Looking for a new PVR

[GougMan]

Am thinking of getting a new dedicated PVR with twin HD tuners, good picture quality (with HD as well as SD), fairly easy to use/set up, and a decent HD size say 500gb or more to hook into a AV receiver and surround sound home theatre system.

I've seen the Topfield Masterpiece 2460 and the Beyonwiz DP-P2 (I think they are the right model numbers) which seem to be quite highly regarded. I was recommended the Topfield by a couple of hi-fi shops. And I'm not really fussed about the ice TV EPG facility either.

Has anyone had any experience with these or any other recommendations ? Any help will be great.

[firefly0071]

The software and the intuitiveness of the Beyonwiz is poor.

You need to be a technical person touse the Beyonwiz.

Try a Sony for a better interface.

http://www.sony.com.au/product/rdr-hdc100

[GougMan]

Cool thanks for that - will check it out as well.

Yeah I read about the menus and general useability of the Beyonwiz not being very good. That's why I was leaning towards the Topfield but will do some more research before I decide.

[ryan]

I can't offer any help on the standalone products but on the off-chance you've got a PS3, the PlayTV recorder, whilst fairly basic, is pretty good value - you can get one from the UK for about $60.
I've just replaced mine with Foxtel and an iQHD which is adequate without being spectacular.

[firefly0071]

I think the interface needs to be good so that it is easy to record. I had a beyonwiz and a complete poor experience. If only Apple style design and aesthetics was more common.

[GougMan]

Agree that it should be fairly easy to record and set up initially. Yes Apple design and useability would be good.

I'm probably one of the few people who don't have a PS3 - and I've also read a lot of negative reviews of the PlayTV recorder so I would probably still be looking for a standalone recording machine.

[Marcus]

I love my PS3 and PlayTV, the only issue I have is that sometimes I lose the program guide because I'm only using a pair of rabbit ears (does the job)

[ryan]

I'm probably one of the few people who don't have a PS3 - and I've also read a lot of negative reviews of the PlayTV recorder so I would probably still be looking for a standalone recording machine.

Just suggested it as a potential budget option that may have been overlooked. It's only very basic but for the price (even though I paid $135 at the time last year) it was a no-brainer for what I needed - originally bought it to record the WC last year and it soon became indispensable for normal viewing. Incredibly easy to setup and use.
Perhaps check out http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/126 or http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum=8

I love my PS3 and PlayTV, the only issue I have is that sometimes I lose the program guide because I'm only using a pair of rabbit ears (does the job)

Mine is setup using the wall aerial mount and it is sometimes slow to pick up the EPG, especially the ABC channels, when you're looking ahead during the week. I find that if you go back and start watching the channel that's not showing up, the EPG will be populated straight away although can't vouch for if using rabbit ears.

[Marcus]

Mine is setup using the wall aerial mount and it is sometimes slow to pick up the EPG, especially the ABC channels, when you're looking ahead during the week. I find that if you go back and start watching the channel that's not showing up, the EPG will be populated straight away although can't vouch for if using rabbit ears.

Yeah, I just flick through and watch 2 secs of ABC and it updates.
It's annoying, but hardly a dealbreaker.

[GougMan]

Thanks everyone. Will do some more research and decide on which features I need / don't need (so i don't end up paying more for stuff I won't use)

Some shop also recommended the Strong PVR but not sure how good they are.

[GougMan]

After some research and deliberation, I finally bought a new PVR just over 3 weeks ago. I ended up getting one of these :

http://www.humaxdigital.com/au/products ... 00t1tb.asp

Overall, impressions so far are very positive.

+ves
- Very shiny black front panel
- Brilliant picture quality. I’ve got it set to 1080p and the picture is so much better than my old Toshiba HD STB
- Incredibly easy to set up and use. The menus and layout are great and easy to set up recordings, etc… The overall UI is very Apple-ish (which is a good thing).
- Recording quality is also impressive. There’s very little difference between the recorded picture and the original picture.
- Very good EPG which is also pretty accurate. Most shows are within about a minute of the advertised EPG times (e.g. the EPG would show something like 20:34 – 21:37 instead of the normal 20:30 – 21:30 that other TV guides show)
- Recording flexibility. The recording can be padded with extra time at beginning and end of the shows (up to 20 minutes). It also allows series recording if a show is on say every day.
- Very good quality when playing back videos/movies from USB external drive
- Has not missed a recording that I’ve programmed so far
- Skip function that goes in 30 second increments (up to 240 seconds) with a single button press
- 2 year warranty. Most other brands that I’ve seen have 1 year
- Decent remote control

-ves
- Sometimes, the EPG won’t display all shows on all channels. I either have to exit the guide (and re-select the guide) or select the channel that’s not showing and then it seems to refresh the list. This doesn’t happen all the time so not really a huge issue.
- Have had a couple of error messages like “Recording could not be completed because of no signal” (or something like that) when trying to play a recorded show but the file still seems to play OK.
- Turns itself off sometimes. This is not actually a negative because a couple of days ago, I realized that there’s an “Automatic Power Down” option on the unit that by default was set to “On” - so I turned it off

I haven’t subscribed to iceTV so can’t comment on that.

If you are looking for a PVR, I would definitely put this on the short list.