Dvd/hdd Recorder Combo Boxes

[sinkas]

HI,
My VCR is on the way out, and I woudl like to be able to watch ABC2
does anyone have any tips of the best way to get this sort of setup,
I see that it is now possible to buy Blu Ray recorders, is it really worth waiting unitil these become affordablle, or are they going to always be strictly for audio geeks? and I am not liley to bother getting a HD screen

I bouhgt a cheap dvd player a few yeasrs ago from strathfield, as it was able to play just about any format. That fundtion was good, hoever the machine was very poor quality and quickly **** itself,
anyone got any experiance or comments?

 

[newguy]

I have a Pioneer DVR-520H that I picked up about 4 years ago......maybe it was 5? It's a good quality unit. I've also heard good things about the LG recorders. Stay away from Sony - you pay strictly for the name and the quality just isn't up to snuff.

 

[KoNG]

for ABC2 you will need a digital STB or a tv with a digital tuner inbuilt, which most new flat panels have these days (although you are not getting a new TV i see).

Blu Ray is obviously no use really, unless you have a 1080p HD panel.
i guess the question is... do you really record that many things that you wish to "keep"..?
i know i dont, hence why a HDD is better for my situation.

you can grab set top boxes and HDD setups pretty cheap these days.. and thats probably your best bet if you are not looking at full HD

 

[sinkas]

Hi guys,
The only concession is that I woudl like to have an all in one so I can junk the knackered DVD player too, otherwise a topfield type set top box woudl be great,

Looks like a all in one with twin tuners is stll pretty pricey, around $1K, i was aiming under $500

 

[KoNG]

yeh you didnt mention that, once you get into the 2 tuner bracket its more $$... when budled with HDD and a dvd drive...
(ive got foxtel IQ.. but when my DVD player went on the blink, i just hooked up the laptop to the LCD panel via VGA cable... so no need for the seperate DVD player then..)

your best bet sinkas, would be to jump onto www.dtvforum.info
and ask your question there, someone will definately have the best option, they even do BULK BUYS.. hahahaha

only thing is that you need to make 5 posts before you can start a thread, so you might be better off just doing some searches, chances are someone has asked the very same question..!

 

[warra48]

I use a HD set top box. That feeds into my HDD DVD recorder, rather than straight into the TV. The DVD recorder feeds into the TV.
This enables me to watch all TV digital channels, which include ABC2 and 3, SBS2 etc.
As my set top box feeds into my HDD DVD recorder, I can record digital channel programs, and play them back whenever I want.
This set up even allows me to record a digital TV program while watching a DVD (keeps mrs warra happy).
If there are any special things I want to keep permanently, the DVD recorder will burn a DVD.
Total cost for both units should come at under $1K tops.
Once you have watched digital television, you'll never want to go back to analogue TV or VHS tapes.
Another benefit is that all the digital TV channels are broadcast in widescreen, i.e 16:9, rather than analogue, which is 4:3, although you need a widescreen TV to get the full benefit if you don't want to letterbox your standard TV.

I still have a VHS player, and I've piggy backed the output from that into the same input into the DVD recorder as my set top box. I can use either of them that way, and when paying a VHS tape, I can record it onto the HDD or burn a DVD of it at the same time.

 

[Gulf Brewery]

Interesting topic as my STB just died.

What do people think of these on evilbay

Cheers
Pedro

 

[Jazman]

i knows sell hd stb cheap i just got a cheapy awa from big w

 

[goatherder]

Build your own mythtv box if you've got enough geek inside. Works great.

 

[Airgead]

Build your own mythtv box if you've got enough geek inside. Works great.

Just in the process of doing this. I have a server in the roof with twin HD tuners and a shade over 1.5TB of disk. It runs the mythTV backend (and some other stuff), does all the commercial removal (best feature of mythtv) then streams it over the wireless network to a bunch of front end boxes. The front ends are made up from some VIA mini ITX motherboards, a tiny little case and a notebook style DVD burner. Ad a couple of old notebook HDDs I had lying around and a copy of mythbuntu and away we go. I have a little box attached to each TV in the house that will play DVDS, play live TV and play any of the stuff I have recorded (or downloaded). If I ever get a pay tv connection all i do is hook that up to the server and we can watch on any TV and only pay for one of their set top boxes. The VIA boards are passively cooled (no fans required) so the boxes run silently and use < 15w of power.

If you understood more than 2 words of that you are geeky enough to build one yourself.

Cheers
Dave

 

[jonbob]

I've got an LG one and DO NOT BUY ONE!
Total piece of crap, many many minor problems with it, not enought to send it back under warrennty , but enought to make sure I will never ever buy anything LG again and I was a big fan of their DVD players in the past. Timer record does not work unless the unit is switched off, it just stops working at least once a day and needs to be switch on and off at the power point to get it working again, the remote control randomly stops working, it won't play back some recorded files while it is recording ect ect
I have heard the Legend brand is worth a look, it's what I'll be getting my less than one year old LG unit dies, which I expect to happen within the next 6 months.

 

[seemax]

I've got an LG one and DO NOT BUY ONE!
Total piece of crap, many many minor problems with it, not enought to send it back under warrennty , but enought to make sure I will never ever buy anything LG again and I was a big fan of their DVD players in the past. Timer record does not work unless the unit is switched off, it just stops working at least once a day and needs to be switch on and off at the power point to get it working again, the remote control randomly stops working, it won't play back some recorded files while it is recording ect ect
I have heard the Legend brand is worth a look, it's what I'll be getting my less than one year old LG unit dies, which I expect to happen within the next 6 months.

MythTV if you have a geeky inclination, but it takes effort and time to setup.

The Topfield range of PVRs are good value and have a large following on the net with lots of community support. It also have USB/Ethernet for transferring data, updates, freeware mods, etc from your PC.

Twin SD tuners, 200Gb, wireless LAN for about $350 ---

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TOPFIELD-TF6000PVRt...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[KoNG]

Does it have a DVD player though seemax...?
sinkas was after a fully integrated box

 

[sinkas]

WHile it doesnt have a dvd, its a pretty cool unit for the money

 

[jonbob]

Sorry when I said legend before I meant topfield,