[judethedude]

Can anybody please recommend the best PVR currently available as I'm looking to buy one !

Thankyou.

[rhubarbe]

Of course we can. But we'll all recommend a different one.

Me first: Topfield TF5800PVR.

www.toppy.org.uik

[Gadget Daddy]

Ive got a Humax 9200 and I give it the

Pete

[rhubarbe]

Getting the picture yet, jude? :D

Trader rating 74, Pete??? Maybe you'd better change your nick to Delboy.

[Figment]

Topfield TF5800

[Cyril]

Sky HD or TV Drive controlled by TiVo if you have a high budget.
The TiVo picture quality from BBC HD actually surpasses any Freeview DVR IMHO!

Windows MCE if your budget is around a grand.

Toppy for sub 300 quid.

[Paul Shirley]

I've got a 9200, I recommend the Toppy.

It has more mature/stable firmware, a working USB port and you won't be relying on the manufacturer for all improvements or fixes, something Humax are glacially slow at delivering and have got wrong every time so far.

[ROYOLD]

Probably the Topfield TF5800 altho' its maximum FF speed of x6 annoys me.
Depends how much you want to pay.
I also have the Aldi Technosonic PVR101, Digifusion 145 and 150 and the Humax 9200T and they all work pretty well. None of mine have ever lost the library contents, completely frozen or broken down although other people have apparently had many problems with various pvrs. The Digifusions are the ONLY pvr's of mine which have never failed to record a set recording.

Guess you pay your money and hope for the best. Nothing is ever 100% perfect.

[Drd]

I have been 'thinking about buying' a PVR for over 18 months but was not happy with the various reports and feedback on any of the models.The trouble is it's unlikely we'll see a perfect PVR for quite a while.Two months ago I took the plunge when I discovered the Digifusion FVRT 200 for £143 here.

So far it's been perfect.It's got the uprated psu and seems very stable despite the adverse reports.It lives in a cabinet but so far hasn't overheated and all the family can use it with ease (I had it up and running/recording without even reading the manual..... more than I can say for my Denon receiver/DVD player).At this price I will be very happy if I get 12 months out of it while I wait for the perfect PVR.

[ash]

Tough one, the main contenders are for best PVR:

Topfield TF5800PVR
Humax 9200

And as for TiVo you will need two freeview boxes to have a twin tuner set up in a sense, so maybe a lot of clatter.

[judethedude]

Thankyou for the posts.

I know that nothing can be perfect (unfortunately) but I had assumed that PVR technology was sorted and that there weren't still so many gliches !

The price of the Digifusion is tempting but it seems that most people favour either the TF5800 or the Humax 9200.

Out of the three, which one is most user friendly ?

Thanks again.

[richwill]

Originally Posted by judethedude

Thankyou for the posts.

I know that nothing can be perfect (unfortunately) but I had assumed that PVR technology was sorted and that there weren't still so many gliches !

The price of the Digifusion is tempting but it seems that most people favour either the TF5800 or the Humax 9200.

Out of the three, which one is most user friendly ?

Thanks again.

You will get so many different answers. Do your research and then go with the features you want most. Personally? i had a sagem (which sounded as noisey as a family of mice living in the corner, so that went back sharpish) I then waited for the Humax 9200. I never considered a topfield as the humax did everything i wanted and i only paid 160.00 for it (from currys). Don't wait though, jump into the pool and play with the technology. It'll be continually changing, even more so when HD is the rule and not the exception.

best of luck to ya

[ianh64]

Originally Posted by judethedude

The price of the Digifusion is tempting but it seems that most people favour either the TF5800 or the Humax 9200.

I can't speak for the TF or Humax, but the UI of the Digifusion is truely awful. It has tiny coloured icons telling you what button to hit next hidden amongst a mottled coloured background. Other faults:

As far as I can see, you can't tag a group of recordings and delete them all at once, you need to do them individually.

Everytime you make a recording it askes to if you want to generate scenes - if you don't then it will ask you the same question next time you go into the library.

If you are recording a programme it doesn't go into the library straight away. You need to find it in the programme guide.

Unless you are watching on a big screen the UI is awful. Forget it on a 20" CRT.

You can only skip forward/back in 5 minute increments. Adverts are normally 3 or 4 minutes long.

The UI is hard to read - it needs a high contrast setting.

Its got an audible fan

There are two programme guides, one for todays programme, and one for all the others.

