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Dual-Tuner Freeview PVR Comparison


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Old 19-04-2008, 11:12
chris6
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We currently have Sky+ but trying to save cash as we only watch channels available on Freeview. I'm trying to presuade my wife to allow me to buy a Freeview PVR that does everything our Sky+ does (as is as easy to use.....I'm thinking I might need £150 - £200 to get what we want?...- are there any cheaper PVR options out there (easy to use, twin tuner freeview PVRs?)
Yes but but you may need the roof top aerial to be modified and possibly a booster for terrestrial digital Freeview, especially in some areas. If needed this could cost up to £100 - £200. After the Freesat launch which I think is due in May you will be able to get a satellite alternatives to Sky ordinary receiver, with HDTV (High Definition TV) and carry on using the same dish, but twin tuner versions with HD (Hard Drive), will come later. After Freesat arrives Sky may decide to allow their Sky+ boxes to perform like PVRs for Sky's version of Freesat (which will not give the identical channel line-up), nor will Freesat be identical to Freeview (terrestrial)

For now, and for terrestrial digital, recommend Digifusion FVRT200/100 around £50, but no longer available new - Will probably need to be 'sorted' but you may be able to find one which has been fixed and up-to-date, and should then be reliable. The software has been around for ages and adjustments/repairs can be done as relatively easy D.I.Y at little cost with help from the forum so have a look at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/f...play.php?f=118

If you do not want the bother of this then a Thomson DTI 6300 £75 for 160GB (HD), £120 for 250GB, is very easy to use and has a nice remote which is similar to the Sky+ one. Like the Digifusion it has a 14 day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) which is stored on HD. The advantage of this is that the guide is always available; the disadvantage is that, in standby, the fan and HD are still running and may be audible, but this varies and is not noticeable after a week anyway. The Thomson is fairly new and has some nice features like series-link and search, but there are still some (relatively easy to work around) bugs which are due to be fixed by an automatic software update, or further updates, soon. See the thomson forum here and http://www.ukkafka.co.uk/phpBB2/inde...e5a8983f66c3a4

We have both of the former and find them excellent, especially for the all-important EPG, and other features. However other options include mainly Humax(s) and Topfield(s) which I think have a 7 day EPG which is downloaded when you first switch on, and this can take some time, (not so sure about Topfield's EPG). Topfield versions are the most expensive and need TAPS (special software mods. which can be installed by using a PC) which takes some learning, to be worth the extra
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Old 19-04-2008, 11:56
nwhitfield
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The Topfield PVRs don't *need* TAPs, it's simply that you can customise them if you wish too.

Personally, I find the Thomson box irritatingly annoying, and it's been whining away in the corner of my living room for weeks now - I can still hear it, above the noise from the TV's fan, and the other two PVRs.
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Old 19-04-2008, 14:30
chris6
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The Topfield PVRs don't *need* TAPs, it's simply that you can customise them if you wish too.
Thanks - are they worth a bit extra even if you don't use TAPs?
Personally, I find the Thomson box irritatingly annoying, and it's been whining away in the corner of my living room for weeks now - I can still hear it, above the noise from the TV's fan, and the other two PVRs.
How many weeks? we don't notice it now - suppose being able to put up with it is one of the few advantages of being rather deaf!
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Old 19-04-2008, 14:52
nwhitfield
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TAPs certainly make the Topfield, for many people, but you can use them without; it really depends what things are important to you, and what you're prepared to pay for them.

These aren't exclusive to the Toppy, but are all factors that may sway someone towards a Topfield if they do find one or more of them important considerations: USB transfers to Windows, Mac and Linux; no limit to number of MP3 files you can store; component output; folders for organising files; able to transfer video to the box as well as from it; larger (250Gb on 5800, 500Gb on 5810) hard drive; CI slots for Setanta; HDMI and upscaling (on 5810); optical output; UHF modulator (5800 only)

Different people will pick different elements from that, and may find them worth the extra.

When I first got mine the hard drive was 160Gb - bigger than anything else. Availability of Mac file transfer software was key for me, as was the CI slot for the then TUTV linear service.

Since having it, I find the the optical audio and component video outputs aren't things I'd want to be without, nor folders - I have a load of films, and the more recent 20 or so episodes of The West Wing, for example. Not being able to organise that many recordings would be a bit of a pain.

