Hard Disk Recorders Rock!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Apr 2008, 04:00

I've owned a Digital Terrestrial (Freeview) PVR and HDD/DVD Recorder (also Freeview) for a few years now and they still continues to impress me.

Whether you own a PVR (Cable, Freeview or Sky) or a HDD/DVD Recorder (Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic), the ability to:

1. PLTV - Pause Live TV.
2. Rewind Live TV - If I miss what was said I just Rewind. Most HDD/DVD Recorders don't have this function, it's usually reserved for PVRs.
3. Series Link a TV Series - Being able to schedule a TV program/series then just wait for it to record
4. Schedule a program/series to record then forget about it - Not having to worry I'll miss one episode or miss a TV show I wanted to see.
5. 7 or 14 Day EPG - Paper guides seem so outdated.
6. The ability to search by program name or genre in the EPG - Not all Hard Disk Recorders can do this. My Humax PVR can but my Pioneer HDD/DVD Recorder cannot.

I still find so useful. I could never go back to solely a Video or Disc based Recorder.

Having to faf around finding a suitable video/disc, having to worry the program will fit on the video/disc, having to worry when I go away how I'm going to record multiple programs to only 1 video/disc.

I hear Tivo is the big daddy of PVRs (even beating Sky+). It's a pity Sky's dominance killed Tivo in the UK because it really was a Personal Video Recorder. Not only could you search by thousands of meta data types (such as actor name), it even learns your viewing habbits and I hear is bloody good at knowing what types of programs you like, it then just records them for you.

The only Tivo boxes still available are second hand analogue only models.

A Hard Disk Recorder is one of those things you don't realise quite how useful it is until you've got one, but when you do you couldn't go back.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 19 Apr 2008, 04:30

Heh, what a name, Humax.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Apr 2008, 04:47

Along with Topfield they make the best Digital Terrestrial (Freeview) PVRs in the business. Topfields cost a bomb though, the Humax PVR is already sold at a premium compared with most PVRs.

They are both like light and day in quality jump from the cheap PVRs though. I previously own a couple of rubbish ones.

What PVRs are sold in New Zealand?

A PVR is basically the same as a Hard Disk/DVD Recorder but it only has a Hard Disk and unlike a Hard Disk/DVD Recorder it records the digital stream unmodified direct to the hard disk. A Hard Disk/DVD Recorder converts it on the fly into a DVD compatible format.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 19 Apr 2008, 05:39

bradavon wrote:What PVRs are sold in New Zealand?

I wouldn't know, look up "Freeview" on dse.co.nz.

EDIT: Looks like it might be some outfit called, Zinwell.
http://freeviewnz.tv/index.php?section_id=4
I've never heard of them. Now that the NZ standard is known, it probably won't be long before the cheap Asian decoders start popping out.

They just very recently rolled out Freeview HD over here. The state-owned broadcasted channels (TV1 and 2) only broadcast upscaled SD, TV3 (owned by Canadian outfit, CanWest) are the only channel broadcasting actual HD content, mostly American shows obviously.

The standard over here is MPEG4, 1080i.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Apr 2008, 05:52

I was wondering if there as any big names in PVRs in NZ. I guess not. The big names in the UK don't tend to be "well known".

Only Sony of the big brands have ever released a PVR and it was actually a rebranded Digifusion, at a much higher price point. They've all otherwise stuck solely to HDD/DVD Recorders.

The general thinking over here is HD over an Aerial is years away given the lack of bandwith available. I wonder how they've overcome that in NZ. That link you posted looks like NZ is further forward with Free HD TV than we are.

How come that link is recommending a dish for Freeview SD but Aerial for Freeview HD? Are dishes common place in NZ? Only specialists have them over here, except for the Sky brand which is proprietary. Which is why Freeview in the UK is so far only over an Aerial.

It's likely over here the first Free HD TV will be over Satellite. There's talk of a new DVBT2 standard being developed so Freeview can use MPEG4, more on it here:

https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... php?t=4577

In the UK DVBT is still MPEG2. How they're going to over the fact there are millions of MPEG2 boxes already out there I've no idea.