The UI is inconsistent. You need to think about what you are doing and following the on screen red/green/blue/yellow dots on the screen to tell you what button to press. Even that doesn't help as it sometimes puts a small box over the screen with more instructions but this doesn;t stand out due to the lack of contrast/mottled background and you follow instructions for the occluded screen as the previous dots still show.

Did I mention that the UI was awful?


BTW. I have 20/20 vision. Thankfully its my mothers but unfortunately she's 80 - so she doesn't use the PVR functionality at all. I guess I have been spoiled by the UI on the Pace Twin which even my mother can use.

[ROYOLD]

I guess you have been spoiled. The Digifusions do everything asked of them. They have few faults (which is why I have two of them - this in addition to the Topfield 5800 and Humax 9200T). Oh - and in addition the Digifusions do not fail to record when a recording is set. Unlike some of the others.

Sure the background is a bit garish but it can be changed if you wish. Ways to do this are given on Digital Spy and these forums.

The epg is a 14 day guide and is always populated. It doesn't take ages to load the epg unlike others.

So "truly awful" - I think not. For the price they are excellent machines. One of mine has been in use for well over a year. None of them ever has problems and all in all they are the most reliable of all my pvr's.

I purchased the Digifusion FVRT200 for relatives as a gift last Christmas. They use it daily with no problems. In their seventies so elderly people can use these machines with ease.

[balders]

Despite Ianh64's apparent big downer on the Digifusion, it get's my vote. Most of Ian's comments are valid, but, in my view, minor. Personally, I don't have a problem with the UI and find it quite straightforward.

I disagree that it's hard to read on a reasonable sized screen (smallest I've seen is 28", which I don't count as "big"). Yes, there are a couple of things I wish they'd implemented differently, but none restrict my use at all. Truly awful - no, maybe just different to the Twin.

The Digifusion is very easy to use though. As an illustration, my grandparents, who are pushing 90, swapped from a VCR to a Digifusion a few months ago, and love it. They use it all the time and regularly schedule mutliple records, record while watching something else, etc. Apart from the initial setup, quick lession and the occasional question, I haven't had to help them with it very much at all. They've stopped borrowing DVDs from me now because they record so much from freeview.

So for ease of use, Digifusion

Balders.

[kjt2004]

I agree with Balders an Royold

I have the FVRT100 and its never let me down

Yes i upgraded the psu on it when i got it

Yes it has its faults, but THEY all do

Wont be changing mine

[norfred]

kjt.drd, royold and balders you have put a different view on the fvrt's usefulness. So far I have only seen critiscism. I must admit an 80gig for 149 seems a very good price. Having lived with the pace twin for a couple of years has taught me that failings can be overcome so maybe the fvrt100 may be worth a look. my pace dtva has given up and a cheap replacement would be handy at the moment. I am looking to either the topfield or the new panasonic range to upgrade my main recorder but the fvrt could be the short term answer to one of the problems i've got.
norfred

[LV426]

I think the fundamental difference between the Fusion and (say) the Humax 9200 is this:

1: The Humax hardware is relatively robust, but the software is unreliable on occasion.
2: The Fusion hardware is less robust but the software, while not free of irritations is very reliable.

As to whether you will encounter either of these factors will depend on either your usage pattern and/or the environment in which the machine is kept (and perhaps an element of luck!) - hence the varied opinion.

My Fusion FVRT200 works reliably. I know of three things technically wrong with the software and have experienced two of them. They are all easily avoided and hence can only be categorised as irritations. Mine has never failed to make a "perfect" recording of everything I have asked of it.

Whilst I can't prove this conclusively, I genuinely believe that the majority (if not all) premature hardware failures in the Fusion are due to overheating, in turn due to bad location (insufficient airspace). The Fusion runs continuously (unless you disconnect power) and so does have a propensity to warm up even when not in use.

In contrast (from what I read only) the Humax's problems are occasional, less predictable but can and do result in non- or lost recordings. Because they are seemingly random - have no detectable cause - they cannot therefore be worked around and hence, whilst in most cases they are rare, when they do occur these glitches are more than just irritation.

My query is essentially the same as that originally posed, with a slight variation:

1. I'm getting Sky
2. I'm getting a PVR

Questions:
a) Should I go for Sky+ or Sky regular and Humaz/Topfield/Fusion ?
b) If I also wanted a DVD recording facility, what would the advise be ?

