PVR

[mick]

Does anyone have experience of, non dedicated TV recorders?

I currently have an old Humax that we use incessantly for recording TV and whizzing through ads and other bits we don’t like. It's starting to give trouble. Firstly the remote is rubbish and has to be replaced quite often, Now the box is starting to freeze and not respond to the remote in any way, Unplugging and rebooting solves the problem temporarily.

The guy who sold it to me now tells me that Humax are notorious for 'glitches'. Wish he'd said that earlier!

Anyone with experience of other makes?

Mick

[nimbus]

I have two Panasonic HDD TV recorders and they have been fine, one came from a charity shop for £20. Panasonic generally seem more reliable than others, A Sony stopped working when there was a software update, a frequent problem with them, I had to bin two Bluray players for similar reasons so won't buy Sony now. My Samsung TV has three intermittent faults, a previous Samsung suffered panel failure when just over two years old, next time I buy a TV it will be Panasonic.

[willien]

FWIW, What Hifi gives the highest rating for a non subscription box to the Humax Aura. I have one and like it. I have used Humax boxes for years. Yes they get tempramental when they get old (as have I) but they have a hard drive so its pretty well par for the Course. Maggy has an older Humax and she is so pissed off with the operating system of her brand new smart tv that she only watches tv via the Humax with the tv essentially operating only as a flat screen panel (she also has a sound bar).

[mick]

Jul 22, 2024 17:41:46 GMT willien said:

FWIW, What Hifi gives the highest rating for a non subscription box to the Humax Aura. I have one and like it. I have used Humax boxes for years. Yes they get tempramental when they get old (as have I) but they have a hard drive so its pretty well par for the Course. Maggy has an older Humax and she is so pissed off with the operating system of her brand new smart tv that she only watches tv via the Humax with the tv essentially operating only as a flat screen panel (she also has a sound bar).

Thanks.

We only ever watch through the Humax, but that's nothing to do with the TV, it's to enable us to avoid the ads and skip the 'padding' in many current programmes.

Mick

[zx9]

Jul 22, 2024 15:35:10 GMT nimbus said:

I have two Panasonic HDD TV recorders and they have been fine, one came from a charity shop for £20. Panasonic generally seem more reliable than others, A Sony stopped working when there was a software update, a frequent problem with them, I had to bin two Bluray players for similar reasons so won't buy Sony now. My Samsung TV has three intermittent faults, a previous Samsung suffered panel failure when just over two years old, next time I buy a TV it will be Panasonic.

(My bold) Now mostly re branded Vestel made in Turkey, budget engineered at a premium price.

[zx9]

We had a Sony DVD / PVR which worked well for ten years or so but was eventually replaced by a Samsung BluRay / PVR. The GUI on the Samsung is not as good as the old Sony and it does occasionally fail to record for no obvious reason, it would be nice to have a hint to the problem so you could do something about it.

Would I recommend the Samsung? Yes given the lack of other models available at the time but I have not looked at what if anything is available at the moment.

[nimbus]

Jul 23, 2024 7:35:32 GMT zx9 said:

Jul 22, 2024 15:35:10 GMT nimbus said:

I have two Panasonic HDD TV recorders and they have been fine, one came from a charity shop for £20. Panasonic generally seem more reliable than others, A Sony stopped working when there was a software update, a frequent problem with them, I had to bin two Bluray players for similar reasons so won't buy Sony now. My Samsung TV has three intermittent faults, a previous Samsung suffered panel failure when just over two years old, next time I buy a TV it will be Panasonic.

(My bold) Now mostly re branded Vestel made in Turkey, budget engineered at a premium price.

Some are indeed made by Vestel, largely the cheaper smaller screen models. This has been the case for some time, most TVs seem to be made in Slovakia now. Samsung appear to have various problems, my next door neighbours set had a new panel fitted under warranty (I'm surprised the TV was not replaced) and I have had problems now with two. Ok it's not a big sample, the intermittent faults on my current 55" set do not appear to be isolated from what I read online.

