Complete n00b to freeview recorders! lol

Stormster

Stormster

Stormster

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,671
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
Hi guys, simple questions - know nothing about the damn things, I'm behind the times as dont watch much telly but we've bought a new LCD now so time to catch up somewhat :)

Are they decent quality? I see some reporting 100 hours for example at the cheaper end of the scale... is that 100 hours of quality as you see it as if you were just watching freeview?

Are they reliable? Or sketchy jumpy video? Guess it's down to the make so I'll come to that in a sec...

Any recommendations for around £100? Is there any benefit spending more apart from space?

Can you record two things at once? I think someone told me they have two freeview tuners to let you do this? I assume you can watch telly at the same time whilst the recorder is doing it's thing?

Assume thats all I'd need to know really... any help and recommendations for a good unit around £100 or even less would be ideal :)

Cheers!
 
It records the stream, so it's the same quality as over the air. Some are reliable, some are garbage. I'd recommend something by Humax as a good and safe choice.

Previously a "dual tuner" recorder, I believe these are now branded freeview+. You can either record two channels and watch a recording/tv off or record one and watch one live.
 
I have a Thompson freeview recorder, its a few years old now but its great. I upgraded the hard drive from 160gb to 320gb, I get about 300 hours on it now. The recorded tv quality is no different to what I see on live tv. Plus the twin tuners, pause live tv etc are great. The EPG is very good, fast to use and has a layout fairly similar to what Sky uses which I like.

I'd stay clear of the cheapest ones, you'll usually find they are slow to use, poor EPG and lack of features. I don't really know about anything out at the minute so can't comment on anything to reccomend.
 
Cheap off-brand units don't tend to last. I've had couple that blew PSUs. Can be a bit of a pain when there's 30 hours of unwatched stuff on it you hadn't got around to yet...

Now use a Panasonic HDD/DVD recorder. The DVD drive developed a fault outside warranty and the nice people at Panasonic fixed it for free.
 
I had a couple in the past that were completely useless. Don't go for a cheap one as you certainly get what you pay for! Humax is a good brand to go for though.
 
I've got a Humax 9200t, which I';ve had for four years and love, it's twin tuner so I can be recording and watching live tv at the same time, can even be recording two things and watching a third channel if it's on one of the multiplexes that is being recorded.

I'd heartily recommend it.

In the bedroom I have a cheapy pvr which gets used from time to time and is actually a decent little machine, it only cost me about £40, it's got two tuners but can only record on one at a time (if I had the correct serial cable I could change the firmware...if I can still find it...to allow twin recording but I've not bothered yet)
 
I will check out the Humax stuff then it does seem to sound up as the best stuff generally from a quick google earlier. I'll try and find some bargains!

Thanks for the info guys, don't think theres a lot I need to know all in all then :) Hopefully there isn't much signal loss with all the aerial pass through cables I'll have on the go lol.

Is the Humax Direct website a good bet for refurbed units? Some around 100 on there I noticed...
 
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