freeview+ hd PVR box - please recomend me one having trouble deciphering the millions

burtonshaw

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hi, hope you guys can help,

i would like to get a freeview+ hd PVR box, but my problem is i dont know which to get, and theres so many that have ota updates etc, i finding it hard to decifer exactly what pvr does what.

so what i want from my pvr is to have the catch up on demand service, and possibly netflix

would also be nice to have it recording 2 channels while i watch one, or just be able to record 1 while i watch one at a minimum.

my budget is £300 tops, but would ideally like arounf the £250 mark.

any help would be greatly appreciated,

i have tried researching, but quite franklyt cant get very much decisive opinions,

each review site seems to give completely different reviews for pvr's,

i'm thinking of these -

Panasonic DMR-HW220

Humax HDR-FOX T2

Samsung STBE7500M

from what i can gather the samsung suits my needs best and is the newest, but i'm wary of the user interface, i hate slow clunky systems, and have been burnt with samsung products in the past.

the humax seems a really good bit of kit, but i cant find any definitive answers whether it will do the catch up stuff etc

and then leaves me with the panasonic, from the pictures i have seen of the interface it doesnt seem a particuarly slick epg system.

also everytime i read a review, stuff says one thing and which magazine say another, and i just find it very difficult to be able to make the right choice
 
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ok so been doing even more research and i think i have decided against the panasonic, as apparently it wont let you stream video if it is recording, which is kinda pointless,


could really do with some recomendations though please, as dont fancy paying all that money and then regretting it,

i done that with a dvd recorder years ago, and since have vowed to never believe manufatures claims again
 
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Most Freeview PVR's will only have 1 or 2 TV catchup services. The only one that has all 5 is the Youview Humax DTR-T1000. This is a brand new PVR released this month and so far seems to have some nice features, some soon to arrive nice features, and a lot of basic features missing. So I advise you to read up on it to see if it does what you want.

Mark.
 
basicly what i want is the virgin tivo box, but i dont want the monthly subscriptions lol

why is it so bloody difficult to just buy a pvr,
 
Because just about everybody thinks they can make a good PVR - but very few companies can actually do it well.
My only PVR is an old series 1 TiVo - no dual tuner option, no HD etc etc etc but I still stuggle to find something to replace it as it is just so good.

Mark.
 
Because just about everybody thinks they can make a good PVR - but very few companies can actually do it well.
My only PVR is an old series 1 TiVo - no dual tuner option, no HD etc etc etc but I still stuggle to find something to replace it as it is just so good.

Mark.

:( thanks mark,

i cant believe that these companies make it so awkward, its as if they have chimpanzees working for them,

any hoo, i have just stumbled accross this by accident LG HR925M Video Players - LG Smart 3D Blu-ray Player and Freeview + HD - LG Electronics UK

which wouldnt be to bad as would replace my tosh blu ray player aswell as giving me a pvr and meaning 1 less remote, but maybe its more things to go wrong, will look into it a bit more
 
Hi.
Careful with the LG; their last attempts (HR650 et al) didn't exactly get glowing remarks... http://www.avforums.com/forums/freeview/1464456-lg-hr600-anyone-have-one-3.html
Humax have a reasonably long track record of making decent PVRs.
Samsung, I'm afraid, do not. Again, their D-series combined Freeview+BD players weren't best received. Have a read of http://www.avforums.com/forums/pvrs...-e8300-bd-e8500-bd-e8900-master-thread-7.html about their E-series, but at first glance, stability is still being worked on...
There are rumours that Netflix may arrive on Youview at some point; which would suggest the Youview box worth consideration. However, it's very new, and has one or three issues... http://www.avforums.com/forums/youview/1667724-negatives-about-youview-box.html and while they all look fixable, it's hard to really recommend it while they're outstanding.
Personally, would suggest the HDR-Fox-T2, and accept you'll only get iplayer. Maybe check the state of youview in a year or so.
--
Regards, Iain.
 
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Hi

DigitalStream DHR8205U 500GB available from Amazon ~£180

Digital Stream DHR8205U Set-Top Box with Freeview+ HD, 500GB HDD and 3x USB: Amazon.co.uk: TV

Similar in many ways to Humax but slightly fewer extras - AVI playback and Samba Share (via officially supported addon) the only real extras (+BBC iPlayer but not the HD version)

Pete
I find the DigitalStream User interface face very clumsy in several respects with examples of unnecessary key presses on several commands. The worst feature is a the very long time it takes to delete recordings (typically 15 to 30s per recording) and the cumbersome procedure for initiating it. Most annoying is that it is not possible to delete any recordings if one of those selected for deletion is still "in use" (playing back). Getting a message to this effect and having to exit the command, stop the recording and then go through the whole procedure again has made me curse several times. I don't see the need for such over-protective button actions in the software. There are a number of unnecessarily complex procedure IMO.

Colin
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Hi

DigitalStream DHR8205U 500GB available from Amazon ~£180

Digital Stream DHR8205U Set-Top Box with Freeview+ HD, 500GB HDD and 3x USB: Amazon.co.uk: TV

Similar in many ways to Humax but slightly fewer extras - AVI playback and Samba Share (via officially supported addon) the only real extras (+BBC iPlayer but not the HD version)

Pete
I find the DigitalStream User interface face very clumsy in several respects with examples of unnecessary key presses on several commands. The worst feature is a the very long time it takes to delete recordings (typically 15 to 30s per recording) and the cumbersome procedure for initiating it. Most annoying is that it is not possible to delete any recordings if one of those selected for deletion is still "in use" (playing back). Getting a message to this effect and having to exit the command, stop the recording and then go through the whole procedure again has made me curse several times. I don't see the need for such over-protective button actions in the software. There are a number of unnecessarily complex procedure IMO.

Colin
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Most annoying is that it is not possible to delete any recordings if one of those selected for deletion is still "in use" (playing back). Getting a message to this effect and having to exit the command, stop the recording and then go through the whole procedure again has made me curse several times.
Each to their own, it would never even occur to me to attempt a deletion while playing something back let alone be annoyed that it didn't. It's not any different behaviour from many other things including Windows OS where if a file is in use it can't be deleted until it's been closed.

I guess a previous pvr of yours allowed this? however I think it's far from a standard pvr feature though.
 
Each to their own, it would never even occur to me to attempt a deletion while playing something back let alone be annoyed that it didn't.
This is a procedure I use several times a day and have been doing so for years. We record virtually all TV we watch. More often than not we exit playback before the end of the recording is reached, missing out the adverts and other dross at the end of programmes. Usually our intention is to then delete that recording immediately so that we easily know which ones we have not yet watched. We then select and playback the next recording we want to watch.
I guess a previous pvr of yours allowed this? however I think it's far from a standard pvr feature though.
All the PVRs I have used over the last 7 years have have allowed deletion without first stopping playback. This has included several Vestel PVRs, Humax SD PVRs and Top Up TV PVRs. All the above also permit deletion of recordings which are also still being recorded. This is useful for efficiently deleting recordings watched in Chase Play which we decide we don't wish to watch to completion.

As we have now, because of the deletion issues, relegated the DS to a back-up PVR, so is used infrequently, it is difficult to deviate from our normal practice when it is used.

Colin
 

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