PVRs : Chapter 1
Personal Video Recorders (PVR) are all the go. They let you record digital TV, usually to a hard drive. I myself prefer hard drives over the ‘record to DVD’ models; extra capacity and – if you choose correctly – you can always burn a DVD copy of the show from hard drive anyway.
At their simplest a PVR can replace your current VHS video recorder, but with extra functions, such as the ability to watch and record at the same time. Even these models can support the use of an Electronic Program Guide, so you can record West Wing simply by selecting it’s name from a menu (rather than manually: Channel Blah at Blah O’clock on a Saturday for 90 minutes)
Beyond that it’s onward and upward. Dual tuners. High Definition. The ability to copy recordings off to your PC (so you can save them and/or free up space on the PVR’s hard drive).
Anyway the local PVR market seems to be in 3 categories:
- Entry Level (single or dual tuner, can’t copy recordings off to a PC)
- Basic (same as Entry Level, but can copy off recordings)
- Premium (same as Basic, but functionality can be extended via user-provided plug-ins . Also regarded as having ‘better’ build quality and/or support)
As a good guideline the price increases as you move from 1 to 2 to 3. Also there are Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) offerings in all categories.
In addition I’d be looking for the ability to upgrade the PVR’s firmware. Preferably via an ‘official’ Internet source, particularly if you – the user – aren’t confident in these things.
Entry Level: I’ve seen dual-SD-tuner Digicrystal boxes for $260 at Strathfield, which is a quite cheap price. The firmware can be upgraded, which is just as well as early users reported some bad problems with the remote control.
Basic: Dick Smith have a dual SD-tuner PVR for about $400, dual HD-tuner one’s about $800.
Premium: Topfield reigns here. About $700 for dual SD and $1200 for dual HD.
The Dick Smith store I went to had terrible support, the guy obviously had no idea about these things…and I wasn’t bombarding him with questions, just asking him if they had any. He wasn’t sure (!). I have read that you get better service (and prices) via going to their PowerHouse super stores, so maybe on the weekend
The local Digital TV forum has some excellent discussion on this topic.
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