Freeview Freesat Merger plus best PVR

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AllthegearNoideaAllthegearNoidea Frets: 293
edited February 2021 in Off Topic
I hear the two services are to merge if allowed by the monopolies and mergers commission. 

Any thoughts if this will mean we have a dual platform HDR available at some point?

I’m about to cancel sky and will need a box to replace it. 

It’s important that the replacement box is intuitive (wife is a Luddite) and fast ( I hate waiting for loading menus, epg, apps etc. 

Any suggestions and thoughts on the above. Last time I bought a box it was a Humax but I see they’ve killed off their app which I used for remote record. Assume one day life will return to normal and I’ll be back to living in hotels again. 

Any help appreciated as always. 
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Comments

  • You can use your sky box.
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  • You can use your sky box.
    To view but as a HDR it will not work. I thought apps also stopped working but it’s been a long time since I didn’t have sky.  Has the app and recording situation changed as a non subscriber?
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  • mrkbmrkb Frets: 6637
    I’m confused by your HDR (High dynamic range?) comment. Do you mean PVR (personal video recorder)?
    Karma......
    Ebay mark7777_1
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Hard disk recorder I guess.

    I find it hard to see the point when you can stream stuff with a £20 stick.
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  • Hard disk recorder I guess.

    I find it hard to see the point when you can stream stuff with a £20 stick.
    Did you miss the wife is a Luddite part. She needs to be able to press record on a programme and view it later. Not open an app and search for the programme. Why suggest streaming for someone who wants to record tv
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  • mrkb said:
    I’m confused by your HDR (High dynamic range?) comment. Do you mean PVR (personal video recorder)?
    You’re correct.  I meant PVR. Thank you
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  • We use a freesat Humax pvr, it takes a moment or two to boot up, but otherwise works well. I hate streaming catch up programs as you have to sit through endless adverts, whereas with a recording you can skip over them. That alone is enough to justify having one for me.
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  • most TVs can have an external HD/USB stick plugged into them and use the built in Freeview/Freesat to record from.
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  • We haven't used our Freesat recorder for years. With iPlayer etc. not really felt the need to record anything. 

    How many of you still record vs catchup services?

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  • guitartangoguitartango Frets: 1012
    We still use the Humax over catchup as you can skip the adverts (hint just press fast forward twice). I believe that the Android app still works for remote recording, although I have not used it for a while. I find Catchup always a pain in the arse and not all programmes appear in the listing.

    We wanted to use our sky box, but they charge you to record and in the end it was cheaper to buy the Humax
    “Ken sent me.”
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  • bobblehatbobblehat Frets: 531
    I've had a Humax Freesat HD box for about 6 years. Works well and never had any issues with it.
    We still record most things with it . Only use catch up services if theres something I've missed as I hate having to sit through the adverts. 

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  • gumbothewiddlergumbothewiddler Frets: 327
    edited March 2021
    I’ve got a humax 1tb pvr which is ok. A bit of a slow and clunky interface compared with our old Panasonic pvr. It is also much more sensitive to signal strength than the Panasonic we had and we often get signal interruptions on some had channels that we never used to get. 
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  • darthed1981darthed1981 Frets: 11670
    most TVs can have an external HD/USB stick plugged into them and use the built in Freeview/Freesat to record from.
     Any recent Smart TV with the "Freeview Play" branding on can do this, typically, I'm not sure if it was common before that point.

    Damn good point to bring it up though, it's barely advertised (as almost nobody uses PVRs any more) and it's quite a useful feature.
    We have to be so very careful, what we believe in...
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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11789
    Hard disk recorder I guess.

    I find it hard to see the point when you can stream stuff with a £20 stick.
    Did you miss the wife is a Luddite part. She needs to be able to press record on a programme and view it later. Not open an app and search for the programme. Why suggest streaming for someone who wants to record tv
    you can do this on most of the TVs I've bought in the last 5 years
    Just plug in a pendrive or portable hard disk into the USB socket on the TV, and the TV works as a PVR
    I have my living room TV connected to Freesat and Freeview, but currently only use the Freesat to view and record from, just using a pendrive. To be fair, a £200+ PVR can do a better job, but who cares
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  • guitartangoguitartango Frets: 1012
    ^
    But you can only record one channel with USB, my Mrs cares! 
    “Ken sent me.”
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    edited March 2021 tFB Trader
    Hard disk recorder I guess.

    I find it hard to see the point when you can stream stuff with a £20 stick.
    Did you miss the wife is a Luddite part. She needs to be able to press record on a programme and view it later. Not open an app and search for the programme. Why suggest streaming for someone who wants to record tv

    Because it's much simpler.

    On my TV you can literally say the name of the program you want to watch and it comes on.

    Why would you arse about having to find out when it's on, set up a recording, then find the recording.

    Not to mention making sure you aren't recording two things at once or run out of space.
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  • guitartangoguitartango Frets: 1012
    Would this do you? Looks like you can longer buy a Humax and this have been replaced by Freesat. Some moans as normal, etc not as good as Sky Q etc. Should be able to record two programmes at once and watch the third via the TV. 

    If my Humax dies, I had thought about a raspberry pi with two USB cards attached (not sure if it would work).

    We watched hobbs and.. Last night and skipped through the adverts, don't really want to watch this through catchup TV. 
    “Ken sent me.”
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  • Would this do you? Looks like you can longer buy a Humax and this have been replaced by Freesat. Some moans as normal, etc not as good as Sky Q etc. Should be able to record two programmes at once and watch the third via the TV. 

    If my Humax dies, I had thought about a raspberry pi with two USB cards attached (not sure if it would work).

    We watched hobbs and.. Last night and skipped through the adverts, don't really want to watch this through catchup TV. 
    Thank you. Looks a decent box that would allow recording of programmes that are not available as a stream. 

    I also found this which looks excellent but has a few bugs at the moment allegedly 

    https://uk.humaxdigital.com/product/aura-uhd-android-tv-recorder/
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  • TheBigDipperTheBigDipper Frets: 4722
    Humax Freesat user here. Also an Apple TV user but our Panasonic plasma TV isn't smart. 

    I like the idea that I can use the Humax to watch and record programmes using the satellite dish to receive them. That will still work when Openreach has cut my internet feed. Live TV works without fuss or streaming issues and I can record it as I go and pause/restart/fast forward (if it's previously been paused). The best benefit is recording a programme from commercial TV and then fast forwarding the very annoying ads when watching it back. You just can't do that on streaming services, and the ads on UK TV streaming services are not always the same as the ones they showed when the programme went out live - they're often more annoying! Another benefit is if you want to watch something and you've missed the start. Not all programmes are available immediately on the streaming service. So you can't always "watch from start" until it's finished, sometimes (Match Of The Day) until the next day. With the Humax, if I'm recording it, I can just play the recording as a form of time delay watching the 1st minute as it's recording the 8th.

    So It's got its place in the world. They're just unreliable machines in the longer term - the expected life in our house is between 4 and 6 years, based on our ownership. And the streaming interface is clunkier than Apple TV, with fewer client apps. I think Humax (or maybe it's Freesat) must run a portal for their streaming, because there are sometimes issues with iPlayer on that when my computer or Apple TV is working fine.
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  • duotoneduotone Frets: 971
    We haven't used our Freesat recorder for years. With iPlayer etc. not really felt the need to record anything. 

    How many of you still record vs catchup services?
    I still record things on Sky Arts quite a lot & any time a James Bond is on it gets recorded. Currently have 10 waiting for a rainy day/when the wi-fi dies.
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