Hi,

I am looking at some HD STB's which can be used as a PVR if you attached a hard drive externally (via USB etc) and was wondering what others are available?

So far I have found the Strong SRT5440 and Beyonwiz DP-H1 but am curious if there are other similar STB's out there. The more choice the merrier!

Cheers.

Not sure if it is relevant, but I picked up a new LG 5402 yesterday for $220 as a "Factory seconds"
It looks new, and it's not much more than the price of a new hard drive, which at some stage I will replace with a bigger one anyway.
JB

They are the best two options on the market IMO, with my prefernce for the Wiz

There is also the Dvico TVIX 4130 , but as you can see from the review...

Whilst the LG mentioned in the previous post had good PQ and has 1.7 tuner capabilities (ie you can't set overlapping timers), these days if you are going for a PVR, true twin tuners are a must.

Thanks for the post diesel.

Twin tuner and other perks would be great but to be honest this isn't for the main living room so these sorts of things aren't going to be what swings the vote as much as price and reliability

I just started out looking for a HD set top box because for the room in question there is just an LCD with analogue (no built-in tuner). Then I went a bit crazy and ended up looking at PVR's but put off by the price I found this sorts of 'PVR ready' units that are much more affordable.

The Strong and BW are $300-ish which isn't bad at all but if I could find something like that LG for that price I'd be stoked.
That's really cheap, do you mind if I ask what city you are in and what shop/outlet you found that at?

[
The Strong and BW are $300-ish which isn't bad at all but if I could find something like that LG for that price I'd be stoked.
That's really cheap, do you mind if I ask what city you are in and what shop/outlet you found that at?
[/quote]
Broadmeadows shopping centre, Melbourne.
There is a LG seconds shop inside. They had at least 1 left when I was there but it may not be in a box; mine was but had obvoisly been opened.
JB

Hmm wrong city I was hoping you'd say Sydney

What kind of stores could I track down a Strong SRT5440 or Beyonwiz DP-H1??

I went out looking at a few stores today like JB, Bing Lee, Harvey Norman, Good Guys etc in Sydney and couldn't find either. There are only some twin SD tuner units, twin HD tuner units and then standard SD/HD set top boxes.

The twin SD tuner units are very cheap and I'm tempted, but then you want to be future proof and grab a HD unit if possible.

The Toppy 5000 twin Tuner SD unit is a Forum favourite.
As for missing out on HD content, well PQ differences aside, it would seem the HD channels won't be too different from the SD offerings, and with the additional SD channels coming on line, there is nothing really compelling to go for HD.

I have never seen a Beyonwiz DP-H1 in store. You can ask and stores like JB etc can order one in, or you can buy from Beyonwiz direct or try Crusher's site TVBox.com.au. He has both models you are looking for, and is sometimes known to do a DTV special

Try this place http://csvav.com.au/digital_tv.htm,

They sell strong (srt5440 is $269) and beyonwiz, although the H1 isn't listed they might be able to get it for you if you give them a call.

They deliver or you can pick up. They're in Alexandria.

I have both of these units - bought the Strong before I knew about Beyonwiz. The Strong is now only used as a HD STB while the Beyonwiz is the one I use for recording HD - I believe it is the far superior unit. While both do the basics well, the beyonwiz offers much more for around the same dollars.

Jill

Cool shrek, I'll see if I can check them out soon.

I take it the odds of finding either unit (or similar) is next to none in the major retailers though.

As I said before, I have never seen a DP-H1 instore. The media playback abilities of the Beyonwiz models is pretty good

Sorry I missed your previous post

That's a shame, I guess I'll have one last look around a few retail stores and see if they can order them in, then if either they can't find it or I can't haggle them down low enough it'll have to be an online job.

Definitely see if your local retailer can get them in - it should be cheaper than paying RRP

Does the Strong SRT5440 get very hot when on standby or turned on?

Which is the better unit for picking up weaker signals, the Strong SRT5440 or Beyonwiz DP-H1?

There are some that have issues with the BW tuners with what appears to be the BW's weaker tuner performance, but I have no issues with either of my units, though I live in Sydney

The Strong does run very hot when turned on, and also seems to stay very warm when in standby. It does have an on/off switch at the back though, so my practice is to have it turned off completely as much as possible - which since getting the DP-H1 is most of the time.

I can't really comment on the signal thing as I have a very good signal here - both of these units pick up all channels without problem. My DP-H1 is actually connected to the passthrough connector of my dual tuner topfield via a cheapo cable and still has no signal issues - even though the reported signal strength is sometimes as low as 78% (but quality is still 100% here).

Jill

Thanks for the reply Jill

My Teac HDB840 will not pick up the signal if its below 37% but my Strong SRT5405 has no problems with the signal strength that weak. I'm assuming that all Strong boxes have strong tuner performance.

At the moment the good/bad points look like this.

SRT5440
Good - Strong tuner performance
Bad - Gets very hot

DP-H1
Good - Plays DivX
Bad - Weak tuner performance

I don't know which one to buy.

You might find a retailer that stocks beyonwiz (even if they don't have the H1) and have a play around with the P1 or S1 units. The user interface, picture quality etc is the same as the H1 - it will give you some idea how the H1 works.