When I bought it, TAPs weren't a major consideration, but I do rely on some of them now.

If you run all your kit through an AV system that switches component video, you might think it's worth it just for that. If you just plug into a small TV and only watch a few hours a week, it's probably overkill.

There's no simple "this is the best PVR" answer, in my view, and very often if you've not had one, you don't realise quite how you may end up using it.
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Old 19-04-2008, 15:51
chris6
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I have a load of films, and the more recent 20 or so episodes of The West Wing, for example. Not being able to organise that many recordings would be a bit of a pain
That is interesting to us, but capacity is never enough. Our DVD/HD recorders are 80 and 160GB and need DVDs for backup because they are often filling up, but the editing facility on HD is useful. Can Topfield edit the recordings easily as well as move them round?
There's no simple "this is the best PVR" answer, in my view, and very often if you've not had one, you don't realise quite how you may end up using it.
Yep, and once you've discovered something you depend on it. We have been spoiled by Pioneer HD/DVD recorders which have such good menus and functionality, but don't have subscriptions needing CI slots, HDMI, or use the boxes for MP3. Our stuff is outdated - CRT TVs and SCARTs for everything. Does optical connection carry more than one AV channel? or what does it do?
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Old 19-04-2008, 15:59
nvingo
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Does optical connection carry more than one AV channel? or what does it do?
Optical is just for the raw digital audio, it first appeared to connect CD players to suitable decoder/amps to do away with the "electrical" audio connections which purists said degraded the sound quality.
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Old 18-06-2008, 08:05
steveclecy
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Has anyone heard of a Nichiem? 160Gb Twin tuner PVR for £49.99 plus delivery. Seems amazing value for money.

Look at http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/search....=search&page=1
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Old 18-06-2008, 08:45
chris6
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Has anyone heard of a Nichiem? 160Gb Twin tuner PVR for £49.99 plus delivery. Seems amazing value for money.

Look at http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/search....=search&page=1
No, but agree it's amazing value

Better known Digihome PVR80 is also on offer there at £49.99, see fairly recent account at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...digihome+PVR80 : 'only' 80GB but needs a mod to record two channels and is said to be a 'vesta clone'. A search on digital spy forums would probably provide plenty more info.
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Old 18-06-2008, 15:25
PTD
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Has anyone heard of a Nichiem? 160Gb Twin tuner PVR for £49.99 plus delivery. Seems amazing value for money.

Look at http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/search....=search&page=1
It's a rebadged Technosonic/Tevion. Search for these names in the main PVR forum for a trail of woes associated with them. Not good value for money.
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Old 18-06-2008, 22:09
creddish
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No, but agree it's amazing value

Better known Digihome PVR80 is also on offer there at £49.99, see fairly recent account at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...digihome+PVR80 : 'only' 80GB but needs a mod to record two channels and is said to be a 'vesta clone'. A search on digital spy forums would probably provide plenty more info.
Bigpockets were selling the Nichemen units in kit form for £9.99 recently so that should give you an indication of what they are worth.

If the OP is still interested have a read through the thread here.

Your suggestion of the Digihome PVR80 is a much better bet. Although you can probably get a much later Vestel unit with dual record as standard for about £20 more if you shop around.

Colin
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Old 20-06-2008, 02:18
chris6
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Bigpockets were selling the Nichemen units in kit form for £9.99 recently so that should give you an indication of what they are worth.

If the OP is still interested have a read through the thread here.

Your suggestion of the Digihome PVR80 is a much better bet. Although you can probably get a much later Vestel unit with dual record as standard for about £20 more if you shop around.

Colin
Thank you for the corrections - it does look as if it's pretty dire, and not such amazing value after all!

Could you say which Vestel unit has dual record as standard, please?
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Old 20-06-2008, 11:42
creddish
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Thank you for the corrections - it does look as if it's pretty dire, and not such amazing value after all!

Could you say which Vestel unit has dual record as standard, please?
If it has the T810 hardware then out of the box it will be single record. If it has the T816 or T825 hardware it will be dual record. Normally the hardware type is marked on a label stuck on the underside of the unit and on the packaging. If you are buying online then this info may not be available. You can usually tell also from the software version if this is known. In the case of the Digihome branded units I'm almost certain that if the letters "PVR" are used in the model number then it is a T810 single record unit. If "DTR" is used then it will be dual record.

