PVR that automatically records same program

[omonra21]

Hi. I used to own a PVR in the states which could automatically record all shows under a given name (with option to either keep all of them or just the latest one). I bought the Humax9200 and was very surprised to discover that it doesn't have this feature.

Basically I just want to set up a few shows I like and have it record them..as opposed to having to set up the recording every week. Could you please advise if any PVRs on the markets currently offer this feature?

Thanks, Vic

[AMc]

A second hand Tivo will do this... lots on a well known auction site or check out www.tivoland.com if you want a warranty.

[nwhitfield]

You can also record by name using the Topfield TF5800, with some add-on software, which is very easily installed on the box.

Nigel.

[kbfern]

You can set the Humax to make repeated recordings.You can select once only record,daily or weekly.

When you select a programme to record it gives you these options,once,daily,weekly.

Its not as sophisticated as a tivo but it does work.

[JamesAldridge99]

Originally Posted by nwhitfield

You can also record by name using the Topfield TF5800, with some add-on software, which is very easily installed on the box.

Nigel.

Any idea what the software is called? I tried one and it didn't work, it used keywords.

Cheers

[mikej]

Originally Posted by JamesAldridge99

Any idea what the software is called? I tried one and it didn't work, it used keywords.

Cheers

The TAP is called 'MyStuff' and you'll need to use it along with an EPG harvester that'll populate the EPG data at any given time (usually an hour or so overnight for convenience).

There are a few different ways of setting it up to do the job you want but the easiest way to do it is whilst you're watching your chosen program, press the default key (as specified in the instructions) and it'll bring up a menu which will allow you to record all instances of that program from then onwards. It is configurable to the extent that you can specify which channels you wish to include in your search and whether you want the name to match exactly or not.

It's not quite as intelligent as Sky, in that it cannot differentiate between different series of a particular program. Eg. you tell it to record all instances of 'ER' on E4 and it'll do just that - you can't get it to record just the episodes from the latest series, because that kind of information is not carried with the EPG data.

That said, it's the closest you're going to get with a Freeview PVR currently and from my experience, it works really well

[rhubarbe]

It's because Tivo hold the software patents for so called series links in PVR software. Nice move commercially you might think. Doesn't earn them much in the UK thoug, does it. Doesn't do the rest of us any good at all. I'm sure that Tivo, who don't seem to be ars*d enough to actually sell a PVR into PAL markets, would license the software to other PVR manufacturers, and I am sure thos other manufacturers will have asked Tivo for a quote to license that software. The fact that none of them have licensed it speaks volumes for how much Tivo think it's worth. Nobody is benefitting, Tivo included. Hard to see how patents in this instance, benefit anybody.

[nwhitfield]

There are a few bits of software for the Topfield (called TAPs) that will do recording by programme name.

Jag's EPG also provides a different view of the programme guide
MyStuff does that, and replaces the list of recorded programmes, amongst other things.
UK Auto Scheduler simply searches the listings for programmes matching particular words.

All work a treat - it depends how many of the other features you want. Personally, I use UK Auto Scheduler, and it sets almost all of my recordings for me.

Nigel.

[burundi]

I use the MyStuff TAP with the TopField and I think it is the closest thing on a current UK PVR to what you are after. When I set it to record a program, if I think I will want every episode of that program I then press record again on the program in the EPG and I get a menu up, I say I want to create a search and it fills in the program details and asks me to set the other options, the default (I think) is to record every instance of that program on that channel on any day of the week.

I can alter this to be a specific day, the weekend (sat/sun). I can set the times I want to limit the search to, so if your program is repeated in the afternoon you can limit the search to the morning to get just once instance of the program.

I can alter the name of the program as well, so if I wanted to record all the variations of CSI, I could create a search which recorded anything that started with CSI

I use it to record lots of different things and it is fairly flexible, it performs a fresh search every time you take the box out of standby, use the Toppy every day and the search will pick up most schedule changes, notably the BBC have been moving Dr Who around slightly in the schedules recently, MyStuff picked up the schedule change and recorded Dr Who without issue, however it isn't clever enough to pickup when a program is late, when Dr Who started late because of the football overrun it wasn't able to tell and so I missed 15 minutes of it. Fortunately it is repeated on BBC3.

[omonra21]

Great, thank you all for responses. Guess I'll have to ebay my Humax now and go for the Toppy.

[Cyril]

Originally Posted by rhubarbe

It's because Tivo hold the software patents for so called series links in PVR software. Nice move commercially you might think. Doesn't earn them much in the UK thoug, does it. Doesn't do the rest of us any good at all. I'm sure that Tivo, who don't seem to be ars*d enough to actually sell a PVR into PAL markets, would license the software to other PVR manufacturers, and I am sure thos other manufacturers will have asked Tivo for a quote to license that software. The fact that none of them have licensed it speaks volumes for how much Tivo think it's worth. Nobody is benefitting, Tivo included. Hard to see how patents in this instance, benefit anybody.

Agreed it is a shame no UK manufacturer has come to an agreement with TiVo in the last 5 years.

However manufacturers such as Humax, Sony, Philips,Toshiba have made recent agreements and have released or about to release TiVo products in Taiwan, Japan, China and obviously the USA.

I'm not sure who is to blame for the poor UK situation.