Comment Re:How is this not your fault? (Score 1) 321
I'd expect to just have to enter the times by hand in that case, not to have a completely useless device.
The Archos TVPlus DVRs were like this. While they defaulted to a (now defunct) subscription TV listings service, you were always just one keypress from a standard "set it yourself" date/channel/time-on/time-off/quality menu. I never actually used the subscription service because of this.
Also, these boxes recorded standard MP4 AVI files with PCM audio that you could easily offload through the USB port (possibly over Ethernet/wifi too). Pity they never made a set-top HD version.*
(then again, the above may explain why they didn't...hmm)
---PCJ
*(their "Internet Tablet" series PMPs could behave like a PVR and record 720P (if I recall correctly) when docked in an extra-cost "DVR station", but no set-top version existed)