scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:16 PM |
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TV Hard drive recorders
Hi guys. Our VCR has given up the ghost so am looking to replace it with one of these new fangled hard drive recorders. Not after anything too fancy,
say 80gb, but would prefer a reasonable brand name, not one of these dodgy taiwanese ones that you've never heard of before.
The only problem is our TV doesn't have any SCART inputs - just a bog standard old TV aerial input.
Does anyone know of anything that might be suitable, or can you point me in the direction of a good place to start looking?
Thanks,
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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wacomuk
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:21 PM |
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my dad got a 80gb recorder with 2 digital tuners so you can record one channel and watch another £99 from Aldi
he has had no probs with it and its very easy to use
i think the make is Tevion
http://www.insightbookingsolutions.co.uk
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Fatgadget
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:21 PM |
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I thing you will find they are all made in the same factory somewhere in China..the only difference being the badge on the fascia! 
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:26 PM |
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Hmm Tevion, I just googled their name and the first page that came up was this
one. One guy mentions that he bought one from Aldi, but had to take it back three times in a week! That's what worries me about unheard of
brands - they seem so hit and miss as to whether they will work or not.
Still, I might check it out, do you happen to know if that's a constant price or was it on special offer?
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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Peteff
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:32 PM |
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the only difference being the badge on the fascia
I think you'll find a lot of people who will disagree with you I have the Technosonic from Aldi. There are lots around like Topfield or Humax
which are a lot better PVR but the price reflects this. You can get DVD/HDD recorders which can record from an outside source like a freeview box
which may be more what you are looking for. Try looking on digitalspy or AVforums for more in depth coverage. The Aldi one I have has been updated
over the air a few times and has got better each time. It now records 2 channels at once as long as one is watched and it does a reasonable time slip,
so you can pause the programme you are watching to put the kettle on etc. It will only record from its internal tuners though.
[Edited on 9/2/07 by Peteff]
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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wacomuk
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:34 PM |
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i think that is the normal price and i think they may be 160gb now
he has had no probs what so ever
i think you get a 2 year warranty to
http://www.insightbookingsolutions.co.uk
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:34 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
I think you'll find a lot of people who will disagree with you I have the Technosonic from Aldi. There are lots around like Topfield or Humax
which are a lot better PVR but the price reflects this. You can get DVD/HDD recorders which can record from an outside source like a freeview box
which may be more what you are looking for. Try looking on digitalspy or AVforums for more in depth coverage.
Haha, don't get me wrong, I wasn't disagreeing as such, just a little bit dubious. Maybe I have a misconception about names I've
never heard of. I'll have to take a trip to Aldi and check out what's on offer.
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:35 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by wacomuk
i think that is the normal price and i think they may be 160gb now
he has had no probs what so ever
i think you get a 2 year warranty to
Hmm 160gb and 2 year warranty would do me nicely!
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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britishtrident
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:36 PM |
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Your TV is or soon will be history anything without a Scart will be more or less a boat anchor after the analogue switch off,
Maplin are selling very cheap Freeview PVRs as are Sainsbury but they need a SCART socket to work.
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:37 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Your TV is or soon will be history anything without a Scart will be more or less a boat anchor after the analogue switch off,
Maplin are selling very cheap Freeview PVRs as are Sainsbury but they need a SCART socket to work.
Tell me about it! The only reason the TV wasn't in a skip years ago is because I'm living with my parents and it's their TV. My Dad
won't replace it until it breaks and the damn thing refuses to break - it's over 20 years old now and still going strong!
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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Peteff
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:42 PM |
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I edited my post , have a look back 
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 9/2/07 at 11:44 PM |
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Ah ok i getcha now Yeah I know for a lot of things you can get the 'unofficial' versions a fair bit cheaper, but I'm also pretty
sure that if I bought a 100 pound one from Aldi it's unlikely to be as good as a Sony one for 250 quid. I'm not expecting miracles on my
budget, just want to make sure i'm not wasting my time completely.
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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richijenkin
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 12:23 AM |
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Sky+ - How do people live without it!!!
£130 well spent
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Simon
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 12:47 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by richijenkin
Sky+ - How do people live without it!!!
£130 well spent
Simple - I already give them nearly 600 quid a year, and (in my ever so cynical opinion) these boxes cost about 20 quid to make, so they can give it
to me free, along with HD, or shove it where the sun is rather dim
If 1/2 million people objected together, that'd cost them approx £300,000,000 + loss of prospective ad revenue etc, and may make them wake up
and smell the direct debits!
ATB
Simon
ATB
Simon
[Edited on 10/2/07 by Simon]
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Macbeast
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 07:50 AM |
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Pete
You can buy a modulator from Maplin so you can feed the output from the PVR to the modulator ond watch on an unused channel on the TV as you did with
the VHS.
In fact, if the electronice of the VHS are still working, as opposed to the mechanicals, you can use the VHS as the modulator by feeding the PVR into
the VHS composite input.
