PVRs with USB out, and media players...

john_s_2

I am looking into PVRs and media players for my father in law. He wants to be able to record stuff, but play it on other tellies round his flat. We discussed streaming but he would be happier with something that physically plugs into the telly.

I don't know much about PVRs but I know some come with a USB socket - which (presumably) lets you transfer your recordings onto a PC.

I'm wondering if this will work? A PVR with USB out, which can be connected to a standalone media player. Once the file/recording is tranferred to the player it can be unplugged, and taken to the TV of choice.

Examples are the:

Humax PVR9300T (argos website says it has a USB port)

and

Maplin 320GB Media player (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221816&source=1&C=Maplin&U=HomeBasketFillers&T=221816)

My main questions are:

1. Does the USB port on this PVR allow copying the recordings off it?

2. If so, will the media player be able to connect straight to the PVR to take the recording?

3. And if so, then be able to play it?

According to he Maplin website it supports DVD-Video, DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x, Xvid, SVCD, VCD 1.1/2.0, MPEG-1, MPEG-2

Does anyone have any better solutions? Running cable round his flat is an option - he's a retired electrician. But the final solution must be reasonably simple and not require expertise in IT to use and maintain.

PamJ_2

Hi,

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?board=humax

Have a look at this site. I found it when I was looking for Humax and PVR reviews. Its got forums about PVRs and you can ask technical questions!

I remember some comments about the USB ( think they said it doesn't do anything yet but that an over the air upgrade might activate it at some point - have a read to check the details)

Good Luck finding what you need

john_s_2

Ah, thanks for that. Not as simple as I thought.

He uses VHS at the moment - with a VCR under each telly. He's considered going over to DVD but I advised against it as I've found it very tricky to record to DVD and he only wants to record stuff to watch once, then erase. Obviously this isn't possible with DVD (having to finalise the disk). Unless he gets RAM disk recorders. And being a Sky+ user myself, PVRs are definitely the way forward IMHO.

I did look at streaming, using one of these for example:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230418726/Product.aspx

but I can't help thinking that this could be more hassle than it's worth.

I'll have a browse through that board, cheers!

buglawton

Even with usb out (which I've used on my Humax to get some radio programmes out onto an MP3 player), it is all rather a hassle and for video will be so slow as to be not worth the bother except for diehards. PVRs are oh-so-convenient due to hard disk recording being superior technically to DVD recording - but no portability. If portable media is a must, find a DVD Freeview recorder and use DVD-RWs and train your dad on how to finalize then if needed and how to reformat them for re-use.

tweeter

Try here.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pvrs-vcrs/

savemoney

The Humax HDR freesat PVR has two usb ports. You are able to export recording directly onto a flash drive in SD format, not currently in HD due to copyright reasons

You can then play these files directly with vlc player

john_s_2

Thanks for the replies. I wouldn't have thought it should take that long to transfer data over USB2 (assuming that's the format used). According to Wikipedia USB2 transfers at 480Mbs - so I make a gig of data taking about 17 seconds. Call it 30 if it's not running at optimum! I think an hour's video should fit in about two gigs? (I think that's the usual rule of thumb.)

Anyhow, research has shown PVRs (non freesat) don't have USB out as standard. Maybe the more expensive ones. And I want to transfer it directly onto a media player - not a computer.

AFAIK DVD RW has to be finalised before it will play on another player (and can't be re-used after that). Unless all the players are the same model I suppose? Which is why I suggested DVD RAM - but this never took off for DVD players.

I suppose the other option is using video senders. When I looked at these for myself I got mixed opinions. The net result being that you don't know if they'll work for you till you've tried them.

Anyway, my father-in-law's gone home now. I think I'll leave him to his VHS - he can buy £20 freeview boxes to 'convert' his VCR(s). (His tellies have built in freeview.) You can't move on freecycle for people giving away VCRs so I reckon they'll be available for a while yet.