Are there any other subscription-less dvr's on the market?

yes, there are many to choose from - in fact you can pay far less than what sears in going to price them at. look around for a unit called, Tristar MX DVR Home Theater Digital Video Recorder PVR. It sounds like the device that you are in the market for. It records just like a VCR, but onto a internal hard drive. It also records to external hard drive and all sorts of memory like flash drive, memory sticks, sd Card, thumb drive, and more. this one can also connect to your internet and let you access stored recording from a central hard drive - can your old vcr do that (grin). very simple to use and worth it money in weight. best of all - it doesnt have that tivo fee of $15 per month (super grin). if you need more information on these life savers then read here:

http://www.newelectronx.com/help.php?category_id=3...

http://www.newelectronx.com/help.php?faq_id=214

http://www.newelectronx.com/proddetail.php?prod=tr...

A few DVD recorders can, but only in SD.

You can get PC tuner cards that need no subscription.