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Friday, November 1, 2013

Ahhh...Remember VCRs? You Could Set Them To Record Your Favorite Show And Watch It Later. Tried To Hook One Up To Your New Flat TV And Record A Program? Good Luck. Not With DTV. Status: Next Gen. Goodwill Score!

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While digging around the wares at a South County Goodwill I found this Magnavox Digital Video Recorder / DVD player - recorder...with a built in DTV tuner!  This means that I can finally record Antenna TV again!  And so much more.


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...And for about the same price as a VCR!  I held little hope that this DVD recorder / DVR would

actually be operable when I got it home but you just never know.  I took a moment to plug it in at the

Goodwill just to make sure that it powered up...and it did.  When I got it home I attached it to the TV

and dropped in a DVD it loaded right up and played the DVD no problem.  The only issue I

Did have was the lack of a proper remote.  Most electronics these days are nearly useless

without their remote.

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Without that remote, watching a DVD was ALL I could do with this.  I still wasn't sure if

anything else worked because I couldn't set up the Digital Television Tuner.  Without that there wasn't

a way to test the DVR aspect.  Speaking of, this bad boy sports a 320 Gigabyte HD giving 387 hours

of TV recording / playback.  I'm sure there are new products out there that just obliterate this, but

guess what...they don't cost $15...tax free.  Well, it wasn't just $15.  I had to buy a universal remote

today.  That cost more than the machine it is intended to operate!  But it does the job and I got the

channels programmed and BAM, the DVR works too!  I haven't tried to record a DVD yet, but I can't

believe that it wouldn't work as well.  I know...it's not the normal vintage modern stuff I feature here

but this is just another example of some of the great deals one can get at the thrift stores!

3 comments:

  1. I think it's fabulous - but then, I'm a bit of a dinosaur. I have a VHS recorder in the basement that I bought at a thrift store - waiting for my hubby to agree to hook it up to the small new flat screen I WANT so that I can record in more than one room.
    Can't talk him into a DVR no matter what I do, and it is a HUGE frustration for me.
    Basically, I'm pretty screwed as far as recording stuff these days. I used to be able to set 4 different recorders in the house to tape on multiple channels each.
    Poor, poor pitiful me - TV fan that I am!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Heidi Ann.

      Neither of the new flat panel TVs that we have possess outputs that would allow recording on a VCR. I just assumed this was just how it is on all new TVs. I guess if you're using cable it's a moot point though. Hook up your bank of VCRs! Keep it Real Heidi!

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  2. Hmmm..... guess I'll have to think about that if/when we ever get a new, nicer (larger!) television! Until Iget a DVR, I'll have to make do - which, when I am away from home, means missing out on a number of my favorite programs. Oh, well. That's life in the "new age", for a dinosaur, I suppose!

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