I have a Philips hard drive recorder which can record up to 250 hours of tv (depending on the quality of the recording) and has a very easy to use on screen programme guide which makes recording a doddle.
But best of all, it 'burns' recordings to dvd disk, which can be viewed on any dvd player and kept for prosperity. Philips call it 'archiving'. I can edit all the adverts out, and burn a whole series to one or two disks.
I have been able to copy all my old family video tapes to dvd.
So it works exactly like a video recorder but with many more functions, as well as being a hard drive recorder.
I can watch a programme from the beginning while it is half way through recording, pause live tv and watch a recording while it is recording another programme.
I've had it for three years and I wouldn't be without it.