Which Hard Disk recorder - MySky or HDD/DVD recorder?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Which Hard Disk recorder - MySky or HDD/DVD recorder?

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#16520 13-Oct-2007 17:03

Hi
Having just moved to NZ, the adverts are killing us - every 10 mins is too frequent. Our solution will be to get a hard-disk recorder so we can record stuff and then skip the adverts on playback, so I'm looking for some advice on what to get. My TV is a Philips (32pw9576) 32" CRT with 3SCART inputs, and we have a standard Sky decoder to allow us to get the sports channels.

Options I'm considering:
1. MySky
2. Sony RDRHX750S
3. Panasonic DMR-EH57GN-S

Pros & Cons that I've thought of are:
MySky.
+ integrated with the EPG, so can easily set up recordings for the coming week
+ series record feature
- can't get recorded shows/movies off the box to keep
- don't own the box, the $600 is an install fee, so what happens if we move house, or decide to jack in Dky for Freeview next year.
? don't know if we can skip through adverts on playback

Sony
+ intelligent chaptering, should make it a breeze to skip the ads
+ can burn stuff to DVD to keep
- doesn't have SCART output. I do have a S-video input on the front of the TV, or could get a converter cable, adding to the cost.
- not integrated to EPG
+ I can buy the Sony or the Panasonic today, without having to wait for an install.

Panasonic
+ SCART outputs make it easy to hook up to the Sky decoder
+ can record from HDD to DVD to keep
? don't know about the chaptering
- to record for the upcoming week we'd need to book the programmes on the Sky EPG then set the times on the HDD box.
- presume that we can't do a series record function.

Our primary need is to avoid the adverts, but I'd also like the option to keep stuff that I record.

Can anyone give me advice on what to choose?

openmedia

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#90933 13-Oct-2007 18:03

Or something like myPVR, which can handle freeview + your existing sky decoder.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#90952 13-Oct-2007 20:49

Thanks for the suggestion - having taken a look at the myPVR ink, I'll rule it out for the moment - mainly because I don't have any BB points near the TV. Does it come with wifi capability to link to the internet? Also any idea how much it costs (inc. the cables to connect to the TV scart inputs)?

illicit

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#90975 14-Oct-2007 11:12

Why did you not consider the Pioneer HDD - it has an ad skip button on the remote!

If i were you, i would get MySky & a DVD recorder (Tony hughes makes alot of good points in a post somewhere on the value of the $600 for mySky) Plus DVD recorders are cheap as these days, make sure you test each one out at home though - even though they have connection options you look for, they can be a real pain to use.

Good Luck

tonyhughes

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#90982 14-Oct-2007 12:22

Tony Hughes making good points
(It was gonna happen one day I suppose

)

signz

95 posts

Master Geek

#90989 14-Oct-2007 14:15

Hi

I have a Sony RDR-HX720 and I love it. At the time it was a toss up between My Sky and the Sony or a Panasonic.

I like the Sony but sometimes wish I had gone the My Sky path. I rarely transfer to DVD (maybe once a month) and could live without the DVD.

The biggest issue is having to do bookings twice ... once on the Sony and once on Sky. Then I have to "hide" the Sky remote so nobody changes channel half way through the Sony recording something. It's odd when you are watching something and suddenly the Sky program guide appears in the middle of your recording!

I once had someone come along and touch the Sky remote a few hours before a late night booking to record the F1. Sky still switched recorded OK ... except they had left the Mute on ... F1 can be boring enough but without sound ... arghh. I'm sute this would not be an issue if using integated recorded in MySky.

Apart from the Sky double-entry issue the Sony has worked 100% reliably, done what it was told to do (which is more than the Sky decoder has done at times).

I pushed hard enough to get a 5-year warranty with the unit at a decent overall cost so I figure it will be ancient history by the time it goes bung.

160GB is enough as long as we clean up once a week (it has to record the news, Shortland St and a few other "essential" things every day).

