douglasb

I'm tempted to buy a hard drive DVD recorder but with the impending switch-off of the analogue TV signal in a couple of years, I'm concerned about built-in obsolecence.

So, the answer would seem to be a hard drive DVD recorder with a Freeview tuner. Has anyone got any recommendations?

(Don't suggest Sky+. The tight Scotsman bit of me objects to buying the box and then paying a monthly fee for the service )

paulg1979

iTrader: (1)

I'd buy one of these and a separate DVD player as I'm not to keen on the HDD and DVD together. The Humax is the best machine i've ever used. This is the second one i've had. Brilliant.

http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/products/pvr-9200t.asp

douglasb

A couple of questions, Paul.

My TV only has 2 SCART inputs. I've already got a DVD player and Sky digibox connected to these, so how would the Humax box connect?

What is it that you don't like about having HD and DVD in the same box?

paulg1979

iTrader: (1)

Right that could be a problem. You would need to get a scart splitter which is converts one scart to 2. Didn'y realise you had all that running already. Its not that I don't like them but the last two I had seem very slow to operate and wasn't user friendly. Maybe some are it was just my toshiba one. With the Hamux you can record two programmes at the same time and watch another which is pretty amazing.

Lum

My mum has a Humax PVR-8000T which works well enough, it has two SCART sockets so you could daisy-chain your DVD or Sky box through it.

If your DVD has two scarts, you could daisy chain through that.

Daisy chaining through the Sky box is a little harder if you want to use RGB as the second SCART socket has the red and the blue pins wired up backwards for some brain dead reason, so you have to swap them over in the cable.

Alternatively, Maplin do a "SmartSCART" device, it works like a scart switcher only it's automatic. You plug your devices in, in priority order, and the highest numbered device that is actually switched on at that time gets switched through to the TV. Also means you can use RGB on all devices even if your TV only has one RGB SCART.

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

theres one in costco for £150 with an 80gb hdd that looks great, if you want any more info pm me and ile get it for you next time I go.

james

GC8

Wheres the nearest Costco Jamo? i will swap you a trip to Costco for a trip to Makro if you like.....

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

can do mate, its only in derby. there doing a special on navmans at the minute, about £80 off the shop price

douglasb

Thanks guys.

Shaggy - I'm guessing that at that price the Costco thing is a hdd recorder with Freeview and doesn't have the DVD recorder/player?

Lum - thanks for that. The SmartScart thing sounds interesting.

I think that I want DVD recording as although I'd mainly be using it to record TV when I'm not at home, I'd like to be able to burn a copy of anything that I wanted to keep. I know that with a USB port I could copy things to the PC and burn it on that, but it just seems easier if everything is in one box.

Nimbus

I too was looking for a DVD/HDD/FV combo, butthe prices were too high and they currenty only have one tuner.

I would recomend the Topfield PVR8500. Like the Humax you can record two channes at the same time while watching a previously recorded program, or even a live one if it's on one the the same MUXs being used by the recorded programs. You can copy the recordings onto your PC via USB to archive into DVD format. I thought I would archive more than I do, but to be honest, I don't really keep much on DVD.

The added benfit over the Humax is that you can write small prgrams for the Topfield that change (and improve) how it works. For example, improved EPG, timers listing, change the display panel on the front of the box... Take a look at http://www.toppy.org.uk/ for some very useful info..

Toppfield is available in 160GB or 250GB. More expensive than the Humanx, but worth it...

douglasb

I've done a bit of investigation and this thing looks good. One question that I have is does it have PDC?

Does it start recording at the time that you specify and if the programme is a few minutes late that's tough, or do digital recorders pick up some trigger and "know" that the programme is running late and start recording when the programme starts?

I'm seriously thinking that if I can live with the hassle of using the laptop to burn things to DVD then this box gives digital reception with the ability to record/view more than one thing at once, so I can cancel the Sky subscription. It then pays for itself within a year.

Nimbus

I should point out my typo. It's actually a Topfield PVR5800...

Freeview does not transmit PDC, so no digital HDD/DVD recorder you buy will have this feature. Shame really as it was great on my old VCR.

You can to manaully adjust the recording start and end times (padding) to cope with overruns. Some PVRs can do this for you, but the Topfield does not currently in it's "out of the box" config. You can however install an alternative Electronic Program Guide (EPG) TAP that will 1) give you a much better program guide that the standard version and 2) allow you to automatically pad the timings when they are set. It's not fool proof, but it's been fine for me so far* There are also TAPs available that can perform serches in the EPG data so that if it finds any changes to a scheduled program it will change the timer event for it. Not tried these yet so can not comment too much.

You can even network the device to your PC perminitaly, but it oes requiere some additional hardware and a bit of tweeking. Nothing too difficult though. Not bothered doing this myself as I don't download the recordings too ofter and occationaly add a new or updated TAP when they are released.

If you've read the forums on the toppy.org site you'll see there's plenty of helpful people about. Let me know if you have any more questions or join the forums.

Cheers

* apart from when the GP overran this morning and I missed the last lap...