Freeview upgrading - recommendations

John_Gray

I have the following 'high tech' TV equipment:

• Sony CRT TV, 20-year-old, still works fine
• Woolworths Freeview set-top box, a couple of years old
• Panasonic videotape recorder, at least 10 years old

In April our local TV transmitter gets converted to digital, so I will need to buy a PVR to replace the videotape recorder.

At some point in the future the Sony CRT will fail and then I will need to buy a new LCD or plasma TV.

There are a number of solutions to the short-term problem with being able to record TV programmes:

• buy a PVR without Freeview HD, and keep the Freeview set-top box
• buy a PVR with Freeview HD, and transfer on the current Freeview set-top box

Whichever choice I make for the short-term will possibly affect the long-term solution, when I need to replace the TV with an LCD or plasma TV, which will undoubtedly come with built-in Freeview HD.

I presume, if the PVR and the new TV both have a Freeview HD capability, that one can be disabled and these will not clash? (But I will be paying for Freeview 'twice'!)

Can anyone see any advantage of choosing one or other option? Thanks!

googler

I don't see why it HAS to be a PVR.

Why can't you just buy another Freeview box to feed into the VHS recorder? An aerial amplifier with two outputs MAY be required, in order to feed one to the current box and TV, the other to the recorder.

You could also merely feed the VHS from a SCART on the Freeview box, if it has more than one. I assume your aerial feeds into Freeview, then aerial into VHS and on to TV? But that means you can't watch a channel different from that which you're recording.

JJ_Egan

One point is that if you buy a LCD TV now could be that in a few months the LED TV will have replaced it , I would want a bit of research on that first .

jje

ukcarper

googler wrote: »

I don't see why it HAS to be a PVR.

Why can't you just buy another Freeview box to feed into the VHS recorder? An aerial amplifier with two outputs MAY be required, in order to feed one to the current box and TV, the other to the recorder.

You could also merely feed the VHS from a SCART on the Freeview box, if it has more than one. I assume your aerial feeds into Freeview, then aerial into VHS and on to TV? But that means you can't watch a channel different from that which you're recording.

If freeview signal is good that sounds like a good short term suggestions as sd freeview boxes are cheap enough now. But if you want to record in HD you will need a HD PVR at some time.

penrhyn

JJ_Egan wrote: »

One point is that if you buy a LCD TV now could be that in a few months the LED TV will have replaced it , I would want a bit of research on that first .

jje

An 'LED' TV is an 'LCD' TV, the difference is what is used for the sets backlight.

BTW, when researching your purchases, consider HDD/DVD recorders, and also PVR/TVs with Internet capability.

almillar

Freeview doesn't 'clash' with each other, HD or not. Freeview HD recorders are very expensive right now. Freeview recorders are not. Cheap way to do it is buy a £50 freeview recorder now, you'll not get the best out of your £300 Freeview HD recorder for now through your TV (can you even receive FreeviewHD yet?), so that's £250 wasted. Scrap or re-use the Freeview recorder, when you buy your shiny new TV, and buy a PVR along with it. It'll be much better, and cheaper, than any FreeviewHD recorder you buy now. And I can't resist - buy plasma!

Hungerdunger

Be aware that HD is not available nationwide yet (you can check here). Even if you can get it, I think you'll find that you'll only get around 4 channels. I can't remember where I read it, but I'm pretty sure that Freeview will never be able to offer many HD channels because of limitations with the amount of data they can transmit at any time.

JJ_Egan

An 'LED' TV is an 'LCD' TV, the difference is what is used for the sets backlight

YES but are they going to replace the current generation of LCD and the common parlance appears to use the word LED to differentiate between the two types of LCD .Rather than shopping for a LED backlit LCD .
jje

Toxteth_OGrady

You can get an Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD STB for £115. Google for the numerous excellent reviews. Best of all the latest firmware release (beta) adds PVR functionality if you already have an external USB storage device to connect. Not as many functions as the Humax HDR Fox T2 but one of those will set you back 300 quid.

:cool:

TOG

John_Gray

googler wrote: »

I don't see why it HAS to be a PVR.
Why can't you just buy another Freeview box to feed into the VHS recorder? An aerial amplifier with two outputs MAY be required, in order to feed one to the current box and TV, the other to the recorder.
You could also merely feed the VHS from a SCART on the Freeview box, if it has more than one. I assume your aerial feeds into Freeview, then aerial into VHS and on to TV? But that means you can't watch a channel different from that which you're recording.

I understood that it would not be possible to record from a Freeview box on a videotape recorder. At present I can record the five analogue channels, but none of the Freeview ones. Are you saying I'm wrong? I use an aerial splitter to feed the Freeview box and the TV, at present.

penrhyn wrote: »

When researching your purchases, consider HDD/DVD recorders, and also PVR/TVs with Internet capability.

The PVR would have a hard disk; I can't see the point of DVD recorders - low capacity, and rather more flaky! Internet capability is a good point - but would that be necessary when Project Canvas -> YouView comes about?

almillar wrote: »

Freeview doesn't 'clash' with each other, HD or not. Freeview HD recorders are very expensive right now. Freeview recorders are not. Cheap way to do it is buy a £50 freeview recorder now, you'll not get the best out of your £300 Freeview HD recorder for now through your TV (can you even receive FreeviewHD yet?), so that's £250 wasted. Scrap or re-use the Freeview recorder, when you buy your shiny new TV, and buy a PVR along with it. It'll be much better, and cheaper, than any FreeviewHD recorder you buy now. And I can't resist - buy plasma!

I think you're right - I don't want to be at the cutting edge of technology here - with the matching prices!

Hungerdunger wrote: »

Be aware that HD is not available nationwide yet (you can check here). Even if you can get it, I think you'll find that you'll only get around 4 channels. I can't remember where I read it, but I'm pretty sure that Freeview will never be able to offer many HD channels because of limitations with the amount of data they can transmit at any time.

They will be available to me when the local transmitter gets fully converted: April 2011. I don't expect to get more than the four-or-so channels, but those are mainly what I watch. And only a few programmes are available in HD anyway - future objective for more

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

You can get an Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD STB for £115. Google for the numerous excellent reviews. Best of all the latest firmware release (beta) adds PVR functionality if you already have an external USB storage device to connect. Not as many functions as the Humax HDR Fox T2 but one of those will set you back 300 quid.

Thanks for the pointer! But "coming soon" is the Icecrypt T2400HDPVR (no price shown) which is presumably Even More Wonderful? But maybe the cost will approach that of the Humax.

Incidentally, does anyone know whether there exists a PVR which can record more than two channels simultaneously? I would have thought that this feature might be useful to many people.

lucylucky

"I understood that it would not be possible to record from a Freeview box on a videotape recorder. At present I can record the five analogue channels, but none of the Freeview ones. Are you saying I'm wrong?"

You are indeed wrong.

You can use the AV input of a VCR to record whatever a freeview box is tuned into.