Hello folks

After much frustration ( typing PVR in search gives nil response) a recent post said a pvr is a stb with a hard drive recorder.

I am considering a new t.v. system with a panasonic dvd recorder (80 mg hard disk drive).

Why would you need a hdd on a set top box ? Or would the dvd recorder
with hdd negate the need for a pvr ?

Please be kind as we are not all audiophiles.

Cheers

bilston

I'm in a similar position. I was thinking of geting the pana 80gb HDD/DVD recorder but now I'm not so sure. The worst part about the Pana is that it merely has an analogue tuner. So will only record the analogue signal.

PVR's record typically from the SD digital source. Check out the following section of this forum for more on PVR's:

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum=8

The search button above is next to useless, I've found, even when you do finally realise it requires greater than 3 characters in the search box.

A PVR is what you get you mate a digital set-top-box with a harddisk drive. However, to make it all work, it effectively becomes a sort of PC with the TV being the display and the remote being the keyboard/mouse, and a simple menu system to run it.

The advantage of a PVR is the clarity and future-proofing offered by a digital tuner(s) with the quick convenience of on-board storage. Presently Australian DVD recorders only have analog tuners and rarely feature a HDD. Timeshifting programs is typically a feature of both systems, however, copying shows to a DVD is obviously easiest with the DVD recorder. I've found DVD recorders to be a bit cumbersome and slow to use though ... and analog is fuzzy.

What you should buy depends on your TV viewing habits. I rarely want to archive a program, so I simply use a Topfield PVR to buffer about 50 hours of programs to be watched a few minutes or typically a few days later. A stack of analog sourced DVDs to accomplish the same thing would annoy me no end, but having a show from last August just a click away is great. I typically sit down to dinner and watch a favourite show that started maybe 20 minutes earlier, then use the delay to let me jump the ads right through the show.

Frustration and searches??

Well there is an entire section dedicated to DVD and Hard Disk Recorders (a.k.a. PVR's) It's not exactly hidden.

Hi Bilston,

Why a PVR?

Lets start by saying that a DVD Recorder is basically exactly the same as your VCR except you use DVDs instead of tapes. Despite the simplicity of this analogy the reality is a bit lacking. After 20 years of coming to grips with putting a tape in and setting the timer DVDs just aren't as intuitive - I tried writing a FAQ on buying a DVD Recorder, but the fact is there are so many variations and individual features and incompatabilities that its quite a mine feild - invariably you'll get a unit home and find it doesn't do something that you'd just assume it does.

Which is not to say lots of people don't have a DVD Recorder and are quite happy with them. If you are into saving shows to watch again and again, then they're really the only option. If you want to record Foxtel then they're also really the only option.

A DVD Recorder with a harddrive is a big advance. You get to do most of your 'watch and delete' recording on the harddrive (with add skipping and pause live tv abilities) and just save the odd program you really like to a DVD.

You can set the output of a digital SD (or HD for that matter) STB into a DVD Recorder and many do. The draw back is that the DVD Recorder can't change the channel on the STB. So you either have to change it over yourself or have a timer set up on both machines to record a show.

PVRs are the way of the future. Eventually, a PVR will be offered with an inbuilt DVD Recorder. At the moment this is not being offered in Oz because ofour copyright laws but it will happen. Until then a PVR will record digital FTA TV. Nothing else. Some PVRs allow you to download the recording to a PC (cumbersome but workable) or you also have the ability to send the output from a PVR to a VCR or DVD Recorder if you want to do that (Just have to buy two expensive machines)

A PVR lets you skip adds. Set timers for the next 8 weeks and go on holiday. See at a glance what you've got available to watch. Pause Live TV. Watch a recordng while something else is recording and much more.

At the moment this whole area is just developing. In two years time better,cheaper, faster (and able to leap tall buildings or at least be dropped off one) machines will be available. But at $250 for a cheap PVR its not that hard to jump in. You'll find limitations with such a machine (A $700 Topfield purchase is not one you'll regret if you watch any 'decent' amount of TV). but in two years you can spend another $250 and buy something 3 times as powerfull.

The only caveat I have at the moment is be wary of HiDef - its over priced and under featured (and buggy in the PVR arena although STBs work fine). If the BEST picture quality is what you seek then go for it but otherwise I'd say stick with SD for the time being.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Thank you all very much for taking the time and effort to reply.

Just finished watching us make the world cup so will try to digest
this tomorrow and also check out the link.

The reply from peter has me wondering if my whole intended system
(t.v., dvd rec & stb ) maybe not the system to go with at all.

If you guys don't mind I will ask for advice in a new thread in the next few days.

Cheers

bilston

Yes, sorry about that. My problem was I kept reading " PVR" on the
threads but had no idea what piece of equipment it was.

Cheers

bilston

Perhaps the administrator could add (a.k.a PVR's) in the section heading

Cheers

bilston

A user-friendlier search engine might help too. I've learnt more about search syntax, +/-, etc with this forum's search button than any other and still not found what I was after. The fact it can't easily resolve a query about DLP, LG, DVD or PVR, or explain why it didn't, means many of us ask the same questions to the annoyance of those who know the answers ... !

It seems the Google method (search for 'PVR' by entering 'site:dtvforum.info pvr' in Google) is the only way to readily extract info. Works great - pity it's not hiding behind this forum's search button.

I can tell you I have the plasma + stb + dvd/hdd recorder.
Works a treat.
Yes you have to set a timer on both the STB and the recorder, but I really had no choice as much of what I tape is on Foxtel, which is easy to set a timer for, although my FTA STB is not - in fact it does nothave a timer which SUX.
I have to say that I tape shows every couple of days and it has changed the way I watch TV.

Cheers,
Jeff

Even setting one timer manually is a burden many Topfield owners can't abide, so they use an automatically downloaded weekly (self-correcting) EPG and just click on their favourite shows. If FTA is your preferred TV entertainment and frequent archiving isn't a priority, then you can see why a good digital PVR would run rings around the current selection of analog DVD/HDD recorders in the minds of many owners.

Recording PayTV is another matter though where DVD/HDD and IQ would reign.

my dvd recorder has been gathering dust for about 18 months now. just too fiddly and slow to use. Get a PVR.

I've 2 dvd recorders. The Pana (Using RAM disks) is great.
The other el-cheapo has never been used for what it was bought for (Not mutch good); but it is great for playing DVD's. It seems to have codecs for everything, and will even play wav. files.
John B