Current state of play with PVRs and DVD recorders?

Colleagues,

My Mum's Digifusion PVR has just turned its toes up, so I need to sort out a
replacement.

I'm very tempted to get her a Hummy 9200, which is what I've got. Are they
still regarded as the best?

However, she very much wants to be able to burn some of the programmes she
wants to keep to DVD, rather than leaving them on the PVR hard disk where
they take up space and get lost forever when the box blows up.*

Obviously the Hummy hasn't got a DVD drive, and it's too much to ask her to
mess about USB-ing the files to a PC for further processing.

Is there a box with dual Freeview tuners, hard disk PVR functionality, and
the ability to burn to a DVD in full DVD-Video format? Last time I looked
there wasn't.

I've got a Panasonic DMR EX75, but that only has a single Freeview tuner
(plus an analogue tuner) and won't do any of the fundamentals like pause and
rewind of the channel you are watching.

The Sony competitor I looked at had the same limitations, except that it did
manage a hilariously half-baked attempt at pausing and rewinding live TV.
Both the Sony and Panasonic are utterly hopeless as a day-to-day PVR
compared with the Hummy, or even her old Digifusion.

Maybe another approach is to sort out some SCART switching so I can connect
the Hummy to a DVD recorder. Will DVD recorders record from their SCART
input and let you produce a Video DVD?

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. The fact that it doesn't
seem possible to buy an all-in one dual digital PVR with hard disk *and* DVD
burning capability is amazing. I remember we've been bemoaning this lack
for at least a couple of years now. If things have changed, please tell me!

Thanks in advance,

Steve

*I realise I can probably recover those files on the blown-up Digifusion by
removing the HD from and connecting it to my PC. That's OK for a one-off
but isn't acceptable as a long term solution.

On 10 Oct, 11:53, "Steve Thackery" wrote:
Colleagues,

My Mum's Digifusion PVR has just turned its toes up, so I need to sort out a
replacement.

I'm very tempted to get her a Hummy 9200, which is what I've got. Are they
still regarded as the best?

However, she very much wants to be able to burn some of the programmes she
wants to keep to DVD, rather than leaving them on the PVR hard disk where
they take up space and get lost forever when the box blows up.*

Obviously the Hummy hasn't got a DVD drive, and it's too much to ask her to
mess about USB-ing the files to a PC for further processing.

Is there a box with dual Freeview tuners, hard disk PVR functionality, and
the ability to burn to a DVD in full DVD-Video format? Last time I looked
there wasn't.

I've got a Panasonic DMR EX75, but that only has a single Freeview tuner
(plus an analogue tuner) and won't do any of the fundamentals like pause and
rewind of the channel you are watching.

The Sony competitor I looked at had the same limitations, except that it did
manage a hilariously half-baked attempt at pausing and rewinding live TV.
Both the Sony and Panasonic are utterly hopeless as a day-to-day PVR
compared with the Hummy, or even her old Digifusion.

Maybe another approach is to sort out some SCART switching so I can connect
the Hummy to a DVD recorder. Will DVD recorders record from their SCART
input and let you produce a Video DVD?

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. The fact that it doesn't
seem possible to buy an all-in one dual digital PVR with hard disk *and* DVD
burning capability is amazing. I remember we've been bemoaning this lack
for at least a couple of years now. If things have changed, please tell me!

Thanks in advance,

Steve

*I realise I can probably recover those files on the blown-up Digifusion by
removing the HD from and connecting it to my PC. That's OK for a one-off
but isn't acceptable as a long term solution.

There is a Sony RDRHXD860S which has freeview playback functionality
and DVD burner builtin.
Terrible user reviews though.

Doc

"Steve Thackery" wrote in message
...
Colleagues,

My Mum's Digifusion PVR has just turned its toes up, so I need to sort out
a replacement.

I'm very tempted to get her a Hummy 9200, which is what I've got. Are
they still regarded as the best?

However, she very much wants to be able to burn some of the programmes she
wants to keep to DVD, rather than leaving them on the PVR hard disk where
they take up space and get lost forever when the box blows up.*

Obviously the Hummy hasn't got a DVD drive, and it's too much to ask her
to mess about USB-ing the files to a PC for further processing.

