bob
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 posted on 21/1/09 at 07:39 PM |
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HDD/DVD recorders with freeview ?
My trusty video recorder is on its last legs and to be honest even if a deal can be had on a new VCR i would rather enter the 21st century and get an
HDD/DVD recorder with freeview.
So can anyone recomend me one ?
I'm looking for decent storage plus the DVD writer and the machine must have freeview and be a twin tuner.
When i say twin tuner i'm hoping for twin digital tuner or even triple, i have noticed that some machines say twin tuner but i reallity they are
one digital and one analogue tuner which kind of defeats the object.
I have considered HDD recorder with freeview and then add the DVD recorder which i presume can be done.
Any help guidance much appreciated
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stevebubs
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 07:54 PM |
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My dad got a Sony 120GB one before xmas for about £180 from Tesco's.
I'm also looking, so interested in any feedback...
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 07:56 PM |
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I have a Sony combined Freeview HDD and DVD player/recorder - very pleased with it. No point in quoting the model - it's a year old, so has
probably been superceded twice..
A neighbour has one made by Panasonic with a very similar spec - he's happy with his too.
Since buying ours we've hardly used the old VCR - only to record stuff off tapes.
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Peteff
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 08:52 PM |
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Most twin tuner freeview boxes will only come with a hard drive. If you get something like a Topfield or Humax you can record from the hard drive to
your computer to keep programmes you have recorded but HDD/DVD recorders usually come with either single analogue or digital tuners.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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locogeoff
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 08:55 PM |
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In a moment of madness we bought a Thomson DTi3600 before christmas from QVC or something like that for £70, well it's a genuine twin tuner
device 160gb HD gives about 70 hours of recording of freeview, however when I started to look for reviews on the net I was trying to get the other
half to phone back and tell them not to bother sending it, so many bad reviews.
Anyways it turned up and after one lockup that if I'm honest was probably due to not having the remote set up properly it's never missed
a beat does tend to have a wee fit with it's leg up on a tuesday at 23:30hrs when I beleive it downloads updates or something.
Only complaint is that it's a wee bit noisy, and is SCART only, wouldn't be suitable for a bedroom but fine for the living room.
Apparently 90% of issues where resolved with a software update, so for a cheap prospect it's good.
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UncleFista
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 09:32 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
If you get something like a Topfield or Humax you can record from the hard drive to your computer to keep programmes you have recorded
I was looking at a 160Gb dual tuner PVR in ASDA for £90-ish.
It had a USB slot on the front and the blurb on the box said you can record to memory stick or external HD.
I was sorely tempted 
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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geoff shep
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 10:02 PM |
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Humax comes out well time after time. I have an older 9200 which has twin freeview tuner and 160Gb hard disk. Available from Humax Direct for £100
ish.
There's a 320Gb version for a bit more and a newer 9300 with 320Gb HDD. That has an HDMI connection and apparently upscales the picture but it
does not have usb-out. However usb out to PC is really slow and the file is a non-std format (xxx.ts) so needs converting. It is easy to
record to an external DVD recorder.
Because of the way freeview transmits in 'bundles' of channels, a twin tuner can effectively deal with 3 channels. So you can record 2
and watch a 3rd. The best thing about the Humax, I think, is the epg and the way you can select programmes to record. I have another TV with built
in freeview and the epg is c**p.
A mate of mine just got one of these and a separate DVD recorder for about £40.
Humax Direct
[Edited on 21/1/09 by geoff shep]
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JeffHs
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 10:04 PM |
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I've had a Toshiba for over a year now and very pleased with it - 180gb, freeview and analogue tuner. Easy to use and good picture quality, but
no bells & whistles like USB.
The only criticism I have (and it applies to my Tosh TV too) is the software seems to be particularly clunky - a bit reminiscent of Win 95!
