Freeview recorders / Returning to Sky from Virgin

Ballard

I'm considering ditching Virgin completely and going for Sky for telephone & broadband (17MB/s). This works out at £17.40 per month for the first year and an extra £10 a month after that. It also includes a £100 prepaid MasterCard.

The other part of my plan is to buy a dual tuner Freeview recorder and stick to free-to-air channels for the time being. I've had a quick look and expect to pay around £200 for the box.

I'm not unhappy with Virgin but don't really watch that many subscription channels so £50 odd a month seems extravagant.

My first question is how easy is it to switch from Sky to Virgin for the broadband/phone? I was with Sky previously so the line is presumably still in place so my assumption is that I wouldn't need an engineer visit.

My second question is whether anyone can suggest a good quality Freeview HD recorder with dual tuners and stuff like series link.

teddysmum

For the PVR : Humax . I've had two other brands but our two Humax ones, which are several years old have by far outlasted the others.

Ballard

When I had Sky and a program that was due to record ran late, my box would recognise this and would still record it correctly but my Virgin box just records at the specified times irrespective.

Do any Freeview recorders work as per Sky or are they the only ones?

I do sometimes like the way that my Virgin box records programmes at random and puts them in the 'suggestions' folder. Most of the time it's something that I have no interest in but it does sometimes throw up a gem that I'd missed. They should really have programed the box a bit better, though, as I had several hours of 'BBC Three is now online' waiting to be viewed last week.

[Deleted User]

Ballard wrote: »

They should really have programed the box a bit better, though, as I had several hours of 'BBC Three is now online' waiting to be viewed last week.

That's hilariously inept.

teddysmum

Ballard wrote: »

When I had Sky and a program that was due to record ran late, my box would recognise this and would still record it correctly but my Virgin box just records at the specified times irrespective.

Do any Freeview recorders work as per Sky or are they the only ones?

I do sometimes like the way that my Virgin box records programmes at random and puts them in the 'suggestions' folder. Most of the time it's something that I have no interest in but it does sometimes throw up a gem that I'd missed. They should really have programed the box a bit better, though, as I had several hours of 'BBC Three is now online' waiting to be viewed last week.

Due to having Sky, I haven't used our Humax for 3 years (though my husband uses one upstairs on the non-digital portable), but I think it does record the programme, rather than anything at the set time.


If you give your nearest Richer Sounds a ring, they will happily advise you.

bsod

Panasonic, they do record the programme or series when it starts if delayed, or can be set for specific times, once, every day, every week. or immediate etc. The only problem is if the delayed (or cancelled) programme overlaps with two other overlapping recordings, which is a rare circumstance

Latest Panasonics have dual tuners and freeview play, Humax's have tripe tuners.

Checkout the epg's/gui if possible before buying.

Sky etc - checkout full t&c's, eg ** prices may increase during contract

wongataa

Ballard wrote: »

When I had Sky and a program that was due to record ran late, my box would recognise this and would still record it correctly but my Virgin box just records at the specified times irrespective.

Do any Freeview recorders work as per Sky or are they the only ones?

Freeview and Youview recorders do what Sky does and have done for years. Recordings of late transmissions can occasionally muck up if the broadcaster doesn't sent the right timing data but that is rare in my experience.

Bigphil1474

I have had a Youview+ box for a few months, and all series recording has worked well (no missing beginnings or endings). Never used a Humax, but I've seen pretty much all positive comments on these forums about them.
If you are only going to SKy for BB and phone, you could check out PlusNet (who I am with). They gave me the Youview box for free, and I get some subscription channels for free for 12 months (on an 18 month contract), £5 a month after that. Can't remember, but the YV box may only be free with fibre BB.

The_Last_Username

+1 for Humax boxes but just one thought?
With the usefulness of catch-up TV online, we find we only very rarely need to use the recorder.

A few clicks on whichever "hub" (for example BBC iPlayer) or even on Youtube will usually bring up whatever programmwe you want, & these services have been built in to many devices for quite some time OR even just buy a very cheap Amazon Fire TV stick for under £35 to enable that on most TV's.

Just a thought.

teddysmum

The_Last_Username wrote: »

+1 for Humax boxes but just one thought?
With the usefulness of catch-up TV online, we find we only very rarely need to use the recorder.

A few clicks on whichever "hub" (for example BBC iPlayer) or even on Youtube will usually bring up whatever programmwe you want, & these services have been built in to many devices for quite some time OR even just buy a very cheap Amazon Fire TV stick for under £35 to enable that on most TV's.

Just a thought.

If you have pre-recorded you can watch immediately, stopping and starting at will, but if you don't have fast broadband catchup can be slow.


I'm with Sky, for the next two weeks anyway, and use record much more often than catchup, which doesn't include all programmes transmitted or all channels on Freeeview.

Ballard

The_Last_Username wrote: »

+1 for Humax boxes but just one thought?
With the usefulness of catch-up TV online, we find we only very rarely need to use the recorder.

A few clicks on whichever "hub" (for example BBC iPlayer) or even on Youtube will usually bring up whatever programmwe you want, & these services have been built in to many devices for quite some time OR even just buy a very cheap Amazon Fire TV stick for under £35 to enable that on most TV's.

Just a thought.

That's a valid point but I tend to record things and not get around to watching them for ages so I prefer the option to 'tape' things.