PVR or TV EPG?

I'm planning on buying a LCD TV this year. Seen Panasonic, Samsung & Sony sets so far. Already have an SD PVR (Topfield TF5800) connected to ageing CRT TV,. I'm using the PVR's EPG, with TV as a dumb monitor, with sound through a surround system.

Do HD PVR owners use the PVR's EPG or the TV's for normal viewing? Or a combination of the two?
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  • emptyboxemptybox Posts: 13,917
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    Well my TV's only got a Freeview SD tuner, so I use my Freeview HD PVR pretty much all of the time.
  • call100call100 Posts: 7,264
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    I only use the PVR for viewing via the TV I don't even have an aerial attached to the TV.
    As most of my viewing is recorded or via the internet I've not used the TV Tuners for a couple of years.
    So, to answer your question I use the Humax's EPG....I think I would in any circumstance as it looks a lot better than many TV native EPG's, especially Panasonics....
  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,505
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    I tend to only use the TV for catching up with the news and weather as: a) the TV is SD only; b) I hardly ever watch programmes live.
  • in_focusin_focus Posts: 307
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    With a Topfield if you have "MyStuff" installed you have the abillity to customize the EPG to beat any other. Sadly doesn't look like there will ever be a Topfield Freeview HD PVR.

    My TV's tuner/EPG is very rarely used, the Topfields abillity to record 2 channels and watch a third sees to that. it's only on very rare occasions the TV tuner is required.

    See http://www.toppy.org.uk/~mystuff/ for more info about MyStuff
  • chrisbartleychrisbartley Posts: 1,790
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    PVR output/EPG myself

    One of the other of the advantage of a PVR in addition to recording is the ability to pause and rewind live TV
    But you can only do this if watching the PVR output rather than the TV so it make sense to be viewing the PVR out put all of the time ( unless you want to watch a 3rd prog at the same time as recording 2 others - when you can revert back to the TV output).

    Also Feeview will give you the option of setting a recording of a program being trailed by pressing a single button (Green) - another reason to watch the PVR output as your normal TV signal
  • tealadytealady Posts: 26,262
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    I use the samsung epg, as it allows me to see about 10 hrs of a channel at once, then using the l & r arrows to go through all channels.
    The tv also has a hdd attached, so I can pause live tv, though the humax pvr is better designed for this.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,784
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    Rich57 wrote: »
    I'm planning on buying a LCD TV this year. Seen Panasonic, Samsung & Sony sets so far. Already have an SD PVR (Topfield TF5800) connected to ageing CRT TV,. I'm using the PVR's EPG, with TV as a dumb monitor, with sound through a surround system.

    Do HD PVR owners use the PVR's EPG or the TV's for normal viewing? Or a combination of the two?

    I have both an HD PVR and Freeview HD TV and only use the PVR EPG for setting up recordings. TV hasn't been tuned into any channels, only gets used for the Freeview HD pvr and for Sky HD and I can't remember the last time we watched "live" tv. It's all recordings for us.
  • David (2)David (2) Posts: 20,632
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    if you want to record anything you will (obviously) have to be on the epg of the pvr.

    For many people inc my self, who have a either a freesat or sky box we tend to only use the box for nearly everything (or everything in some cases). Just using the tv as a monitor. Only when my freesat box is busy doing 2 recordings at once do i just use the tv and its built in freeview epg.
  • pavierpavier Posts: 838
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    Like most here I rarely use the tv's epg but that's not because it's worse. The point of having a pvr in the first place is that you may find something in the epg that you want to record and it's cumbersome to find a program to record in the tv's epg and then have to find it again in the pvr's epg, so we don't bother.

    As a Sky user the tv's epg is redundant but if you're comparing like for like, e.g. a Freeview epg on a tv and a pvr then the tv's epg will usually be better because a pvr doesn't know what size tv it's epg will be displayed on and so has to be designed to cater for the worst case scenario of being used with the smallest non hd screen whereas a 50inch tv can have it's epg optimised for it's screen knowing it can have extra detail.
  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,505
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    pavier wrote: »
    because a pvr doesn't know what size tv it's epg will be displayed on and so has to be designed to cater for the worst case scenario.
    No it doesn't. The best of breed PVR has a UI that offers a range of customisation to suit the individual user and their set up allowing changes to the colour scheme, font, font size, channel displayed per screen etc etc.
  • 2Bdecided2Bdecided Posts: 4,416
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    PVR only. TV not connected (don't want to confuse anyone else in the house by giving them two ways to watch live TV!).
  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,505
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    I assume you mean TV not connected to the aerial rather than not connected to the PVR which *would* confuse people? :p
  • 2Bdecided2Bdecided Posts: 4,416
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    gomezz wrote: »
    I assume you mean TV not connected to the aerial rather than not connected to the PVR which *would* confuse people? :p
    Indeed ;)
  • Nigel GoodwinNigel Goodwin Posts: 58,330
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    pavier wrote: »
    As a Sky user the tv's epg is redundant but if you're comparing like for like, e.g. a Freeview epg on a tv and a pvr then the tv's epg will usually be better because a pvr doesn't know what size tv it's epg will be displayed on and so has to be designed to cater for the worst case scenario of being used with the smallest non hd screen whereas a 50inch tv can have it's epg optimised for it's screen knowing it can have extra detail.