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nre
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 08:11 AM |
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A friend of mine bought the Tevion from Aldi, took it back within a week as he was so disappointed with it. Replaced it with a Humax 9200T, which he
rates very highly. Comes with a 2 yr warranty. My Father in Law has just bought one of these on the recommendation... £180 at comet or £172 at
Martin Dawes if you have one locally...
Take a look on avforums for more user comments etc...
Cheers,
Neil
Sylva Mojo Zetec on GSXR750 throttle bodies...
www.mymojo.co.uk - Facebook feed
JPSC Forum - A dedicated forum for discussion on all things relating to Jeremy Phillips designed cars
Including the Star, Leader, Striker, Phoenix, Fury, Jester, Stylus, Mojo, Riot, J15 & Vectis
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 10:18 AM |
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Daewoo
This looks good for £132 , twin tuners 160gb.
http://www.cheapelectricals.co.uk/acatalog/Daewoo_DSD9503T_dsd9503t_dsd9503_dsd9503_dsd9503.html
Has anyone found a pvr that will record from an external source ie scart in, so I can put it on my NTL box?
[Edited on 10/2/07 by Surrey Dave]
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Catpuss
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 10:36 AM |
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Argos is actually quite a good place to start as a reference.
I've had:
Liteon with 80 gig. OK, very picky about disks. Took it back.
Grundig with 80 gig. Just a rebadged Liteon. Same problems just different front pannel. Took it back
Sony 80 gig. Nice, but slow cumbersom interface, silly having multiple record buttons on remote. The forward at x1.3 is a really nice feature. Stopped
playing DVDs, took it back too. Bit PITA was that live TV has to be recording for at least a minute before you can use the controls again, i.e.
accidentally start it and it just whinges about most other button presses for a minute.
Philips 250gig. Interface is typical French, a bit quirky until you get used to it. It allocates 6 hrs of disk space for Live (i.e can rewind live TV)
recording so you don't have to wee about remembering to turn it on and off. There is a nice red recording ring when you start to record a
program.
The Liteon/grundig had the best interfaces but worst drives. Sony are supposed to be the best but ever since the PS2 they made their DVD drives out
of toffee.
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 10:42 AM |
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Thanks for all the suggestions; I've got a much better idea of what I'm looking for now! Unfortunately it seems that without a SCART
socket we haven't got much chance of finding one that will work with our telly, so I guess I'll have to start working on getting one of
those first... 
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 12:05 PM |
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You can get a scart to rf adaptor , I think maplins do one..
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scoobyis2cool
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 12:10 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Surrey Dave
You can get a scart to rf adaptor , I think maplins do one..
I know I'm being a bit thick here, but is RF a normal TV aerial socket?
Pete
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care...
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McLannahan
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 12:42 PM |
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It is! Old aerial socket (that always seem to splay out and don't seem to fit the connection as well) is indeed known as an RF socket too. Radio
Frequency If I recall correctly??
Odd isn't it wishing for something to break but I know exactly what you mean! I too have two old CRT style TV's but there's NOTHING
wrong with either, would love to upgrade though!
I do think that older electronics were made so much better and seem to last so much better. We almost don't care when a £20 DVD player fails -
throw it away and buy another! Modern electronics just don't seem to last though and we've all accepted it!
[Edited on 10/2/07 by McLannahan]
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ChrisGamlin
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 03:32 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by scoobyis2cool
I know I'm being a bit thick here, but is RF a normal TV aerial socket?
Yep, but I bought one of the RF modulators from Maplin so I could "broadcast" via my splitter box to other TVs around the house and I
found it gave a pretty poor picture. In the end I ditched the RF modulator and just fed the DVD HDD & Xbox Media Centre box into my video's
Scart socket and used the video's RF modulator instead.
If its the playback mechanicals of your video that have broken and it has a Scart socket, you could also do this, just plug the DVD HDD into the video
via Scart, and the TV aerial via the video into the TV. Then put the video on the AV channel and you should find you can tune the TV into the DVD HDD
box.
FWIW Ive had a Toshiba 80Gb HDD DVD (RD XS32) for a couple of years and its been excellent
Chris
[Edited on 10/2/07 by ChrisGamlin]
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martyn_16v
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 06:21 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by zilspeed
Because now I have it bad to get one of them new fangled flat screen jobs seeing as they are so cheap now. But how do I possibly justify that when we
have two quality branded but now slightly old fashioned units that will Never F**ing Break !!!! 
'Accidentally' spill coke on it, and make sure you get it in the grilles in the top. Jobs a good'un
I'm currently replacing dozens of oooooooold TV/CRT monitors at work, while they may still 'work' they certainly aren't good
by any stretch of the imagination. The tubes do degrade and the electronics drift off perfect, you'll start to go out of focus, the colour
drifts and the picture geometry starts getting iffy. You probably wouldn't notice half of these faults on a single monitor sat by itself (it can
be difficult to spot in a bank of them that are all going the same way) but stick a new one in there and it's clear as day just how poo the
picture has got. Plus of course a wee LCD is a lot easier to hump around than a 25kg steel cased CRT
Now i've just got to work out how to quietly dispose of 140-odd 21" monitors
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 10/2/07 at 06:26 PM |
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Help it to go wrong and offer to donate towards a new one?
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