Can I buy a DVR and use it without a service?

I have my Sony HDD250 hooked up to my OTA rooftop antenna. I have always been able to receive HDTV with the antenna with my Sony TV. The HDD250 is the best thing I have bought electronic in a very long time. I love being able to time shift my busy life. The only reason I bought it in the first place was to be able to record HDTV. Since getting my HDTV I can't stand to watch anything in standard def any longer. I am totally spoiled. Of course all programming is not HD now but about all primetime is. Also a great amount of sports and other stuff is.

If you have a great many hours to spend reading posts about the 250 or 500 check out this link. It will have questions and answers to just about anything you can think of. I read it every day to see what's going on.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=537711&page=1&pp=30

On a side note and knock on wood, I've had absolutely zero trouble with mine and would but it again in a New York minute.

Mike

 

I have been really happy with my Sony HDD250. One problem I have been having (and haven't been able to figure out how to fix), though is with the screen mode. I have a 4:3 HD TV and every time I turn on the TV and receiver, the screen comes up squished (as if it thinks it is a 16:9 TV and the programming is in 4:3). If I hit the SCREEN MODE button twice, it switches to EXPANDED and the image is fine. But as soon as I change channels, it reverts to the squished view.

I have gone into the Preferences and repeatedly set the High Def to High Def setting to EXPANDED. But it reverts itself to Standard when I change the channel or turn it off then back on.

Any thoughts as to why this is happening and how to get it to stick?

Thanks,
feefree

 

does it have two tuners or one because i want to record more than 1 show at a time.

 

The Sony HDD250 and 500 have only 1 receiver. I was looking for a 2 receiver product when I was searching a few months back. I had no luck finding one where I could get a free programming guide and only OTA (no cable or satelite service). Maybe there is one out there, but I couldn't find it.

 

feefree,

have you tried menu > preferences > screen > screen mode > High Def to Standard Def > Side Crop. According to the manual on page 76, side crop removes the bars on top and bottom and fills the screen of a 4:3 output. It also removes some of the video on each side as would be expected.

I forgot to add that the Expanded screen mode is only temporary, once again according to the manual.

Mike

 

I have cable, if I get a dvr device and connect it would it work or do I have to contact my cable company for activation or something.
sorry if this was already talked about but i didnt have time to read all the posts. thanks