Saw this on Aldi Australia‘s website: DVD Recorder with 250GB Hard Disc Drive for $399. Looks like a good buy — it used to cost almost a $1,000 for a hard drive recorder. It is also compatible with DivX/MPEG4 so there’s a lot of TV programs that you can record. It also has iLink interface built in, i.e. you can plug in your DV camcoder and it’ll download the videos (and probably compress them into MPEG4) for you.

Here’s the spec:

• Compatible with DVD / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW / JPEG / CD / CD-R / CD-RW / MP3 / WMA
• DiVX/MPEG4 compatible
• Timeshift function – record a program while watching another recorded program
• 6 recording modes, progressive scan
• Dolby Digital AC3 decoded output
• Front connections: AV in, DV in, USB in
• Rear connections: TV tuner RF input/output, S-Video, RCA input, 5.1CH audio output, coaxial digital output, i-link interface, YPbPr/YCbCr output
• Includes remote control and batteries

It comes with one year warranty.

I think one lacking feature is a digital tuner nor digital input, so even though you might have a separate digital tuner, it’ll still only record the analogue signal.

Talking about watching and recording TV, rockycape wrote in and said:

If you are one of the first 500 to take up this offer you can get 50%
off any IceTV subscription between now until the end of September — whether your are a new, old or existing IceTV customer.

Simply go to www.icetv.com.au/subscribe.php, purchase the IceTV subscription of your choice (1, 3 or 12 month) and enter the following
“discount code” to receive 50% Off the IceTV subscription;

icetvmakestvworthwatching

IceTV looks like an online TV guide and with a few clicks you can easily schedule when the programs are recorded. There’s a 14-day free trial. I don’t think the Aldi PVR supports it though. If watching TV is your thing (I spent only around 5 minutes in front of TV a week), then you might give it a try.