What's the best PVR to buy?

jimlea

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I have just bought a panasonic tv with freesat built in. I am looking to buy a PVR, so which one would be the best option.
I will need the PVR to record HD (1080p) on to the hard disk which ones do you recommend? There is the latest all singing dancing humax (£300) but that has freesat built into the box (which I already have). Do the cheaper humax PVRs record HD? I presume the upscaling models will not have the resolution of 1080p. Please can anyone help.

jim... :confused:
 
I have just bought a panasonic tv with freesat built in. I am looking to buy a PVR, so which one would be the best option.
I will need the PVR to record HD (1080p) on to the hard disk which ones do you recommend? There is the latest all singing dancing humax (£300) but that has freesat built into the box (which I already have). Do the cheaper humax PVRs record HD? I presume the upscaling models will not have the resolution of 1080p. Please can anyone help.

jim... :confused:

There is only one freesat pvr (foxsat-hdr). The other Humax pvr's are freeview based and there is no freeview HD at the present. Even when there is current generation stb's (including pvrs) won't work with HD. There are alternative free to air HD pvr stb's starting at about £150.00 (fortec star passion+ from maplin) but this has only 1 tuner. Twin tuner HD fta stb's all cost more than the foxsat

1080p is not available as broadcast TV (It needs far too much bandwidth), you can only get 1080p video from HD DVD or Blueray DVD. HD TV is usually 1080i (720p is possible but is rarely if ever used)
 
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Graham

Thanks for the reply and info. I'm new to AV as you probably can tell. Problem for me then is I have forked out for a new TV with freesat built (panasonic) in already so it looks like I will have to buy the Humax FoxsatHDR. This also has freesat built into it so I will now have freesat twice!!
Looks like I have learned the hard way.

jim... :rolleyes:
 
Graham

Thanks for the reply and info. I'm new to AV as you probably can tell. Problem for me then is I have forked out for a new TV with freesat built (panasonic) in already so it looks like I will have to buy the Humax FoxsatHDR. This also has freesat built into it so I will now have freesat twice!!
Looks like I have learned the hard way.

jim... :rolleyes:

It's not so bad.
Once you have gotten used to not watching so much live TV, you may find the Foxsat is always recording 2 channels.
This means you can watch live news on the integrated Freesat on your TV at the same time :)

It also means if you split the Foxsat's HDMI signal to another room, you can watch one channel in one room at the same time as another in the other room.

If you are not in the UK this is the best PVR to buy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xd6f88JIp4
WARNING -DO NOT WATCH IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK AS YOU WILL ONLY GET DEPRESSED
 
This also has freesat built into it so I will now have freesat twice!!
Looks like I have learned the hard way.

jim... :rolleyes:

But, as in the analogue days, in order to record something while watching another channel or when the TV is off you need a tuner in both the TV and the recording device, so having Freesat twice is not to be sneezed at!

Snail
 
I
If you are not in the UK this is the best PVR to buy

WARNING -DO NOT WATCH IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK AS YOU WILL ONLY GET DEPRESSED

Pah! You can always build a MythTV box. Almost as good as a Tivo and you can put a DVB-S card in it if you want :thumbsup:
 
Pah! You can always build a MythTV box. Almost as good as a Tivo and you can put a DVB-S card in it if you want :thumbsup:

I take it you've not seen the video - there is nothing that comes close to their search facilities!
But of course HTPCs running Media Portal/MythTV/hacked Windows Media Centres can do whatever you want if you are prepared to put in the time/effort/IT support.
A bit of a nightmare if you try to set up for elderly relatives though as too much can go wrong!
 
I take it you've not seen the video - there is nothing that comes close to their search facilities!
But of course HTPCs running Media Portal/MythTV/hacked Windows Media Centres can do whatever you want if you are prepared to put in the time/effort/IT support.
A bit of a nightmare if you try to set up for elderly relatives though as too much can go wrong!

Nah, I've had media centres (x3), since early xp days. I agree that back then things could go wrong, but now, once you have set them up, they are rock solid. My family (wife and kids) use ours and no longer complain about things not working. They take it forgranted in fact, which is a good sign, no?
 
deleted :(
 
Nah, I've had media centres (x3), since early xp days. I agree that back then things could go wrong, but now, once you have set them up, they are rock solid. My family (wife and kids) use ours and no longer complain about things not working. They take it forgranted in fact, which is a good sign, no?

I also have 3 media centres, but still have to sort out the odd network problem or guide data download corruption or some other fault. This is OK for the immediate family, but not for the parents/grandparents/great aunt who live miles away.
Not quite as rock solid as TiVo or the Humaxes. Though probably a bit more reliable than SkyHD. At least with Sky you just usually reboot the box. Sorting out a network problem remotely is the problem, so I'm not going to install HTPCs at my parents/grandparents places.
 

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