There are several other brand names under which the Vestel PVRs are sold. Most other brands use more specific model numbers which identify what hardware and what range of software versions are used. The link here is a very useful reference to identify the Vestel units.

The use of DTR (Digital Television Recorder) is becoming more common than PVR (Personal Video Recorder) as an identifier for these devices in general.

Colin
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Old 20-06-2008, 14:36
chris6
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Thanks for the useful info and link
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Old 30-06-2008, 12:37
ironeagleuk
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I notice the info for the Thomson DTI6300-16 is now out of date due to updates.
[LIST][*]Price for both HS & OL is at most £99.99 now
[*]Subtitles can be recorded
[*]Subtitles are available
[*]Repeat recordings can be take place by use of Series Link[/LIST]


That's enough to be going on with, but am sure the next update will require some amendments to be made too
Still out of date....new OAD today added the facility to search the EPG by Channel, keyword in Prog Title, Date and/or Time
Thanks for all the info. I'll make some updates.
am I looking at an old version, or was it never updated?

Since my corrections above a 250GB model has been added...and prices have dropped below the £80 mark for the 160GB model
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Old 01-07-2008, 02:53
marcdavis
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Since my corrections above a 250GB model has been added...and prices have dropped below the £80 mark for the 160GB model
I have those details and they should all be going into the new layout at www.pvrjunction.co.uk/compare later in the week. Its going to look something like this . previously I tried to incorporate changes into an improved layout for all browsers but messed it up. Fingers crossed this weeks changes will work fine
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Old 10-07-2008, 23:08
tonysab
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We are also thinking of replacing our existing Sky+ with a PVR to save some cash. Our situation is this - this is in the living room downstairs. The aerial cable (which we have not used for ages) is now fed from an aerial in the attic after we had our house re-roofed. This aerial also feeds our upstairs bedroom via a splitter. The upstairs bedroom feed goes to a tv with built in freeview and the picture is perfect. Downstairs I put a new connector on the end of the aerial lead and plugged it into the tv (analog) and got a pretty good picture. What confuses me a little bit though is that I then thought I would test freeview by getting my daughters freeview box and plugging that into the downstairs aerial/tv - I then got picture break up and "weak signal" displayed. I don't understand why the upstairs tv is a good picture and downstairs is not as they are sourced from the same aerial. and there really is not much in it in terms of cable length. I don't want to shell out for a PVR if I am getting these sort of problems. Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks in advance.
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Old 11-07-2008, 00:10
creddish
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We are also thinking of replacing our existing Sky+ with a PVR to save some cash. Our situation is this - this is in the living room downstairs. The aerial cable (which we have not used for ages) is now fed from an aerial in the attic after we had our house re-roofed. This aerial also feeds our upstairs bedroom via a splitter. The upstairs bedroom feed goes to a tv with built in freeview and the picture is perfect. Downstairs I put a new connector on the end of the aerial lead and plugged it into the tv (analog) and got a pretty good picture. What confuses me a little bit though is that I then thought I would test freeview by getting my daughters freeview box and plugging that into the downstairs aerial/tv - I then got picture break up and "weak signal" displayed. I don't understand why the upstairs tv is a good picture and downstairs is not as they are sourced from the same aerial. and there really is not much in it in terms of cable length. I don't want to shell out for a PVR if I am getting these sort of problems. Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks in advance.
As a first step I would try the same TV or the same Freeview box on the aerial downstairs and in the bedroom and compare the results from that. At the moment you are introducing too many variables. You do not indicate where the splitter is located, I'm assuming the splitter is somewhere between the feed from the lost and both the outlets in the bedroom and downstairs but you could have split the connections at one or the other location. You could also test the effect of not having anything connected to the other outlet whilst connecting the test TV/Freeview Box to the other in turn i.e. the aerial is only then loaded with one unit. This should indicate whether the problem is one or other feed from the splitter or and/or simply that the aerial is incapable of supporting the split outputs. Usually it is better to "daisy chain" the RF connections through AV equipment as the feedthrough often provides amplification. Using splitters guarantees that the signal to both devices is attenuated. This of course depends on the effect of cable lengths if the devices are at different locations.