Jeff
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ReMan
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 10:28 PM |
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Panasonic for me, very pleased with it, particularly the recording menu, nice and easy, dad's got a more reecnt Panasonic, that's even
better, for freeze TV and regular event recording
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jambo
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| posted on 21/1/09 at 11:21 PM |
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humax great reviews,great machine £200 2 years ago,would recommend
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britishtrident
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| posted on 22/1/09 at 08:31 AM |
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Thompson Freview DVR recorders are very prone to locking up crashing, you can end up with programs recorded that crash the the machine and the only
way to fix is to take the hard disk out and delete the partition.
Also beware anything with the Top Up Tv logo -- on the Thompson they clog up your disc with unwanted demo & lottery rubbish --- the latest
version of Thompson firmware no longer gives the option of restricting the amount of disc space they grab without asking.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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bob
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| posted on 22/1/09 at 10:39 PM |
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Big thankyou for the replies 
It looks very much like the humax gets the vote and reviews are generally good with only a few complaints of noisey fan.
I'll be on the search for a DVD recorder now so any recomendations on that much appreciated 
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 23/1/09 at 09:16 AM |
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Whatever you pick, I can guarantee that you will be astonished by the improvement in quality when compared to your old video recorder.
Mine looks as good as the original broadcast, IMHO.
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iank
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| posted on 23/1/09 at 09:23 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
Whatever you pick, I can guarantee that you will be astonished by the improvement in quality when compared to your old video recorder.
Mine looks as good as the original broadcast, IMHO.
I think they record the stream as it comes in, rather than re-compressing the picture. So they should look exactly the same as the original
broadcast.
From what I remember decompressing and then re-compressing would tend to add nasty artifacts to the pictures.
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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bob
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| posted on 25/1/09 at 12:24 PM |
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Humax out of stock at the moment for the unit i have decided on unfortunatly,HUMAX PVR9200TBX at £165.
Does anyone have a simple explanation of what "series link" means which this unit has ?
Alternative model is the next one up which has HDMI upscaling decisions decisions
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iank
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| posted on 25/1/09 at 01:19 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by bob
Humax out of stock at the moment for the unit i have decided on unfortunatly,HUMAX PVR9200TBX at £165.
Does anyone have a simple explanation of what "series link" means which this unit has ?
Alternative model is the next one up which has HDMI upscaling decisions decisions
Series link means you can record a whole series of Dr Who (or whatever) without figuring out what days/times they're on each week.
RicherSounds have the 9300T for £179.95 if that's any good.
http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=HUMA-PVR9300
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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bob
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| posted on 25/1/09 at 01:54 PM |
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Thanks for the info ian
HUMAX have the 9300T for £145. so they seem pretty keen on price, the 9200TBX also comes with a 2 year replacement warranty which i like.
Edit, sorry got the models mixed up as the 9300T at humax is £185 plus £5 P+P.
I've managed to find the same unit for £169 delivered from martin dawes, also comes with the same 2 year on site warranty from humax.
Stock issues and non working websites had me searching again, eventually turning up a deal for £165.40 delivered for the 9300T.
I'll let you know how i get on
Search on now for a DVD recorder, any recomendations ?
[Edited on 25/1/09 by bob]
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geoff shep
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| posted on 25/1/09 at 07:07 PM |
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Series Link. When you select a programme to record, using the epg, it will ask if you want to record just one or the whole series.
Limitations: If you have auto padding on (that is a facility to always start recording a selectable time before a prog starts and finish a selectable
time after) series link is disabled. It also seems to record all the repeats as well.
There's a lot of info and support at the Hummy forums: http://www.hummy.org.uk/forums/
Humax Direct appear to have plenty of Grade A models in stock: http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=20034&cat=stb
And Hughes Direct is a good alternative supplier.
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bob
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| posted on 29/1/09 at 02:45 PM |
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Well the HUMAX landed early this morning and i must admit i am very impressed,you can deffinatly be a lot more organised with your TV recording.
Its kinda like a poor mans sky+ so it suits a tight git like me.
Thankyou very much for everyones input as it was as usual much apprecated
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Jasper
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| posted on 29/1/09 at 03:02 PM |
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Yeah - nice bits of kit - loving my Humax FoxSAT HD PVR, and really glad to have got rid of Sky+....
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
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