Great forum, btw.

[Cyril]

Originally Posted by Qiniso

My query is essentially the same as that originally posed, with a slight variation:

1. I'm getting Sky
2. I'm getting a PVR

Questions:
a) Should I go for Sky+ or Sky regular and Humaz/Topfield/Fusion ?
b) If I also wanted a DVD recording facility, what would the advise be ?

Great forum, btw.

Depends on budget and whether you want strong PVR EPG features or want a twin Freeview tuner as well!

a) If greater than 2k : TiVo and Sky HD, and MCE and Toppy
b) 1k: TiVo and Sky+
or hacked DVBS Windows MCE or similar HTPC

c) More than 500quid : several options
Sky+TiVo+Toppy OR


Sky+ (more than 500 quid once you count the 10 quid per month minimum for Sky+ recording facilities and the min 15 quid sub)

OR

Dreambox or Reelbox are around that price as well.

d) Under 300: Sky and TiVo or Sky and Toppy


Only the HTPC, Reelbox or Windows MCE have built-in DVD recorders in the UK, so you will have to get a seperate DVD recorder - Panasonics seem to be the favourites.

If you are more concerned with TiVo-features than TiVo or MCE are the only option swhich have strong enough metadata in the EPG to do their clever stuff.

Sky+ and Sky HD are very limited in the metadata, and its non-existent in other DVRs.
Its poor in comparison in the Toppy with Digiguide add-ons, though many people who have never used TiVo seem to cope OK.

Once you are a long time TiVo user its hard to give up the features.

[LV426]

Originally Posted by Qiniso

My query is essentially the same as that originally posed, with a slight variation:

1. I'm getting Sky
2. I'm getting a PVR

Questions:
a) Should I go for Sky+ or Sky regular and Humaz/Topfield/Fusion ?
b) If I also wanted a DVD recording facility, what would the advise be ?

You have to recognise that the regular range of PVRs (i.e. excepting obsolete things like TiVo) CANNOT record from external sources. They can only record from their onboard tuner which is configured for a given platform; a Freeview PVR will only record Freeview. Sky+ will only record Sky (and then, only if you continue to subscribe).

So the answer depends on what you want to record; whether you want to record more than one thing at once, and so on.

[RhythMick]

Originally Posted by ROYOLD

Sure the background is a bit garish but it can be changed if you wish. Ways to do this are given on Digital Spy and these forums.

How do you change tyhis please ? I've searched the forums and can't find it. This is a biggy. I'd love to hand this on to my aging parents but they can't even see what's going on.

My other complaints with the FVRT200 would be the overheating and the fact that the disk keeps rotating all the time, even when in "standby". Is this a fault ? Is there a way of controlling it ?

[RhythMick]

Originally Posted by RhythMick

How do you change tyhis please ? I've searched the forums and can't find it. This is a biggy. I'd love to hand this on to my aging parents but they can't even see what's going on.

My other complaints with the FVRT200 would be the overheating and the fact that the disk keeps rotating all the time, even when in "standby". Is this a fault ? Is there a way of controlling it ?

Spoke too soon - just remembered. My BIGGEST problem with it is the lip-sync. With anything over half an hour or so the lip-sync becomes obvious. Sometimes you can "jog" it back into sync by skipping back. However, transferring a recording to DVD is a nightmare because of this !

[IanSimmons]

Topfield TF5800 gets my vote. This is because:

a) I am biased (I have one and I love it)
b) It comes with the ability to load user-written applications ("TAPs"), which can greatly enhance the functionality.
c) I haven't tried the others, but I did a lot of research before buying it.
d) It allows up to 70 timer events, has twin tuners and you can watch a third channel (with some caveats), allows chase-play; you can start watch a recording while it's still recording the rest.

On (b), for example, the EPG (program guide) leaves a bit to be desired (though it's not bad), but a great free TAP called MyStuff allows for a huge improvement in look and feel, also with the ability to set timers that automatically pick up programmes based on keyword searches, amongst many other features. This is just one example, there are other EPGs and TAPs to do other things should you want them (I have one that harvests the programme schedule data every night, for example, to pre-load it for the EPG).

The ability to extend the vanilla box without invalidating warranty or upsetting the stable firmware was the big selling point for me.

[ianh64]

Originally Posted by RhythMick

How do you change tyhis please ? I've searched the forums and can't find it. This is a biggy. I'd love to hand this on to my aging parents but they can't even see what's going on.

