Cancelled Sky, should I now get a pvr? 7 May 2020 at 11:02AM in TV MoneySaving 10 replies 272 views

cattie

My Sky subscription has now been fully cancelled, but I know I'm going to really miss being able to record to watch later & fast forward etc. through adverts that I've been doing for over 7yrs with the Sky+ box. Perhaps in the future they will send me an offer too good to miss to come back to them, but I'm not banking on it.

I've signed up with Now Tv & taken a 3month entertainment pass. This will at least give me access to the All4 channel that wasn't available with my Sky contract, however it would be ideal to still be able to record programmes & zip through any adverts. So I'm thinking a pvr might be ideal for me but I know so little about them I'm hoping to get advise here as to what might suit. I'd still like to be able to record at least 2 programmes at any one time.

I think there might be tv's out there that have a recording facility too these days, so should I be considering changing my tv instead? My current tv must be about 12yrs old now, with just 2 hdmi slots, should that be important.

cranford

Most TV's only have one receiver so you can only record the programme you are watching.

JJ_Egan

Can you record Now TV ?

Recording TVs mostly record via USB to an external hard drive .

[Deleted User]

Get a you view box. Brand new around £120 or try eBay for second hand. They are as good as the sky boxes imo as long as you have an Ariel. 

jackieblack

I love my PVR, it’s a Humax, records 4 channels at once (if necessary) and has Freeview play
https://www.richersounds.com/humax-fvp5000t-1tb-carbon-black.html

[Deleted User]

Does it have a quad tuner?
Do you not need a super duper aerial to run 4 tuners off it?

[Deleted User]

JJ_Egan said:

Can you record Now TV ?

No, it's a streamed service.  

cattie

Deleted_User said:

Get a you view box. Brand new around £120 or try eBay for second hand. They are as good as the sky boxes imo as long as you have an Ariel. 

Not sure about an aerial as I've depended on the sky box to view since moving here. I guess I'd need to have an aerial installed if I want to go down that route & not sure what the cost of that would be.

jackieblack

Deleted_User said:

Does it have a quad tuner?
Do you not need a super duper aerial to run 4 tuners off it?

I believe so - I can record 4 different channels and watch a fifth channel on my (at least 10 years old) tv
No special aerial (I’ve just got a regular aerial in the loft that was here when we bought the house 20 years ago) I just connected it to the aerial splitter box/gadget that is plugged into the wall 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also connects to my wifi (assume for the Freeview Play function/services)

[Deleted User]

cattie said:Not sure about an aerial as I've depended on the sky box to view since moving here. I guess I'd need to have an aerial installed if I want to go down that route & not sure what the cost of that would be.

If you still have your Sky+HD you can still view all the Free-To-Air channels on that which should save you having to install an aerial at all. Back in the day, Sky would enable the recording features on the Sky+ for a nominal monthly fee but I'm not sure they offer that anymore. It would prove expensive in the  long run  anyhow and you'd remain beholden to Sky. 

The other option is to purchase a Freesat PVR which again would use your existing satellite dish but the recording facilities would involve no subscription.

macman

As above, a Freesat PVR is the way to go, Same channel choice as Freeview (near enough) and no other set up costs. With a smart TV you can only record from the channel you are viewing, and you need to plug in a USB hard drive.