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Freeview HDD Reccorders


Purity14

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Im thinking of splashing out, I dont really watch TV all that much, but on occasion there are things id like to watch but as is life, I miss them.

 

I want a quality product, and im willing to spend upto £300 on one.

Ive looked around at various ones and like these the most I guess.

Sagemcom RTI90-500 and the Topfield TF5810PVR

 

The problem is, the reviews are completely hit and miss, I was wondering if anyone had gone out and bought a quality one that works well.

 

I hate crappy slow to select EPG guides and it must have a decent remote.

 

Anyone with an opinion?

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Gaz, the Sony unit I bought from you is still going strong. :)

 

I've also heard that Humax have a good reputation. On a side issue, is there a particular make and/or model that people would suggest for a Freesat (is it called Freesat+ ?) HDD recorder?

 

There's a freesat version of the humax model I posted. :-)

 

...one that did both would be nice, and surely wouldn't be that much more expensive since most things are shared.

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I am in the market for a Freesat set up, but have now been told that round here not all Freesat channels are available. Now that sounds a load of tosh, to me, surely reception is line of sight to the satellite? It either sees the satellite and gets a signal or it doesn't, surely? The fact I live in the sticks 20 miles form Chester doesn't matter in the grand scale of the Midlands to Freesat satellite distances?

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I am in the market for a Freesat set up, but have now been told that round here not all Freesat channels are available. Now that sounds a load of tosh, to me, surely reception is line of sight to the satellite? It either sees the satellite and gets a signal or it doesn't, surely? The fact I live in the sticks 20 miles form Chester doesn't matter in the grand scale of the Midlands to Freesat satellite distances?

 

You would think so, but i had a Freesat dish and box installed last week and some of the channels that the receiver tunes in to are "currently unavailable" :(

I live slap bang in the middle of Liverpool.

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You would think so, but i had a Freesat dish and box installed last week and some of the channels that the receiver tunes in to are "currently unavailable" :(

I live slap bang in the middle of Liverpool.

 

They've probably been stolen.

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They've probably been stolen.

 

:D

 

 

The only thing putting me off with the freeview recorders is that you can't record off of an input like you can with most DVD recorders. I think it must be a legality issue rather than a technology one.

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You would think so, but i had a Freesat dish and box installed last week and some of the channels that the receiver tunes in to are "currently unavailable" :(

I live slap bang in the middle of Liverpool.

 

I must admit I found it hard to believe that a satellite system would be selective as to what channels it could receive based on locale within the UK mainland, seems this stuff is fraught with "gotchas" :(

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Can anyone recommend a Freeview unit with both a HDD and a DVD recorder plus, if possible, the ability to record two Freeview channels while watching a third?

 

My Sony RDR-HXD1070 (it's an old model now) will record to HDD or DVD: I'm sure there are lots of others that can do this. The EPG on it is slow to navigate, other than that I'm happy with it.

 

Your 2nd requirement would be tricky AFAIK. It would need 3 freeview tuners. The most I've heard of in a single box is 2 (again, fairly common I think). If it were me I'd look for a decent box (Humax perhaps) with 2 digital tuners, and use either a modern TV (that has a freeview tuner built-in) or a secondary box to provide the third tuner.

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Having had a few, I heartily recommend Humax.

 

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-9461.aspx

 

I agree - I had one of their pvr9200 units for years - bit glitchy but it worked well enough. Decided to upgrade to an HDR-FOX-T2 (500gb) a couple of months ago, and it's really good. EPC stays in memory now, so it doesn't take ages to load each time. Finally got around to playing with the uPNP media streaming to it last night, and while it worked easily enough, it's a bit picky about video formats - seems to like DivX but not MPEG2 or raw AVI. It claims to be HD capable, but Freeview isn't currently broadcasting ANY HD channels (at least not in my area), but the HD upscaling seems to make the picture _slightly_ better.

 

Also, you can buy direct from Humax - best mail order ever - they txt'd me about 5 times with status updates on an over-night delivery, and got the box to me within 30 minutes of their estimated time.

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