Hard Drive Recorder recommendations please

jennyjelly

Our old Digihome has lost its series link and generally decided not to bother recording anything we ask it to, so we are looking for a better quality replacement.

The one recommended most often wherever I look is the Humax PVR9300T, and I'm sure this is a great machine if you have the patience of a saint - my son and my mum both have them and wait anything up to half an hour for the epg to populate, but I know I'd end up attacking it with a hammer after 10 minutes, so that one is not for me.

Can anyone recommend a good quality twin tuner recorder that doesn't have this drawback but is reliable and doesn't need a degree in electronics? We are prepared to spend up to about £250 if necessary,

Cheers me dears!

jb66

Would you be interested in sky HD virgin v+? I always find them the easiest/fastest but the downside is the subscription.

macman

The EPG problem is not that bad, mine takes no more than a few minutes. Are your son and mum using the latest software version, which I think is version 0.18? If not. updating that may improve the EPG lag.

jennyjelly

jb66, thanks for that - we have sky hd in another room and agree it's absolutely fantastic! However we're looking for one for the family room don't really want to pay another sky subscription as we only want freeview.

macman, their machines are both about a year old, don't know what software they use. Is this something that is dependant on the age of the machine or could i download an update?

macman

jennyjelly wrote: »

jb66, thanks for that - we have sky hd in another room and agree it's absolutely fantastic! However we're looking for one for the family room don't really want to pay another sky subscription as we only want freeview.

macman, their machines are both about a year old, don't know what software they use. Is this something that is dependant on the age of the machine or could i download an update?

The last update was released about a month ago, they can check which version they have in the System menu.
All the updates are delivered OTA as long as the box is left in standby overnight and set to receive auto updates.
The transmission schedule is on this link-by coincidence I see that they are transmitting a new update (0.19) starting tomorrow morning.
http://www.dtg.org.uk/industry/download_schedule.php

jennyjelly

Auto updates - perhaps that's the answer. I know the boxes are always left on standby but whether they are set to receive updates I will have to check. Thanks for that useful bit of info.

I'd be quite happy with the Humax if this cures the loading delay so it might have solved my problem too!