Personal Video Recorders now under £50

goldcroft10

Thanks Sid for that valuable input.

veloo

Sid_Harper wrote: »

Archos personal DVRs can schedule and change channel on Sky (AV700 is the one I know that can do this, and has a nice remote+docking station); again pricey but you can take the thing off the docking station and watch recorded programmes on its 7" display.

Thanks, Sid! Brilliant... sounds like what I have been waiting for a long time now... would like to discuss this a bit more. Should we start a new thread on this?

goldcroft10

Just seen that Asda have some cheap PVRs. Can't remember the make, but I had never heard of them. I think one was under £50 and the other, bigger HD model was £80.

Sid_Harper

veloo wrote: »

Thanks, Sid! Brilliant... sounds like what I have been waiting for a long time now... would like to discuss this a bit more. Should we start a new thread on this?

Actually I know very little about them - a friend of mine got one for Xmas and promptly sold it on eBay but I had a little look at it before he did and was impressed it could do this. So worth looking into. They are very regarded pieces of kit though, and there's loads on the web about them...

...personally I have a media centre (about 3 years old now, but does the job) and it controls my NTL box using a 'redeye' translator (www.redremote.co.uk). The Media Centre remote kit comes with two 'IR blasters' so if you have two tuners and two Sky/NTL boxes it can allow you to record one channel whilst watching/recording another (the redeye thing is only needed for some particular boxes because of the signal the blasters fire out are incompatible).

opas

Don't know if any of you are PVR experts but do all of them shut down in the early hours of the morning to 'download' something - think it is the EPG?

I bought my mum the Inverto 7000 with twin tuner and 80 gb hard drive. At 3am every morning it shuts down (unless you catch the 5 second window to tell it not to!) and downloads something for 1 hour. For most people this would not be a problem at all, but for my mum this is core TV viewing time! She often doesn't sleep and she watches things at in the early hours. She is disabled so she is not always nimble enough to catch that 5 second window. Plus the thing freezes sometimes, I've had to rush from work to reset the thing or unplug the aerial something she can't be doing on a regular basis.

She needs the recording feature which is why I thought the twin tuner PVR would be good. I want to buy another one, but if they all do this silly download thing then I might have to consider something like Sky + multi room for her (which would be an unnecessary expense, as she would do fine with freeview - but that download issue is a real sticking point). Any ideas/experiences with this??

Woby_Tide

does seem to be an issue with the Inverto looking at other forums, the humax and topfield don't suffer from the issue, and I'm sure quite a few others don't, it might be best to avoid a machine that uses the 4TV EPG guide as that may be what is at fault

Brockyman

opas wrote: »

Don't know if any of you are PVR experts but do all of them shut down in the early hours of the morning to 'download' something - think it is the EPG?

The Technosonic I have searches at 3.00 a.m. for new software updates. It has caused some owners problems with freezing etc I believe and another problem is that some people have these PVR's in their bedrooms and so the noise of the hard drive spinning up can be a problem. It is possible to switch automatic search off though so it may be worth having a look through your menu to see if you have a similar function and if so to try turning it off for a day or two to see what happens, you can still do a manual search for software updates if this does turn out to be your problem. Might not be your problem but worth investigating just in case.
Ian.

VIJAY_FROM_KENT

So which PVR would you guys recommend as best value and do you think this TV is OK? http://www.johnlewis.com/230447163/Product.aspx

opas

Thanks for responding Woby_Tide and Brockyman, I forgot I had asked this question - at the moment we have two aerials so my mum can switch back to analogue if the freeview freezes - keep on reminding her that they are going to switch off the signal soon so she better get with the times, but I can see why she has been put off with her initial experiences.

From the little research I've done on the Inverto, I don't think that download thing can be turned off like the Technosonic. It is automatic and the opportunity to stop it is at 2.59am every morning, when you get the 5 second window (the inventor of this needs to be put back to work!)

Think I may try the Humax or Topfield - definitely not the Technosonic then! I'll palm the Inverto on to someone else, but it is a shame, looked like a good machine if it wasn't for that one major annoyance (bar the occasional freezing - but seems like most PVRs are sustainable to that??).

BFG_2

opas wrote: »

(bar the occasional freezing - but seems like most PVRs are sustainable to that??).

yepp, two Humax's and both froze (very occasionally) - unplug @mains and plug in and sorted.