I'm considering going down the PVR route now that I have a baby son -
it would be handy to be able to pause live TV to do nappy changes, etc!
Here's my situation:

1) Cheap telly with only 1 scart input (but does RGB)
2) 2 SCART switching boxes to cope with the rest of my equipment
3) Region free DVD player with SCART passthrough
4) Nintendo Gamecube (hooked through the DVD player)
5) NTL digital box with a very basic service (basically
free channels + SkyOne, which I don't watch much)
6) VCR (which unfortunately doesn't output RGB, which complicates
matters in terms of switching - another reason to go PVR)

Requirements:
1) Pause live TV
2) Record TV without having to search for a blank video
3) Watch a different channel (or a DVD, or the Gamecube) while
recording
4) Subtitles (although I don't mind not being able to turn them on and
off after recording. I haven't heard of that being possible,
although it seems to me to be an obviously good idea.) I've become
somewhat addicted to subtitles now that half the time we can't
really hear the TV clearly due to a screaming baby.
5) DVD playing without region restrictions


"Would be nice":
1) Some way of dumping recorded TV to another medium (DVD or
my laptop hard disk, from where I can record to DVD). No
need to record to DVD in a way which would make it readable
in another box though.
2) Record one channel and still be able to pause live TV
3) DVD player which can play MP3s stored on DVD+RWs
4) Programme guide
5) Record two channels at once
6) A setup my wife can understand (she's bright, but doesn't much like
technology. My current setup is a bit too complicated, admittedly
partly because I change it round every so often.)
7) Play one recorded programme while recording another.


Some of these are easily covered, with some limitations:
Watching a different channel can be done in the old fashioned way of
having my TV display the analogue signal, if the digital box can't
cope.
Watching a DVD/Gamecube can be done using the SCART switching box.

I see a few options, which will no doubt include incorrect assumptions:

1) Tivo from eBay. As I understand it, I should be able to hook this up
to my NTL box. Expensive after subscription, and no way of dumping
stuff to another machine. Great programme guide though, and hard disk
could be upgraded to make it less useful to dump stuff anyway.

2) Pace twin tuner or even just Humax single tuner. This would make my
NTL box somewhat redundant, apart from for SkyOne which I can probably
live without. EPG should be reasonable soon. I gather that playing one
recording while recording another isn't an option on one or both of
these though, which surprises me. Fairly cheap option.

3) HDD+DVD recorder. Enables me to get rid of my DVD player (possibly
to my brother and hopefully get more DVD functionality in terms
of playing DVD+RWs of MP3s (so I can have 4 DVDs of music instead of
about 20 CDs of MP3s). No programme guide? Haven't seen much in the
way of information about these in general - I don't know whether they
support pausing, etc. Very expensive, except the Samsung DVDH40 which I
haven't seen any reviews of. Don't know whether or not it's region-
free, and haven't been able to find out.

So, any comments on any of this?

--
Jon Skeet -
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

Currently Tivo is the best option (IMHO). I know a guy selling an
unsubbed 1 year old tivo (un modded) for £160

The other options are pretty limited, $ky+, poor EPG compared to Tivo

build your own mythTV (there are other options)

humax have some pvr options but again you will not beat Tivo in terms of
ease to use & functionality.

You can probably guess I'm a Tivo fan but it's the greatest gadget I've
ever bought since I've had it I can honestly say I have not watched live
TV (apart from sport) It's season pass function means you set up a
series once and only once, it's wishlist recordings learn what you like
to watch and records programs for you that you might be interested in
(on other pvr does this sort of thing).

I say get a tivo & see how you go if you love it which you will stick in
a couple of 120Gb HDD's and you will not need to dump off to DVD (which
you could do assuming you have a DVD-R in your stack.

