[akane_1984]

My younger brother wants a freeview box for Christmas for his room. By googling it seems there is only one make of recorder on the market the HUMAX, what other options does my folks have for buying him a freeview box with or without recording feature.

And I would greatly appreciate peoples opinions on the best models out there.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by akane_1984

My younger brother wants a freeview box for Christmas for his room. By googling it seems there is only one make of recorder on the market the HUMAX, what other options does my folks have for buying him a freeview box with or without recording feature.

And I would greatly appreciate peoples opinions on the best models out there.

Humax, Topfield Vestel are some that come to mind.

[Geofbob]

Originally Posted by akane_1984

My younger brother wants a freeview box for Christmas for his room. By googling it seems there is only one make of recorder on the market the HUMAX, what other options does my folks have for buying him a freeview box with or without recording feature.

And I would greatly appreciate peoples opinions on the best models out there.

Freeview boxes (ie receivers without recording functions) range in price from about £20 upwards, but they are all quite effective so long as the digital signal & aerial are themselves OK. In particular, indoor aerial are very problematic for receiving Freeview. So, if you have any doubt about Freeview reception in your brother's bedroom, I would advise against spending too much.

As for Freeview recorders, there are two main kinds, doing rather different things. These are the PVR (for Personal Video Recorder) & the DVD/HDD recorder (HDD stands for Hard Disc Drive).

A PVR has twin Freeview tuners, allowing watching one channel while recording another; or recording two channels at the same time. But a PVR cannot record from any source except its internal tuners, and they cannot record onto, or play DVDs. It sounds as though you've already seen references to one popular make of PVR - the Humax; but if you look at this Argos page you will see various others.

A DVD/HDD recorder can record from an external source onto its hard disc or onto a separate DVD; & can play DVDs.. But it has only one Freeview tuner, so doesn't allow recording a channel while watching another, etc. this Argos page gives a range of this product; but Sony & Panasonic are the most recommended.

To repeat, however, make sure Freeview reception is OK before investing too much!

[akane_1984]

thanks for the feedback so far guys.

he has had a cheap £20 freeview box in his room for about a year now but it is not great and thats why hes asking for new model.

[Geofbob]

Originally Posted by akane_1984

thanks for the feedback so far guys.

he has had a cheap £20 freeview box in his room for about a year now but it is not great and thats why hes asking for new model.

Don't wish to sound too downbeat, but it's more likely to be poor reception than the fault of the box. If he's got an indoor aerial in his room, but you've a better aerial connection in your lounge, you might try the box there to see if it's any better.

If you want to check on your reception generally, put your postcode in this - UK digital TV reception predictor - & look at the columns on the extreme right.

[ROYOLD]

See freeview box details on this website:

Freeview - Details of the Free UK Digital TV Service

[akane_1984]

hes using an outdoor aerial. The freeview box has just become degraded it was cheap £20 box and has started to crash alot etc...

just needs new model or recorder model

[fernandez]

Originally Posted by akane_1984

My younger brother wants a freeview box for Christmas for his room. By googling it seems there is only one make of recorder on the market the HUMAX

You're confusing FreeSAT PVR's with FreeVIEW PVR's

Freesat PVR here (all HD)
Digital Boxes | Join Freesat

Also see here
Compare Recording features - Freeview PVR DVR

Vestel includes a number of brands including Digihome, Wharfedale, Bush etc.

[akane_1984]

ah I see so freesat would be an extra cost as he would need to have sat installed.

I'll stick to googling for good freeview box for him then lol

[Matt_C]

If you had no reception problems with the box he had initially, and it is just the box itself that is the problem, then you should have no problem with a Freeview PVR box. And you don't have to spend a lot. I recently upgraded my mothers pair of £30 FV boxes (which were about 5yrs old, and had begun to crash, refuse to come out of standby) with a pair of Freeview+ boxes from Tesco. Cost about £80 each, and both conform to the Freeview+ standard, meaning series link etc. By no means as all singing all dancing as the Humax's and Topfield's, and they only record one channel while letting you watch another channel (instead of record two channels at the same time) but if you can live with this (which I can - I've had one of these boxes for 3 or so years and it's not inconvinienced me not being able to record two channels) then you'll be fine.

[ruffage]

I'm no expert on this (Sky customer) but I bought my ma a Philips DTR220 and she's never complained. She's past 70 and lives in the stix but this STB has never given her any grief.
I'm thinking about getting one for the mother in law for Christmas too. Bless 'em with their CRTs

[Detritus48]

IMHO I would NOT recommend the Phillips DTR220.
I bought mine from Argos for £35 less than a month ago and I am not very happy. At first there were just a couple of issues: remote control buttons too small and same colour as remote so impossible to see; EPG has no sound or picture, but I thought for £35 what else would you expect. The box has now frozen and I can't reset it even by turning off at the mains so it's going back. I should have looked at the reviews at Amazon before buying it.

[akane_1984]

complete turnaround now by my brother lol he has now convinced the folks to put in an extra Virgin box in his room. So now he has me googling for a recorder that will record off the Virgin box! lmao

thanks for all the help guys.

[LostOne]

I'm a fan of the Tvonics MDR250, its still reasonable priced, and is recommended by Freeview.

Has anyone tried freeview ariel devices?