I am in exactly the same boat as you but after ROYOLD's post, I found this http://digifusion.jeamland.org/. It also shows how a little thought would allow the box to cater for the other part of the UK population that doesn't have perfect eyesight or the latest large screen TV.

I haven't tried it yet - my mothers box is very sick but probably will if/when Digifusion acknowledge my email. [edit]Oh they have now - they told me to read the manual and reformat the disc as my box has a slight glitch. Shame they obviously did not read my email as I told them that I had power cycled, reformatted the disc and done a factory reset. But they obviously read enough to diagnose a 'slight glitch'. If a slight glitch means that it takes 5 minutes to respond to a key press, I wonder how a serious glitch does manifests itself?[/edit]

[ROYOLD]

Originally Posted by RhythMick

How do you change tyhis please ? I've searched the forums and can't find it.

I believe there is mention of it in this posting - or do a proper search under
"FVRT200"

Digifusion FVRT200

and also check out the others :-

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...ysprune=&f=118

http://digifusion.jeamland.org/#bg

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...play.php?f=118

http://www.savefile.com/projects.php?pid=547208

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...d.php?t=141485

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/server2/digifusion/

[Cyril]

Originally Posted by LV426

(i.e. excepting obsolete things like TiVo) CANNOT record from external sources. .

It may be 'obsolete', but so is a Mclaren F1, a Stradivarius or a pre-CBS Fender strat -all old but still vastly superior in many ways to the current offerings.

US and Japanese TiVos are far more advanced than ALL DVRs we can get in Britain.

Every DVR is obsolete in the UK already (except TV Drive and Sky HD and PC based ones ) as you cannot upgrade them to High Definition.

If you have a large HD screen it is hard to go back to SD.

[jetbootjack]

Just adding a few points to this thread, as I have experienced most of the options.

I got myself a series one TiVO last year after being a HUGE TiVO fan in the USA - I fitted a pair of 300MB HD's and hooked it up to my sky box. But lack of twin tuners (I wanted to ditch sky and go freeview), and the fact it was the clunky series one UK TiVO compared with the US series two unit meant we parted company late last year.

Then I looked around at Toppy's, Fusions, Inverto's, but decided on the HUMAX 9200T - and it has been a GREAT system. UNTIL a couple of months ago, when the OTA update made my box buggy as heck, so I took it back, got a new unit and it's been great...

But SKY HD is on the way, so I NEED to get me a SKY+ HD system and I've also added a SONY XL100 Media Centre PC to my TV system - which I have to say is a FANTASTIC freeview PVR (as well as much, much more) - best PVR I've owned in everyway and unlike ALL other systems it can be upgraded to any new service type (IPTV, HD etc)...

sTeVE

[Cyril]

You could have got two or more TiVos for multiple tuners

I also have the sony xl-100 - needs a bit of configuring and an extra tuner fitted - so not quite a 'Plug-and-play' solution - my network card was setup as disabled by the power save mode by default. This wasn't obvious and took a few hours of head-scratching.

As it's a Windows PC you get all the usual problems and advantages.

But I still prefer using mutiple TiVos even the series one in some aspects, mainly reliability.

It's probably the best semi-off-the-shelf UK Freeview PVR, as its the only one with HDMI out.

With big budgets you can obviously build a monster multiple tuner multiple terabyte Freeview DVR though!

I guess I am using 30% Sky HD 30% MCE and 35% TiVo and 5% Freeview DVR now.

[balders]

Originally Posted by ianh64

It also shows how a little thought would allow the box to cater for the other part of the UK population that doesn't have perfect eyesight or the latest large screen TV

I really don't understand why people see this as such a "biggy"! I agree it's not the nicest background, but I can't see why it makes the box practically impossible to use. My 90 year old grandparents have no problems with it on their 28" widescreen TV, for goodness sake!

Originally Posted by RhythMick

Spoke too soon - just remembered. My BIGGEST problem with it is the lip-sync. With anything over half an hour or so the lip-sync becomes obvious. Sometimes you can "jog" it back into sync by skipping back. However, transferring a recording to DVD is a nightmare because of this !

Never had this problem with my 150, or friends 200, or grandparents 145. I would guess that either you're hyper-sensitive to it, or the box isn't working correctly. I've transferred stuff to DVD with no problems too without any lipsync problems.

Balders.