The auto chapter thing is good when you do stuff like record a LONG program where this is a big break (gaps between raves for MotoGP, A1GP etc) and you want to jump ten minutes or even an hour or two. It's not good at skipping ads (in my unit, anyway) as it seems to go just that bit too far and so you have to rewind. 3x fast forward is good enough. 1.3x fast forwards (with sound) is ideal for those boring where you just want to go a bit quicker (how many times do you need to see Mr Wilkinson's kicking wind up) but not lose the commentary or risk going too far past.

Dale

kUD

27 posts

Geek

#92204 24-Oct-2007 12:47

Thanks for your replies.

I decided to go for the Panasonic box, which I picked up in Harvey Norman's for $520, and so far I'm really pleased with it.

Reasons for chosing it:-
I didn't feel comfortable with MySky. There are some good points above about the EPG etc. but in the end I think it was the lack of information on the Sky web site, and the inability to go an touch one in a shop that led me to discount it.
Once that decision was made it was between the Sony and the Panasonic (I didn't consider the Pioneer because my initial conversation in Harvey Norman's steered me in the direction of the other 2, and I'm gullible enough to believe a salesman that seems to know his stuff). I picked the Panasonic simply because it has the scart connections, saving me from having to buy more cables. The main selling point of the Sony was the autochaptering around ads, so when signnz says is somewhat unreliable it was an easy decision.

What I've found so far:
+ The HDD/DVD remote can be programmed to control my philips TV....so my wife loves the fact we're down to 2 remotes!
+ The 'timeslip' function allows you to specify the number of minutes to forward/reverse when replaying from the hard disk. Ad breaks are exactly 4 mins, so its very easy to either skip them, or spend a few mins inserting chapters in order to delete them entirely.
+ You can play a DVD whilst recording on the HDD; or you can start watching something on HDD whilst the rest of it is still recording.

- The 2 step operation for recording (ie book a programme on Sky and set the HDD to record it) is a bit annoying, particularly if you want to book for something 4 or 5 days ahead because of the slow scrolling on the Sky EPG. I wonder if its any easier on MySky?
- The Sky EPG timings aren't precise - so setting the HDD for 4.55am to record the GP for example, it missed the start of the programme. Again, I think this is a Sky issue rather than a Panasonic one. I'm now compensating by adding a few mins to the start and end times for a recording.
- Still hooked in to a single tuner on AV2 (the sky decoder), so can't watch one channel and record another. My approach will be to get a small indoor antenna (our house doesn't have an external one), and use the analogue tuner in the HDD/DVD to allow us to pick up the terrestrial channels, which is the bulk of what we watch.
- Region setting on the DVD. I thought this was a thing of the past, but the region is locked to 4; and half my DVDs are region 2. I'm following up on a thread on another board about how to unlock the machine, and will follow up on this board once I'm successful.

I'll post again if anything else crops up, but once again, thanks for your assistance in my decision making.

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

tonyhughes

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#92208 24-Oct-2007 12:59

kUD: - The 2 step operation for recording (ie book a programme on Sky and set the HDD to record it) is a bit annoying, particularly if you want to book for something 4 or 5 days ahead because of the slow scrolling on the Sky EPG. I wonder if its any easier on MySky?

Yes it is easier on mysky. The current days listings come up instantly (much better than the old Sky Digital box often not showing listings at all - that just doesnt happen on the MySky), and skipping forward 24 hours is possible, and it takes ~approx 1 second to populate the screens EPG data. Very responsive. (Almost as good as MCE/GBPVR/Mediaportal)

- The Sky EPG timings aren't precise - so setting the HDD for 4.55am to record the GP for example, it missed the start of the programme. Again, I think this is a Sky issue rather than a Panasonic one. I'm now compensating by adding a few mins to the start and end times for a recording.

Sky issue I think. Again, the MySky has programmable start/end buffers... I must change mine, the default has cut a couple of programs off.