Freeview at last... what to get ?

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xpd

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#39687 18-Aug-2009 10:09

Now Prime is finally on Freeview, the wife has agreed to get a Freeview box

Now, the next thing is.. what the heck do I get ?

We currently have a Sky dish from when we had Sky a few years ago so in theory that should be right to go for DVBS...... DVBT however looks nicer because of HD (we have an HD Ready TV) but not 100% sure what sort of signal we'd get being in bit of a valley (I know a couple of users here live in my area and have it but didnt mention how relaible etc the signal is).

The wife dosent really care what we get long as we can record it - so queries :

The "cheap" units on Trademe with PVR functions - any good ?
How much space does a 1 hr recording use if I was on DVBS ? DVBT ?
Do they use only USB sticks or will they use an external drive such as my WD Elements 160gb ?

TIA

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davidcole

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#248044 18-Aug-2009 10:25

I can answer the space stuff.

DVB-T is about 6gb an hour, DVB-2 about 2gb an hour.

I know someone with a Hyundai dual tuner DVB-S box (160gb hard drive) - running two satellites. Looked ok to use to me.

Also know someone else who got a cheap DVB-T box of 1-day that had PVR functions on it. Seems ok, lists the EPG, but doesn't record off it (i.e. you have to go and schedule a recording but channel/start/stop like an old video recorder) - bit pointless if you ask me, but good value at $140.

So really I don't know of many decent recorders - I haven't seen the officially sanctioned Freeview HD recorder (you know the $1000 one).

Maybe something like a would suit http://tivx.co.nz/ but haven't seen one of those in action as well.

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xpd

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#248060 18-Aug-2009 11:01

Looks interesting....but out of the price range the wife is thinking of ;) If budget wasnt an issue Id just build up an HTPC.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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foamfollower

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#248064 18-Aug-2009 11:12

Great time to get into it.

I started with a Digistar 810U, and there are several threads about it and its similar variant the Digistar 811U for example http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=31460. It is a great value box (around $100 on Trademe) and if you get the firmware generously made available in the thread above I can't see you can go wrong.

There are two current temptations: the Hyundai AH3110; the best of both worlds in that it can do the HD terrestrial broadcasts as well as exploring the satellite possibilities (e.g. the SBS broadcasts). I am assured that is still effectively a one tuner box - you can't watch terrestrial and record satellite - so if you started with the Digistar 810U and added on this box you would have that option.

You mention your TV is HD Ready - that sounds like one of the 768 vertical lines jobs to me. If it is, you may well decide to stay with satellite transmissions. I experimented with a borrowed satellite box that upscaled very well to 720p, as well as an HD box, and to my aging eyes there was no great difference on my HD Ready TV. If you are in a similar position, you may want to consider the Ultraplus F-9000HD; very tempting - see http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/forum/index.php/topic,985.0.html.

However, it seems that it is important to retain domestic harmony, and in that case you may wish to wait until early November and invetigate the Tivo - my wife saw them in Aussie and it was game over! The Tivo interface is very friendly, and seems to engage those who struggle a little with technology.

Good luck!

openmedia

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#248069 18-Aug-2009 11:24

davidcole: I can answer the space stuff.

DVB-T is about 6gb an hour, DVB-2 about 2gb an hour.

I know someone with a Hyundai dual tuner DVB-S box (160gb hard drive) - running two satellites. Looked ok to use to me.

Also know someone else who got a cheap DVB-T box of 1-day that had PVR functions on it. Seems ok, lists the EPG, but doesn't record off it (i.e. you have to go and schedule a recording but channel/start/stop like an old video recorder) - bit pointless if you ask me, but good value at $140.

So really I don't know of many decent recorders - I haven't seen the officially sanctioned Freeview HD recorder (you know the $1000 one).

Maybe something like a would suit http://tivx.co.nz/ but haven't seen one of those in action as well.

DVB-T is about 6GB / Hr for TV3, for Prime it should be 1-1.5 GB /hr as they are only in SD.

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.

Jaxson

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#248094 18-Aug-2009 12:10

Hyundai was really where I was headed, till I found out it's a one tuner box. I like that sat does open up more options, like SBS currently for example, over just the UHF tranmissions.

I currently have the PlayTV addon for the PS3, but it's not ready yet for general consumption. Only does TV3, pictures on everything else, just can't do our AAC audio yet. An update for this was coming to fix this audio in France after they upgraded to our same HD format, but this has been coming for a while. I like the idea of one box doing everything for me to make it simple.

PlayTV is also slower than a normal TV box, but maybe comparible to a hard drive PVR. Did a quick check last night on start up times. Play TV takes a long time to load compared to a dedicated TV tuner but similar I guess to something like my old analogue Philips hard drive recorder.

PS3 startup is 20 seconds.
Play TV startup is another 25 seconds on that.
Play TV exit back to PS3 menu is 15 seconds.
And PS3 takes 7 seconds to turn off.

There are some other PVR's coming for the HD service soon, but they will all be expensive.

In my opinion there is a huge difference in picture quality between the UHF and sat services. If you are in a DVB-T UHF area then I would personally recommend you go with this format, even if you don't have a full hd tv.

xpd

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#248461 19-Aug-2009 07:52

Well, looks like its going to be DVBS.

We had a friend come round last night who has just started working as a contractor for Sky doing installs etc. We told him we were looking at Freeview as we wanted Prime and he was surprised we couldnt get Prime via UHF.

So he tried tuning it in - nothing, not even a snowy ghosted picture. So swapped cables etc, picked up a bad quality Maori TV signal but still no Prime.
Out came the signal meter - according to his gear, our antenna is getting brilliant signal for UHF Prime etc but we just cannot tune it in on any of our TV's.

With the general "rule" of DVBT, if you can get Prime you can get DVBT, this has pushed us to DVBS instead.

He tested our dish/LNB for us too and thats fine, so just need a box (most likely the Digistar 811) and I'll be away :)

Thanks for your info guys.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#248479 19-Aug-2009 08:36

where do you live? if you receive DVB-T signal and care about picture quality and have a huge TV i'd go for terrestial hands down. but if you dont have all the above then ... probably not losing out on the much much cheaper satellite esp if you're talking PVR.

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xpd

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#248499 19-Aug-2009 09:07

Bayview, Auckland.
Have a 42" HD Ready plasma.....and yeah, money is issue at the moment so cheap cheap it will be for now ;)

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