Any news on HD PVRs?

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jonathan18

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#26318 18-Sep-2008 08:58

I was wondering whether there is any news on the possible release date / brands / specs of any Freeview HD PVRs?

Originally, I remember Freeview talking about the "3rd quarter" of this year, which is nearly over; elsewhere on this forum I've read by the end of the year.

Now I'm in a position to buy one, I'm starting to get angsty about when they'll turn up.

Any knowledge out there gratefully received.

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#165278 18-Sep-2008 10:02

Hey dude most pvrs are useless. They often dont come with much storage space and are only usefull if its intergrateable with a pc. You will need alot of hdd space unless you like deleting stuff. But some recorders like the tevo are pretty cool. But one day someone will make a software program that goes into a video file and finds the adds and takes em out. Basicly you may as well get a home thetre computer. It will be able to record more channels simultaniously than the pvr and has more hdd space. It will have so much more functionality than a pvr. :D

butlerboy

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#165282 18-Sep-2008 10:11

There's the Vantage 6000HD. It 's not freeview approved though and doesn't have a 7 day epg, just a now then. I think you need to programme it like a dvr. Not ideal but as far as I know it's the only one out there.
There's a Hyundai terrestrial/sattelite combo with pvr advertised on www.ultrapower.co.nz . Not sure how far away that is.

ventolin

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#165286 18-Sep-2008 10:27

The freeview approved PVR's are not due till the end of the year as far as I know.

The Vantage works well as I have one, in regards to the 7 day EPG this doesn't allow you to scroll through and record from it anyway so it doesn't add anything to the Vantage in terms of ease of use.

The Hyundai will be the same unless it pulls the satellite EPG and uses that for both systems.

butlerboy

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#165299 18-Sep-2008 11:20

They may use the sattelite feed for recording and the terrestrial feed for viewing. No HD recording but a good compromise if the price is right, would also mean the the HDD could be smaller as only recording in SD.

ventolin

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#165301 18-Sep-2008 11:52

Indeed but it looks like it's going to take as long to get here as the Certified PVR's so I know i'd rather record HD

Quidam

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#165306 18-Sep-2008 12:11

It's not for everyone, but you can build your own PVR right now.

It took a bit of time setting it up (hardware/software) but the set up I have now provides features I just can't imagine any off-the-shelf PVR would ever be able to deliver.

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amphibem

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#165310 18-Sep-2008 12:32

pistolpower:But one day someone will make a software program that goes into a video file and finds the adds and takes em out.

People have. They are called mythcommflag (for MythTV) and Comskip (for Windows based software like MediaPortal).

And there is no point calling all PVR's useless because they don't have enough hard drive space. To start with you don't actually need all that much (I get by fine with ~200GB of recordings), and there is no reason when these devices come they won't have 500+GB drives) Current PVR's are speced for analogue SD and hence have smaller capacities.

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butlerboy

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#165311 18-Sep-2008 12:33

ventolin: Indeed but it looks like it's going to take as long to get here as the Certified PVR's so I know i'd rather record HD

does anyone know if the certified hd pvrs have dual tuners?

butlerboy

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#165314 18-Sep-2008 12:35

butlerboy:
ventolin: Indeed but it looks like it's going to take as long to get here as the Certified PVR's so I know i'd rather record HD

does anyone know if the certified hd pvrs have dual tuners?

sorry. i ment the ones that are going to be certified. will they have a dual tuner?

tonyhughes

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#165316 18-Sep-2008 12:40

butlerboy: There's the Vantage 6000HD. It 's not freeview approved though and doesn't have a 7 day epg, just a now then. I think you need to programme it like a dvr. Not ideal but as far as I know it's the only one out there.
There's a Hyundai terrestrial/sattelite combo with pvr advertised on www.ultrapower.co.nz . Not sure how far away that is.

Nice product.

From a design/aesthetics POV, pretty much the single worst website I have visited in a long time.

butlerboy

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#165329 18-Sep-2008 13:12

I wonder how much they had to drink/smoke when they designed the site?? Pity, because they have some nice products hidden in the stars.
Back to the hyundai pvr, i wonder if the hdd is built in?

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jonathan18

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#165330 18-Sep-2008 13:13

Thanks for the replies.

So it looks like we'll be waiting a while longer for the real McCoy - is there any point trying to get a reply from Freeview on when we can expect "official" PVRs?

I should have been clearer that what I am referring to is a PVR that records in HD, has twin tuners, and has the programming integrated with its EPG - the last of these being a big leap forward over current (non-Sky or comptuter-based) PVRs.

We currently use our PVR to avoid watching live TV - everything is recorded and watched and then, in 99% of cases, deleted. I've held off buying any Freeview receiver waiting for a PVR with the above features so allow us to continue watching TV in a similar manner. However, I'm getting frustrated about missing out whenever I see that "HD" sign on the screen!

Our PVR only has 80GB (yep, it's that old - cost us $1500 at the time!), and we never run out of space (due to deleting once having watched a programme), despite recording at an ok bitrate - I doubt we'll need anything larger than 320GB for HD in that case, so capacity should not be an issue.

What size is the datastream of a Freeview HD channel? (I assume TV3's is highest due to being 1080?). And, by the way, what's the capacity of the hard-drive in the MySkyHD unit?

Thanks for your assistance

Jaxson

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#165334 18-Sep-2008 13:26

For $300 you can buy an hd box you can use on another tv later, and it will plug directly into your existing SD hard drive recorder that cost you $1500.

I heard recently that freeview are developing a version 2 EPG that can be used to schedule recordings. The freeview UHF EPG is really good, so it would be nice to have this with any PVR, even if you couldn't 1 click schedule from it anyway.

MySky info:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=34&TopicId=26285

Computers can be set up to do all PVR stuff, and will have additional features, but it takes time and costs around $1500 for a new setup. Can be done though but it's not for everyone.

In my opinion:
Set top box gets you going now. Get the HD capable recorder later when they are available and less expensive. Remember freeview UHF is HD capable, but that doesn't mean everything is HD at this point in time. If you have a widescreen tv, get some form of freeview fullstop.

jonathan18

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#165336 18-Sep-2008 13:36

Jaxson: I heard recently that freeview are developing a version 2 EPG that can be used to schedule recordings. The freeview UHF EPG is really good, so it would be nice to have this with any PVR, even if you couldn't 1 click schedule from it anyway.

That's good news - hopefully something will indeed be released this year; guess it's just a matter of being patient...

Set top box gets you going now. Get the HD capable recorder later when they are available and less expensive. Remember freeview UHF is HD capable, but that doesn't mean everything is HD at this point in time. If you have a widescreen tv, get some form of freeview fullstop.

Sounds sensible, but the main problem with this suggestion is to be able to watch anything in HD we'd have to watch it "live", thereby have to suffer 16-20 minutes of ads every hour! I'm so used to being able to fast-forward through ad breaks, it would be a backwards step to have to watch them.

Anyway, you're right - the first PVRs, when they come out, will no doubt be expensive, and possibly carry less features; a typical danger of being an early adopter...

wellygary

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#165337 18-Sep-2008 13:37

jonathan18: Thanks for the replies.

So it looks like we'll be waiting a while longer for the real McCoy - is there any point trying to get a reply from Freeview on when we can expect "official" PVRs?

I should have been clearer that what I am referring to is a PVR that records in HD,

And there my friend is the reason you will be waiting a while, The network content providers are so paranoid about HD content getting into the "wild", ( ignore the fact that a PC based PVR can do this) they are going to make any any HD capable PVR so DRM'd up the wazoo you wont know which way to look

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