What are the options for twin tuner terrestrial Freeview recorders, that aren't Dish ?

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › What are the options for twin tuner terrestrial Freeview recorders, that aren't Dish ?

chairman

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#320387 7-Aug-2025 16:48

My 90yo Mum is in need of a new Freeview box and I'd really rather not get another dish because they only seem to last about a year if we're lucky.

She watches on-demand and streaming stuff using the smart-tv functions so all it has to do is reliably (hence 'not dish') record freeview.

I can see a Panasonic DMR-HWT260GN that looks like it will do the job but those are 6 years old now, are there any others ?

It can't be a build-it-yourself solution, has to be something you buy ideally from one of the big chains and take it out of the box, plug it in, and it just works.

Cheers

wellygary

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#3400776 7-Aug-2025 16:56

What does she watch most? and how long does she keep the recordings?
TVNZ's on demand offering is pretty damn good, it allows you to catch up partway through a streaming programme,

Also how many channels does she often need to record?
If she's got the ability to stream one channel, she might be able to make do with having a single tuner recorder?

chairman

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#3400792 7-Aug-2025 18:43

She records some of the RNZ National shows pretty much every day so it's not all local TV3/TVNZ unfortunately.

Scotdownunder

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#3400820 7-Aug-2025 20:11

I would suggest an old Tivo box, provided it has been upgraded. They are easy to use. I still use mine.

JimmyH

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#3405874 20-Aug-2025 16:57

The Panny's are solid dependable hardware, but the interface is a bit fugly. After the experience of troubleshooting for an elderly relative who had the misfortune to buy a Dish unit, I would take them over a Dish any time. I have two Panny decoders (A BWT840 and an XW390, BDR/DVD recorders with hard drives and FV tuners) which worked well for ages. They still work fine (for playing the odd shiny disc), but I have more or less given up on free-to-air (dire programming, and insufferable ad load) and haven't had a working aerial for about two years.

One day I might get around to fixing the aerial....... but there's just nothing on free-to-air that I want to watch, and I would need to engineer something with a way to record is and auto-magically remove the ads for me, maybe that's something AI will be able to do soon?

Stu1

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#3405894 20-Aug-2025 18:08

Hate to say it but one of easiest option is mysky box with just Freeview channels . Easy to use and record

shk292

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#3405906 20-Aug-2025 18:38

I’ve had good results from two Panasonic recorders. They are reliable and give very good quality recordings

sure the UI is not the prettiest but it works

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larknz

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#3405911 20-Aug-2025 18:54

I've given up on the freeview planner for recording. I use manual programming and it is really reliable.

fe31nz

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#3405948 20-Aug-2025 23:12

JimmyH:

insufferable ad load

With the right software, skipping the ads is no trouble. But in order to get Freeview certification, the ability to skip the ads easily can not be there. This is a huge problem with boxes like the Panasonic ones, as it makes watching TV on them a bad experience, and then people stop watching FTA television.

With the old analogue TV and VCRs, skipping the ads was easy. When the change to digital TV came, the one feature I knew I could not live without was the ability to skip the ads, and I tried several free software programs and settled on MythTV, which makes that easy. But you can not buy a MythTV box - you have to put it on a Linux computer you have built for it, and do the maintenance yourself. I have done that, and skip ads every day, and I am still watching FTA TV. I have also set up MythTV to record from Sky and can skip the ads there too - on a real Sky box, skipping the ads is too difficult, just like on Freeview certified boxes.

farcus

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#3405951 21-Aug-2025 00:43

chairman:

My 90yo Mum is in need of a new Freeview box and I'd really rather not get another dish because they only seem to last about a year if we're lucky.

She watches on-demand and streaming stuff using the smart-tv functions so all it has to do is reliably (hence 'not dish') record freeview.

I can see a Panasonic DMR-HWT260GN that looks like it will do the job but those are 6 years old now, are there any others ?

It can't be a build-it-yourself solution, has to be something you buy ideally from one of the big chains and take it out of the box, plug it in, and it just works.

