I'm new to this whole PVR thing. My VCR is about to die, and I've just 
discovered that I can receive Freeview. I have an analogue TV, which has 
a SCART socket.

I'd like a PVR with dual tuners and a HD (160GB is more than plenty by a 
huge margin. 80GB is likely to be adequate), plus the ability to play 
and record DVDs (recording isn't a necessity, but I think it important 
to at least play DVDs). This EPG stuff sounds good, so I'd like that, 
too. I don't mind splashing a bit of cash for some good kit.

I'm not interested in Sky or anything like that - I just want Freeview, 
and the ability to watch one program whilst recording another.

What do you guys recommend?

In message <47adfcca$0$21104$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk>, mark carter 
 wrote
>I'm new to this whole PVR thing. My VCR is about to die, and I've just 
>discovered that I can receive Freeview. I have an analogue TV, which 
>has a SCART socket.
>
>I'd like a PVR with dual tuners and a HD (160GB is more than plenty by 
>a huge margin. 80GB is likely to be adequate), plus the ability to play 
>and record DVDs (recording isn't a necessity, but I think it important 
>to at least play DVDs). This EPG stuff sounds good, so I'd like that, 
>too. I don't mind splashing a bit of cash for some good kit.
>
>I'm not interested in Sky or anything like that - I just want Freeview, 
>and the ability to watch one program whilst recording another.
>
>What do you guys recommend?

After a few weeks you will find that 160G is small.

The DVD part will limit your choice. Most PVRs only record Freeview via 
their internal tuners.

Why include a DVD player in the box when you can a stand alone unit for 
little money?


-- 
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Alan wrote:

> The DVD part will limit your choice. Most PVRs only record Freeview via 
> their internal tuners.

I guess that'd be OK.

> Why include a DVD player in the box when you can a stand alone unit for 
> little money?

Why not include a DVD player? My VCR does.

"mark carter"  wrote in message 
news:47adfcca$0$21104$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk...
> I'm new to this whole PVR thing. My VCR is about to die, and I've just 
> discovered that I can receive Freeview. I have an analogue TV, which has a 
> SCART socket.
>
> I'd like a PVR with dual tuners and a HD (160GB is more than plenty by a 
> huge margin. 80GB is likely to be adequate), plus the ability to play and 
> record DVDs (recording isn't a necessity, but I think it important to at 
> least play DVDs). This EPG stuff sounds good, so I'd like that, too. I 
> don't mind splashing a bit of cash for some good kit.
>
> I'm not interested in Sky or anything like that - I just want Freeview, 
> and the ability to watch one program whilst recording another.
>
> What do you guys recommend?



you won't get what you want.
to play dvds requires a dvd recorder - and that will only have 1 tuner.

so it's your choice - dual tuner pvr or dvd recorder.
if playing dvds is the main thing you want you can get a dvd player for 20 
quid - no need to get it all in one.



-- 
Gareth.

That fly... is your magic wand.
http://www.last.fm/user/dsbmusic/

In article ,
Alan   wrote:

>Why include a DVD player in the box when you can a stand alone unit for 
>little money?

If you only wanted a player that would be plausible, but I don't think
it's possible to record onto a separate DVD without converting to
analogue and back, which must reduce the quality.

-- Richard
-- 
:wq

In message <47ae260b$0$21096$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk>, mark carter
 wrote
>Alan wrote:
>
>> The DVD part will limit your choice. Most PVRs only record
>>Freeview via  their internal tuners.
>
>I guess that'd be OK.
>

Most PVR manufacturers do not see a DVD feature as being required.

 DVD circuits uses different electronics to that required for
recording/playing Freeview content so any additional features will cost
more.

Possibly, one of the reasons for not adding more electronics is to limit
the power consumption of the box and therefore reducing the need to add
a noisy fan to cool the box.

You may be better off researching what you do want from a PVR and then
seeing if the limited number of hybrid boxes meet your requirements. You
may find that the hybrid approach compromises on the facilities that are
offered.

See
http://www.pvrjunction.co.uk/compare/
(the information may be a bit dated)

>Why not include a DVD player? My VCR does.

Is it a basic DVD or one that supports high definition TV and surround
sound?