    The size of the TV doesn't matter, only it's resolution - and that's just down to HD or SD, there's no more detail on a 50" HDTV than on a 22" one (assuming both are either HD Ready, or both Full HD). But there would be no point making an EPG for Full HD only, as there wouldn't be any advantage - as most people view from much too far away to see any difference.
  • pavierpavier Posts: 838
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    The size of the TV doesn't matter,

    But the aspect ratio does. Epgs designed for 16:9 don't usually look good squashed into 4:3.
  • Nigel GoodwinNigel Goodwin Posts: 58,330
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    pavier wrote: »
    But the aspect ratio does. Epgs designed for 16:9 don't usually look good squashed into 4:3.

    I didn't realise we'd fallen in a time warp back to the last century :D
  • pavierpavier Posts: 838
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    I didn't realise we'd fallen in a time warp back to the last century :D

    Well, you probably have a better idea than I have, but don't most, if not all current pvrs have a scart and/or composite output and have a setting option of 4:3?
    Even the current Sky HD boxes have a 4:3 option for the scart output.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 32
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    Many thanks all for your replies.

    I had wondered about how we were going to pause and rewind live TV with a new TV, and several users mentioned that it wasn't as slick as a PVR.
    I share the view that it's only worth watching live TV when there's no other option (Toppy's busy recording 2 prog's), and this usually means the news and weather. We're more likely to watch live TV on BBC channels.

    As I read more about the subject, I understand that all SD inputs to an HD set will be upscaled, and some models do this better than others, so I'm looking for a Full HD model that performs well with SD sources.

    I have some Toppy recordings transferred to two external HDDs and would want to connect these to the TV, or possibly a PVR or another media player/streamer, via USB. Have any users done this? The native Toppy files are edited and remuxed using Video ReDo and saved as .MPG.

    Thanks,

    Richard
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,741
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    Rich57 wrote: »
    Do HD PVR owners use the PVR's EPG or the TV's for normal viewing? Or a combination of the two?

    I'm going to go against the grain here! I have a Freesat HD TV and a Freesat HD PVR, no Freeview. I use the TV's tuner as a rule, only using the PVR to set up and watch recordings. No point in having a PVR whirring away constantly, such a waste! TV can be switched on and off virtually instantly and does get switched off when I'm out of the room for any length of time.
  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,505
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    Not all PVRs whirr away constantly when not recording or playing back.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 32
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    I'm going to go against the grain here! I have a Freesat HD TV and a Freesat HD PVR, no Freeview. I use the TV's tuner as a rule, only using the PVR to set up and watch recordings.

    So do you have a single dish feed into the PVR and then into the TV? Or do you split and feed TV & PVR separately?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 32
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    gomezz wrote: »
    Not all PVRs whirr away constantly when not recording or playing back.

    The Toppy does, but it's not a problem to me. It means I can pause and rewind live TV on the fly.

    TV & PVR are switched off at night, unless there's a recording to be made, in which case the Toppy's left on.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,741
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    Rich57 wrote: »
    So do you have a single dish feed into the PVR and then into the TV? Or do you split and feed TV & PVR separately?

    I have a multi-output LNB on the dish. Two feeds go into the PVR, a third goes into the TV. Satellite feeds cannot be split in the same way as aerial feeds, they have to be independent.

    Oh, and a fourth goes into a headless FTA satellite receiver which has an alphanumeric VFD display to display the channel name, which I use as satellite radio!

    I have no terrestrial or radio reception where I live and my broadband is poor, so satellite is my only form of TV and radio.
  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,505
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    Rich57 wrote: »
    The Toppy does
    Mine doesn't. ;)
  • kevin58kevin58 Posts: 728
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    Rich57 wrote: »
    Do HD PVR owners use the PVR's EPG or the TV's for normal viewing? Or a combination of the two?

    Hi, I'd advise using your PVRs EPG, as you will set your recordings from this -if (like me) you've invested in a pretty impressive machine like the "HUMAX HDR FOX T2" which makes my LG Television EPG look pretty ordinary, though the TVs picture is great :)

    Have fun.. get a HUMAX!:p
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