Record TV programmes

littleredhen

internet tells me with 2mbps my broadband won't cope with a smart tv am I stuck between a rock and a hard place?? help!

Cornucopia

littleredhen said:

internet tells me with 2mbps my broadband won't cope with a smart tv am I stuck between a rock and a hard place?? help!

Well, the "internet" is wrong about that.   2Mbps is about the lower limit for SD streaming, but since you have been using that before, there's no reason why it shouldn't continue to work.

It seems like you are confusing network, hardware and service capabilities - they are all subtly different things, and Talktalk are simply telling you what they want to sell, and their criteria for selling it.   You are not bound to take that offer if something else would work better (and be more similar to what you have been using). 

mjm3346

littleredhen said:

internet tells me with 2mbps my broadband won't cope with a smart tv am I stuck between a rock and a hard place?? help!

If you are accessing on demand at the moment and not just stuff you have recorded then you should be able to stream 

LeesArt

littleredhen said:

I currently have an old youview (TT) box which I can record programmes, I don't have a smart tv.  The box is not working and after an agonising 3 hours on and off to the TT support desk I cannot get their new 4k box and buy a memory stick due to the fact I don't have fibre.  So in short I want to be able to record any programme I want - currently using youview box to access tv channels and when working it will record 2 programmes at once while I watch another.  Can someone tell me where I go to next - I presume I need to upgrade tv etc but will that allow me to record programmes etc but I know that is not going to be cheap - tia

LittleRedHen there are so many issues with your posts, have you ever stopped for directions in Ireland and been told "you don't want to start from here".

So if you want to keep living in 2005 you can probably pick up a new hard disk for your YouView box and reset the firmware to get it working.   

Or you can probably pick up that old model on ebay

Or you can put an ad on your local Freecycle dot org site and ask if anyone has one.

REMEMBER using YouView ties you to TalkTalk or BT or whoever, it makes you pay more for your broadband because you may be reluctant to change.

Sometimes call centres try to upsell you, they are on commission, why would you trust a company that would lie to you or treat you like cattle.

If on the other hand you want to live in 2022 then maybe it is time for a change in how you do things.

I dumped Sky many years ago and suffered Freeview with a DVD Recorder that had a hard disk and the TV programmes were AWFUL, certainly I would never want to record them.

If you follow a schedule you are a slave to that schedule, so maybe it is time to step back and ask yourself what you do really NEED to watch?

For starters do you need LIVE TV because if not you can dump the BBC, remove the aerial from your TV and get rid of any BBC iPlayer and save yourself the cost of the licence fee

For £30 you can pick up a Roku USB sized device at Argos, you can pay a bit more for 4k but why would you unless you have a 4k tv,  I have a 4k Roku but my TV isn't 4k but it works and I am NOT on Fibre. 

You can install the C4, ITV and C5 on demand apps onto the Roku but I would not bother, it is time to wean yourself off that tripe.

If you can live without the BBC you can now afford Netflix, just install the app, enter the credentials and you are off.  More TV than anyone could want to watch including some BBC best.

If you want more there is a plethora of FreeTV on Roku from different providers but the price is ads, I can't stand ads as they waste 1/3rd of my time so I would much rather be ad free.

You can invest more in channel like Apple TV and Paramount but I don't bother.

Now think about how much time you will save from not having to record anything, it will all be there on demand, it will remember how far you got in that movie or series.

Freeing yourself from the rubbish that is on Freeview and moving to the likes of Netflix will change your life.

If you need a stepping stone then go pick up a DVD recorder or similar from Freecycle but I urge you to go try a Roku USB device, it plugs into the HDMI socket and can usually be powered by USB ports.

I would not worry about old TV as long as you have an HDMI port, if not, say hello to my little friend, Freecycle dot org.  I have upgraded my TV from Freecycle several times, the other day I just missed a 43 inch TV and when I looked up the model it was a 4k, That is not typical but the ones I have seen are ok for my needs. 

littleredhen

I currently watch BBC live or record programmes from ITV,C4,C5 so I don't have to watch adverts.  I have accessed my daughters Netflix account (with her permission) but I am not that impressed if I am honest, just occasionally find a film to watch but other than that not bothered about the rest of the stuff, so far Netflix hasn't changed my life! I scroll through the other freeview channels and sometimes watch things on skyarts but not much else.  

LeesArt

To each their own. 

I can't see how you don't see ads on ITV, C4, & C5, it is almost like black mirror episode where they force the eyes to be open (if you don't know what black mirror is then check it out on Netflix).

Netlfix comes into it's own when you know how to use it and when you have a screen of your own so it tailors offerings to what you seem to like.

When I first got it I was not too sure and there is always room for improvement, but it is such a time saver and now I could not give a damn about the schedules because they are meaningless, I don't need to record anything and I don't even bother downloading stuff which I might have done occasionally in 2015.

We are all creatures of habit, so there will always be a period of transition but I reckon if you limited yourself to Netflix for a month you would not look back. You could always still get ITV, C4 & C5 on catchup apps if you are desperate for tripe.

Bigphil1474

OP, I have Netflix, and it's okay, but with over 200+ channels on freeview, the chances of it all being trripe compared to Netflix is pretty much zero. Plus it all gets recycled, there's  stuff on Netflix that's been on BBC for example, there's stuff that comes onto freeview channels that's been on Netflix.

As others have said, if you are just wanting to watch the old terrestrial channels, record what you want, to watch when you want etc. then you just need a new set top box. Humax are usually good, other recommendations above.

I do the same with ITV, C4, and C5 - use series record or record movies, purely so when I watch it back I can use the skip button to go through the ad breaks (4 minutes on C4 and ITV). The catch up services for those 3 aren't great (ITV Hub is the worst streaming service I've ever used), and the ads are forced on you, so it makes far more sense to record.

tightauldgit

To my mind you are overcomplicating things. And there's no need to listen to people telling you to get new TVs or change your viewing habits. 

All you need to do is find a working example of the box you were happy with or something similar. Any freeview box with a recording function should do the job for you. You'll pick these up cheap as chips I would imagine on Ebay or similar as most people now don't need or want them as they all have Smart TVs.