Hi everybody.
I'm looking for a new PVR to replace my Thomson TUTV box (which finally kicked the bucket after about 11 months - if only I could find my receipt). The Thomson box had some great features, but it was glitchy as hell.
So I have £100 (max) to spend on a new one. I'm not really bothered about the disk size. The Thomson box had 160GB, and that was more than enough.
I have a few requirements:
- Must record 2 channels at once (obviously)
- Must let me rewind live TV
- Must let me save whatever is in the recording buffer (if I decide to tape something halfway through watching it)
- Series link
- An accurate recording, PDC-type feature
- Must let me hear/see what I was watching while I'm browsing the EPG
- Must have a large, easy to use timeline-type EPG (the EPG on my Thomson box used to infuriate me because it only used about a quarter of the available screen)
- Above all else, it must be RELIABLE. I lost track of number of the times my Thomson box screwed me over. The times it froze, the times it stopped responding to the remote, the times it missed a recording, the times it made inexplicably massive recordings that used up all available space (leading to yet more missed recordings), the times it deleted my series links for no reason at all, the times I pressed the rewind button and the recording jumped right back to the beginning. ARGH! MUST RIP HAIR OUT!
So reliability is VERY important.
Here's a few things that aren't vital, but would be nice anyway:
- A programme search facility
- The ability to link it to my computer and transfer my recordings, via USB or an easily-extractable hard drive (I don't want to void the warranty)
- The ability to organise recordings into folders, so I don't have to spend ages scrolling up and down
- The ability to control my TV volume with the PVR remote (as bad as the Thomson box was, its remote was amazing - I'm not sure that I can go back to using two remotes)
So I think that's pretty much everything. I hope I'm not asking for too much.
I'm looking for a new PVR to replace my Thomson TUTV box (which finally kicked the bucket after about 11 months - if only I could find my receipt). The Thomson box had some great features, but it was glitchy as hell.
So I have £100 (max) to spend on a new one. I'm not really bothered about the disk size. The Thomson box had 160GB, and that was more than enough.
I have a few requirements:
- Must record 2 channels at once (obviously)
- Must let me rewind live TV
- Must let me save whatever is in the recording buffer (if I decide to tape something halfway through watching it)
- Series link
- An accurate recording, PDC-type feature
- Must let me hear/see what I was watching while I'm browsing the EPG
- Must have a large, easy to use timeline-type EPG (the EPG on my Thomson box used to infuriate me because it only used about a quarter of the available screen)
- Above all else, it must be RELIABLE. I lost track of number of the times my Thomson box screwed me over. The times it froze, the times it stopped responding to the remote, the times it missed a recording, the times it made inexplicably massive recordings that used up all available space (leading to yet more missed recordings), the times it deleted my series links for no reason at all, the times I pressed the rewind button and the recording jumped right back to the beginning. ARGH! MUST RIP HAIR OUT!
So reliability is VERY important.
Here's a few things that aren't vital, but would be nice anyway:
- A programme search facility
- The ability to link it to my computer and transfer my recordings, via USB or an easily-extractable hard drive (I don't want to void the warranty)
- The ability to organise recordings into folders, so I don't have to spend ages scrolling up and down
- The ability to control my TV volume with the PVR remote (as bad as the Thomson box was, its remote was amazing - I'm not sure that I can go back to using two remotes)
So I think that's pretty much everything. I hope I'm not asking for too much.