Sony DHG-HDD250 30-Hour High-Definition Digital Video Recorder (250 GB)
Added Bonuses if you are lucky
Overall I like the unit.  Some things could be improved, but there were some pleasant surprises that made up for it. <br /> <br />I did not have a Tivo and did not like the idea of having to pay for the service.  I guess I am cheap, but I watch limited TV, so have never found the need to jump up to digital cable and increase by monthly bill by $50 (then add in more $ for HD and Tivo services).  But, since I have purchased an HDTV (Samsung DLP) for movies, I figured let's put it to real use and see if I could get HD service through my old UHF Antenna on the roof and still use \\"standard\\" cable TV. <br /> <br />That's where this unit came in.  I stumbled across it at my local store and although costly, I figured I would rather pay one time up front instead of monthly fees that add up to thousands over several years.  Boy, am I glad I did. <br /> <br />The good: As you can read from all of the reviews is how easy it is to use and that it has a great picture quality.  It also is a free service.  It does most of the things that I have read are available with Tivo.  I really like the \\"when you stop fast forwarding it automatically skips back a few seconds so you don't miss the beginning of where you wanted to stop\\" option.  I could go on and on, but just read the other reviews for what it is good at. <br /> <br />The things that could be improved:  That you can't watch TV on one channel and record another at the same time.  This can be worked around VERY easily by splitting your cable and sending one to your PVR and one to the TV.  When watching through the PVR I have the TV set to one source (HDMI), and when I want to record and watch something else, I just switch the TV source back to the old \\"Cable\\" setting and let the PVR do its thing in the background.  This works fine.  A nice Universal remote (like Logitech makes) makes this a peice of cake, by just clicking a button.  SOMETHING I HATE - is the pause between changing channels.  It must be at least 2-3 seconds.... but, I guess I can deal.  Also, it took me almost an entire day to set up the channels the way I wanted (simple to do, just tedious).  But this was probably because of what I got as a pleasant surprise. <br /> <br />ADDED BONUS:  Well, I am not sure why.. but besides all of the standard channels I expected to get, and the HD channels I got through my Antenna.  I also began receiving all of the digital channels that matched my standard ones.  Example:  I received Comedy Central \\"standard\\" quality and \\"digital\\" quality.  I also found that I got all of the local HD channels (and some others that my Antenna would not have picked up) through the cable.  Nothing like HBOHD or DiscoveryHD, but ABC-HD from 2 or 3 neighboring cities.  This also included PBS and other \\"free\\" over the air channels using a Digital signal through my cable provider.  This was GREAT!  Finally, I also began recieving the Music channels.  You know, the ones similar to XM radio.   <br /> <br />Now, the problem was that the \\"new\\" channels were found all over the place as far as numbers were concerned.... 118.67, 108.9, etc. (the box scans for Antenna, Standard Cable, Digital Cable, and HD signals). So I used the setup \\"name the channel\\" function to mask the real number with a good position within the TVGuide screen layout.  Once this was done (which took a very long time for the almost 200 channels I now recieve), the box worked perfectly.   <br /> <br />Basically, now I am getting double the amount of channels I used to get.  I get digital and standard channels.  I get HD \\"local\\" and Music.  And my monthly cable bill is still under $30.  The reason I am not feeling guilty about this is that I am not receiving anything I did not already get or that would not normally be free (except for the music).  Just improved quality, now getting HD, getting Tivo functionality, and a few \\"extras\\".  All for one price with no monthly fees. <br /> <br />How can you beat that? <br /> <br />This is definately a good investment, and in my case will pay for itself in 8 months.  I highly recommend it.