minimoke: Freeview does not broadcast in 1080P so you do not need a 1080p TV. Indeed most broadcasts (like 99.9%) are not even in 1080i so getting a freeview box that does 1080p is a waste. TV1 and 2 broadascst in 780p. (and 780p is arguably better than 1080i). TV3 is the only station in 1080i but upscales most stuff to 1080i and there is very little content actutally in HD.
Essntially you HD needs are very small because virtually nothing you will watch is in HD- a 780P TV will be fine for you. This is of course assuming you are in a HD area and not living in the wops or a place that cant' get Maoiri or Prime TV. If you cant get a UHF signal to your new lounge then HD aint a happening thing.
780P? It doesn't exist. Anyway, I would say more and more programs will be showing up on TV3 (1080i). Quite a lot of primetime is HD, I guess it depends what you watch. Check out http://www.tv3.co.nz/Programmes/ProgrammeGuide/tabid/208/Default.aspx, way more than 0.1% in HD (and 5.1 sound).
So now you need a Freeview box that will send a signal from the box to your TV. You will need an HDMI cable for this. Do not buy an expensive one from Harvey Norman or the like. A Jaycar or Dick Smiths one will be just fine. You'll also need a two strand audio cable to take the sound from the Freeview box to your TV - these are cheap as chips.
Sound is carried via HDMI. Why would she need a "two strand audio cable" as well?
Now you need a freeview box that can send a picture to your TV and record on a sperate channel. The JD Edwards, Zinwell, Magic boxes will do this as well as TiVo. The question now is "how big is your budget?" Basically the more features you want the more it will cost. I'd be inclined to look for "ease of use". Do you need a Degree to understand the Manual or fingers as fine as needles to work the remote. I suspect "less rather than more" is what you're after AND a simple to use remote.
JD Edwards?!? Anyway, they all pretty much cost the same $600-$800. Zinwell and JCMatthew are essentially the same, so go for the cheaper larger JC Matthew everytime.
For simplicity you can't beat turning on a TV and it just working on it's own. I really think anyone living in a freeview HD UHF area would be daft not to purchase a TV with freeview built in.
However, if you want to be able to pause and rewind TV etc then yes, you'll have to view through an external hard drive unit.
If you are not in a freeview HD UHF area, and receive freeview via satellite then there's not much point paying extra for a built in freeview tuner. That said they all seem to be heading that way (well major brands are) so you may not have a choice in the future really.
Full HD vs HD ready. I don't know that the jump up in price is worth it for smaller TV screens. Likewise if you only have SD sources such as DVD or Freview Sat. As I've said before, if you go above 42" I don't think you want to be doing this with only an HD ready resolution. As screen sizes increases, so does the pixel size, and if you only have low resolution the pixels end up really big on big screen TV's.
I think the general rules of thumb should be: Get the biggest screen size you can afford. If it's bigger than 42" then get full HD. If you live in a freeview HD UHF area then get a built in tuner. Starting with the cheapest first, get the cheapest hdmi cable you can that does the job. Don't wall mount too high, what looks cool as a picture hurts your neck to watch sitting down. Twin tuners are way cooler than single tuners and work in primetime when all the good shows are on at the same time. If you want to keep the PVR simple, get freeview approved so you get the full MHEG5 EPG Get a bluray player now too, cos they're a lot cheaper now ~ $200 - $300
i'd recommend you definitly get a tv with a built in freeview tuner even if you do buy a pvr. firstly, you're future proofing yourself for when the analogue signal is turned off. secondly, i've found that i'm quite often recording something on 2 channels at the same time(ie:tv2 & tv3) and want to watch prime but can't as it's on a different mux so have to watch prime on crappy analogue.
780P? It doesn't exist. Anyway, I would say more and more programs will be showing up on TV3 (1080i). Quite a lot of primetime is HD, I guess it depends what you watch. Check out http://www.tv3.co.nz/Programmes/ProgrammeGuide/tabid/208/Default.aspx, way more than 0.1% in HD (and 5.1 sound).
Of course your're right it should be 720p not 780! And HDMI will do sound - though I've come across a couple of sets that don't synch very well and the quick/cheap fix was with the audio cable. I guess when I say there is virtually nothing in HD I'm looking at the whole FreeviewHD channels and only come across a few on TV 1, 2 and 3 - but then I was ignoring Dr Phil.
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