Betamax and other recording devices

[Grimmie]

FOOLED YOU.

Okay, what I have been tasked with finding (read: asking 5punkers about) is finding some sort of easy to use device to record a freeview channel while the viewer watches a different freeview channel. The TV in question is a Panasonic with freeview built in. To my knowledge, that's not going to work properly, as the whole watch-one, record-one thing relied on having an analogue signal to tune in to on a separate input, no?

Technology is to be used by Granny Grims, so needs to be fairly basic and user friendly for old'uns.

Our other choice is a TiVO box, or similar, as it's fairly easy to use and she already has a virgin phone line.

Thoughts?

[Joose]

Er...right. I *think* I understand what you are asking for. If you just want something to let you record something and watch something else, and you don't mind how its done, buy damn near any freeview PVR (box with a hard drive in it). They pretty much all have two tuners in them now, allowing you to do what you want to do, and are mostly easy enough to use. My Gran uses one without issue, and she is not the most technically literate. A quick googling says you are looking upwards of about £60 for one of them.

If you mean you want to record using the tuner in the telly...yeah, no. Don't do that.

If she is already with Virgin and she is in a cable area, the cheapest/easiest option may be to get her a V+ box through them with the lowest end TV package.

[HereComesPete]

Yeah, don't get her a tivo. They are rather snazzy, but also bloody complicated compared to pretty much all other tuner boxes. Fella I know fits them for virgin, he's taking out almost as many as he's fitting because joe public can't use the remote.

[Grimmie]

Thanks, Joose!

I don't believe Virgin offer V+ any more, they've hooked up with TiVO and that's all they seem to do in terms of recorder.

Freeview PVR sounds like the job though, didn't realise there was such a hybrid monster available, so we'll look for that.

[Grimmie]

Yeah, don't get her a tivo. They are rather snazzy, but also bloody complicated compared to pretty much all other tuner boxes. Fella I know fits them for virgin, he's taking out almost as many as he's fitting because joe public can't use the remote.

My parents have one now, they forcibly removed the V+ and made them upgrade. I assumed that was standard now.
Yeah, it's a little backwards to use, but you're only really using two or three of the fancy buttons to do stuff.

PVR is probably what we'll end up with anywho.

[mrbobbins]

Humax freeview PVR's are fairly well regarded, otherwise there are loads of cheap ones around, you could probably get one in Tesco or Sainsburys pretty cheap.

Check it has dual tuners though (most will do) as you need that to watch one channel while recording another (you can do this without dual tuners but will be restricted to watching a channel on the same mux as the one being recorded)

[Joose]

My parents have one now, they forcibly removed the V+ and made them upgrade. I assumed that was standard now.
Yeah, it's a little backwards to use, but you're only really using two or three of the fancy buttons to do stuff.

PVR is probably what we'll end up with anywho.

How odd, no one has even asked if we want a TiVo box, let alone made us upgrade. Last time I looked at it, it was a sodding expensive optional extra.

[FatherJack]

My parents have one now, they forcibly removed the V+ and made them upgrade. I assumed that was standard now.
Yeah, it's a little backwards to use, but you're only really using two or three of the fancy buttons to do stuff.

PVR is probably what we'll end up with anywho.

How odd, no one has even asked if we want a TiVo box, let alone made us upgrade. Last time I looked at it, it was a sodding expensive optional extra.

Same here, about £200 I think they told me. My V+ is a piece of shit and has to be reset at least once a week or it just locks up and I've always hated the way you have to do Play, FFWD, etc with your fingertips rather than your thumb - that TiVo remote looks much better.

[TezzRexx]

My parents have one now, they forcibly removed the V+ and made them upgrade. I assumed that was standard now.
Yeah, it's a little backwards to use, but you're only really using two or three of the fancy buttons to do stuff.

PVR is probably what we'll end up with anywho.

How odd, no one has even asked if we want a TiVo box, let alone made us upgrade. Last time I looked at it, it was a sodding expensive optional extra.

Same here, about £200 I think they told me. My V+ is a piece of shit and has to be reset at least once a week or it just locks up and I've always hated the way you have to do Play, FFWD, etc with your fingertips rather than your thumb - that TiVo remote looks much better.

Same again here. They offered me a V+ box, for free but I had to pay £20 DELIVERY. For that price I would expect Richard Branson to deliver it himself.

Naked.

Wearing a bow tie.