Another present: a DVD recorder

[jack]

My hard drive is big enough for all my data at the moment. I mainly want to record TV onto something more portable than videotapes, though creating backups of existing DVDs would be good. And how come I don't know this stuff? :) Should I:

(a) Get a "DVD recorder" that just does VCR stuff? And if so, which? Lite-on? Pros: hopefully simple. Cons: £150. Less versatile.
(b) Get an external DVD writer for my laptop. My laptop should be able to do the thinking/planning part of a VCR, but I don't know if that's at all practical.
(c) Get a VCR and a separate external DVD writer. ???

What does everyone else do?

Comments

[filecoreinuse.livejournal.com]

What does everyone else do?

Use MythTV. Takes a bit of setup but I can schedule recordings via the web!

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oooh, shiny! *calculates relative set up time, wage per hour, interesting techie stuff learnt, advantage of programming via the web, chance of it all going horribly wrong, etc.*

Addenum: *is still calculating*

Seriously, it looks good. Come to think of it, I may have the capacity to record to a hard drive, I should check: after that presumably burning DVDs is easy *hopes*? :)

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

Actually the format it records in isn't the same as you would want to burn a DVD movie.

But you can convert. Our homeburnt experiments just about play on my Playstation.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Or have a DVD player that can play a variety or formats, or a computer->TV cable or chain the conversion to the recording process? :)

"Just about"? :)