Can anyone recommend a PVR?

CountryBumpkin_3

Having been through two Digifusion FVRT200 Freeview boxes in the space of 4 months, I'm looking for recommendations for a reliable replacement. The Digifusion one cost £160 (now refunded, thankfully), but I'd be prepared to pay a bit more if that would lessen the risk of losing our entire library yet again.

Thanks,
CB

penrhyn

Either of the two Humax boxes, 8000 single tuner, 9200 dual tuner.

CountryBumpkin_3

Thanks so much for that.

I found the Digifusion box quite noisy. How would you rate the Humax ones?

CB

joshm_2

I've had the Topfield 5800 for what must be a few years now and reckon it's one of the best purchases I've ever made. It's similar in many ways to the Humax 9200, although to summarise it's supposed to be a little less user-friendly in some ways, but more flexible in terms of what you might want to do with it. This flexibility is mainly due to the large community developing custom applications for it (called TAPs) which can do all sorts (I suggest you look at https://www.toppy.org.uk for examples). I think it even comes with a 250GB hard drive these days.

Furthermore, this community is actively involved with the engineers meaning that issues, and their fixes, tend to get sorted out quite well. The Topfield started out in Australia some time ago, and its length of service (I don't think there was much else like it when it first went to market) has given it time to mature.

p.s. I would recommend you get a twin freeview tuner model whichever you go for - so much more flexible! Although it's slim pickings with TV most of the time, I can record 2 things on different freeview channels and then watch a third on another freeview channel if I want! Don't ask me how, it just works!

penrhyn

CountryBumpkin wrote:

Thanks so much for that.

I found the Digifusion box quite noisy. How would you rate the Humax ones?

CB

Mine is the 8000T, it makes a ticking noise for about 30 secs after power up, (normal) and is then virtually silent.

There is a Humax forum here.http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?board=humax

Gers

We have a Sony DVD HDD machine

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo-1.cfm/product_id/2284

It's been brilliant and I've even bought one for my techophobic elderly mother! It's only got one receiver but also have an older PACE PVR attached. Don't know if I can give superfi a plug but we received the machine the day after ordering, fab service. The Sony is really easy to set up and use with very clear menus - I've not had one 'problem' phone call from my mother which is a miracle.

firespire

The PVR forum at digitalspy is very good for reviews - your problem with the loss of the library is related to the use of the compression function on that box - safest thing is to never use compression if you have that box (or one from the same family).

fairytooth

I have no hesitation in recommending the Humax 9200T - its excellent and I discovered it is an award winner in What HiFi too!

Brilliant

Omertron

I also have the Humax 9200T and love it. It's so quiet that when the telly's on you can't hear it (assuming you also have the sound on too )

There are a couple of niggles with it, the major one being that it does not (currently) support chase-play. Humax are working on adding this feature and will deliver an update "over the air".

Having said that, the dual tuner aspect is excellent, allowing you to record two programs at the same time, ending the usual scheduling clashes.

pchelpman

I would back up a couple of things said here...

Humax is good. Their stuff gets good reviews and is well priced. We use Humax here.

Also Digitalspy is a good forum for discussions like this. I've been a member there for a while now and folk there are very knowledgeable and helpful. Rather like MSE really but focussed on "UK telly issues"!

Mr_Meanie

After owning a Humax 9200T for 6 months I think a dual tuner is a must have, it’s so versatile, you can actually record two channels and watch a third one under certain conditions.

Yes there are a few niggles with the recording of programs and even if they don’t get fixed I can live with them.
Yes when it’s switched on you can hear the fan running in a quiet room but not when the TV is turned on.
Yes it does make a ticking noise for about 30 seconds after it’s switched on but then it stops.
And yes at some point in the future I know it will go totally udders up and I will lose all my recorded programs, because it’s controlled by a computer and we all know how reliable they are!

Humax 9200T, I think it’s brilliant, I wouldn’t like to go back to a VCR now, if you look about you can now buy them for about £200 delivered.