[xxtimbo]

Its time I went for a set top box
with a hard drive to be able to
watch one prog and at same time record another .... any suggestions.

Also, should I go for HD ?

[grahamlthompson]

Satellite (Freesat) or Terrestrial (Freeview) ?. What TV do you have ?. Where do you live (can you currently get Freeview HD) ?.

[xxtimbo]

Definitely terrestrial freeview coming through a rooftop
arial

The lcd tv must have freeview inside as Im getting a lot of channels on there, but I want to be able
to record programmes to watch later.
a freeview box with a big hard drive seems to be the way to go

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by xxtimbo

Definitely terrestrial freeview coming through a rooftop
arial

The lcd tv must have freeview inside as Im getting a lot of channels on there, but I want to be able
to record programmes to watch later.
a freeview box with a big hard drive seems to be the way to go

Look at the Humax HDR FOX T2. (500GB or 1TB HDD)

[xxtimbo]

thanks for the tip ( although £350 is way out of my range ! )

I dare say theres not a lot of hd coming via the arial to
the set top box... but in the future who knows ?

[David (2)]

Originally Posted by xxtimbo

Definitely terrestrial freeview coming through a rooftop
arial

The lcd tv must have freeview inside as Im getting a lot of channels on there, but I want to be able
to record programmes to watch later.
a freeview box with a big hard drive seems to be the way to go

any current LCD tv will have plain freeview built in, while more expensive larger sets (32in or bigger) will some times include a FreeviewHD chip, but this is a another point to consider - if you buy a Recorder box (pvr) it will have Twin tuner technology - letting you record one channel to the hard drive while sending a different channel to the tv (via a HDMI connection). So for example, if you wanted a 26in set and wanted freeviewHD but were unable to find that feature in any 26in set (very likely) you simply buy a FreeviewHD+ pvr to go with it.

[captainkremmen]

Originally Posted by xxtimbo

thanks for the tip ( although £350 is way out of my range ! )

I dare say theres not a lot of hd coming via the arial to
the set top box... but in the future who knows ?

If you are in a Freeview HD area then it makes sense to go HD. You currently get 4 HD channels, although only BBC HD has every programme broadcast in HD, on BBC One HD, ITV1 HD and Channel 4 HD not every programme is in HD, a good proportion are upscaled SD. But even then the upscaling is done by the broadcasters themselves and the bandwidth is higher on the HD channels, so upscaled SD material on these channels tends to look better than on their normal SD counterpart channels. In some cases marginally better, in other case way, way better.

A fifth HD channel is on the way too, although we don't yet know who the broadcaster will be.

As for which PVR, the Humax HDR Fox T2 500Gb version can be bought online for about £250. It's more than a basic PVR, can do media streaming from your PC and has access to Iplayer and a few other online services via your broadband router.

The Digitalstream DHR8205 and the TVonics DTRHD-500 have similar features to each other, and are both cheaper than the Humax but they do not do media streaming from a PC. The TVonics is the most basic of the two, but it is renowned for ease of use and with the latest software, is now considered very stable and reliable. The TVonics can be found for around £230, with the Digitalstream available for £199. The TVonics has the better remote, but the DS is a bit more versatile as it has basic media playback functions now, including DIVX/XVID playback from external hard disc drives and USB sticks. The TVonics has HDMI inputs (but you CANNOT record from these) so it can act as an HDMI switchbox if you are running out of HDMi sockets on your TV, but it's looks are unconventional and certainly not to everyone's tastes.