Foolproof Way Of Recording

[securespark]

Hi folks.

My Ma has a Panasonic TX L42 E5B. It has Freeview built-in.

I have had a look through the instructions. it seems you can playback from USB but not record to it. It is unclear whether you can record to SD card. I can't see how timer programming works.

What would be the simplest, most foolproof way to record future programmes?

Buy a PVR?

Bear in mind she is a very much technophobe!

Thanks, guys.

Edited to correct error.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

probably the easiest way to record would be with a USB HDD.

I have the same tv but havent got round to trying recording yet, also bear in mind that when recording you cant watch another channel so a PVR might be better in the long run

 

[securespark]

Don't PVR's have Freeview built-in? I'm tired and can't figure how that would work...

What would be the difference between this

http://www.richersounds.com/product/dvd-recorders/panasonic/dmrex83/pana-dmrex83-blk

and a Humax PVR, apart from the DVD element?

Presumably, this ( http://www.richersounds.com/product/digital-set-top-boxes/panasonic/dmrhw120/pana-dmrhw120
) is the same as a Humax PVR?

 

[ericmark]

Fool proof must be Sky+ so easy you find the program you want in the guide and the press the record button.

However keeping the recording is something else as once your subscription lapses the programs you have recorded are lost.

When freeview was just coming out I bought a HDD/DVD recorder it replaced the old DVD recorder and since no freeview it was cheap well under the £100 mark. Philips where old one was Aldi's own and found it will not allow me to record my old VCR tapes which the old one would. However it did allow me to cram more onto a DVD than old one. I could select a lower record quality and also delete all adverts before I transferred onto DVD. And so easy to just record extra then remove excess after. Not like the old VCR.

It is a fiddle to set to record but it has 6 hour live rewind and that can be kept so if some one comes to door I can after they have left transfer it to the Hard Drive. However some times it does fail so although cheap not what I would call fool proof.

If it's important then I would use the Sky+ box every time then transfer latter to HDD/DVD recorder.

When I had UHF aerials up I used the computer to record freeview TV. Worked well and transferring onto LAN Harddrive a Maxtor I could watch what I had recorded with my Blu-ray player even with PC switched off.

Now no aerial for freeview and it was such a pain changing numbers all the time I have no intention of putting up another aerial. One day channel 1 was BBC North West the next day it was BBC Wales and it keep swapping so ditched it. I have free to air and Sky satellite TV and no intention of returning to terrestrial.

The free to air box was very basic but on standby I could not measure the power used with plug in meter. Sky+ was around 20W on standby. And the free to air box could be programmed to switch on at set time on set channel so handy to record with.

 

[ChrisFrost]

If you want simple then avoid any recorder where there's a choice of recording on to the hard drive or DVD. Similarly, avoid DVD only recorders. In other words, stick to a plain vanilla hard disc Freeview recorder.

Next, avoid cheap Chinese recorders which have a tendency to have strange logic confusing pigeon-English instructions.

Finally, Panasonic come in for a lot of stick about their EPG containing adverts. It takes up valuable space, not to mention that the EPG itself is a different and less user-friendly design Humax and Sky.

Over all, I'd say have a look at Humax. If your budget is up to £229 (Panasonic DMREX83) then consider the Humax HDR-FOX T2. Of all the Freeview recorders and receivers I have installed this one made the best looking pictures and was just about the easiest recorder to use.

 

[Sam Gangee]

If your Ma is like mine, you'll be round there every week to remind her how to juggle the two remotes. You'll label everything, stick notes on the walls, and she'll STILL screw it up.

 

[securespark]

Chris, cheers. But to avoid a DVD means buying a separate unit for DVD playback.

That means, as Sam points out, more confusion for me poor old Ma!

So, if she has a Humax HD PVR, how would she ditch the built-in FV tuner in favour of the Humax HD one?

I'm just thinking of the confusion factor.....

If she bought Panasonic, I guess it might be less confusing if she operate everything from one remote?

Is the Humax PVR any different to the YouView one?

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pvrs/1293643/humax-youview-dtr-t1000

 

[ChrisFrost]

These are questions only you and she can answer. Some people are perfectly fine with one box doing both things. Others much prefer one box per task. It's individual choice. The challenge with a DVD/HDD Freeview recorder is finding something that's point-and-click simple. The more options of where and how to record, the more likely the chance it'll be too complicated to use.

As for the Freeview tuner in the TV. If you want to keep things simple then set the TV so it only sees the connection from the recorder and the DVD player. Lots of TVs now have the ability to disable specific inputs. Help your ma understand that the recorder handset does channel change, and probably volume too.

If you have the opportunity, then go have a look and play with some of the devices on your shortlist. That's a great way of finding out if they are intuitive. Alternatively, you could try downloading the user manuals and having a read. If you feel they're a bit complicated then imagine how your sainted ma will feel when left alone with them.

 

[securespark]

Thanks!

Have decided after reading reviews that the You View unit may be the best option.

We'll try it out at John Lewis.

The one criticism about DVD/ HDD PVR's is that you can't put HD content onto DVD.

If we had a YouView unit and a separate DVD Recorder, could we put HD content on disc then?

 

[ChrisFrost]

If we had a YouView unit and a separate DVD Recorder, could we put HD content on disc then?

No, sadly not. Well, not in HD quality at least.

DVD doesn't do HD. For that you need a Blu-ray recorder. But Blu-ray recorders are limited to what they can record in HD quality from external sources. You can't duplicate a Blu-ray disc, and you can't copy a HD recording from another TV recorder (Sky HD / Freeview HD) if it is copy protected. The output will be scaled down to SD quality, so you might as well stick with a DVD recorder in the end.

HDD refers to Hard Disc Drive rather than HD (High Definition). It's a cause of some confusion, but that's just an unfortunate consequence of the similarity in acronyms.

 

[securespark]

If we got a Panasonic DVD player, could we use the TV remote to operate it?

 

[ChrisFrost]

Probably.

 

[securespark]

Thanks, Chris.

So we will probably have a look at You View and a Panasonic DVD at JL.