Recommend Hard Drive recorder please

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taxboy

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I think our current dvd recorder is on the way out - it's starting to require more reboots and the dots in the display have gone in places.

Can any of the TV aficionados on here please recommend what features I should be looking for in a dvd recorder or recommend suitable models

TIA
 
Do they still make them? It's all hardrive based nowadays.
 
I've a Toshiba dvd/hdd recorder sitting on the shelf that hasn't been used in years, even the Humax DVR that replaced it is no longer used and it was much more functional i.e. tied to a double tuner and able to record two channels at once. Now 90% of what I watch is online.

The Toshiba is/was good it just became obsolete but if you want to record normal telly then I'd say a DVR is your better option.
 
Humax ^ definately.
 
Yes I would say humax also. Who is your broadband and home phone provider? Lots give you a free recorder.
 
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Regarding features; it depends what you actually record. For me I wouldn't want to deal without electronic programme guide integration, eg you see your channel list and programme schedule and just select one. But it depends how you watch it; free view, free sat, cable, Sky?

Also catchup TV integration in the epg is brilliant. That way it will just download programmes you've missed.
 
:plus1: for Humax they make the best PVR's (probably):)
 
Gone with BT fibre broadband a few weeks ago and got one of their youview 500 gb boxes (made by Humax) and happy with deal. Currently offer includes £125 Sainsbury voucher and maybe quidco
 
Thanks for the replies. I've realised I haven't included enough info in the original post. The requirement is to record Freeview and play DVDs. We have a pure HD recorder that came with the BT broadband contract but the phone line comes into the house upstairs so is used on the TV in my study. The main TV is located downstairs so does not have wired internet access.
Hope this helps
 
surely then you need a stand alone dvd player which is cheap as chips and something like a Humax PVR
 
taxboy said:
Thanks for that but how would I view recorded TV programmes on the downstairs tv
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Im not sure if you can get Humax Boxes to work via the magic eye method or if you can use their full functionality if you network them ( I don't think you can) the alternative would be a Humax PVR on each TV
 
http://www.freeview.co.uk/what-we-offer/freeview-recorder

I would get a dedicated freebies HD recorder, not have a separate recorder anymore. The convenience of having this fully integrated with the official epg out ways any generic box.

Then I would get a separate DVD or bluray player. They are cheap as chips for generic requirements. Take a look in richer sounds for some excellent deal.

In order to get the most benefit of your free view recorder you should connect it to your internet broadband connection. If you don't have wireless then a set of home plugs will be great between the router and free view recorder and blu ray player. I would get a pair that has a built in three port hub.

That way you'll be bang up to date :thumbs:
 
I have a couple of Panasonic DMR-EX83's but don't know if they are still available. This is a HD and DVD recorder and gives the advantage of being able to record things on DVD or transfer then to DVD and watch them anywhere you can find a DVD player.

I dislike the HD only machines as you can't take the recording away and watch it somewhere else.

These Panasonic machines do have issues though, they're buggy and frequently fail to respond and need turning off and on again but other than that they suit me better than a HD only box.
 
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woof woof said:
I have a couple of Panasonic DMR-EX83's but don't know if they are still available. This is a HD and DVD recorder and gives the advantage of being able to record things on DVD or transfer then to DVD and watch them anywhere you can find a DVD player.

I dislike the HD only machines as you can't take the recording away and watch it somewhere else.

These Panasonic machines do have issues though, they're buggy and frequently fail to respond and need turning off and on again but other than that they suit me better than a HD only box.
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I used to have a TopField machine which had a build in FTP server. That way you could easily transfer the recordings to an iPad, Laptop etc....or just copy to a USB stick. Even more portable than a DVD recorder where the transport stream gets encoded into MPEG2 then transferred, then re-encoded to another platform and basically you end up with a s*** copy....
 
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