What PVR?

[EskiBrew]

Ok, I am aware I will probably get 101 answers here and have no idea which to pick but... what budget priced PVR would you recommend?

Until November 09, we only received 4 analogue channels (no, 5 had not reached us). In December, all analogue channels were turned off and about 20 freeview channels were made available (we are on a relay transmitter so only get a subset of the available channels).

I therefore bought a Bush 250 PVR from Dabs.com for £51. To begin with we were happy with it but we now think it has some shortcomings:

1) The picture does not always keep up with the sound - I thought this was probably because the transmitter was running on low power until they had fully switched over however it is still doing it and we are only about 500 yards from the transmitter tower with the aerial pointing directly at it (the signal strength meter screen on the PVR reads a GOOD signal).
2) When recording a channel, the problem above is accentuated because we end up with short gaps in the program.
3) We have recorded a lot of CBeebies stuff for our little lad however the list of recorded stuff is not very east to navigate.

I am guessing that I paid too little for the box and should get something more expensive (with the hope that it will be better). On my wishlist is:

1) dual tuner (record1, watch1 or record 2)
2) EPG+ desired
3) easy editing (cropping, joining etc) of saved programs
4) easy navigation through saved programs (manual categorisation would be nice)
5) top up tv not required (it will not get used)

Ideally it would be nice to have a navigation system something like Windows explorer style where I can see the recordings as a list and select several to delete at once etc. I guess I could look a Windows Media Edition but I'm not keen on running a PC 24/7

Any suggestions for PVRs to consider instead :wha:

 

[Muddydisco]

I don't know of any Pressure Relief Valves that can do what your looking for :wha: :rofl:
Seriously I wouldn't know where to start. Hope some others do for you. :thumb:

 

[trunky]

Go with a windows pc and you will be happy. I've been running one of the slim Dell Vostro pc's for 18 months and it's been great, originally on Vista but now on Win7 (which is such a huge improvement). Quiet and easy to use with the media centre remote although I do have a bluetooth KB and mouse when required. Win7 handles up to 4 tuners of each type and the USB style plug in ones are just fine. The machine wakes up from suspend to record scheduled tv without a hitch and sleeps afterwards.

Of course they don't make the same spec pc anymore, but they do have the inspiron zino hd which is what I would probably buy now if I wanted a new one, it's only downside is 2.1 audio which you may be ok with.

 

[EskiBrew]

Go with a windows pc and you will be happy. I've been running one of the slim Dell Vostro pc's for 18 months and it's been great, originally on Vista but now on Win7 (which is such a huge improvement). Quiet and easy to use with the media centre remote although I do have a bluetooth KB and mouse when required. Win7 handles up to 4 tuners of each type and the USB style plug in ones are just fine. The machine wakes up from suspend to record scheduled tv without a hitch and sleeps afterwards.

Of course they don't make the same spec pc anymore, but they do have the inspiron zino hd which is what I would probably buy now if I wanted a new one, it's only downside is 2.1 audio which you may be ok with.

Thanks Trunky (and thanks MD :lol: ).
I guess one of the slimline PCs might be an option. If you use regular Win7, what software do you use to access EPG etc?

 

[unclepumble]

THE DELAY YOU ARE SUFFERING IS PROBABLY DOWN TO THE BOX NOT BEING SET UP CORRECTLY, LOOK IN YOUR SETTINGS MENU AND SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY FOR AUDIO DELAY, IT IS COMMON FOR DIGITAL TO HAVE AUDIO OUT OF SYNCH WITH VIDEO YOU USUALLY HAVE TO SHIFT ONE OR THE OTHER BY 50MS, IT SHOULD BE EASY TO DO.

SHANE

 

[beer taster]

HI EB
I have a Topfield 5800 and would recommend it. It's not a budget PVR but is very good. check out http://www.toppy.org.uk/

 

[EskiBrew]

I've been investigating these Topfield pvrs as suggested by 'beer taster' and they look superb - the TAP feature seems to make them almost infinitely customisable. I've been bidding on the TF5800 model on eBay but they still go for significant prices - oh well, will keep trying - bound to get one sooner or later. Thanks for the pointers :thumb:

 

[beer taster]

the TAP feature seems to make them almost infinitely customisable.

The TAPs that are available are great. i run MYSTUFF tap. I'm told it works as good if not better than SKY+. I really like the feature that allows you to search for any listing that has a specific word in the title eg "motor". this means that my hard disk is nearly always full of motorsport . Stops the wife filling it with rubbish. A friend has his linked to the internet and has a TAP that updates the EPG data from the radiotimes website so he can get far more info about the programs.

I've had my toppy for a few years now, at the time the Humax was the main competitor, infact the Humax picture quality was slightly better than the toppy.

Mark

 

[evanvine]

Boy do I feel old and out of the swim.
PVR, EPG, TAP etc ??? :?

 

[Wez]

That TF5800 does look great, we just have a cheapy one at the moment but that has me tempted.....although I'm also thinking of going back to Sky HD :? :wha: :hmm:

 

[unclepumble]

That TF5800 does look great, we just have a cheapy one at the moment but that has me tempted.....although I'm also thinking of going back to Sky HD :? :wha: :hmm:

I'm thinking of binning sky HD, it is very overpriced to watch HD repeats repeats repeats, unless you watch loads of football its not worth it. & if I didn't have a watershed on the box (I pay I choose the programs) from 7pm then IT would just be cbbeeies all day and emercorrienders all night, plus a bunch of fictional policemen that actually nick criminals, pure fiction!

The Fact that the (I Pay I choose the programs) works, is the only reason I don't go to freeview.


Shane

 

[EskiBrew]

That TF5800 does look great, we just have a cheapy one at the moment but that has me tempted.....although I'm also thinking of going back to Sky HD :? :wha: :hmm:

Finally got myself a Toppy TF5800 on eBay :party: - just waiting for it to arrive - seems to be slow at posting :cry: