I don't have one but I'm pretty sure it was introduced in a recent update.

Someone with one will obviously confirm but you could try looking at the update threads to check or even search "chase play" in the Humax forum section.

Yes it now has 'propper' chase play. It was put in with a software update. I have one and find its a fairly good all rounder PVR. Research prices before buying though as they seem to vary in shops between £183 and £199 with Currys reportedly happy to match its online price in store. There are some intresting second user-repaired or end of line deals if you keep our eyes open and ear to the ground. Some Argos stores still have a few quantities of the thomson dhd4000 for £75 and I saw on dabs this week two second user Fusion FVRT150s for about £65 or £70. The cheapest way to get a PVR may prove to win one. In what looks like an unashamed marketing push hummy.org.uk and their sponsor heathrow systems are offering a free humax pvr - the user needs to reply to a thread and a poster will be pulled out of a hat in a couple of weeks. The PVR comparison table is going through some changes but you may or may not notice that on the current one the Topfield PVR could be another to consider if you really like series record and will badly miss it. Its possible to modify the Topfield PVR with applications written by enthusiasts which purpose is to enhance the machine further, and maybe work around some problems as you might see them. One such is auto recording by key word or programme name; and this can be refinded to make it not unlike the meta data driven series record on Sky+ and in the near future on freeview we understand (do a search on Freeview Playback certification etc). If you shop around its possible to pick up a topfield for about £245 inc your delivery, whicjh if you are used to shelling out x amount a month for Sky+ etc will still ultimately make financial sense

Thank you both very much for your responses. It's good to know that chase play is an option.

I was very tempted by the DHD4000 when it was at £99 at Argos, almost as an experiment before totally moving away from the Sky+. Our hard drive is failing now (I've just rebuilt the planner again this morning - Lost failed), but I've resented the £10 per month fee for a long while anyway, and have looked at Freeview PVRs previously.

After having Sky+, which is a lovely piece of kit, my wife and I agree that we need a mid-high quality PVR, otherwise we'll always just miss the features that we currently have. It seems the Humax and Toppy are the ones that tick all (or most) of the boxes.

I have looked at the Toppy. The 3rd party modules are a really cool idea. However, the ~£50 price difference is a major factor. Series link will very likely be missed, but I'm hoping the ability to record at the same time each week should suffice...

Both the Toppy and the Humax can output via USB, which is something that really appeals to me. I would really like to build my own PVR (MS Media Center I guess), and being able to go direct to DVD is one of the main reasons, so if I can get that with a cheaper, ready-made PVR then I'm all for it.

NB: The cheapest I've seen the Humax is £187 rfom http://www.247electrical.co.uk/, although the Comet online price is very close (I may look to asking if my local store will match - thanks for the tip).

Thanks again, and apologies if I've strayed too far off-topic.

Oops, so there was another page of replies was there!

As I mentioned earlier, due to house buying & other commitments, I no longer have enough spare time to keep the PVR comparison table updated as much as it needs.

Thankfully, Marc has come to the rescue and kindly volunteered carry the comparison table 'torch' from now on.

The new home for the PVR comparison table is:
www.pvrjunction.co.uk/compare
Please update your bookmarks & any web pages you maintain that point to the table.

I'd just like to thank those who have helped supply me with the information for the comparison table over the past 18 months or so (gosh has it been that long?!?! ).
I hope you will continue to help Marc in the same way.

All hail the new PVR comparison king!

Hi,
I would like to thank EMSEE for all of his work on the comparison table, I and some of my friends found it very useful.

Cheers

Thanks for all your hard work emsee.

Can I suggest, though, that you continue to keep an archived, un-updated copy of the chart (as it currently stands) on your website because Marc's PVRJunction site doesn't seem to be using reliable hosting and periods of unavailability like the current outage will decimate the following you've worked so hard to build up over the past 18 months.

Hear Hear
I found you comparison site very useful . Many thanks .
The new site as a few eras on it . is this due to construction ?
See eras below .
Panasonic TUCTH100 can do the following.

Select Programmes to record from the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)
PIP during playback (see live TV channel during playback of a recording)
Search by genre (e.g. find movies in the EPG)
Picture in Picture (PIP) of two live channels
Media player (music/photos)
Machine suggests a possible 'second part' of your programme when scheduling a recording in EPG
Record from external sources connected to the PVR e.g. NTL, SKY, Camcorder etc

I agree. Never had this sort of thing around when I first started buying PVRs and the choice and differences can be bewildering. Excellent idea, very helpful.

Apologies for the error - its all getting updated at the moment. Probably because I changed some tables around under logical headings. Will get it changed.
Last edited by marcdavis : 25-09-2006 at 21:27

Chrisy,
I saw the error about the " set record from an EPG" but can you clarify the other items on the list.

I dont think the TUCTH100 can find by genre for example and this is not mentioned in the table - nor the others on the list provided??

By the way the table is going through a period of catching up to date and have involved a number of people from various forums to get most of the basic data right and thats started - especially where previously we had question marks on some of the items for some of the PVRs. I have started to post in dedicated forums and sections too and with a couple more soon. I've taken on board feeback received so far but I'd like to get the table accurate or as best we can primarily. Then the next time it gets updated after this latest round will probably be whenever there is a next software update on one of the PVRs that changes things.
Last edited by marcdavis : 25-09-2006 at 21:24

Hi Marc

Just a couple of points re the Inverto; you have 'Manual Bookmark' as Yes when it should be No and it's possible to rewind up to an hour on each tuner and not 30 minutes as per table.