That link seems to suggest you can get Freeview HD in 75% of homes, that's very impressive. Sky HD covers 90 something percent but you need to pay to get it, it costs a bomb.
Crikey the amount of channels is pants though:

http://freeviewnz.tv/index.php?section_id=5

I bet that's why they can achieve Freeview HD to 75% of homes. Freeview in the UK offers roughly double the amount of channels, as well as about 30 radio channels:

http://www.freeview.co.uk/channels/?__S ... ]=channels

Some are excellent quality but some are sent out with such a low bitrate they can look pants at times.

EvaUnit02 wrote:The standard over here is MPEG4, 1080i.

As is Sky HD in the UK, although some channels cheat and use an anamorphic aspect ratio to create the 1920x1080 illusion.

Thankfully none broadcast Upscaled SD. There barely seems any point in doing that. The TV does it anyway.

"DVD quality widescreen picture and sound" - I cannot people still believe this shit.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 19 Apr 2008, 06:50

bradavon wrote:How come that link is recommending a dish for Freeview SD but Aerial for Freeview HD? Are dishes common place in NZ? Only specialists have them over here, except for the Sky brand which is proprietary. Which is why Freeview in the UK is so far only over an Aerial.

No idea, I'd imagine it's because a lot people have Sky Digital.

Sky basically has the monopoly, since they've bought up all the exclusive sports live broadcast rights. Cricket, rugby, rugby league... Sky has them all locked down.

Crikey the amount of channels is pants though:

http://freeviewnz.tv/index.php?section_id=5

It never bothered me, for years we've had only three or four main free-to-air channels. My friend has Sky and my God, there's virtually nothing worth watching on it, if you have the basic package. You have to pay extra to get the movie channels, which are the only ones that would interest me.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Apr 2008, 16:44

I didn't realise Sky were in NZ too. They're the only Satellite provider of any size in Ireland too.

My friend has Sky and my God, there's virtually nothing worth watching on it, if you have the basic package.

It's the same here. Sky dishes in the UK at least are proprietary though and won't work on any other network.

Up until must be 11 years ago all we had was 5 free channels, then OnDigital came along (later rebranded to ITV Digital) who tried to take on Sky at their own game and disastrously lost. It's a pity as it was a good service, some of what Sky offers for much less. You got a mixture of Free and Paid stuff, for a short period it even offered more Sport than Sky.

Then when they died in May 2002 we were pretty much back to 5 channels (the network continued to run). Then in October 2002 Freeview came online (a bit like Skynet I'd imagine) and we've had more than 5 channels ever since.

Today Freeview UK offers a really healthy service, all for the price of a £20 box (and decent aerial, most old ones work well enough), boxes worth owning cost £30 and I wouldn't consider a Freeview PVR under £100, bottom end.

I imagine Freeview HD in the UK is much harder to achieve than NZ due to the sheer number of households in comparison. NZ's landmass is much greater though, so that must account for something.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 19 Apr 2008, 17:08

We have twice the population density of NZ...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Apr 2008, 17:36

I know, but you're a bit off

UK: 60.5m
New Zealand: 4.2m

Roughly 12 times the population.

Source: Wikipedia.

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So does anyone else have a PVR? I think Salty has Sky+

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 20 Apr 2008, 05:14

I don't recall saying anything about population size, we have twice the population density of NZ. Higher density requires less coverage, requires less cost. TV is broadcast, not unicast.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 20 Apr 2008, 17:41

I have a freeview hard disc in the bedroom.don't use it much though,most of my timeshift recordings are done via the sky HD box.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Apr 2008, 19:22

Lourdes: My mistake you did say density. I missed that. So you're saying there's even less reason we don't have Freeview HD?

Salty: What Freeview PVR do you have? How does it compare to your Sky PVR?

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 21 Apr 2008, 20:54

bradavon wrote:
Salty: What Freeview PVR do you have? How does it compare to your Sky PVR?

i'll look later i can't remember.i think it's a humax, it's got twin tuners.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 21 Apr 2008, 22:07

90% of PVRs have Twin Tuners (which means two digital tuners) unlike all Hard Disk/DVD Recorders which only have a single tuner (plus analogue tuner). About 70% you can record two things at the same time, with the rest one tuner being reserved just for watching.

If you have a Humax 9200 (the prior model being a 8000) you have a very nice PVR. I'd be keen to hear how it compares to your Sky+ PVR. I understand the latest firmware brings it up to the same features Sky+ has had for years.

It took Freeview flipping years to release the Freeview Playback certification.