Freeview HDD Recorder box

[GT3]

Hi I'm looking to purchase one of these but I know nothing about them so I have a few questions.

Are they any good

If I buy a 40gb one, will I be able to bung a spare 200gb IDE hard drive in one?

If not can you hook them up to your pc to copy content across?

Dual Tuners is a must, which is widely recommeded as the best one? I was looking at the Panasonic one which I have found for £170.

If I buy one now, will it be obsolete soon with all this hi-def malarky?

Cheers, Paul

 

[GT3]

Sorry forgot to say, £200 is about the max i'd want to pay and not bothered about having yet another pc in the house!

 

[GT3]

Right decided I want a dual-tuner 80 gig minimum one, thanks for the advice dmpoole. If I wait for this hi-def stuff I could be waiting years so sod that. As far as I can see I have the following options for 80gb twin tuner models:

Digifusion FVRT150/FVRT200 (not quite sure on difference - couple on ebay that I could get for about £120)
Panasonic TUCTH100 (looks nice and well built but £170)
SAGEM PVR 6200T (looks naff but cheap)

Next step up is the Topfield and Humax ones which can connect to pc and offer 160-250gb storage which is good but at well over 200 quid is a bit pricey!

Now I'm confused on what to get!

 

[GT3]

Thats enough to upgrade to upgrade an existing pc.

Alls you need is a PVR card 50 quid ish
Windows MCE 2005 85 quid ish
MCE Remote and Extender 25 quid ish

around 160 with change and all probs solved. This is what I have

To be fair I do not want my pc controlling my telly, I want a quiet standalone box that can be relied on.

Go with the Panasonic.

Alright mate, long time no speak. Thats what I was thinking of doing but I've read lots of reports of them being unreliable so not sure now.

Digifusion 145 (twin tuner 80 gig) for £125. So quiet I can hardly hear it. Was expecting some noise but not audible when watching tv and only a slight hum from the fan when in standby with tv off.
You can swap hdd for larger but peeps are having varied results. 80 gig plenty for me.

I saw these today for £125 in a popular catalogue shop, seems a good buy and if it breaks I can just nip down and get it swapped. 80gig would be plenty for me too. But again read a few reports of the Digifusion boxes being slightly unreliable.

One box I have heard nothing but praise for is the Humax 9200T and I have seen it for £200 inc delivery which is a pretty good price for a 160gig one with a pc connection. Am quite tempted!