Is there a box with dual Freeview tuners, hard disk PVR functionality, and
the ability to burn to a DVD in full DVD-Video format? Last time I looked
there wasn't.

Maybe another approach is to sort out some SCART switching so I can
connect the Hummy to a DVD recorder. Will DVD recorders record from their
SCART input and let you produce a Video DVD?

I think that would be the way to go. I don't think you would require any
SCART switches - just connect the DVD recorder between the PVR and the TV.

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. The fact that it doesn't
seem possible to buy an all-in one dual digital PVR with hard disk *and*
DVD burning capability is amazing. I remember we've been bemoaning this
lack for at least a couple of years now. If things have changed, please
tell me!

Combined PVR/DVD recorders tend to be complicated to use in any case, with
the remote having to have buttons for everything.

--
Max Demian

Steve Thackery wrote:
My Mum's Digifusion PVR has just turned its toes up, so I need to sort out a
replacement.

Have you considered the repair option? AFAIK, the two most common faults
are the external PSU (about a tenner to replace) and disk issues. The
disk can be tested in a PC using the relevant manufacturer's validation
software and, if dead, can be easily replaced. A higher-capacity, laptop
drive is ideal and usually means the fan can be removed too.

e.g. http://www.mousemat.f2s.com/FVRT100/index.htm

ESB

On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:04:42 +0100, Ernst S Blofeld
wrote:

The
disk can be tested in a PC using the relevant manufacturer's validation
software and, if dead, can be easily replaced. A higher-capacity, laptop
drive is ideal and usually means the fan can be removed too.

e.g. http://www.mousemat.f2s.com/FVRT100/index.htm

Not sure what hard drive is in these boxes, but I would NOT recommend
changing the *type* of drive - if the original is a laptop drive,
then replace it with a laptop, if a desktop, replace it with a
desktop. If it's IDE, then replace it with IDE, if SATA, then SATA,
and so on. Don't go b_ggering about with interface adaptors if you
can help it.

ISTR reading somewhere that laptop drives have a slower interface, and
this may explain why PACE Twins, which use laptop drives, commonly
stutter on playback as a recording starts - perhaps they are barely
able to maintain throughput.

Last time I looked, a year or two ago, in terms of £s per Gb, desktop
drives were much cheaper, but laptop drives use less electricity,
produce less heat, and often are quieter.

A larger capacity drive of the same type should generally be ok, but
some machines may not let you use all, or perhaps even any, of the
extra capacity. I don't know about yours specifically.

There is a Sony RDRHXD860S which has freeview playback functionality
and DVD burner builtin.
Terrible user reviews though.

Yes, I bought one and took it back in disgust. Only the one digital tuner,
note, which disqualifies it, to be honest. I took it back because of the
utterly hopeless live TV features - it takes around 10 seconds to pause
after pressing the pause button, and you can't unpause it for a minimum of
about 45 seconds! Also it doesn't buffer the programme by default, so you
can't just rewind and watch a piece again. Bloody useless.

I swapped it for the Panasonic I mentioned, which doesn't even try to do any
of that live TV stuff, but at least it only cost £350 instead of £400. To
be honest it was money wasted - it's unusable as a PVR compared with the
Hummy and Digifusion - and I almost never use it except as a basic DVD
player.

I'm horrified that after what - two or three years? - there are no
significant advances APART from grafting HD into the existing product set
and incrementing the model numbers by 10.

Steve

Have you considered the repair option? AFAIK, the two most common faults
are the external PSU (about a tenner to replace) and disk issues. The disk
can be tested in a PC using the relevant manufacturer's validation
software and, if dead, can be easily replaced. A higher-capacity, laptop
drive is ideal and usually means the fan can be removed too.

Thanks, that's a good suggestion. The fault is with the IR receiver.
Everything works OK, but it just doesn't respond to anything from the
remote. I've tested the remote control with an infra-red camera and it's
fine. Only the front panel buttons work, which means about two thirds of
the functionality is missing. I assumed it would cost more to fix than buy
another.