[Chester PB]

I can also recommend a Panasonic PVR (mine is an HWT-130EB purchased form Amazon). I upgraded to this one 6 years ago because I wanted to record Freeview HD TV and also get the 5 channel surround sound on the HD channels from BBC and Channel 4 (ITV and Channel 5 always 'mix down' 5 channel sources to 2 channel for no obvious reason). For the sound, it is important to have a digital sound output socket so that you can bypass the PVR's own 2 channel decoding and use an external decoder. My TV set is now 19 years old and obviously does not have a Freeview HD tuner, but is does have a 768 line display which is ideal for the 720 line HD picture. Also, the TV has no speakers of its own, and I have always used a decent sound system and speakers (some now over 25 years old).

Also, the PVR is virtually silent in record and playback (I have previously owned some models from other manufacturers that were surprisingly noisy). I sometimes also use it purely as a 'tuner' for Radio 3 and 4, for which the TV set does not need to be on (and when playing back recordings from these radio stations, once the recording has been selected from the list displayed on my TV, the TV can be turned off).

[don]

Our Humax works great 👍

[Chester PB]

Jul 23, 2024 17:22:14 GMT nimbus said:

Jul 23, 2024 7:35:32 GMT zx9 said:

(My bold) Now mostly re branded Vestel made in Turkey, budget engineered at a premium price.

Some are indeed made by Vestel, largely the cheaper smaller screen models. This has been the case for some time, most TVs seem to be made in Slovakia now. Samsung appear to have various problems, my next door neighbours set had a new panel fitted under warranty (I'm surprised the TV was not replaced) and I have had problems now with two. Ok it's not a big sample, the intermittent faults on my current 55" set do not appear to be isolated from what I read online.

My TV just had its 19th birthday and continues to work perfectly. However, it's a Pioneer 43" Plasma made in Japan, so even if I recommended that manufacturer to anybody it would be impossible to buy one since Pioneer abandoned making TV sets and claimed to have lost money on all their flat screen models. At the time prices for this size had just dropped from over £3,500 to just over £2,000, so it looked like good value (I could now buy a Chinese LED set for much less than that, but very much doubt it would last as long). Also, in 2005 it was one of the best definition sets available, having 768 lines resolution when the only sources available were 580 line PAL DVDs. Now it is perfect for Freeview 720 line HD signals.

[JohnY]

Jul 25, 2024 17:10:46 GMT don said:

Our Humax works great 👍

Plus 1. I use it with a 30 inch Dell monitor that includes many inputs and a sound processor. Sound can go to the old hi-fi either directly from the Humax or from the monitor. The monitor is also used for the PC. I can't watch TV, play DVDs, or use the PC at the same time.

[willien]

Jul 26, 2024 9:53:04 GMT JohnY said:

Jul 25, 2024 17:10:46 GMT don said:

Our Humax works great 👍

Plus 1. I use it with a 30 inch Dell monitor that includes many inputs and a sound processor. Sound can go to the old hi-fi either directly from the Humax or from the monitor. The monitor is also used for the PC. I can't watch TV, play DVDs, or use the PC at the same time.

Amateur!

[spinno]

I'm reading this, whilst watching cricket on the kindle, in queue position 6 for the GP surgery on the phone and editing photos on the pc. Oh and I've just finished my sandwich.

[Chester PB]

Jul 26, 2024 14:02:41 GMT spinno said:

I'm reading this, whilst watching cricket on the kindle, in queue position 6 for the GP surgery on the phone and editing photos on the pc. Oh and I've just finished my sandwich.

My last job before retirement was running the accounts office of a legal firm that did a lot of conveyancing (on a busy Friday it was possible that I would have to set up, check and send five or six million pounds from the firm's client account for for purchases). I only had to warn my employers once that multi-tasking means that nothing gets my full attention, so did they want to take the risk?

[zou]

Jul 26, 2024 17:50:17 GMT Chester PB said:

Jul 26, 2024 14:02:41 GMT spinno said:

I'm reading this, whilst watching cricket on the kindle, in queue position 6 for the GP surgery on the phone and editing photos on the pc. Oh and I've just finished my sandwich.

My last job before retirement was running the accounts office of a legal firm that did a lot of conveyancing (on a busy Friday it was possible that I would have to set up, check and send five or six million pounds from the firm's client account for for purchases). I only had to warn my employers once that multi-tasking means that nothing gets my full attention, so did they want to take the risk?

If the accountability for loss sat with the accountant why not take the risk.