Satelite Recorder needs signal

[Wrenchtraveller]

We brought our Starchoice HD receiver with us and loved the HD picture on our Panasonic LCD TV but the built in hard drive recordings only are available when your dish is set up. I suppose this is to keep people from cancelling a month of subscription and watch all the movies they recorded on the receiver. Overnight stops we wanted to watch the recorded stuff without putting up the dish. No way , so we put up the dish. We are planning on buying a separate DVD recorder with a hard drive that will not require the dish signal. Not sure if this is an industry wide type of restriction but it is a little annoying.

[Lije Baley]

I can't say about Dish, but Directv's new HD DVR works the same way. The older HD Tivo from Direct does play back recorded content without a satellite connection. You're right, it is annoying to lose that function.

I'm not sure about Canada, but here in the U.S. all DVD recorders that have a tuner now have to have a digital tuner as well. The new DVD recorder models do not have hard drives. The manufacturers say that the American market doesn't want them; they're complicated and DVRs are preferred.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post10305260 (see point #5)
Bill

[Wrenchtraveller]

Thanks for the info. In Canada DVRs with hard drives are available. Check out this Canadian Costco link, go to electronics, then DVRs and you will see that offer 3 different models.
http://www.costco.ca/en-CA/Home.aspx