I would like to buy a DVD burner with HDD. Can someone tell me if I get a Tivo system from Ebay let's say can I use it for normal local Canadian cable and not use it for tivo?

Basically there seem to be lot's of them out there cheap in the USA not too reasonable yet in Canada so I was thinking it might be the route to go if it is possible.

Also any brands to seriously avoid? Liteon is the cheapest and has the most media capabilities but I haven't heard of them. I have heard Panasonic is good Toshiba is slow to write DVD's and sony $$$ so any assistance would be great

Thanks