TV with built in freeview HD recorder - do they exist?

darloscot

Do you get any TV's with a freeview HD recorder built in? Seems silly to have a TV with freeview built in and then have to buy a box with freeview just so it will record, but I can't find one!

Alternatively do you get a cinema surround Blue ray player with freeview recorder built in? Can find the player with the freeview built in, but not with the sound.

I only really want one box in the unit and I can't find any oprions that work. Only a TV, a freeview recorder and a surround sound system. I want the one system to work for freeview TV, including recording 2 channels, pausing, rewinding etc, to work for watching Blueray films and to work for listening to radio and iPod. Any advice welcomed!

macman

A modern LCD/LED slimline TV does not have room for a hard drive and twin tuners in it.
And if one component fails, you'll lose both the TV and the PVR. Just get a Freeview PVR such as the Humax HD version.

poppasmurf_bewdley

This raises a good point.

Is there any TV with a built in recorder, that records anything that comes into the TV set (including Sky, Freesat and Freeview)?

If they can build flat screen sets with built in DVD players (I have one) surely they can build in a recorder with a hard disc.

I seem to remember there being such sets in the past, but haven't seen any recently.

macman

The TV's with built in DVD players were invariably low priced and low quality supermarket badge jobs, usually small TV's intended for bedroom usage. None of the mainstream manufacturers made them IIRC.
No one would want one that only recorded the channel being viewed, they'd still need twin (or triple) tuners.

almillar

poppasmurf - there would be all sorts of mental licensing issues (just for starters is that Sky want to keep everything on their own platform) that mean this can't happen. I prefer having stuff separate as if something breaks or becomes out of date, you don't have to replace the whole lot. I treat my TV like a dumb screen to connect things to, which is probably why 'smart TVs' don't appeal.

Buzby

An all-in-one solution sounds great until something goes wrong. Popularity of TV's with built-in DVD players is very much on the wane, as this is invariably the first component to fail (and is usually a cheap £25 chassis DVD unit). I've never come across a quality brand with a quality player inbuilt, so expecting a DVR as an alternative would not be enthusiastically viewed by the manufacturers.

A separate box, with the features YOU specify/want is by far the most popular route, as if this component fails, nothing else is affected.

foofightin

Alternatively, most TV's have the Freeview recording functionality built in, just not the storage. You have to connect a USB external hard drive or stick and you can record away.

Moneymaker

macman wrote: »

A modern LCD/LED slimline TV does not have room for a hard drive and twin tuners in it.

Not so. Just look at the Apple iMac. It's not difficult to squeeze the hardware inside.

macman wrote: »

And if one component fails, you'll lose both the TV and the PVR. Just get a Freeview PVR such as the Humax HD version.

Much better logic.

I think the fact is that most people aren't willing to pay the higher price for a built-in Hard drive, just yet. But wait till Apple bring out their own TV!

macman

Moneymaker wrote: »

Not so. Just look at the Apple iMac. It's not difficult to squeeze the hardware inside.



Much better logic.

I think the fact is that most people aren't willing to pay the higher price for a built-in Hard drive, just yet. But wait till Apple bring out their own TV!

Hmm, I'm going to resist the urge to prise my iMac open in order to try and locate the twin tuners...

Moneymaker

Modern tuners are tiny. You can buy a Freeview "dongle" that plugs into a Scart socket. And the latest ElGato EyeTV tuner is barely larger than a memory stick. You could easily get a 2.5" Hard Drive and a couple of tuner "sticks" into a modern TV - especially the larger ones. (I doubt the option will ever be offered for a small TV anyway, but never say never.)

Buzby

SCART is dead! It is an antiquated (and time-expired) interface, so these days you would be lookling for USB 2.0/3.0 and HDMI as a minimum.