Recommend me a good HD video recorder

Stevo_666
Stevo_666 Posts: 61,457
edited May 2012 in The hub
Like the title says, I need a good hard disk video recorder. The old DVD/tape machine we've got is ancient and doesn't work properly now after the switchover to digital channels in my area. Don't need too many bells and whistles, the main things are a good capacity hard drive and needs to be reliable/easy to use.

Any top tips?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]

Comments

  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    Like the title says, I need a good dard disk video recorder.
    The title says HD video recorder. Do you want Hi Def, or a Hard Disk recorder, or both?
    And what are you recording, cable or freeview?
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  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,457
    YeehaaMcgee wrote:
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    Like the title says, I need a good dard disk video recorder.
    The title says HD video recorder. Do you want Hi Def, or a Hard Disk recorder, or both?
    And what are you recording, cable or freeview?
    I'm after a hard disk recorder, to record freeview stuff (might get Sky later this year, not sure if that makes a difference?). I'm not much of a video buff so Hi Def is not essential.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    If you definitely are getting sky, then I'd wait. Sky+ is a pretty good setup.
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  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,457
    YeehaaMcgee wrote:
    If you definitely are getting sky, then I'd wait. Sky+ is a pretty good setup.
    Not decided yet - bizarrely it's my other half who wants it, though if Sky+ is good and saves buying a load of separate kit, that might sway me a bit. (I've got not big problems with getting Sky other than I'm not sure that I'd watch enough to get my moneys worth).
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    I've just replaced a 40gig Techwood? (no idea but I think they're made in Turkey) with a 320gig one. They seem to work ok, can record two shows at the same time, while you can watch something already recorded.
    Mainly got one originally as I hate ads.
    At around £50 on Ebay worth a punt, although I'm sure you can get fancier ones.
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

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  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,457
    cooldad wrote:
    I've just replaced a 40gig Techwood? (no idea but I think they're made in Turkey) with a 320gig one. They seem to work ok, can record two shows at the same time, while you can watch something already recorded.
    Mainly got one originally as I hate ads.
    At around £50 on Ebay worth a punt, although I'm sure you can get fancier ones.
    Ta - at £50 that's worth a look even if we do end up getting Sky eventually. 320 gigs should be plenty enough hours for us (the women in the house hate wiping stuff they've recorded even if it's crap).
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    There seem to be a few random names at around that price - presumably all the same inside, just rebranded on the outside.
    320gig seems huge to me, I've been trying to fill it up just for fun, but with all the sh1t on TV it's hard. Haven't got past about a third of recorded/ timers set.
    Nice function it has over my old one is series recording.
    Might need to do some searching, but I have no real life, so don't mind hunting around between posting random sh1t here.
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

    Parktools
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    320Gb might seem a lot but once you start recording in HD it will soon fill up, if you buy pre-owned you can fit a larger SATA HDD.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    He's not looking at HD - HD = hard drive.
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

    Parktools
  • .blitz
    .blitz Posts: 6,197
    Have got a Sony something or other 240GB HD/DVD player/recorder. Despite it having all the bells and whistles it has the most bizarre interface ever.

    I bought it because I thought it would seamlessly integrate with the (Sony) TV but although the remotes share some functions the recorder seems to be powered by 3 x Windows 95 operating systems that literally boot up and shut down like a computer - you switch the recorder on and come back in a minute or two. When it's all settled down and you've got used to the seperate interfaces for the EPG, Titles, Dubbing and Set-up (the designers obv never spoke to one another) it's not too bad it just makes anything other than simple recording & playback as difficult as it could be.

    It also locks up from time-to-time just like a real computer and has a habit of recording 0h 0m 1s of some programmes.

    Looks good when switched off though.
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    Wow, that sounds horrible.
    I find the EPG interface on many (most?) freeview TVs is incredibly shonky as well. Some companies really don't "get" interface design.
    A lot of them are also quite obviously repurposed crap computers, which saves cost, but leads to a system ultimately unsuited to the task it's being sold for.
    Sky is consistent, and for the most part works well, but I am still rather amused that my now 5 or 6 year old PC which is a bit of a do-everything machine, is a better television receiver, than the dedicated sky box, even though it's also used for gaming, photoshop, mixing music and so on.
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