The results from the above may suggest you need a better aerial or an external aerial or a amplifier.

Have you checked that you are in an area with satisfactory Freeview coverage.

Colin
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Old 11-07-2008, 10:03
tonysab
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Thanks very much for your advice, I will check these things out. The splitter is approx halfway between the 2 locations.

One other thing regarding Sky+ - is it still an option to cancel the service but keep the box and pay £10 per month? And if so will you get Sky Sports News - I can just about live without Sky Sports but SSN will be a must! Thanks.
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Old 11-07-2008, 12:21
chris6
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What about the Humax Freesat box?

http://whathifi.com/blogs/home-cinem...t-top-box.aspx

http://www.foxsathd.com/
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Old 04-08-2008, 23:13
marcdavis
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In the future there could be a few of these machines around. I'm fitting in a section for freesat PVRs into the PVR comparison site while I am still working on it. At the minute its still in the previous format though.

Simple little details dont seem to be in the public domain about the first freesat PVR, but what I've picked up online has gone in. I'll have to contact the manufacturer and see if there are more details available. I'm sure it will grab interest of a lot of people including existing freeview PVR owners.
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Old 05-08-2008, 12:32
chris6
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In the future there could be a few of these machines around. I'm fitting in a section for freesat PVRs into the PVR comparison site while I am still working on it. At the minute its still in the previous format though.

Simple little details dont seem to be in the public domain about the first freesat PVR, but what I've picked up online has gone in. I'll have to contact the manufacturer and see if there are more details available. I'm sure it will grab interest of a lot of people including existing freeview PVR owners.
That HDR-9300FS Freesat PVR is going to be interesting, and Pvrjunction looks very neat, must try to keep an eye on it for developments
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Old 10-09-2008, 20:22
Lunatic Dreyfus
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Has anyone heard of a Nichiem? 160Gb Twin tuner PVR for £49.99 plus delivery. Seems amazing value for money.

Look at http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/search....=search&page=1
If it's the PVR 1622 then avoid it. It's cheap, but the hassles and frustration far outweigh the saving. I got one last Xmas for £100, and I fully intend to get a better one this christmas. It shouldn't be difficult...

It's a rebadged Technosonic/Tevion. Search for these names in the main PVR forum for a trail of woes associated with them. Not good value for money.
Sounds like fun. I might go and join in.
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Old 16-09-2008, 14:00
marcdavis
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That HDR-9300FS Freesat PVR is going to be interesting, and Pvrjunction looks very neat, must try to keep an eye on it for developments
Developments have continued a little bit on the website (apologies if not all of it is working at the moment).

If anyone is still interested in the new Freesat PVR I've uploaded couple of screen shots from a Humax Foxsat-HDR. I've added more features as I've been able to confirm them too.

www.pvrjunction.co.uk/freesat

Hopefully I can obtain useful details from Metronics about the PVR plans for freesat as well and then add it to the PVR comparison table.
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Old 16-09-2008, 20:08
chris6
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Thanks - The website will be a very useful source of info for PVRs when it's getting so confusing. I think the layout is nice and clean, and fits in the max info, excellent

£299 for the Humax Freesat PVR and November, or before Christmas, launch sounds better than expected. Haven't found the screen shots yet though

Seems as if Freesat may eventually be an alternative to Sky but maybe a full complement of stations will take a while to arrive. Would it be feasible to list what is available as well as everything else?

Cheers
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Old 17-09-2008, 09:44
marcdavis
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Thanks - The website will be a very useful source of info for PVRs when it's getting so confusing. I think the layout is nice and clean, and fits in the max info, excellent

£299 for the Humax Freesat PVR and November, or before Christmas, launch sounds better than expected. Haven't found the screen shots yet though

Seems as if Freesat may eventually be an alternative to Sky but maybe a full complement of stations will take a while to arrive. Would it be feasible to list what is available as well as everything else?

Cheers
Chris, thanks for that. If you want a source of information regarding Freesat other than the www.freesat.co.uk website check out www.joinfreesat.co.uk. ian-d does seem to put a lot of effort into getting its readers all the latest news. There is a thread on digital spy attempting to keep up with developments on the platform too: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=794087. Hope those links are useful
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