PVRs - opinions & advice, please.

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

We've got a Freeview telly which seems to show the programmes I want to watch after my bed-time (no, not those programmes )
I'm not interested in a package from Sky, Virgin, etc.
The obvious solution seems to be to buy a PVR but I know nothing about them, so if

• you would recommend / avoid a manufacturer;
  
• say what features you find useful / useless;
  
• know anything at all helpful about them,

fire away!

I'm Pheeling Very Receptive

 

[cosmicbike]

I picked up (on my younger, more techie, brothers advice), a TopField TF5800PVR. Twin tuners, so watch 1 channel, record a further 2 (most of the time, occasionally there are conflicts). Different HDD sizes are out there, mine a 500GB an never came close to filling it. Has it's own dedicated forum, something like toppy.org, and you can apparently change various features about them.
They also now do an HD version, believe the 5810.

 

[swee'pea99]

I've had excellent service out of Digihome ones, bought for a song off ebay, tho' they do lack features others offer - you can't set to record a series, eg, which is a bore. Humax are apparently the ones to go for, and the one I now use - bought for a song off ebay - is very good, tho' it has gone a bit bonkers once or twice. There's a good users' forum tho', full of nice people who are happy to help with any probs.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Get a smart tv and watch them on catch up tv then you dont need to record them at all.

 

[Profpointy]

Assuming you already have a PC, the you can buy a tv card for perhaps £20 and job's a good un. Not problems with disc space, and more disc easily added. My card was a two channel one, so you (obviously enough) can record 2 channels at once, and even watch another on the tv itself.

My main tv screen is also my tv screen, but many / most PC's can drive two screens these days if needs be.

 

[paul04]

I was watching the Gadget show last week on channel 5, and they was testing out freeview recorders,
Have a look here
http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/gadget-show/blog/series-18-episode-2-freview-pvrs

 

[fossyant]

Another topfield user here with the modified MyStuff user interface. The original HD died within warranty and was replaced for a much cooler running one. No problems since.

 

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

Many thanks to everyone for their comments. I see there's a couple of Topfields on e-bay at the mo... Might be time to raid the piggy bank

 

[ColinJ]

I've been using my late mum's ALBA ALDTR160 for 2 years now and it has been pretty good. It has twin tuners so it can play back a recording while recording two different programmes. There is one on ebay at the moment for £50 BIN (or best offer) and another with a starting price of £34.99 and currently no offers on it.

There is a bug in the EPG software which is shared by other products which use the same chipset - it sometimes records the same show on (say) Ch 4 and then starts recording it again on Ch 4+1 an hour later, which can mean that the second tuner is used up before another recording on a 3rd channel gets to use it. My way round that problem was to delete the '+1' channels from the channels list (no problem because I never used them anyway). Another similar problem is when a repeat later in the week of something you recorded earlier, also gets recorded. You soon learn to keep an eye on the Timers list and remove the unwanted duplicates.

The worst problem has been that the remote control became unreliable after about 18 months, so I will probably replace it with a universal control, though replacements of the same type can be found on ebay for about £10.

 

[potsy]

Similar problems to Colin's regarding the +1 recordings on my Humax, other major flaw is it can miss the start of some shows but I think this is a network problem and not the machine itself?

They are good though STASS, especially if you're used to just being able to record one thing at a time.

 

[ColinJ]

Similar problems to Colin's regarding the +1 recordings on my Humax, other major flaw is it can miss the start of some shows but I think this is a network problem and not the machine itself?

These machines rely on the networks signalling the start of programmes properly, which they usually do. They don't seem to signal the end of shows, so you get all the trailers and/or ads up to the start of the next programme.

I think the usual reason for missing the start of a show is when you are doing two recordings and expect one to finish in time to start a 3rd on another channel. If the original recording overruns, the 3rd can't start until the tuner has been released. That problem is worst when recording live events which can significantly overrun. Again, you start to anticipate that kind of problem and set your recording schedule accordingly.

I don't have any control over the start and finish times on my PVR, which at first alarmed me, because I was used to adding my own padding to recording times on my VCR to avoid missing the start or finish of shows. Once I realised that the EPG and programme signalling work properly together, I relaxed and now enjoy the ease of use.

 

[classic33]

Similar problems to Colin's regarding the +1 recordings on my Humax, other major flaw is it can miss the start of some shows but I think this is a network problem and not the machine itself?

They are good though STASS, especially if you're used to just being able to record one thing at a time.

Sky+ has the same problems with recording.

 

[potsy]

On mine you can turn off the auto start feature and add in your own 'buffer' at the start and end of recordings, but if you do this then the series link feature won't work.

 

[classic33]

It tends to be used for series recording mainly.

 

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

Again, many thanks CCers - I'm grateful to everyone for their Particularly Valuable Responses!