Freeview HD recorder for my mum

scene

Well-known member
My mum's 70th birthday is rapidly approaching, and I'd like to get her a Freeview HD recorder for her birthday (along with a new TV - see other post...) I need something that's really easy to use, allows upto two other channels to be recorded while watching a third (or a recording) is good for HD

Any recommendations?
 

kinda

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May 21, 2008
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Been looking myself recently, and as far as I can see the Humax HDR Fox T2 1Tb is the best box at the minute. Since the new YouView one came out, (which has catchup TV but is more expensive, 500Gb, removes streaming capabilities, and seems to have some issues for use as a PVR from reviews), the prices have dropped a bit, (1Tb about £250). Though you might want the catchup TV access.

Having used a Fox HD (no R - sinlge tuner version) T2 it is very easy to use, the GUI is instantly reponsive, (which my SD Sagem for all its other charms isn't), the HD pictures are great, and the upscaling seems very good and a cut above the norm, (better than the Sagem and than my Samsung TV; haven't pitted it against my projector yet). Plus can stream video files from the network or hard disk, export recording, and with custom firmware the HDR will allow remote operations from a web front end such as scheduling recordings.

The Tvonics recorders are suposed to be of a similar quality as a PVR, and the 500gb HDR500 can be had for about £114 now they've gone bust, but for the sake of possibly needing the Humax features and maybe future firmware fixes or guarantees issues, and with half the storage, I'd perhaps avoid it.

Hope what I've found out in recent investigations helps. I moved my SD Sagem into another room, and thought I could get away without dual recording in my main room, (the HD fox does sinlge recording with an external drive), but I can't. I've decided to go with a HDR Fox, but I have the cathup Tv on another device. If I didn't, would be a closer call.
 

chrisup

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Dec 11, 2008
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Scene,

I am on my fourth Panasonic Hard drive recorder and I only bought my DMR BWT720 because one died in a flood. They are a dodle to set up and use and are very reliable. I recommended one to friends who are 70 and they love its ease of use to record tv series or films and play dvds. I edit out adverts so I can burn it on dvd (its Partial Delete in the Edit menu when you press the Option button). I am sure your mum will love its logical menus and reliability. My wife loves using the Pansaonic as it is simple to use and thats high praise!

Best Wishes

Chris
 

professorhat

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Dec 28, 2007
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As long as your Mum can handle any regular PVR, another choice is the Digital Stream. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Humax (e.g. web portal etc.), but it's a bit cheaper as a result - £180 from Amazon for the 500 GB model or £230 from John Lewis for the 1 TB.

NB - virtually all the boxes recommended have two tuners - this means you can either record two channels and watch a recording or record one and watch another. Some (like both the Humax and Digital Stream) will allow you to record two and watch a third, but the third must be on the same MUX as one of the programmes being recorded (all the HD channels are the same MUX). Generally in this scenario, channels which can't be watched because they're on a different MUX are greyed out so it's simple to see.
 

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