Best option freesat with external HDD to save recordings on PC

charentejohn

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Any advice or recommendations on the best PVRs to do this please.

I have an old Humax box that can copy movies to an HDD via USB which is ideal. But it is getting on a bit and has had a couple of 'stutters' in recordings so may need a new HDD. I have one but before messing with it I started looking for possible replacements. As long as the box stays in one piece I have a partial solution, to take the HDD out of the box and connect by a sata extension cable, so it can be disconnected and connected to PC for copying.

Best future option I can see would be a Freesat reciever with a USB port to attach an external HDD for recordings (making it a PVR) so that when I have a few movies etc I want to keep a copy of I can just plug it into the PC and copy it.

Best I can see so far is the Icecrypt S3700CHD box but the user manual is a bit iffy in it's explanations due to being a translation into english.
Seems it saves as Mpeg4/AVC files not encrypted or compressed, so my editor (videoredo TV suite) can process them.
All in all ok but the program recodings seem a bit 'clunky' like the old VHS videos used to be. Records at the touch of a button from the main OSG but only allows record, once, every day, weekdays, weekends ??? What happened to record series which is an essential.
I think it can record two channels at once but it also says 8 preset recordings max, not really enough (Humax doesen't seem to have a limit) or does it mean 8 day OSG, manual is not well written.

Has anyone got one of these to confirm what it can and can't do ? Ideally I would like the Humax OSG and functions with an externally recordable drive for ease of copying.

Any ideas on what to look out for, for example I think panasonics use a tricky file format but not sure.
 
Answering my own question abit with some more discoveries...........
The Icecrypt is a no go as it is apparently an 'unofficial' unit so can't use the EPG properly, hence no series record. Our survey says nuh-huh.....

Manhattan plaza PVR sounds ok, some say an external HDD connected via USB can copy files, the manufacturers say saftware update only. True or false ?
Sounds OK but again no copy facility is a dealbreaker.
 
Thanks for the advice, I have a replacement HDD (WD AV drive) so no problem there, just a matter of getting up the nerve to dismantle it, I saw the video on Youtube and looks simple enough.

I hadn't thought of buying a newer Humax box and then using the server option. I assume the server basically makes the HDD in the Humax available to the PC via a network cable ? So I could see the video files and just copy them to the PC drive.
I am just realising these sort of boxes are as much PC as recievers and so can be programmed like a PC.

Currently looking at the VU+ Solo2 which seems a good unit, just awaiting info on whether it can do the Freeview+ bit properly, seems it may or may not. I would be surprised if not as it isn't cheap but seems well respected.
 
If, as I have assumed, you are looking at Satellite Receiving equipment then the AVForums Satellite forum may be a better bet for you. See Satellite TV Forum | AVForums

Not all PVRs can be penetrated to install additional software.

The term "Freeview+" relates to terrestrial transmissions, "Freesat" to satellite transmissions.

Martin
 
I will look at the sat TV forum later, just browsed and a lot of info there but does seem to have discussions of different boxes.
 

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