If you can find a retailer that will let you pay for/take home/return for refund a beyonwiz to try out I would recommend you do it. Our local Retravision store allowed me to do this with a Topfield 7010HT - this topfield series would not tune in ABC in my area (even though the SD topfield has no problem) so I returned it for a full refund (after making sure I could do this at the time of purchase).

If the beyonwiz can successfully tune and hold all channels for you, I would have no hesitation in saying it is the far superior unit in all other respects.

Jill

No retailer stocks them in my local area.

I saw P1's and S1's in more than one Good Guys store.

Just do not ask them to order in a Strong 5440 or BW H1! The quote on the Strong was $450, enough said!!

You can buy from BW direct too

This is a noob couple of questions, but for external HDD PVRs:
- What format are the files that are recorded?
- How big is a HD recording (say for 1h)?

I have dug about and see that the HD on say the beyonwiz is just fat32, and you can hook to a PC, but what about the files?

Hmm I might be wrong there, maybe the Strong is fat32, and the BEyonwiz is proprietary file system

99% of PVRs out there would record in a simple filtered TS format, which is essentially plonking the bits broadcasts straight to disk (filtered by removing the other streams out, e.g. a true transport stream is about 21-23megabit/s, but an SD channel demuxed out of that TS is about 7megabit/s, HD is about 13megabit/s. So recordings for SD are approx 3G per hour, HD is approx 6 or 7G per hour depending on the broadcaster bitrate).
Some wack headers on so they can easily display file details to you in the filelist (e.g. the Topfield 5K rec format), and some wack extra files into the directory recorded in to have these details (e.g. the 7K and Beyonwiz).
The Beyonwiz recording drive is not proprietry, it is a FAT32 format that linux reads fine. The cluster sizes are larger than windows FAT32 supports, so windows boxes can't read it without running a linux distro or whatever to read it.
But the Beyonwiz also supports normal FAT32 as external drives where you can copy the recordings from the recording drive to, and supports WizFX where you can get the recordings via WizPNP (not the H1 mind you...well, not yet, a few people are working on enabling the WizPNP server in that model to support this method of getting files from the unit), and finally the Wiz can copy or move it's recordings to a network share, so you have a lot of flexibility there.
Regards

The strong must be FAT32. I could take the recording drive directly to my WindowsXP PC and see/transfer the folders/files without problem.

Jill

i have the strong. excellent performance. i paired it with a 1TB WD My Book. works beautifully out of the box. i found that i didn't need to format the hard drive - it was already FAT32, so worked straight out of the box too!

reception and PQ is really good. it does run a bit hot but as long as u don't stack on it and leave it room to breath, it's fine.

i got mine from www.webprice.com.au - they deliver and had the best price when i bought it about 7-8 months ago

forgive my ignorance, im a newbie. i was thinking about lashing out $700 on the topfield pvr from good guys model num tf7100hdpvrt. its got twin hd tuners so u can record 2 shows at once. pause rewind live tv, wireless usb dongle included so i can play mp3s from laptop, not sure if it will play avi movies though?
would i be better off getting a beyondwiz stb and external HD, i saw today WD 640gb for $134, does the stb just record to it in HD and you just watch it back whenevr thru the stb and then into the analogue tv. i was also told that dvd rec cant record hd from a stb unless they have a built in hd tuner. please help its so confusing i dont know what choice to make.

The DP-H1 will record HD from its single tuner (and support playback of course!). If you need twin tuners (and want to stick with the Beyonwiz), then you will have to look at a DP-P1 or DP-P2 (or S1 if you can suffer the looks, the dodgy DVD drive, and the wireless that won't stay up when using WPA encryption). A DVD recorder needs HD capabilities to record HD, the DVD standard doesn't support HD anyway, so the recordings either have to stay on the HDD or get resampled to SD (if this is possible, it is really only those two Panasonic beauties, one of them has a DVD recorder, one has a Blu-Ray recorder, that are proper twin digital tuner recorders).
There is no such recorder that will record HD from an external source I don't think. The recorders need the tuners built in to be able to record HD broadcast free to air.

Regards

the dp-h1 is looking like a good buy for $300 but can it record one show whilst u watch another? can you stream downloaded movies from a laptop wirelessly and in what format? are the 15 or so free channels coming this june, and is this correct, what ur saying is i cant record the new channels on a dvd rec unless i pay 1k + for the wizz bang panasonics. sorry for all the blunt questions but i appreciate the knowledge u share. thanx