Jon Skeet wrote:
I'm considering going down the PVR route now that I have a baby son -
it would be handy to be able to pause live TV to do nappy changes, etc!
Here's my situation:

1) Cheap telly with only 1 scart input (but does RGB)
2) 2 SCART switching boxes to cope with the rest of my equipment
3) Region free DVD player with SCART passthrough
4) Nintendo Gamecube (hooked through the DVD player)
5) NTL digital box with a very basic service (basically
free channels + SkyOne, which I don't watch much)
6) VCR (which unfortunately doesn't output RGB, which complicates
matters in terms of switching - another reason to go PVR)

Requirements:
1) Pause live TV
2) Record TV without having to search for a blank video
3) Watch a different channel (or a DVD, or the Gamecube) while
recording
4) Subtitles (although I don't mind not being able to turn them on and
off after recording. I haven't heard of that being possible,
although it seems to me to be an obviously good idea.) I've become
somewhat addicted to subtitles now that half the time we can't
really hear the TV clearly due to a screaming baby.
5) DVD playing without region restrictions


"Would be nice":
1) Some way of dumping recorded TV to another medium (DVD or
my laptop hard disk, from where I can record to DVD). No
need to record to DVD in a way which would make it readable
in another box though.
2) Record one channel and still be able to pause live TV
3) DVD player which can play MP3s stored on DVD+RWs
4) Programme guide
5) Record two channels at once
6) A setup my wife can understand (she's bright, but doesn't much like
technology. My current setup is a bit too complicated, admittedly
partly because I change it round every so often.)
7) Play one recorded programme while recording another.


Some of these are easily covered, with some limitations:
Watching a different channel can be done in the old fashioned way of
having my TV display the analogue signal, if the digital box can't
cope.
Watching a DVD/Gamecube can be done using the SCART switching box.

I see a few options, which will no doubt include incorrect assumptions:

1) Tivo from eBay. As I understand it, I should be able to hook this up
to my NTL box. Expensive after subscription, and no way of dumping
stuff to another machine. Great programme guide though, and hard disk
could be upgraded to make it less useful to dump stuff anyway.

2) Pace twin tuner or even just Humax single tuner. This would make my
NTL box somewhat redundant, apart from for SkyOne which I can probably
live without. EPG should be reasonable soon. I gather that playing one
recording while recording another isn't an option on one or both of
these though, which surprises me. Fairly cheap option.

3) HDD+DVD recorder. Enables me to get rid of my DVD player (possibly
to my brother and hopefully get more DVD functionality in terms
of playing DVD+RWs of MP3s (so I can have 4 DVDs of music instead of
about 20 CDs of MP3s). No programme guide? Haven't seen much in the
way of information about these in general - I don't know whether they
support pausing, etc. Very expensive, except the Samsung DVDH40 which I
haven't seen any reviews of. Don't know whether or not it's region-
free, and haven't been able to find out.

So, any comments on any of this?

Jon Skeet wrote:
3) HDD+DVD recorder. Enables me to get rid of my DVD player (possibly
to my brother and hopefully get more DVD functionality in terms
of playing DVD+RWs of MP3s (so I can have 4 DVDs of music instead of
about 20 CDs of MP3s). No programme guide? Haven't seen much in the
way of information about these in general - I don't know whether they
support pausing, etc. Very expensive, except the Samsung DVDH40 which I
haven't seen any reviews of. Don't know whether or not it's region-
free, and haven't been able to find out.

Foolish me - it looks like the Samsung DVDH40 is only a DVD *player*
and HDD recorder. What I'm more interested in is something like the
Pioneer DVR5100 or Toshiba RD-XS30. (The Toshiba box looks great, but
isn't multi-region.)

--
Jon Skeet -
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

Yannick wrote:
Currently Tivo is the best option (IMHO). I know a guy selling an
unsubbed 1 year old tivo (un modded) for £160

Interesting - could you put me in touch with him?

What are the subscription options with that? Can I, say, try it for a
couple of months paying monthly (or whatever) and then go to a lifetime
subscription if I think it's worth it?

The other options are pretty limited, $ky+, poor EPG compared to Tivo

build your own mythTV (there are other options)

humax have some pvr options but again you will not beat Tivo in terms of
ease to use & functionality.

