Recordable DVD with connection for external hard drive

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

I hope that someone can help me as I keep getting lost in all the information out there.

As part of my Uni research project I need to record and watch a lot of television programes.

Is what I need to find is a DVD player/recorder that:

1) can be programmed to record in advance (the further in advance I can record the better)

2) has a usb port that will allow me to transfer the recorded programes to an external hard drive, which I can later watch on a computer etc

3) will allow me to record 2 x channels at the same time

Many thanks

pcombo

Why not just get a DVD player that can record 2 scart cables. And blank dvd disks record the program while your watching and copy to the comp

lfc321

does it need to be a DVD recorder? It sounds like a PVR would be a better option for what you need to do: Easy to programme; usually you can copy to an external HDD via USB (although sometimes there is copy protection - google for how to remove this); with many of them you can record 2 channels at once. Much more capacity than a DVD recorder too.

If you're putting the programmes on a PC anyway you could always burn to DVD later if you needed to.

Which channels will you need to record?

[Deleted User]

I need to record all the terrestrial TV channels (5 channels BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) and they all need to be recorded at the same time - the reason I said to record 2 channels at once was someone advised me that the DVD machines that record more than this (I think 3 is the maximum) are far more expensive - so I would need 3 machines in total as far as I can understand. 2 that record 2 channels and one that records one.

I could be very wrong however.

I will look into a PVR.

Many thanks

lfc321

Domino9 wrote: »

I need to record all the terrestrial TV channels (5 channels BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) and they all need to be recorded at the same time

You haven't mentioned what you will be recording from (Satellite? Terrestrial? Cable?)

Also, over what period? Are we talking about an hour a day or 24/7?

If you really need to record five channels at once regularly I'm not sure multiple boxes (whether PVRs or DVD Recorders) would really be the way to go. If you've got to buy that much gear you should look into a PC with multiple PVR cards installed. That way the channels can all be recorded straight onto HDD. Otherwise you'll be spending your whole life feeding in blank DVDs.

I think some PC PVR cards have 2 tuners so you would need three of them to record 5 channels. Check out the Hauppage range (but again, what you need will depend on the source). Hopefully someone on here can give you more expert guidance on this.

[Deleted User]

mmmmmmmmm okay - a bit confused again now. I need to record each channel for 4 hours a day on alternate weeks for about 3 months, and I plan to record them them from terrestrial TV. I wasn't planning on putting them on DVD unless I really had to (if there was no other option), I was hoping for a USB port so I could transfer them directly to the PC and watch them there.

Lakeuk

You can do this easily on a PC using dvbviewer and a freeview duel input card like the Pinnacle 3010x

I've got a pinnacle 7010 card (2*terr 2*sat) and was able to record 20 channels at the same time, could easily do more, the limit is the throughput to the harddisk

Recommend installing dvbviewer as a recording service

lfc321

Domino9 wrote: »

I wasn't planning on putting them on DVD unless I really had to (if there was no other option), I was hoping for a USB port so I could transfer them directly to the PC and watch them there.

In that case you should definitely be recording straight to PC rather than messing about with a DVD recorder. Check out Lakeuk's suggestion - I'm not familiar with DVBViewer but it sounds like a relatively easy solution.

computershack

Lakeuk wrote: »

You can do this easily on a PC using dvbviewer and a freeview duel input card like the Pinnacle 3010x

I've got a pinnacle 7010 card (2*terr 2*sat) and was able to record 20 channels at the same time, could easily do more, the limit is the throughput to the harddisk

Recommend installing dvbviewer as a recording service

Gets my vote too. If you're running Windows Vista Home Premium or above (apart from Business) or any version of Win7 above basic, Windows Media Center will do all of this complete with being able to select programmes and schedule recordings.