-- 
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:35:46 +0000, Alan 
wrote:

>In message <47adfcca$0$21104$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk>, mark carter 
> wrote
>>I'm new to this whole PVR thing. My VCR is about to die, and I've just 
>>discovered that I can receive Freeview. I have an analogue TV, which 
>>has a SCART socket.
>>
>>I'd like a PVR with dual tuners and a HD (160GB is more than plenty by 
>>a huge margin. 80GB is likely to be adequate), plus the ability to play 
>>and record DVDs (recording isn't a necessity, but I think it important 
>>to at least play DVDs). This EPG stuff sounds good, so I'd like that, 
>>too. I don't mind splashing a bit of cash for some good kit.
>>
>>I'm not interested in Sky or anything like that - I just want Freeview, 
>>and the ability to watch one program whilst recording another.
>>
>>What do you guys recommend?
>
>After a few weeks you will find that 160G is small.

Depends who you are and how you use it. I'd find 160G plenty. (My
Toppy has 250G, with 180G free. All it takes is a bit of routine
housekeeping.)

>The DVD part will limit your choice. Most PVRs only record Freeview via 
>their internal tuners.

And I think you'll find it difficult to get a DVD recorder with twin
tuners. I've never knowingly seen one. But it is easy to find
single-tuner DVD recorders with hard drives. The Panasonic DMR-EX77
seems to get good reviews (at £300).

>Why include a DVD player in the box when you can a stand alone unit for 
>little money?

Agreed. I went for the separate box for my DVD recorder (Panasonic
DMR-EZ27, in case you care and yes, I would recommend both that and
the Toppy). 

Note that if you go for the Topfield, the interface is nothing special
out of the box. But its great feature is the ability to load TAPs. I
use MyStuff (free!), and think the Toppy with it the greatest thing
since sliced bread.

It's possible to connect a Topfield to your PC (by USB cable). With a
little work, you can copy recordings over, and then burn them to DVD
on the PC.

See www.toppy.org.uk for more information about the Topfield TF5800
and everything related to it.

You might find it interesting and helpful to go to your local
newsagent and buy a copy of "What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision" at £4.30.
There are some very helpful tables containing lists of kit, features
and ratings at the back of it.

Peter.

In article <47adfcca$0$21104$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk>,
 mark carter  wrote:

> I'm new to this whole PVR thing. My VCR is about to die, and I've just 
> discovered that I can receive Freeview. I have an analogue TV, which has 
> a SCART socket.
> 
> I'd like a PVR with dual tuners and a HD (160GB is more than plenty by a 
> huge margin. 80GB is likely to be adequate), plus the ability to play 
> and record DVDs (recording isn't a necessity, but I think it important 
> to at least play DVDs). This EPG stuff sounds good, so I'd like that, 
> too. I don't mind splashing a bit of cash for some good kit.
> 
> I'm not interested in Sky or anything like that - I just want Freeview, 
> and the ability to watch one program whilst recording another.
> 
> What do you guys recommend?

I've had an analogue PVR for some time now. Panasonic including DVD 
burner/player but only single tuner. My previous Panasonic VCR could 
record the subtitles teletext page and optionally display that during 
playback but this one filters out teletext and doesn't record any.

I also had a Panasonic PVR with DVD before the current one and also 
bought an extended warranty but when the DVD packed up they couldn't 
replace it (can't get the parts, guv) and I had to buy a whole new 
machine with some discount. I also lost all that was then on the hard 
disc as they screwed that up when investigating the DVD problem.

I am surprised at how quickly the hard disc space gets gobbled up if I 
don't watch everything and clean it up for a couple of weeks. With HD 
beginning to take off, I would advise getting a PVR with HD capability 
and then you need a lot more disc space.

My mother has a HUMAX PVR with dual tuner but no DVD drive. That works 
very well indeed and I hope they will be producing a Freesat version 
when Freesat launches next month.

Regards,
Philip.

In message , 
Philip Green  wrote

>I also had a Panasonic PVR with DVD before the current one and also
>bought an extended warranty but when the DVD packed up they couldn't
>replace it (can't get the parts, guv) and I had to buy a whole new
>machine with some discount.

Isn't he whole point of an extended warranty is that they fix the box or 
replace the machine free of charge!

-- 
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com