Which Freeview recorder to get for the wife?

richh

Can anybody please suggest an easy to use Freeview recorder?

Mostly for the wife, who needs to record and play back some stuff, so really needs to be as easy to use as possible, as she is a complete technophobe!

Cost as always is an issue, but TBH I'd happily pay more for something that is going to be easier to use and reliable.  Our telly is an LG if that is relevant, and we got it in 2012, so not the latest model.

Thanks, if anybody can give me any clues, that would be great.  I've tried using an old unit we had, and it keeps asking us to re-tune, change the settings and so on.  It is a bit too complicated anyway, as it has multiple drives (DVD, HD, etc) so is not ideal.

Thanks!

CarpeDiem

If you have a satellite dish with two cables from it, I'd suggest a Humax Freesat PVR. They are simple to use and get consistently good reviews. I have no connection with Humax.

richh

Sorry, I should have said what setup we have.  We just have a regular TV aerial.  We get pretty good reception.  Along with streaming stuff (Netflix, Amazon Prime), that is plenty for us, and all we need to record is one Freeview channel as part of the wife's studies.

Thanks @CarpeDiem ;

DiscoStu

But you have HDMI sockets though, right?
I have a Humax Freeview recorder and it's great. 

HAL9000

My 89 year old technophobe mum uses a Humax freeview recorder and seems to manage ok with it. Pretty straightforward to use.

richh

Thanks, plenty of free HDMI inputs on the TV, so no problem there.  Humax sounds like a good bet - if anybody has any specific model recommendation, please let me know, otherwise I'll see what is available locally.

CarpeDiem

I got my Humax from Richer Sounds. Knowledgeable and helpful staff, and good pricing.

boogieman

Check out the Humaxdirect site, they do reconditioned units at bargain prices. They're brought back to as new spec and you get a full warranty. 

BigMonka

I'd look for something like YouView (or with Freeview+ which is basically the same thing). That's the technology for allowing you to go backwards on the guide and choose a program that was on at some point in the last week then just press play.
The YouView box I've got, which is made by Humax to give a +1 to the above suggestions, came free with a 12month subscription to BT TV (which wasn't worth the subscription but allowed me to get the box cheap)

richh

Thanks for that, Humax it is then!

SimonC

Your Humax will star to go wrong after about a year.
It will frustrate you by crapping out part way through recording, and tell you that the Disk is blank at random intervals, then your recordings will reappear mysteriously, hours or days later.
Humax will tell you that this problem isn't known.
Google Humax  Freesat hard disk problems and look at the extent of the problem on Humax forums.
Be warned.

richh

Thanks @SimonC - so if not Humax, what other alternative is there?

strumjoughlamps

what is the model of the TV? most over the last 10 years have had the option to plug in USB stick/hdd for recording using the built in Freeview...

if not then Humax is the way to go, my only niggle with them is the loud clicky remote buttons

SimonC

My choice for Freeview would be a Panasonic DMRHWT150EB, @richh ;

I would stress, though that my bad experience with Humax was with a Freesat box.

DiscoStu

I've had 2 Humax PVRs. One was standard def and then I upgraded 5 or 6 years ago to an HD box. I would buy Humax again.

They emailed me some refurb offers today, how does this look:

https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/refurbished/hdr-1800t-320gb-5547ad.html?utm_source=Humax+Warranty&utm_campaign=4988a3e505-Graded+Promo&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_aff407781c-4988a3e505-112001801&mc_cid=4988a3e505&mc_eid=70fce556ce

richh

Thanks, I'm not at home right now, but our telly is a 42" LG, I don't know the specific model.  I've tried recording out to USB sticks before, but couldn't get it to work - maybe they have to be formatted in a specific way - I'll have a quick Google, otherwise it's off to Argos...

strumjoughlamps

richh said:

Thanks, I'm not at home right now, but our telly is a 42" LG, I don't know the specific model.  I've tried recording out to USB sticks before, but couldn't get it to work - maybe they have to be formatted in a specific way - I'll have a quick Google, otherwise it's off to Argos...

yes you have to format HDD/stick in TV settings for recording.

DiscoStu

I had the same USB issue with my Samsung tv. It didn't recognise it in FAT32 PC format but once formatted by the TV itself it worked fine.  

boogieman

SimonC said:

Your Humax will star to go wrong after about a year.
It will frustrate you by crapping out part way through recording, and tell you that the Disk is blank at random intervals, then your recordings will reappear mysteriously, hours or days later.
Humax will tell you that this problem isn't known.
Google Humax  Freesat hard disk problems and look at the extent of the problem on Humax forums.
Be warned.

Whereas I have a 7 year old reconditioned freesat box bought from the Humaxdirect site that's worked perfectly for as long as I've had it. Maybe it's just potluck. 

SimonC

boogieman said:

SimonC said:

Your Humax will star to go wrong after about a year.
It will frustrate you by crapping out part way through recording, and tell you that the Disk is blank at random intervals, then your recordings will reappear mysteriously, hours or days later.
Humax will tell you that this problem isn't known.
Google Humax  Freesat hard disk problems and look at the extent of the problem on Humax forums.
Be warned.

Whereas I have a 7 year old reconditioned freesat box bought from the Humaxdirect site that's worked perfectly for as long as I've had it. Maybe it's just potluck. 

Or maybe the older Boxes have more reliable HDD's?

EricTheWeary

Ignore