"Upgrade" from a VCR!

greengiant

greengiant

greengiant

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3 Sep 2003
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Well, my old video cassette recorder finally died! So I guess it's time to upgrade to one of these new fangled PVR freeview recorders.
Parents have Sky+, but I don't watch enough TV to justify spending extra on getting an additional sky+ box. I mainly used my vcr to record the occasional interesting program on the TV which I would otherwise miss if I was out.

My thoughts were to replace my DVD player with a DVD recorder with built in freeview tuner - I don't record enough to justify a full blown PVR.

Any suggestions for around £100-£150?
 
Personally I've looked at DVD recorders as a step-back functionality wise from good old VCR.
When I first looked into replacing our VCR we eventually decided on a Toshiba PVR.
All of our recording was done directly onto the 160GB HD and if we wanted to save anything long term we then recorded it from the HD to the built-in DVD recorder.

A PVR without a DVD Recorder and dual-tuners (record two channels at once, pause Live TV, etc) can be had for less than £100 and you'll find it 100x more useful then a simple DVD recorder.

We bought a Thompson DT16300-16 for my mother in law for Christmas - £80 and extremely well featured.
 
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stoofa said:
We bought a Thompson DT16300-16 for my mother in law for Christmas - £80 and extremely well featured.
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I wanted to buy the same one for my mother but I've read so many bad things about it on different forums.

To the OP :
In my house I have a Pioneer DVR-545HX and I've only recorded one CD up to yet (video transfer).
I have a Pioneer DVR-530H and only the odd CD has been recorded to.
Both the Pioneers are HD/DVD recorders with the best editing features you'll come across.
We also have 4 x Digifusion PVR's single tuner models and we now only have 1 video player in the house.
 
Do PVRs need to be connected to the mains 24/7? I prefer keeping things switched off at night as I'm a light sleeper and the pvr / dvd recorder would be in the bedroom.
 
No reason you can't unplug them at night - unless of course your recording something overnight.
If your PVR also has Freeview tuners in you'll want to leave it on overnight occasionally for software updates - these are usually broadcast during the early hours of the morning.

Dmpoole:
Not had any problems with the Thomson box so far.
There were some problems with the EPG side of things, however the latest software version for the box appears to have fixed the majority of issues that the early releases had.
 
stoofa said:
A PVR without a DVD Recorder and dual-tuners (record two channels at once, pause Live TV, etc) can be had for less than £100 and you'll find it 100x more useful then a simple DVD recorder.
Click to expand...
I agree and am looking for one myself. I like the idea of spending <£100 but I also like the idea of getting the recorded content off and onto the PC - to edit, to store, to make DVDs from etc.

I guess I'm expecting too much.

Failing the "downloading" feature, what are the best <£100 PVRs?
 
I'd go for the Humax pvr9200. It really is the dogs when it comes to PVRs. You'll regret getting a cheapo PVR without dual-tuners when you find you have to watch the same channel as you're recording (isnt that really pointless..? :confused: ). The Hummy has dual tuners, but also is a bit clever in that most of the time you can record two programs and watch another. Or you can be watching something recorded and record two programs at the same time. It really is so easy to use, i cant recommend it enough. I think it's going for around £170 now, but prices seem to fluctuate. If you read into the cheaper PVRs they all seem to have 'issues' of their own; i was glad we spent a little more to get the Hummy as it has no issues at all (apart from the EPG taking a few minutes to appear as it downloads it every time). My girlfriend liked it so much she went out an bought on for herself, for Christmas.
 
Scam said:
You'll regret getting a cheapo PVR without dual-tuners when you find you have to watch the same channel as you're recording (isnt that really pointless..? :confused: ).
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I suppose you're right - it is really pointless.
We have 4 single tuner Digifusions in the house and none of us have ever wanted to record something on it while watching another channel on it.
Usually they are used when you go out and you've got to be sad to want to record two different channels at the same time.
Usually if you're recording something you're watching something else on another channel on the TV so twin tuners are a bit pointless.
 
dmpoole said:
So you don't have a tuner in your TV?
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I dont actually have any TV's in my house (all plasma/LCD panels and projectors) so no, and most people will only have ananlogue tuners in their TV's which isnt fantastic when you wish to watch 2 channels outside of the standard 5 available via analogue :p
 
Jez said:
I dont actually have any TV's in my house (all plasma/LCD panels and projectors) so no, and most people will only have ananlogue tuners in their TV's which isnt fantastic when you wish to watch 2 channels outside of the standard 5 available via analogue :p
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Thats the whole point.
The majority of people will have normal tuners to watch the 5 major channels while recording something on your single freeview tuner.
 
dmpoole said:
We've got 4 Digifusion models in the house.
Every now & then we have to re-tune them.
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Have you hacked yours?
I've hacked the ones in my house and they are much better now :D

You can get a Refurbished DigiFusion FVRT145 (80Gb) with one year warranty for £43 Inc VAT :eek: I'd post the link but I think it's against rules.

Then you simply pop in a 160Gb Hd and flash it so it runs the FVRT200 firmware with the much improved hacked GUI. You can even add USB2 ports on these babies so that you can transfer the recordings to your PC :D

At that price no other Dual PVR comes close.... period!
 
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