Hard Drive TV Channel Recorders

[R2B2]

Not sure if this has been asked before but are there any video recorders out there that have a hard drive and work similar to the Sky Plus box?? Not just a DVD Recorder but something that you can record onto and delete from as and when you want, that will work with Sky.

I'm not bothered about pause and rewind of live tv but that would be a bonus.

Is the Sky Plus route the only way to go??

If there are any alternatives? If there are, any recommendations for a good one? Hard drive size etc?

Any that should be avoided??

As ever, any info gratefully received :bow: :bow:

 

[stormer]

Have a look at the Tesco site for Digibox(freeview type).
They have a Daewoo DSD9520 box ?129.99 that has 80gig HD giving 40 hours recording and will take top up cards.

 

[Nige J]

I've got a Philips 32" widescreen TV, which has a built-in 80Gb hard drive (so works with anything - terrestial, Sky, video games, etc. and can record to seperate DVD recorder

 

[solorider]

these devices have been available for a few years now,to get the full benefit you will need to subscribe to use but will work normally other wise,if you have sky movies you would be better off getting a sky+ box as it doesnt cost any more to use after the initial purchase price and well worth it,live pause is brilliant and being able to rewind live tv is a bonus too

 

[Pugwash]

I have had my TiVo for about 7 years. It works great with a normal Sky box and controls channels with a remote emitter you stick to your box.

They come with a 40GB drive good for up to about 28 hours decent quality recording, but I've expanded mine to 300GB.
I can only record or watch one live channel at a time, but it learns my viewing habits and auto-records stuff I might like when it's idle.

 

[R2B2]

Thanks for the comments guys. Have been keeping an eye on your replys and also went to one of these giant Curry's (yeah, I know) superstores today to ask lots of Q's after browsing several retailers websites.

Had more or less made up my mind for a Sony RDRHX 510S. 80 gb H/D, built in DVD burner, pause live tv, timeslip etc, everything I wanted. ?399 in store, ?314 on line, ?295 at Amazon.

Great, then I find out you can only record the channel you're watching, - which is daft in my view, as that defeats the object. I didn't know this prob existed with Sky, but I understand it now the guy explained it to me. (sad innit?)

Seems a bit odd to me that there are these machines out there with huge recording capacity which isn't really practical unless you are going out.... or want to record something you are watching :dunno:

So it seems it's back to the Sky+ box then :bang: which has got such a small hard drive compared to the others! Ah well, I was just trying to do it without paying even more money to Sky.

Unless someone knows different?? :bow:

 

[Duck n Dive]

Does anyone know if it's possible to simply put a larger hard drive in the sky+ box?

After all hard drives are pretty cheap these days....:dunno:

 

[R2B2]

That is a good question.

Would it be a regular hard drive though, given that it can read and write to the hard drive simultaneously??

 

[solorider]

you can get a 160gb sky+box and if you look on ebay there are quite often larger hard drives for sale

 

[Samster]

Rob - I started a thread on PVR's a few months back.........

http://www.bikersoracle.com/blackbird/forum/showthread.php?t=21442

The sagem is been OK but very quirky in operation (french), however for the money ?129.00 I can't moan.

The one getting all the best reviews is made by a company called Topfield, it's pricey though. All PVR's with twin tuners allow you to watch one channel, record another, pause and rewind live TV, do chase recording etc.

There's a great website on this kind of thing, think it's called PVR World............I'll dig it out..........Sam

 

[Alan M]

With regard to TV, Sky and all the associated equipment, you can usually find the info you require on THIS site.

 

[Pugwash]

Seems a bit odd to me that there are these machines out there with huge recording capacity which isn't really practical unless you are going out.... or want to record something you are watching :dunno:

If you have a good system, er, like TiVo, you rarely ever watch live tv again. Every week it picks up "season pass" series I've specified and anything else I tell it to. I watch it when I want to. The ideal solution will change the way you watch TV. It also can auto-record based on directors, actors, keywords in the title, etc. Mine picks up anything from TV or radio with Bill Bailey in for instance.

p.s. TiVo on eBay is about ?170, and some online sellers can supply upgrade drives. They're regular hard drives with the Linux software copied across to them. I've done my own, but it's not a simple operation.

