dvd/hdd recorder advice?

olly_2

My parents are after one of the above upto about £100,but this is all new to me,and them. They want to be able to record off virgin cable box,and channels 1-5 on the tv.Can somebody tell me which type to go for as i have heard conflicting reports of analogue and digital...as to what will work to do the job they want.Any links to any good deals also welcome,thanks.olly:D

olly_2

Come on people,surely somebody knows about these boxes,cheers

geewhiz

Argos have one half price just now, see here although it doesn't appear to have the option to watch and record 2 different channels.

The next cheapest with twin tuners is the Samsung which is a decent make.

Unless you have specific requirements my experience is that spending alot of money on these recorders is not worth it, a friend of mine bought a Sony for over £200 and it only lasted about 14 months.

spakkker

I think that the ones with inbuilt freeview usually can't record from an external source. There's one listed at netto's for 99 quid at the moment which should record from external source - but check for yourself!

olly_2

Thanks, will check them out,so i need a twin tuner to be able to record off cable and channels 1-5 seperately?

geewhiz

olly wrote: »

Thanks, will check them out,so i need a twin tuner to be able to record off cable and channels 1-5 seperately?

No, you only need a twin tuner if you want to use the built in freeview to watch one channel and record another. through the dvd recorder.

If you want to record from channels 1-5 and watch virgin, or the other way round then a single tuner will be be fine.

olly_2

They went for a hitachi digital recorder in the end,£99 from argos,and was voted a top buy in Which magazine,so lets hope it lives up to the hype! cheers all.

cepheus

Just bought a Hitachi 165 version for £75 in their end of line 'sale' with the sale or return condition waived.

However, I have noticed the recording occasionally misses a few seconds here and there. Is this common on digital recordings?

If I take it back for a fault they might blame it on poor reception of the signal, but usually this causes a different sort of breakdown leading to squares on the screen and I haven't noticed any poor reception with this model when watching live.

could be the same as this problem here

Occasionally get a 1sec jump on picture when watching TV or recorded playback

http://reviews.argos.co.uk/1493-en_gb/5321784/reviews.htm

Spank

Seem to be, mine did that (& so did my 2 previous Thomson PVR's(all replaced under warranty) so wouldn’t worry too much if you can live with it.

You will also find that it will freeze at least once a week requiring it to be unplugged & plugged in again.

If you do take it back you will probably have to get the 165 (mine went after 9 months), careful as it dose not have a HDMI output.

cepheus

Sorry I meant the 165 version (have changed the post)

cepheus

My friend says his digital recorder never misses and jumps frames, certainly not for a few seconds of recording.