Cheers

I'm impressed with your mother!!
My 91 year old Dad has a Flipper TV remote (2 x buttons - volume up / down and channel up / down) - but if he ventures beyond channel 1 or 2 I get a phone call saying he can't watch TV because it's broken!!

chairman

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#3405952 21-Aug-2025 01:11

She's pretty good at following instructions, but I did have to put coloured sticky dots on the remotes and say things like "on the red dot remote / on the blue dot remote". I tried a cardboard sleeve for the TV remote so the only buttons visible were power, input, and volume but the dots was easier and they don't keep slipping :)

I couldn't find a tivo box so I think we'll end up going with a Panasonic, my sister has two identical ones - don't get me started on how hard it was to explain that one remote controls both receivers so you have to cover the receiver on the one you're not controlling - and they do seem to just work. The UI is what it is, once you learn how to use it it does the same thing every time and that's what matters.

Cheers for the comments everyone.

larknz

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#3405966 21-Aug-2025 07:51

If you are in Christchurch I have an HWT260 which I could let you have at a good price.

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cb1

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#3406116 21-Aug-2025 13:47

chairman

I couldn't find a tivo box so I thin we'll end up going with a Panasonic, my sister has two identical ones - don't get me started on how hard it was to explain that one remote controls both receivers so you have to cover the receiver on the one you're not controlling - and they do seem to just work. The UI is what it is, once you learn how to use it it does the same thing every time and that's what it is

You can set the remote for 1 unit to be a different code so that they both don't operate at the same time. No need to cover the sensor

chairman

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#3406139 21-Aug-2025 14:34

cb1:

You can set the remote for 1 unit to be a different code so that they both don't operate at the same time. No need to cover the sensor

My sister had to be given half a page of written instructions about how to use a power bank. "Put a rolled up towel in front of the one you don't want to use" is much easier than making her remember which remote to use. But it's useful to know, thank you !

JimmyH

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#3408684 29-Aug-2025 21:02

fe31nz:

With the old analogue TV and VCRs, skipping the ads was easy. When the change to digital TV came, the one feature I knew I could not live without was the ability to skip the ads, and I tried several free software programs and settled on MythTV, which makes that easy. But you can not buy a MythTV box - you have to put it on a Linux computer you have built for it, and do the maintenance yourself. I have done that, and skip ads every day, and I am still watching FTA TV. I have also set up MythTV to record from Sky and can skip the ads there too - on a real Sky box, skipping the ads is too difficult, just like on Freeview certified boxes.

Interesting. I thought MythTV used Comskip and have been told that it didn't work reliably for NZ TV?

If it works I could certainly build a MythTV box fairly easily without major expense. It would just be a question of whether there's enough worthwhile programming on FTA TV to justify bothering. Less interested in Sky now, I have a Sky box, but their programming is deteriorating badly - esp SoHo which used to have a lot of good material on it, and now...... doesn't.

But back on topic. OP: Buy a Panasonic. Or a TiVo if that's your thing. But Dish units are hot garbage. (I just spent time on the phone with an elderly relative who wants to know why "her TV has stopped working", I guess it's back to fighting with the Dish decoder this weekend for me.....).

fe31nz

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#3408694 29-Aug-2025 22:15

JimmyH:

Interesting. I thought MythTV used Comskip and have been told that it didn't work reliably for NZ TV?

If it works I could certainly build a MythTV box fairly easily without major expense. It would just be a question of whether there's enough worthwhile programming on FTA TV to justify bothering. Less interested in Sky now, I have a Sky box, but their programming is deteriorating badly - esp SoHo which used to have a lot of good material on it, and now...... doesn't.

But back on topic. OP: Buy a Panasonic. Or a TiVo if that's your thing. But Dish units are hot garbage. (I just spent time on the phone with an elderly relative who wants to know why "her TV has stopped working", I guess it's back to fighting with the Dish decoder this weekend for me.....).

I was not talking about automatic skipping of ads - as you say, in NZ the software that recognises ads does not work well, so I do not bother to use it as it really does not help. What I am talking about is the ability to use the remote (or a keyboard) to quickly skip over the ads and start watching the programme again. That ability is what you are not allowed to put in any Freeview certified device, and what MythTV does very well. Unless I deliberately slow down the process of skipping the ads, I never see more than a few frames when I skip an ad break. And it happens very quickly. My fingers have been doing it for so long now that it is pretty automatic.