Advice needed on HDD recorder for father

andyhols

Standard Member
Joined
May 10, 2011
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
2
Hi,
My father lives in Spain for 6 months of the year,he wants to buy an HDD recorder that will record a large quantiy of programmes so he can unplug it and take it to Spain after carrying out 6 months of recording. (He has no Sat Dish in Spain)
He has been told some fantastic number of hours that HDD's can record but I was of the understanding that most of these figures relate to analogue recording not digital.If this is the case can anyone point me in the direction of a good HDD recorder not a mega bucks one but something that will fulfill his needs please?:lease:
Secondly is there any on the market that I could attach to an external HD to expand the memory and therefore his viewing.
Any replies gratefully recieved as I am of the opinion that most staff in electrical shops know less than me !!:)
 
Hard Disk Drives record digital television NOT analogue. It is unlikely that you will find one that can accomodate 6 months of recording! Most will record SD quality between 80-100 hours. You cannot plug in an external drive on any commercial unit I know of. You may be able to install a bigger drive in the unit, but that will certainly invalidate any guarantee. Recording several months of TV will still not be a very feasible option.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for that Mike, any suggestions for a reliable recorder that is not too complicated or expensive...Dad is 76 and still thinks in feet inches and other imperial measurements!
:D
A 500gb Humax was suggested to me earlier
 
If it's a dual tuner PVR you want, then get a Digital Stream DHR-8205U which can be had from John Lewis for £185, it's the best value and one of the most reliable Freeview HD PVR's. Like nearly all the Freeview HD PVR's an external USB drive can be connected, so recordings can then be moved from the internal drive to the external drive for archiving.

It has a 500GB HDD which is good for 240 hrs SD or 130 hrs HD.

With the addition of a 2TB USB drive, something like Western Digital Elements 2 TB, then you'll get an extra 960 hrs SD or 520 hrs HD and of course you can fill up as many USB 2TB HDD's as you want.

This combo would be a total of about £255

If that's too pricey then the alternative is the Humax HD-FOX T2 Freeview HD Set Top Box which is a single tuner receiver device with no internal HDD, but if you were to connect a external USB drive, like the above Western Digital Elements 2TB linked above, then it can be used as a single tuner PVR with recordings being made to the external drive.

This combo would only be a total of about £170.

As far as I know there is no Freeview SD device that will allow archiving via USB, hence the recommendations for Freeview HD devices which does unfortunately mean more expense.
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Hard Disk Drives record digital television NOT analogue. It is unlikely that you will find one that can accomodate 6 months of recording! Most will record SD quality between 80-100 hours. You cannot plug in an external drive on any commercial unit I know of. You may be able to install a bigger drive in the unit, but that will certainly invalidate any guarantee. Recording several months of TV will still not be a very feasible option.

A number of HD recorders allow you to add an external HDD, to which you can copy recordings if you are running out of space. You then use the original machine to play back the recordings, but they can be played straight off the external drive.

The Humax HDR Fox T2 and the Digitalstream DHR 8203/8205 units certainly do so.

OP, not sure if you will be able to use them for recording over in Spain. Certainly Spain uses the DVB-T broadcast system that we use, but there are some differences compared to the UK. In theory though, if a box FULLY supports all of the DVB-T spec then you should at least be able to use it to view and record. However you are unlikely to be able to use the EPG, and probably wont be able to set recordings via the EPG either. You will probably be able to set manual timers though.
 
Thanks Guys and Girls (if that is the case..I do not want to offend anyone.)

I have spoken to my father and we are off to John Lewis at the Weekend.
The Digitalstream sounds good and I have read good reviews.He only wants to record in the UK and play back in Spain so this along with a 1TB HD will solve all his problems after a long day at the beach then bar, whilct we shiver our parts off over here.no sign of jealously here !!
:thumbsup:
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom