Hello

I am new to the PVR / Freeview market and although I have just bought my first Freeview box for one of our TV's (a ONN type from Asda which works great) I am looking for one for our main TV, with recording functionality.

Finding the Dual recorder is very difficult, regardless of how many Asda's I ring. So if I accept that I might have to get a Digihome is the only thing that is different between the 80GB and 160GB models the size of the hard drive...?

In other words if I wanted to use the modified firmware to enable twin recordings via the suitable cable, could I do that with the 160GB model as they use the same firmware etc as the 80GB one...?

Yes the 80 and 160 models are identical with the exception of the hard disk size.

You can actually get an 80GB one from ebay for as little as £55 incl p&p but only with a 30 day warranty.

Equally DABS sell them for a little more with a 6 month warranty or Argos for £94.99 with a 12 month warrantly.

I managed to get mine from ASDA for £80 the 80GB Dual model (rebadged Digihome).

If you want later you can then swap out a WD160GB drive to facilitate more recording space.

Its a great little unit and a bit of bargain.

Both models can be upgraded to twin record inlc the clones like the Dual.

Loads of info on this forum

Regards

Jerry
Last edited by jerrysimon : 24-03-2007 at 14:22

I appreciate your reply

I have been following the thread where you did indeed change out the hard drive, I assume that would invalidate the warranty as seals on it would be broken....? I am also aware of how particular that they seem to be in the hard drive that you can fit to them.

I would buy new as the difference in cost for the warranty would make it worthwhile for me and I only have to decide on whether to get the 80 or 160GB drive model.

The only practical thing that I would miss on these units is either an ethernet or USB 2 port, for connection to a PC to copy over the recorded material. However since that recording will probably be in a format that would not be easily read then that wouldn't happen anyway.

Seals ? there are no seals

Seriously if mine fails then I shall put the 80GB drive back in and take it back to ASDA.

These things are like PCs inside, seperate boards attached to the base of the casing with ribbon connectors and power cables joining them together incl the hard drive.

I suspect other drives would work if you were willing to play around long enough trying to find one simlar in spec to the Western Digital, but I guess as that works out the box, and is still readily available there is not much point.

Finally, I have mine connected to my Tosh DVD/HDD recorder. If I want to move a recording from my Digihome/Dual, I copy it to the Tosh where I can then burn it onto a DVD

For the money you can't beat these units. Buy an 80GB one from Argos or ASDA (if you can find one). You can always upgrade it later to the 160GB version if you find you keep over filling it and you will have a 12 month warranty to fall back on

Regards

Jerry
Last edited by jerrysimon : 24-03-2007 at 19:01

Thinking about it I can copy stuff over from the HD on the Dual to the Cyberhome DVD recorder, if I should need to.

I managed to buy a Dual box from a local (ish) ASDA - they had only the one unit left and I got it brand new for £70, seemed a good buy to me

Seeing as it has the 4.9 version of the firmware am I right in thinking that I would have to wait for the 5.3 version to be transmitted before it would upgrade...?

I assume checking here would help, but if it does how would it list the Dual brand....?

http://www.dtg.org.uk/consumer/receivers.html

If you're talking about upgrading to twin-record, I don't think it matters what version you've currently got.

parthena

No I don't as yet, think I'll bother about the twin-record as I don't need that feature.
If, and when, I do I'll consider the pros and cons of doing it then

What I meant was I have noticed that some people are saying that their PVR has the 5.3 version of the firmware. I assume that this has been an upgraded option via a transmission.
I wondered if, and when, that this upgraded firmware might be available again...?

A shame that the 5.3 firmware can't be saved and then used to upgrade the unit via a suitable cable like the 4.9 single-view one can.

Yes, my two Digihomes are 3.5 and 3.9. I can't remember which one I'm using daily (the 3.5, I think) but it works fine, apart from:

When I abbreviate channel names they revert to defaults after standby

Daily timer doesn't allow for Mon-Fri (but that's not fixed on 5.3 anyway)

Watching a recording: if you stop in the middle it remembers where you left off, but forgets overnight.

So I wouldn't worry too much about firmware upgrade.

parthena

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure just what had been 'fixed' or changed in the revisions of firmware.
I am trying to either get hold of another one of these, which is proving difficult or I might just get either the Digihome from Argos or a refurbished Digifusion 200 for £70.
Then again I could get a refurbished Digihome for less than £60.

I will try and find some reviews to see what the differences are, I do like the PnP and the ability to swap between them on the Dual

I thought that the Dual was simply a Digihome with a different 'badge' on it. If that is the case, then I highly recommend getting a refurb from newcloudroom on eBay - very fast delivery, units in very good condition (more than can be said for some of the Dabs ones), and they appear to honour their 30-day guarantee.

Prices including delivery:

80gb = £55
160gb = £75

...maybe even cheaper if you go for an auctioned one, as opposed to Buy It Now, but some bidders end up paying more.

parthena

Yes you are right regarding the re badging of the models

I am amazed at the cost of these that newcloudroom is selling them for, they seem to be ex-display models and so should be as good as new, without the full 12mths guarantee, but at a very tempting price

Discovering this feature exists, last time you mentioned it, I now use it all the time (rather than going to the library first). And so far it always remembers the place overnight, and that's with both the v5.3 and twin record software. So maybe this was fixed since 3.9.