HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

Can anybody recommend a HDD/DVD recorder to buy/avoid.

I've got around £270 to spend.

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

Do you mean a Freeview box?

Topfield 5800 is dead good, though a bit techy; luckily there are some pleated-trouser-and-active-sandal-wearing techy people with enough time on their hands to set up discussion forums to help out ;)

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

No I mean a DVD recorder with a built in HDD, so you can recored stuff off TV on to the HDD instead of a video tape

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

I'd leave that sort of purchase till next year when there will be much better kit out. The current dvd recorders won't be a patch on the blue ray or HD recorders and your £270 will be wasted on outdated kit. I think ASDA sell a dvd recorder for less than £50 if you really must have one now.

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

If I were you, I'd restrict my search to boxes with a digital (Freeview) tuner anyway. Analogue terrestrial is going to be switched off soon and, perhaps most importantly, you'll be able to record the digital signal directly from DTT. This means you wont get the quality loss from the conversion from digital to analogue to digital. The recorded picture could well be better than you could get recording it from the scart of an STB.

Somebody else asked about this a while back and the Panny they came up with looked good. Also remember that you can use DVD-RAM as though it were a hard disk - albeit with limited capacity.

This one:
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...ad.php?t=36536

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

What does it mean when a unit has a dual-tuner, does it mean that you can record to DVD & HD at the same time?

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

It means you can view or record two channels at the same time. There may be other limitations imposed by the user interface but it's likely you can do what you suggest - or indeed, record both channels to the HDD or possibly the same DVD.

Re: HDD/DVD-R wanted
 

Yeah, exactly what altis says - with dual tuners you can watch one channel whilst recording another... the only thing to be aware of is if you're using, for example, a set top box as the source for your recording, you won't obviously be able to watch one channel whilst the PVR records another (unless you have 2 set top boxes). But, with dual tuners, you can record something off your STB and then watch something on terrestrial or a freeview box that is also going through your PVR.