Only DVRS I found require a fee. We have ours through our Cable compnay and it is only like 4 bucks extra a month. We love our DVR!! It makes me very happy!

I think you might have to go through your cable company for that. I have a Dish DVR, but I don't have to pay monthly fees because it's on a pirate card.

Arrrrrr.

Yeah, I think they all require some kind of monthly fee. We also get ours through our cable company... but it is well worth it. I can set dozens of series to record and watch them when I want to. Mine can record 2 while watching a 3rd, but rarely have I bogged it down that much.

Good luck on your search though.

There are a few computer-based solutions.

http://sites.mobile.yahoo.com/go/tv/index

I don't know how well it works, but it might be worth looking into.

We have a DVR that doesn't require a monthly fee and is NOT through the cable company. Best Buy has a few models. We bought ours from them years ago when they still had machines in the store with a hard drive. Makes tv so much nicer. We rarely watch "live" tv any more. We record just about everything we want to watch so we can skip the commercials. Plus, we have the ability to burn to DVD anything we want to keep.

I don't know anything about these particular machines but it doesn't look like there are any fees associated:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8742462&st=dvr&lp=3&type=p...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8731401&st=dvr&lp=5&type=p...

I don't know how you feel about buying electronics there but I've seen a few DVRs in Wal Mart too.

A DVD recorder never crossed my mind, but that would be about the same thing wouldn't it?

Thanks for the heads up...I'll look into them.

A DVD recorder is basically the same thing (I'm assuming). Only, as far as I know in order to record you'd have to put it directly onto a DVD and watch it from there. At least I think that's how the ones without a hard drive work. I'm not too sure on that (if it's not, someone please let us know), ours has a hard drive and you make the choice to put it on DVD or leave it on the hard drive or just delete it after you've seen it.

Oh. The links you gave were to DVD recorders. One of which had RAM for recording.

I'm still not finding what I want. I know it's available for PCs so I can't figure out what's so hard about DVR for broadcast cable. It doesn't make sense that it's not just a simple matter of a DVR in line with my TV...without the paid service.

I'm beginning to think that it's a conspiracy to force us to pay for a service that isn't actually required for the devices to work. There's no reason I can find that makes the devices NEED a service.

the only dvr fee i've seen is a $5 fee per month for having the box. it's just an additional fee because the cost of the box is more than your average cable box.

the benefit of this being when your DVR breaks cause the hard drive kerplodes on it, you at least get a replacement for free.

Now, if you're talking the subscription fee for TiVo service, thats a completely different monster.

There's nothing HARD about DVR service, but 90% of people can't figure out how to turn a PC into a DVR and make it work properly (which, to be fair, is a PITA being that most free DVR software/utilities for the PC are limited, especially as program/channel guides go - and you end up paying a monthly fee to a service that provides them).

You're speaking of the Cable or Satellite subscription services, right? That would be cool except that my cable company doesn't offer a DVR box in my area. So I cannot add that to my service.

This is why I'm looking for a simple DVR stand-alone unit that doesn't require an additional fee beyond purchasing it.

AH. Now I see.

Call your cable provider and tell them to fall into a fire.

As standalone DVRs go, TiVo is the only one worth a damn, and I believe it costs $13 a month for the service.

I believe that the service fee is for program guide features - which is basically necessary if you want to know what you're doing on the damn thing. The plus side to it being offered by cable providers (obviously not in your case) is that you already have a cable subscription and the guide is an included part of that.

I really doubt you're gonna find a DVR without it. Either whip out the good ol VHS or get one of them DVD recorders. Otherwise you're stuck shoeing the subscription fees.

Yup. It's basically a loaded product, in my opinion. I'm seriously looking into the DVD/RAM units now.

Than ks for the help. It's been frustrating trying to figure it out.

Well, I wouldn't necessarily consider it a loaded product. The program guide feature is a necessity to the device working properly. And program guides aren't free.

Which is why I can't use my Linux DVR box without paying a monthly fee for a program guide that doesn't suck.

I do understand the frustration, though, as it would be nice if your cable provider just had DVRs available.

it's because you moved to the sticks. I've been to Eureka.

LOL. I actually live 25 miles south in the last, real Company Town in America...the tiny town of Scotia, CA.

It was owned by the Pacific Lumber Company but is now part Mendocino Redwood Company due to a bankruptcy.

Yup, I pay rent to the Town of Scotia Company and I receive my electricity from the lumber mill generator directly. It's weird.

woo, that really is the sticks!