reported

ok because of this thread and the thread containing the vcr rec, im now confused.
i dont care what tuner has what and which tuner is doin what.whether its the tv or the dvdr.
i want to know in simple terms, and he is a simple example. just say i have a basic $350 sd single tuner equipped dvdr, and i have a analogue tv, can i set the timer to record say 2 and a half men on normal standard 9, and as that is being recorded can the missus be watching(NOT RECORDING) home of the gay, on normal channel 7. and then the next day i watch 2 and a half men after work from the recording on the dvdr. and will even the $100 dvdr units do this.
now for my second example but add a cheap hd stb to the equation, and instead of recording 2 and a half men on standard channel 9, imagine im recording a fishing show on either abc2 or ten 2 or abchd or ten hd or 9hd or 7hd( THESE ARE JUST EXAMPLES, I DONT KNOW OR CARE IF THATS THEIR NAMES OR IF THEY EVEN EXIST, BECAUSE I DONT HAVE THESE CHANNELS YET, SO I HAVE NO IDEA, SO PLEASE DONT CORRECT ME AND JUST GO WITH IT FOR THE EXAMPLES SAKE FOR NOW.THANX)
will the dvdr record the fishing show(I DONT CARE IF ITS DIGITAL OR HD OR WATEVER, WILL I RECORD THE SHOW SO I CAN SEE A MAN CATCHING FISH.)
And can i then watch the fishing show the next day, and meanwhile the night before the missus was happy watching home of the gay on the tv, while i am doin something else, knowing that my show is being recorded.
you tech guys have to understand that im talking about my first upgrade from analogue tv's and vcr recorders and yous have been sponging ur brains with this stuff for years, ive asked many questions and still confused, people write oh know it cant do that, then someone writes yes u can, u just need a $60 converter or watever just for example. ill get my head around it soon i know and thanx for the responses mcuh appreciate the help.

Get a TiVo. Unless you really do need to get the media onto DVD, then I suppose your cheap analogue DVD recorder could be used to record the composite or svideo output of the TiVo.
Regards

makomatt, any DVDR can do what you have posted about - ie think straight swap of VCR to DVDR - analogue to analogue.
The next step up in price sees you get a DVDR with an SD digital tuner. This will do as the above (and what you want), but means that you will record in digital but watch the 'live' show on the analogue tuner in the TV. This is fine for now, but once analogue is switched off, you'll be back to one tuner and won't be able to do the above. By then though, I imagine you will have upgraded your TV so it's not really an issue.
Finally, the pricier end of town sees you step up to a twin tuner PVR like a TiVo (or DVDR like Panasonic XW300). This will do what you want and then some more, i.e. record two shows whilst you watch another either live (analogue) or prerecorded. Like Tony, I believe a TiVo is probably a better fit, but a single Standard Definition tuner equipped DVDR will do what you want.
I believe the TiVo is better for you because once you see how good digital reception is, you'll want to watch and record in digital

1) Your current setup is a TV and a simple analogue DVDR - as you already know you can record one show on the DVDR and watch another on the TV at the same time.

2) You propose to have a TV and a simple single tuner digital PVR. In this case you will be able to record the SD digital channels (on the PVR) and watch the analogue channels (on the TV) at the same time. This is a step back from your current setup really.

3) You further propose to add a cheap HD STB and connect that to the DVDR. So you will have the following abilities:

a) Digital => HD STB => DVDR (record SD & HD channels) =>TV (watch SD or HD live or a recording from the DVDR)

B) Digital => SD PVR => =>TV (watch SD live or a recording from the PVR)

So yes in summary you will be able to record a digital channel with one machine and watch a digital channel with the other.

But as you can see once you start adding more and more boxes (some digital some analogue some SD some HD etc.) then trying to keep on top of what is doing what gets pretty complex.

What most posters are suggesting is that at this point you could really benefit from streamlining all this equipment and getting a single box to handle everything you want to do. The only real choice in this situation is if you get a HD PVR ($700) or a SD PVR ($300). Personally I suggest getting a SD one at this stage as its cheap and will provide all the channels you currently have and more (10 in total). You plug this one box into your TV and then you can record one show and watch another at the same time (and if you're both out to dinner you can also record both shows at once).

Regards

Peter Gillespie

A Tivo is a good option but it does require you to have a wired or wireless network linked from the TV cabinet to a broadband internet account.

This setup requirement may mean a Tivo is not the best option - if you can get it running then it would be great (for $750)

Regards

Peter Gillespie

An option for a few;-
http://crazystu.com.au/mediastar-twin-hd-t...dmi-p-4921.html

thanx for the replys very helpful.

Any closer to a decision matt?

I have an SRT 5440.Will any ext hard drive with usb connection suite this HD box.
Cheers

excellent choice. yup - as long as the hard drive is already in a FAT32 formated state, it'll be plug and play.
i got the WD My Book Essential edition 1TB and it worked straigh out of the box!

What exactly is a PVR?

A PVR (Personal Video Recorder) is a STB with an HDD.

There are both SD and HD versions.

Confused by all the acronyms??

Yes A lot to learn.

Quiet Xmas day last year?

Or was joining the DTV Forum on Xmas day the present you always wanted?

Welcome Truthseeker

Guys you can pick up a Strong SRT-5023 for $99 from The Good Guys.

It is a standard definition set top box that is PVR ready.

Does anyone in Sydney actually have the Strong SRT 5440 in stock at the moment? I've had some trouble in finding one.

Bought one of these, however it only recognizes some USB memory sticks, unfortunately for me only the 1gb's ones I own. I purposely bought 16gb and it isnt compatible! :/

If you are going to record FTA SD braodcasts, you're better off getting a 320GB HDD (powered). 16GB is good for 4-5 hours max!