OK, it's been a long time since I've asked a dumb question, so now it's time to do that. I am aware that you can no longer buy a stand alone VCR unit with a tuner. Now, excluding TiVo and all those DVR's that come with Direct TV and the like, does anyone know if there will be a VCR type unit, without the tape mechanism and in its place a hard drive to record off of an external antenna like for DTV boxes so you can view and erase to re-record again and again? Dumb question, right? Is there such a beast in the works?

Yes, there are digital DVD recorders and digital recorders that use hard drives. I think a Google search for "digital TV recorders" or DVRs should pick up some places to check. Personally I use my PC to record TV. All you need is a TV tuner adapter. They come as PCI cards to install internally, or you can get USB tuners.

Thanks aegis. I will look into that, but let me ask you something, how do you set a timer to start the recording when you are not home?

I use a recording program that lets you set up recording dates, times and channels. I use an old one called 'Power VCR II' by Cyrberlink. But there are several others available. I would suggest getting one that records in the DIVX or XVID format. They are very popular formats because they give you decent quality without a humongus file size. Mine doesn't, so i have to use a converter.

OK, thanks.

You're very welcome. Good luck finding a good recorder.

Walmart for example has at lease 3 DVD recorders with Hard Disks of 80 or 160 GB with tuners and timer. Price $170 up.