You can probably guess I'm a Tivo fan but it's the greatest gadget I've
ever bought since I've had it I can honestly say I have not watched live
TV (apart from sport) It's season pass function means you set up a
series once and only once, it's wishlist recordings learn what you like
to watch and records programs for you that you might be interested in
(on other pvr does this sort of thing).

From what I've read, it should be fine with my NTL box - is that
correct? Presumably I hook the NTL box's output into the Tivo, and then
an IR dongle from the Tivo back to the NTL box?

I say get a tivo & see how you go if you love it which you will stick in
a couple of 120Gb HDD's and you will not need to dump off to DVD (which
you could do assuming you have a DVD-R in your stack.

Ah - that last bit is interesting. Do you have any references for how
I'd be able to dump it off to DVD? Any references for Tivo
capabilities/limitations would be good, too - things like watching old
recordings while recording something else, etc.

This sounds like a pretty good short/medium term solution.

--
Jon Skeet -
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

Jon Skeet wrote:
Yannick wrote:

Currently Tivo is the best option (IMHO). I know a guy selling an
unsubbed 1 year old tivo (un modded) for £160


Interesting - could you put me in touch with him?

The guy is offering the Tivo on the uk.media.tv.sky forum look for a
thread 'Just got Sky+ - lots of questions' by a person called Cheddar.
His second post in the thread offers the Tivo.


What are the subscription options with that? Can I, say, try it for a
couple of months paying monthly (or whatever) and then go to a lifetime
subscription if I think it's worth it?

Yes monthly or lifetime sub. Monthly is £10/month Lifetime £199



The other options are pretty limited, $ky+, poor EPG compared to Tivo

build your own mythTV (there are other options)

humax have some pvr options but again you will not beat Tivo in terms of
ease to use & functionality.

You can probably guess I'm a Tivo fan but it's the greatest gadget I've
ever bought since I've had it I can honestly say I have not watched live
TV (apart from sport) It's season pass function means you set up a
series once and only once, it's wishlist recordings learn what you like
to watch and records programs for you that you might be interested in
(on other pvr does this sort of thing).


From what I've read, it should be fine with my NTL box - is that
correct? Presumably I hook the NTL box's output into the Tivo, and then
an IR dongle from the Tivo back to the NTL box?


I say get a tivo & see how you go if you love it which you will stick in
a couple of 120Gb HDD's and you will not need to dump off to DVD (which
you could do assuming you have a DVD-R in your stack.


Ah - that last bit is interesting. Do you have any references for how
I'd be able to dump it off to DVD? Any references for Tivo
capabilities/limitations would be good, too - things like watching old
recordings while recording something else, etc.

Tivo has a video scart out, just hook up your DVD-R to that.

Lots of answers to your questions here at the tivo community forum
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...?s=&forumid=14


This sounds like a pretty good short/medium term solution.

Yannick wrote:
Interesting - could you put me in touch with him?

The guy is offering the Tivo on the uk.media.tv.sky forum look for a
thread 'Just got Sky+ - lots of questions' by a person called Cheddar.
His second post in the thread offers the Tivo.

Cheers. There's another Tivo on eBay with lifetime subscription for 160
quid, so I clearly need to look into it for a while...

Ah - that last bit is interesting. Do you have any references for how
I'd be able to dump it off to DVD? Any references for Tivo
capabilities/limitations would be good, too - things like watching old
recordings while recording something else, etc.

Tivo has a video scart out, just hook up your DVD-R to that.

Ah, I see - that kind of DVD-R. Right - nope, don't have one of those :
(

Lots of answers to your questions here at the tivo community forum
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...?s=&forumid=14

Great, thanks.

--
Jon Skeet -
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

Jon Skeet wrote:
Yannick wrote:

Interesting - could you put me in touch with him?

The guy is offering the Tivo on the uk.media.tv.sky forum look for a
thread 'Just got Sky+ - lots of questions' by a person called Cheddar.
His second post in the thread offers the Tivo.


Cheers. There's another Tivo on eBay with lifetime subscription for 160
quid, so I clearly need to look into it for a while...

