Some people only want to use a standalone DVR for recording TV show's or movies. Everything else is unnecessary to them. Most people have all of the other features provided to them by their local cable company.
That really depends on what one would want or would need in a surveillance DVR system. Surveillance DVR's can be as cheap as $99 or as expensive as $1299.
Normally it would come from your DVR and go out to 2 TV's. I have not seen a DVR with HDMI in.
This depends on the particular model. Some DVRs have DVD players built in, and some do not. By itself, a standalone DVR (Digital Video Recorder) without a DVD drive built in cannot play a DVD.
Depends on the DVR type and options and what you want to integrate too. More info please.
It is possible to power a security system using a DVR card and camera equipment. They enable high quality digital recordings to computer disk and feature multiple channels for varying devices.
There are several DVD recorders that come with DVR capability
Yes.
It would not cost extra to use your own DVR with cable from a cable company. However, you would need to make sure you are using a different DVR than what your cable company provides when you order DVR through them. As many times it is common their will be a code to input in order to use the DVR feature, this is the main reason for the need of having a different DVR.
It would take anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours.
The most popular and reliable brand of DVR recorders would be TiVo.
Yes, you can. You can mod your computer and set it up to your TV to act as a DVR. It is up to the cable company whether they will allow you to do this. They may make exceptions, but generally they want you to use their devices.
It varies on the cable or satellite service provider that you have call them or visit their website for details. If you want, you can purchase your own TiVO DVR. Their website is tivo.com Hope this helps!