontaine]

I have 4 VCRs. One in the theater, one in the study, one in my wife's reading room and one on the shelf, collecting dust. Well, actually, they all collect dust. I rarely tape anything over the air. As for one in the theater. That's necessary until I replace all those old VHS movies that have not been released as dvds. If I live long enough to see that happen, out goes the vcr in the theater.




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[aud19]

The best solution would be a combi Hard Disk + DVD recorder. problem is the cost.

I've got four words for you...

Home Theatre Personal Computer

I was trying to not believe it myself but It's the most versatile, inexpensive way to get those things plus many more.

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[Trevor Schell]

The best solution would be a combi Hard Disk + DVD recorder. problem is the cost.

I was actually close to going that route and probably still could.
They had a nice Panasonic,,EMR-80 which records on DVD ram , plus has an 80 gig HD to record 106 hours of video. The best of both worlds.
However at half the cost , the ExpressVu that records upto 60hours and built in satleite at half the cost of the EMR-80 seemed like a better investment at this time.

We also have a Hitachi DVD camcorder which I really like, only problem is low light = lots of grain.
Otherwise it is a great alternative vs video tape camcorders..
Yes we are tapeless all around.

The HT PC sounds interesting, however I am sure fan noise would be troublesome. My two homebuilt PC's are very loud and would not be suitable to be located in the HT due to the excess noise.

The noise is impacted in four different parts of the PC.
The Case fans, the fan on the video card, the fan on the processor chip
and the fan in the power supply. A lot of research has to be done in order to get the right combination that will provide the quietness needed for the HT.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Burke Strickland]

Since my projector doesn't have a TV tuner and I do not yet have an HDTV tuner, I have to keep a VCR connected to the system so I can get the TV channel I sometimes watch. But it is not a VHS deck -- it is Hi8 and that works nicely for editing home movies.

Burke

[Daryl Furkalo]

I have had a Bell 5100 for over two years now, got it about the time it was released in Canada. I don't know I could ever watch TV without it.

[GregoriusM]

So..........

........ what you boys are saying is that I should give up on my MTS Cable TV 30 day demo (10 days into it and hate the EPG - which might very well be the one on Bell ExpressVu - GemStar???) with all channels in digital

or

give up on my Shaw Cable which has only the channels above 59, I think, in digital (the rest are analog and DO NOT look anywhere near as good as the MTS Digital - I actually think the digital on MTS might be slightly better) even though I like the EPG better

or

go Bell ExpressVu?

I'm in an apartment facing south?

So, how does Bell ExpressVu compare with Shaw and MTS?

Andrew? Have you seen the two cable companies' offerings lately?

I assume you have a SAT device?

Any comments will be appreciated.

Oh, by the way. MTS does not have PVR capabilities and none have been announced although you can easily press a couple of buttons and record it to your...... yes....... VCR!!!). Shaw does not have PVR capabilites, but a one-tuner PVR is rumoured for this summer or fall.

So, basically, is Bell ExpressVu the only way to do PVR in Canada?

And, how does BEV compare to the other two in MB???

Thanks, peeps!

Greg

[GregoriusM]

I was just thinking. I think that Bell and MTS have some business connections somehow, so I'm wondering if MTS cable would get the PVR that Bell uses; or is that a stupid idea since it would be cutting into Bell's userbase?

Just wondering........

Greg :?

HOLY F***, BATMAN! Is there ever a truckload of emoticons now!!! 8O

[Kevin P]

Hmmm... I guess with the imminent death of the VCR, I need to develop a HTC (Home Theater Clock), which inserts into your rack, and flashes 12:00 over and over so you don't miss the old VCR anymore. I can sell it for $499.99 but HTG members will get $100 off.

I guess I'm one of the few who still has a VCR and still tapes shows with it (well, maybe 1 or 2 shows a year, why waste a Tivo on that).




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