811 with Tivo

[hdaddikt]

Is anyone using an 811 HD receiver with a Tivo (or equivalent) recorder for HD?
I understand there are limitations like not having the Dish programming viewable for recording. But it seems like an inexpensive option while waiting for the mpeg4 issues to resolve themeselves.

[KKlare]

Until we have (a cheap-enough) working Blue-ray or HDR(?), you can not record HD but can get up to a DVD level.

I have used the 811 with DVD+R recorders 1/04 to 8/08. The cheaper ones (now as low as $100, I paid $225 and $140 and thought those bargains) are not in the 811's blaster list. Thus you must match the clocks and set the both timers--the 811 to auto-tune and the DVD to record.

Except for the higher priced recorders you cannot playback while you record--those can often record to disk first. Would you do better spending on a nonpermanent DVR?

You do not get the guide info unless you manually record it.

Close captioning (CC) is usually missing. As is Dolby.

For HD there is the question: to stretch or not?

Do you spend more on DVD+-RW ~$.37 vs DVD+-R ~$.20 so you can correct mistakes? (Based on purchases over 50.)

Generally more trouble than a 921/942 for short-term viewing.

You can record to 921/942 disk and then output to the recorder. It ties up the recorder for twice the time. You could use an SD DVR except for the HD channels.

-Ken

[Jason Nipp]

I am using a HTPC to DVR off my 811. I also have a S-VHS recorder hooked upto it. Either method works fine but you will not be able to record HD as HDCP would stop you even if there was a common retail off the shelf method to do so. So I use the S-Video connection to the HTPC.

The only problem I have is with channel input. My HTPC is able to control my 811 via IR Blaster, however Windows Media Center nor Pinnacle Studio are able to input a zero preamble for digital OTA map down. For example for OTA digital channel 13.1 on the 811 for direct tune you would need to enter 0131. Since my HTPC software cannot enter the leading zero I cannot direct tune these channels using the HTPC DVR.


Hope this helps.

[hdaddikt]

I appreciate the responses, which certainly run the gamut. I will likely wait for MPEG4, etc. but may consider a 'toy' in the meantime.

[MarkoC]

Before I got my 942 I used to use a stand alone Tivo with my 811. I used the Tivo's IR emitters to control the channels on the 811. It worked pretty good for SD recording. All the recordings were letter-boxed which was fine with me.

[Jason Nipp]

From P280 and up you can now stretch the S-Video output of the 811 which helps with the letter boxing.

[MarkoC]

From P280 and up you can now stretch the S-Video output of the 811 which helps with the letter boxing.
While I believe that the 811 does allow you to zoom the picture, it does not allow you to retain the original 16x9 aspect ratio on SD video without letterboxing. When you zoom the picture, you do remove the black bars on the top and bottom, but you also lose some of the picture on the sides, which is worse than the letterbox IMHO.

My TV allows me to expand the top and bottom of the letter-boxed picture while not stretching the sides at all, thus preserving the original apect ratio of the HD picture.