Upgrading a Sky+ drive is apparently a piece of piss, but I've never had one. Here's a handy page: http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=30514

I don't think there's ANY hard-drive recorder out there to rival Sky or TiVo yet, but both of these cost about ?10 a month for the priviledge.

In addition, I have a network card fitted to mine and can access the user-interface across the local network, the internet or even my mobile phone. It's very nerdy to call up a search box on my mobile and tell my box to record it from a pub 100 miles away. :yo:

 

[R2B2]

I'd not heard of TiVo until you mentioned it Pugwash. Cheers - I'll check it out :beer:

 

[Pugwash]

Any questions, ask someone else.

Seriously though, they lack twin tuners for Sky, but they do a very "personal" PVR job. There's lots of very knowledgable people on these forums:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=14

...and USA models don't work here.

 

[Murt]

So what did you get??

So then R2B2, What did you end up with and are you happy with it?
SWMBO has announced this morning she wants Sky+ ( or something the same).

Anyone got any new ideas, new gadgets that fit the bill :dunno: :dunno:

Thanks in advance
Murt

 

[ianrobbo1]

still watching "and learning" with interest!! :bow: carry on!!

 

[Allan]

still watching "and learning" with interest!! :bow: carry on!!

Rob, not quite true that you can only record the chanel you watch..
I can record a sky chanel and watch a normal chanel at the same time on my ordinary set up.
Set video to sky, and switch tv to normal chanel, i.e. BBC, ITV etc..

Buzz

 

[R2B2]

So then R2B2, What did you end up with and are you happy with it?

Nothing yet! But certainly learnt a bit about it all.

It seems there are two ways to go here.

If you are staying with Sky subscription channels and you want to be able to record different Sky channels, then it seems the only way to go is a Sky+ box. Record one channel while watching another, record two channels at the same time, record one channel while watching another recorded prog, pause live tv, etc, etc, it really seems the dogs nads tbh (Cost ?200 + ?60 installation + ?10 month, unless you have two premium channels then ?0 month). Another complication though is HD tv.... and there lies another minefield!

Sky are beginning HD broadcasts this spring on their premium channels, starting with Sky Sports and Movies - other channels to be phased in. Terrestral channels in two years time at best! Tip - Sky will coincide the start of HD broadcasts with the launch of a new HD Sky+ box, with a much bigger hard drive. Cost not yet known (by me anyway!).

If you are settling for Freeview then it's a different story. Currently a very strongly recommended Freeview box with two tuners and a huge hard drive is the Humax 9200T. This allows you to do virtually everything the Sky+ box does (in terms of functions). Cost ?199 - ?225 to buy. Install yourself and ?0 month.

Reason I haven't bought yet is current TV went belly up during all this researching (how did it know??) so unexpectedly had to buy a TV. As my hand was somewhat forced we bought an HDMI ready LCD TV and have decided to wait a couple of months to see what the new Sky+ HD box will be all about. I've no doubt it's gunna be good, but pricing will decide if we stay with Sky or ditch it altogether and go the route of Freeview with possibility of adding Top Up TV at ?7.99 month.

Tip: HD Ready TV's and HD Compatible TV's are two entirely different things!! If anybody is about to buy a HD television, you DO NOT wanna buy an HD Compatible one!! Make sure it is HD Ready! The 'HD Ready' logo is a licence controlled standard and TV's displaying this claim will be the only TV's that display proper HD pictures.

 

[R2B2]

Rob, not quite true that you can only record the chanel you watch..
I can record a sky chanel and watch a normal chanel at the same time on my ordinary set up.
Set video to sky, and switch tv to normal chanel, i.e. BBC, ITV etc..

Ah yes - I agree, good point. I was referring to two Sky channels at the same time. Don't think I expressed it too clearly!

 

[ianrobbo1]

still watching and still learning!! :bow: getting clearer by each post Rob! :bow: carry on!!