Steve

Steve Thackery wrote:
Thanks, that's a good suggestion. The fault is with the IR receiver.
Everything works OK, but it just doesn't respond to anything from the
remote. I've tested the remote control with an infra-red camera and it's
fine. Only the front panel buttons work, which means about two thirds of
the functionality is missing. I assumed it would cost more to fix than buy
another.

It's an odd thing to go wrong. The IR receiver itself is very unlikely
to die, and it seems highly unlikely that the logic behind it would pack
in without other more serious things going wrong too. If it were me, I'd
take the lid off and check / re-solder any connections between the IR
sensor and the circuit board (it may even just plug in).

Adrian

Steve Thackery wrote:

I'm horrified that after what - two or three years? - there are no
significant advances APART from grafting HD into the existing product set
and incrementing the model numbers by 10.

I agree. I find it amazing that such a product hasn't yet been made
available. I'm still waiting for a unit to replace my Pioneer analogue
tuner machine. It does everything I want except for handling DTT. To be
honest, I'd cope without a dual tuner although that would be preferable.

The DVD issue is an interesting one. I'm sure there are many people out
there still using VHS machines to record TV for PORTABILITY. The fact is
that sometimes, you want to be able to watch a recording on another TV,
in another room or even pass it to your mother-in-law or whoever.

A straight PVR is fine for someone who watches all their TV in one room
and never wants to keep a program long term (yes I know you are not
supposed to do that). For anyone else, a method of archiving to DVD is
the obvious solution.

I understand the technical dificulties (discussed to death on here last
year), but even if the transfer to DVD could only be done in real-time
(the data needs to be transcoded from the DVB transport stream to a
DVD-compliant format), it would be better than nothing. I could buy a
Hummax and a DVD recorder, but to be honest, I don't want two boxes sat
under my TV (the Hummy is especially large I believe). I want one box
that can do PVR, DVD and act as a DTT receiver for my TV. I can't
believe that there isn't a market for such a devce.

Perhaps Hummax should make one. I'm sure they would make a killing. The
lack of DVD is the only thing stopping me from getting one.

Adrian

"Steve Thackery" wrote in message
...
There is a Sony RDRHXD860S which has freeview playback functionality
and DVD burner builtin.
Terrible user reviews though.

Yes, I bought one and took it back in disgust. Only the one digital
tuner, note, which disqualifies it, to be honest. I took it back because
of the utterly hopeless live TV features - it takes around 10 seconds to
pause after pressing the pause button, and you can't unpause it for a
minimum of about 45 seconds! Also it doesn't buffer the programme by
default, so you can't just rewind and watch a piece again. Bloody
useless.

I swapped it for the Panasonic I mentioned, which doesn't even try to do
any of that live TV stuff, but at least it only cost £350 instead of £400.
To be honest it was money wasted - it's unusable as a PVR compared with
the Hummy and Digifusion - and I almost never use it except as a basic DVD
player.

I'm horrified that after what - two or three years? - there are no
significant advances APART from grafting HD into the existing product set
and incrementing the model numbers by 10.

3 years ago I bought a Philips DVDR725H DVD Recorder (only analogue tuner,
but 160GB hard drive and 6 hour time shift buffer) and was so pleased with
it, I bought the Philips HDRW720 (electronically the same but with 80GB hard
drive instead of 160) for use as a secondary machine in the bedroom.

The HDRW720 went faulty recently and the insurance company provided a Sony
RDR-HXD870 DVD recorder. This has an analogue and a digital tuner, a 160GB
HDD, but no time-shift buffering. Sony's idea of pausing live TV is,
essentially, a "Record from now" button - absolutely bloody rubbish.

So I quickly got rid and now have a Philips DVDR7260H which I got a few
weeks ago for £169.99 at www.empiredirect.co.uk and it's brilliant. One
digital and one analogue tuner ( no DVD recorder in the UK AFAIK has twin
digital tuners), a 160GB HDD and 6 hours timeshift buffer. It seems that
only Philips have implemented the buffer functionality in their DVD
recorders. Why, when the technology has been around for over 3 years now,
have none of the others?

Oh, also getting the BT Vision box - twin Freeview digital tuners, 80GB
(IIRC) HDD, etc., etc.

John