I like the new look of the chart btw, it's much easier to read

hodg

Thanks for the feedback hodg100. I'll incorporate the change info received today this evening.

No this is not an error, it can't record from external sources. whatever era you come from

I have deleted the ones I couldn’t prove .
1 Select Programmes to record from the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)
2 PIP during playback (see live TV channel during playback of a recording)yes
3 Search by genre (e.g. find movies in the EPG) Yes pres program button twice yes
4 Picture in Picture (PIP) of two live channels yes
5 Separate TV and Radio channel lists In EPG yes

I found search by genre by accident its just took me 2 hours to find it again.
Hope this helps. Chris

Sorry got couple of points mixed up with E85H and the TEVION . .Thank you for pointing out my error.
Last edited by chrisy 2001 : 26-09-2006 at 13:34

Hi Marc

Just a few points re the DHD4000 in the comparison chart.

Record consecutive programmes when timer start/end times have been padded - it is marked as NO. Should be YES, it’s something it does for me on a regular basis.

Resume playback from last viewed position- again it is marked as NO. It should be (a qualified) Yes. A restart marker is created each time you press the stop button when playing back a recording. However, it is not written to disc, so the marker does not survive the reboot at the completion of the overnight EPG download. Other than that it works fine.

Add skip button – Not sure about this one, does this mean a forward and reverse skip facility? If so, providing that Bookmark Insertion is turned off, then there is a forward/reverse 30 second skip facility.

Auto BST/DST change - I’ve had my box for nearly two years and it has always looked after the change over automatically. So I think that it should be a YES. I notice that you also have it as a NO in the new Thomson Anytime column I would be most surprised if it also didn’t handle it automatically, perhaps it would be better, for the time being to mark it as ?

Colour (main part of case) – the main colour is silver.

Frequency of 'over the air' (OTA) updates broadcast – not sure if it is still being broadcast on a weekly basis, perhaps other Thomson users could comment.

Serious problems – I think that the YLD problem was well and truly laid to rest with the release of V2.3.9 Since the release I haven’t seen a single posting re this problem.

Minor Issues (Some may have workarounds) - Chase play starts at end of recording (have to rewind back to start). This was fixed in V2.3.9.

Sometimes crashes on EPG download – Fixed in V2.3.9. I certainly haven’t missed a single download let alone a crash since the release.

When using daily repeat timers you can't schedule anything else on that tuner – This also was fixed in V2.3.9 – I think. Once again perhaps others Thomson users can comment.

Appearance (1=Sexy, 5=Ugly) – Good grief it is listed with one * which denotes Sexy. I love my Thomson to pieces but it is the ugliest PVR in Christendom! It looks like a product designed in the 1950s in the old USSR – I think is should have six red stars

Remote Responsiveness (1=Instantaneous, 5=Go make a coffee!) – Not sure that I agree with it’s category of ‘go make a coffee’. I find that in the main it’s extremely responsive. Perhaps four green stats would be more appropriate?

Thanks for taking over the task of maintaining of this comparison chart, and like Hodg100 I also like the new layout and use of colours.

Regards

John

But it only does this if both tuners are available to cover the overlap. The question is really addressing wether padding is adjusted to accommodate consecutive programs on the same tuner. Eg. suppose a film is already recording on one tuner, and you try to set 2 consecutive programs on at the same time as the film. It won't let you if padding is on.

My Fusion 100 does not have autopadding, but one of the abilities it does have which I now miss with my Toppy is the ability to pad both programmes when consecutive on the same channel. I suspect if padding is done manually on the Thomson, it has this ability also.

Are you sure the Toppy can't do that Ang? I'm fairly certain it's done it for me but maybe that was a MyStuff thing but I'm never altogether sure what's doing what

Yes it does get confusing but I have just checked the latest manual and vanilla Toppy does not have auto padding as Ang rightly says. A repeat timer will carry over padding of course but that is all.
Auto Padding is of course avilable on numerous TAPs including MyStuff.

Richard

Richard

I thought Ang was referring to the ability to have padding on consecutive timers on the same channel (provided no other tuner in use) which I thought the Toppy could manage.

I could be wrong on both counts, we have a teething baby in our house and my cognitive skills are not all they might be this morning

hodg
Last edited by hodg100 : 28-09-2006 at 10:14

Hi PTD

Whoops! You are quite right, I completely failed to take into account the word ‘padded’

John

Hodg My excuse is old age but I must admit to being confused on this one. Some people seem to be saying that using MYStuff you can record consecutive programmes with auto padding using the 2 tuners but it does not work for me. No doubt someone in possesion of a full set of faculties will provide a definitive answer either here or on the other place.

Regards Richard

You can do that if both tuners are available for the overlap period introduced by the padding. If one tuner is already in use at this time, you can't.

The point is, the padding isn't adjusted automatically to allow it.

Doesn't the Topfield record 2 programs from the same mux wherever possible. Perhaps this limits the possibility for recording with overlapped padding. Maybe you have to force it to use the 2nd tuner with a tap. I'm out of my depth here.
Last edited by PTD : 28-09-2006 at 20:55

Yes, you're right - that's what I meant... I'm pretty sure you can't regardless of TAPs because the same channel is always the same tuner. If Mystuff actually handles it I will give Mystuff another try!

Currently, I have to choose between no end of first/beginning of second padding for two recordings or combined recording. Both have their problems. If I let them be separate, and the first misses the last 30 seconds, which program from possibly a month ago has the last 30 seconds at the end of it? But put together, I can't delete until I've watched both.
Last edited by Ang : 29-09-2006 at 09:49