Going Digital....

penrhyn

gtd2000 wrote: »

As the crow flies she has direct line of site to the transmitter which about a mile away - would that be sufficient with the existing aerial?

Probably, why not pick up a cheap Freeview box from the local supermarket, you can sometimes get one for £10-15, and give it a go.
When the analog is turned off the power of the digital transmitter will be increased.

PS I'm also a Humax fan, they have some grade A 9200 320Gb twin tuners for £129, at their online shop.
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/Product.asp?ProdRef=10065&cat=Factory

Idiophreak

penrhyn wrote: »

PS I'm also a Humax fan, they have some grade A 9200 320Gb twin tuners for £129, at their online shop.
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/Product.asp?ProdRef=10065&cat=Factory

Wow, that's a bargain

gtd2000

Idiophreak wrote: »

humax is a HDD recorder for freeview - think of it as Sky+ for freeview, basically...

You can record up to two channels at once and watch a recorded program, can do series link, pause live tv, all that kinda stuff.

You could then connect the humax to your dvd recorder via scart to record anything you want

I did a look up and see that the Humax appears to be good bit of kit.

That then took me to Asda and saw what they had on their site - they seem to have some reasonably priced PVR's with Freeview build in as well.

The current DVD/HDD recorder that my mum has was sourced from Asda and I think it's the ONN brand - she's been very happy with it so far and it's been the best recording device purchased since moving to DVD/HDD as a recording medium - this is the 4th unit and the only one that's really been decent quality. I'm pretty sure it only has an analogue tuner I can find out more details on Friday as I'll be seeing her then.

gtd2000

superscaper wrote: »

You haven't said which recorder it is, so no idea whether it's got analogue or digital tuners.


BTW, I definitely second the suggestion of a Humax, I bought one for my mum last year and it's been excellent.

I'm expecting it to be analogue - the Humax sounds good but it might be overkill for my mums requirements...

gtd2000

Fifer wrote: »

It's reasonable to assume it's analogue given the thread title, but the addition of a £15 freeview box will convert it.

I'll third the Humax. We've had one since they launched (three years ago?) and I'd buy the same again today.

So if we get a cheapo freeview box (any recommendations?) can she still select any range of different channels to record or will it only be the channel the Freeview box is currently set to?

Poppycat

Once you get a Humax you will wonder why you didnt have one before they are brilliant you can record up to 2 channels and sometimes watch a 3rd pause live tv, record other channels etc.

When you say "finally going digital in my Mums part of Scotland shortly" Do ypou mean analogue switch off

If that is the case I believe there could be better reception due to turn off of analogue and obviously more channels when they arrive

You can still us dvd recorder via

aerial into freeview, freeview box to dvd, dvd to tv (all UHF) plus scart connection

gtd2000

penrhyn wrote: »

Probably, why not pick up a cheap Freeview box from the local supermarket, you can sometimes get one for £10-15, and give it a go.
When the analog is turned off the power of the digital transmitter will be increased.

PS I'm also a Humax fan, they have some grade A 9200 320Gb twin tuners for £129, at their online shop.
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/Product.asp?ProdRef=10065&cat=Factory

This would be a very simple option - assuming the signal is OK

I'll see what she thinks about this PVR stuff - but at the end of the day if a Freeview box - combined with her existing DVD/HDD recorder does the job properly then that's good enough :beer:

My mums not stupid by any stretch of the imagination but she has been know to wait for a dial tone on a mobile phone before.....

Sput2001

gtd2000 wrote: »

So if we get a cheapo freeview box (any recommendations?) can she still select any range of different channels to record or will it only be the channel the Freeview box is currently set to?

Assuming there's no digital tuner built into your current HDD Recorder, then it will just record the channel your freeview box is set to.

You could (I imagine) always get a second freeview box, and use one for the HDD Recorder and the other for TV viewing. You'd have to split your aerial signanl, though.

gtd2000

Poppycat wrote: »

Once you get a Humax you will wonder why you didnt have one before they are brilliant you can record up to 2 channels and sometimes watch a 3rd pause live tv, record other channels etc.

When you say "finally going digital in my Mums part of Scotland shortly" Do ypou mean analogue switch off

If that is the case I believe there could be better reception due to turn off of analogue and obviously more channels when they arrive

You can still us dvd recorder via

aerial into freeview, freeview box to dvd, dvd to tv (all UHF) plus scart connection

Yeah they switch off the analogue signal, either later this month or the start of November in the Border TV region?

As mentioned before, the features of the Humax sound very good but it's probably overkill, as she doesn't really watch a great deal of TV.

gtd2000

NickMidgley wrote: »

Assuming there's no digital tuner built into your current HDD Recorder, then it will just record the channel your freeview box is set to.

You could (I imagine) always get a second freeview box, and use one for the HDD Recorder and the other for TV viewing. You'd have to split your aerial signanl, though.

Yeah - that's a bit "ghetto" I suppose - it would work but it's not really a practical solution overall due to the possibility of recording programs on different channels. :undecided