Hard Drive Recorders??

[Benny J]

Hey Guys,
Since i have moved to shift work there is going to be a lot of quality TV missed and with footy season coming up, I have decided i am going to invest in a hard drive recorder.

I dont really know anything about them or even where to start with looking at one and i was hoping someone here might know a little bit about them?

What size should i get (80gb??), brands, features to look out for, save from hard drive to a disk, cost???

I really have no idea so any advice would be appreciated!!

Cheers

Benny J

 

[Dr. Curlytek]

Probably going to want a dual HD "HDD" recorder (a.k.a. DVR)...unless you already have a HD tuner or three. I got a TiVo, not because I wanted a TiVo...I would have rather got a more user-unfriendly Topfield or Beyonwiz...but because it only cost $360 ($400 at a video game show, including a wireless adaptor which I didn't need and sold for $40 ). But actually, it is kind of growing on me. It only has a wee HDD (80 Gb) which is not big enough to be recording too much HD content. It is expandable with an external drive, but you'd probably want double or quadruple that really if you are mainly storing stuff on the recorder. Which at the moment is the only option for the TiVo (can't backup any recordings). I'd wait until the Freeview comes out, as this will compete and should help to bring prices on these devices down. Both TiVo and (I assume) Freeview have free EPG's, which are great.

If you are going to backup stuff externally, then a 160 Gb HDD should be fine. I think most of the Topview and Beyonwiz devices can backup to external devices, but be aware that their simplest EPG's are subscription based, you can set them up with free online services though (it gets a bit trickier to optimise).

As with anything like this, it depends on what level you want to use the device. For simple ease of use, recording stuff to watch soon and not worrying about storing things long-term, then TiVo or Freeview would probably be the go. If you want to get more advanced, then Topfield or Beyonwiz are probably the best options. Just drop into a major retailer to check them all out first hand before you commit to anything.

 

[Benny J]

SO you dont reckon go with a name brand such as pioneer or panasonic??

Yeah My TV already has a HD tuner in it....so i am only really after something that i can record tv shows and the odd footy/bball game.

I might pop down somewhere tomorrow and see what advice i can get instore.

 

[wonga_5]

make use wat ever u get is at least digital

 

[graham]

Ive got a Beyonwiz DP-P1. Nothing user unfriendly about it though at over $700 you would want to use all of its features ie network media player.

 

[chadjaja]

make use wat ever u get is at least digital

Yeah I have an analogue one and it only works with my old black and white TV and the sound needs to play thru my 8 track player

Just make sure it isn't steam driven Benny.

I got mine ages ago online from eBay. Just one of those supernet ones and its done the job. Next time I'd get a dual tuner one though but at the time they were pricey.

You don't need a huge amount of HD space imo as you watch it and delete it for the most part. Better off just not watching TV and going outside and playing hopscotch and touch footy with the other kids though.

 

[WoobieZarz]

Had mine for quite a while (about 5-6 years), Panasonic brand, 200GB HDD with DVD Burner.

Used to be perfect for when they had Marathons on Austar, record, and turn off the screen!!

I think Wonga was referring to HD(hi-def)/digital, not analogue/digital.

Our telly has an in-built HD Tuner, but I cann't project that picture to the recorder to record, I have to use an antenna-tuned picture through the recorder, which is no where near as good quality.

Not knowing prices these days, but I believe there are HDD Recorders with Dual HD Tuners (record two channels at same time), which should be more than enough.

Although they still sell them, it's pointless in going after a DVD recorder without the HDD in it.

 

[wonga_5]

for taking the piss out of me, i wish nothing but bad things on the Celtics

hahahaha

 

[Dr. Curlytek]

Our telly has an in-built HD Tuner, but I cann't project that picture to the recorder to record, I have to use an antenna-tuned picture through the recorder, which is no where near as good quality.

Although they still sell them, it's pointless in going after a DVD recorder without the HDD in it.

Well, a digital signal is "antenna-tuned" as well, you mean your HDD/DVD recorder has an analogue tuner. And that is also what Wonga was referring to, and it is a good point, it was just a humorous sentence.

So you don't necessarily need a dual HD tuner, if your TV is already equipped with a HD tuner, unless you frequently want to record two shows at once, as you'll be able to record one and watch one with a single additional HD tuner. It will be a price vs convenience issue then, as a dual is going to cost at least $600-700 for a little while yet.

In my opinion, a DVD recorder is useless, period. There is almost no situation where I found myself wanting to record shows off my old HDD/DVD recorder onto DVD. If you want to backup, make sure whatever you get is capable of backing up to a USB HDD/memory stick or better still, over the computer network to your PC HDD.

 

[WoobieZarz]

Well, a digital signal is "antenna-tuned" as well, you mean your HDD/DVD recorder has an analogue tuner. And that is also what Wonga was referring to, and it is a good point, it was just a humorous sentence.

So you don't necessarily need a dual HD tuner, if your TV is already equipped with a HD tuner, unless you frequently want to record two shows at once, as you'll be able to record one and watch one with a single additional HD tuner. It will be a price vs convenience issue then, as a dual is going to cost at least $600-700 for a little while yet.

In my opinion, a DVD recorder is useless, period. There is almost no situation where I found myself wanting to record shows off my old HDD/DVD recorder onto DVD. If you want to backup, make sure whatever you get is capable of backing up to a USB HDD/memory stick or better still, over the computer network to your PC HDD.

Unless you wanted to record the NBA All-Star Weekend or NBA Finals when Austar show it...

I used to record them, clip them down, and stick them on DVD to keep.

Yeah my recorder is Analogue, hence not being able to transfer the digital picture from the telly to it.

 

[Benny J]

Unless you wanted to record the NBA All-Star Weekend or NBA Finals when Austar show it...
.

Yeah....thats the only reason i would want to put them on DVD....mainly sports...
I am gonna go down today and see what i can work out!

 

[Dr. Curlytek]

Unless you wanted to record the NBA All-Star Weekend or NBA Finals when Austar show it...

I used to record them, clip them down, and stick them on DVD to keep.

Yeah my recorder is Analogue, hence not being able to transfer the digital picture from the telly to it.

Well, you can't transfer the digital picture to it only because televisions do not generally have a tuner output. You could easily run a digital set top box into your (or pretty much any) HDD recorder, and record the digital signal. The problem with having the digital set top box and HDD recorder as separate units is you have twice as much work to record a show (you need to make sure both the set top box is on the right channel and HDD is set to the correct input).