As long as the device you are recording with has a TV tuner built in you won't need an IR blaster. An IR blaster will turn on your cable box, sat reciever etc and change it to the right channel for recording.
What is IR blaster?
As I read reviews of dvd recorders, different units are said to have or lack "IR Blaster". What does it do? I like to programmed (unattended) recording from off-air (antenna) TV, I don't foresee getting cable or dish in near future. So a typical situation might be:
record Ch 7 from 5pm-6pm every Tuesday,
Ch 11 from 9pm-10pm every Saturday, and
Ch 5 from 4pm-5pm only tomorrow.
Do I need to worry about if my machine will have IR blaster or not?
Finally, for a VCR replacement, I would like to use re-usable media and am confused by various types of DVD's. Is there any reason to choose DVD-RW, or DVD+RW, or DVD-RAM or they are all equally good?
record Ch 7 from 5pm-6pm every Tuesday,
Ch 11 from 9pm-10pm every Saturday, and
Ch 5 from 4pm-5pm only tomorrow.
Do I need to worry about if my machine will have IR blaster or not?
Finally, for a VCR replacement, I would like to use re-usable media and am confused by various types of DVD's. Is there any reason to choose DVD-RW, or DVD+RW, or DVD-RAM or they are all equally good?