Also check out www.tivoland.com It's run by a guy who frequents the
Tivo forum and is well regarded. A littlemore pricey than Ebay but
worth the extra to have the backup. He also sells upgraded Tivos to
save you the time and hassle of doing it yourself.



Ah - that last bit is interesting. Do you have any references for how
I'd be able to dump it off to DVD? Any references for Tivo
capabilities/limitations would be good, too - things like watching old
recordings while recording something else, etc.

Tivo has a video scart out, just hook up your DVD-R to that.


Ah, I see - that kind of DVD-R. Right - nope, don't have one of those :
(


Lots of answers to your questions here at the tivo community forum
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...?s=&forumid=14


Great, thanks.

Yannick wrote:
Cheers. There's another Tivo on eBay with lifetime subscription for 160
quid, so I clearly need to look into it for a while...

Also check out www.tivoland.com It's run by a guy who frequents the
Tivo forum and is well regarded. A littlemore pricey than Ebay but
worth the extra to have the backup. He also sells upgraded Tivos to
save you the time and hassle of doing it yourself.

Right - cheers. It does look significantly more pricy assuming that
there's no subscription included. It looks to me like the eBay ones
with lifetime sub are *much* better value than without - effectively
you only end up paying about 50-100 quid for the sub.

I presume there aren't any "gotchas" about the lifetime sub? It really
*does* travel with the machine, it's not just a gimmick on eBay (like
the guy who sold a Playstation 2 box, and sent the buyer just that -
the box, rather than the Playstation 2 itself).

--
Jon Skeet -
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

Jon Skeet wrote:
Yannick wrote:

Cheers. There's another Tivo on eBay with lifetime subscription for 160
quid, so I clearly need to look into it for a while...

Also check out www.tivoland.com It's run by a guy who frequents the
Tivo forum and is well regarded. A littlemore pricey than Ebay but
worth the extra to have the backup. He also sells upgraded Tivos to
save you the time and hassle of doing it yourself.


Right - cheers. It does look significantly more pricy assuming that
there's no subscription included. It looks to me like the eBay ones
with lifetime sub are *much* better value than without - effectively
you only end up paying about 50-100 quid for the sub.

I presume there aren't any "gotchas" about the lifetime sub? It really
*does* travel with the machine, it's not just a gimmick on eBay (like
the guy who sold a Playstation 2 box, and sent the buyer just that -
the box, rather than the Playstation 2 itself).


No gocha's with the lifetime sub, it stays with the machine 'for life'.
Most problems that occur with tivo's are HDD related but these can
easily be replaced extending the life of the machine.
http://www.paceline.co.uk do replacement drives should you have a
problem as do tivoland or you could do it yourself. Buying from Ebay is
always a bit of a risk but if the seller has a good reputation then why
not. BTW if you do buy from ebay and there are missing components such
as remote, ir wands etc the tivo customer services are very helpful in
providing replacements.

As I mentioned in a previous post the tivo community is a very active
one. Many people have their tivo's networked and add custom modules to
the machine to enhance it's functionality, you can even get a web server
up and running on it as it is esentially a linux box at the end of the day.

Yannick wrote:
No gocha's with the lifetime sub, it stays with the machine 'for life'.

Excellent.

Most problems that occur with tivo's are HDD related but these can
easily be replaced extending the life of the machine.
http://www.paceline.co.uk do replacement drives should you have a
problem as do tivoland or you could do it yourself. Buying from Ebay is
always a bit of a risk but if the seller has a good reputation then why
not. BTW if you do buy from ebay and there are missing components such
as remote, ir wands etc the tivo customer services are very helpful in
providing replacements.

Great.

As I mentioned in a previous post the tivo community is a very active
one. Many people have their tivo's networked and add custom modules to
the machine to enhance it's functionality, you can even get a web server
up and running on it as it is esentially a linux box at the end of the day.

Is there much benefit in the networking option? Could I then, for
instance, copy programmes onto my laptop and then archive them?

--
Jon Skeet -
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too