Still looking for DVR for OTA HD and Digital programming
 

I want to get rid of the Satellite. We never watch it but love the DVR. I want a DVR or 2 to record OTA shows. I am not interested in turning my PC into a DVR.

Anyone know of a standalone (non-tivo, no monthly fees) unit with a 500g drive and a reasonable price?

I've looked, there is none. You can get the HD Tivo, or you can build/buy a HTPC, but there is no OTA, free, DVR. WE're a dying breed, and no one wants to put the funding into us.

With the picture quality of OTA HD and the new digital converter boxes, you would think there is a huge market. I have had HD OTA for a couple of years now and just hooked up an older CRT TV with a converter box and powered antenna, picture quality is fantastic. I no longer need to pay for a good picture, plus I get 13 channels for free which is plenty when you only watch tv right before going to sleep.

What about the old Sony DHG-HDD250 units that were discontinued? Are they worth looking into or are they too outdated?

The monthly fees are for the menu upkeep/update. Some entity has to download to the machine so the programming guides show up. There's no way for a DVR to know when your favorite show is on unless it gets the info from somewhere.

You can get ota HD for one price. It's the DVR part that warrants continual maintenance and related fees.

I have an archos 605 which is basiclly a portable dvr player. You could also hook it up to a tv, but its only 160 gigs. you could also download the tv schedule online and set up your device to record it. cheapest I found was at circuit city online for 319.00.

The Archos isn't HD, and it's kind of a crappy cobbled way to do any TV recording (I had one, I know). I only did manual recording with mine, and realized that it's just as easy to do manual recording with any of the dozen or more DVD/DVR recorders out there (at non-HD quality, and much less price).