Thread: HD-TV PVR recommendations

Just upgraded from the mediastar SD twin tuner to the Beyonwiz DP-P2, 'only' has the 320Gb drive in it but I now hear tell they come with a 500Gb. Very easy to transfer recordings to an external HDD and use the tools listed at the Beyonwiz forms to edit and convert to mpeg2 (VideoReDo also works). Comes with an Ice-Tv trial, but Im using the free-to-air EPG for programming ok. Plays dvds and avi's off of an external HDD nicely, or these can be uploaded (via the PVR menu) to the internal HDD. The PVR's usb's do not like powering USB Ext HDD's so I have fitted a cheap powered hub to overcome this. The remote is a wee bit slow to respond, but once you're used to this small lag you learn not to get to many button presses ahead. The 'ad-skip' is adjustable forwards and back, the four cursor buttons can be assigned different skip durations. Cost me $800 from local Bing Lee for the 320Gb version, very happy with this PVR thus far

Originally Posted by roguefan99

LOL dilligaf, sounds like you have done what I'm thinking about (moving from a Mediastar SD twin to a new one). Gonna go have a look at the Beyonwiz DP-P2 tommorrow, especially now I have found the manual. Its either this or the Topfield and the transfering of avis is helping with this one.

I guess the main contenders for quality PVR's are Tivo, Topfield and Beyonwiz. The media-player attributes of the Beyonwiz won me over and it did not disappoint. Just a note with the HDD's, the Beyonwiz will read & write Fat32 drives, but will only read from NTFS drives.

If you're using HDMI, the Video Output menu will not give the option until you set the resolution to 1080, when you return to the menu the HDMI option will appear, this was not made clear in the manual

BTW My Mediastar is also still running well, quite a robust piece of kit these

Gday,

I still have an old 68cm CRT and no STB.

Am interested in going digital and being able to record by buying an STB with a USB port for an external drive. Do these STB's come with software to set up timer recording?

Can I use just any HDD with a USB plug or does it have to be in a portable case etc? How do I convert an IDE/SATA socket to USB?

Also, I won't be able to see the PQ difference between SD and HD on my old TV. Is the channel content on the HD channels just the same as the SD channels, so no point in going HD yet?

Any recommendations for boxes please?

Thanks, any advice appreciated.

Originally Posted by Variable

Gday,

I still have an old 68cm CRT and no STB.

Am interested in going digital and being able to record by buying an STB with a USB port for an external drive. Do these STB's come with software to set up timer recording?

Can I use just any HDD with a USB plug or does it have to be in a portable case etc? How do I convert an IDE/SATA socket to USB?

Also, I won't be able to see the PQ difference between SD and HD on my old TV. Is the channel content on the HD channels just the same as the SD channels, so no point in going HD yet?

Any recommendations for boxes please?

Thanks, any advice appreciated.

Some of the broadcasters are now slowly starting to make more use of channels by broadcasting different content between SD and HD channels. Spend the money on HD as you will end up missing out on some content.

From what I've been reading, ensure that you purchase a HD Box/PVR that is capable of decoding MPEG4 H.264 video as every brodcast will be using this codec sooner rather than later. I believe that all the FREEVIEW compliant devices are able to decode MPEG4 H.264. Foxtel HD is alreading broadcasting their HD channels as MPEG4 H.264.

Forget a standalone HDD Recorder...If you are going to spend $800 you can build your own HTPC with a Hauppauge HVR-2200 and 1TB hdd.....with so much more flexibility.

After using the sd toppy for many years, I now have a Tivo.

A little on the pricey side and the software features could do with some tweaking, but happy with it after a few months. The biggest issue I have with it, is the inability to merge programmes when you want to record them back-to-back.

You need 24/7 internet access as it downloads the guide and updates software automatically, but can also be used to access weather info via the net.

I upgraded the internal HDD to 1TB so we have hours and hours of storage

Another way of using the streaming for the beyonwiz, is to have the wiz connected to your network. Instead of worrying about plugging in/out usb devices directly to the wiz, I just have my external drive with my movies/shows on them permenantly connected to my pc and just stream them straight over the network.
Works no problems with no delays etc.
I have the DP-S1 with wireless, but found some lag etc. when trying to stream using the wireless instead of a wired connection.

Originally Posted by AussieM8

I upgraded the internal HDD to 1TB so we have hours and hours of storage

I am currently looking at the TIVO as a PVR that is simple to use for the wife and kids etc... but the 160GB internal HDD is not big enough.

Was it fairly easy to upgrade the original internal 160GB HDD with the 1TB HDD?

I know the external eSATA HDD is an option but gets a bit messy...

Look forward to hearing from TIVO owners with any ideas and suggestions, cheers.

I would like to buy a HD twin tuner PVR that can also be a media player from a USB or network drive. Is there any such thing?
Otherwise I would have to buy 2 separate boxes.
1 PVR and 1 media player such as Popcorn Hour.
The less boxes cluttering up my TV room, the better.
More cables and TV only has limited inputs.

Anyone had a look at these?
Found them for under $300
Any feedback?




Astone Media Gear AP-360T 1080p Media Player with PVR & HDTV Tuner

Western Digitgal WD8088AADS 808.8G 32M IntelliPower SATA2 Caviar Green Hard Drive inside

•Model name: Astone Media Gear AP-360T
•Disc format: FAT16/FAT32/NTFS/UDF
•Subtitle: Chinese Traditional/Chinese Simplified/UTF8/Europe
•Resolution: 1080p HD decoding & output, upscaling, CVBS & YPbPr & HDMI output simultaneously
•Aspect ratio: Pan Scan 4:3 / Letterbox 4:3 /16:9
•Video Interface: CVBS composite RCA Video, YPbPr RCA, HDMI 1.3
•Analog Audio: Analog: AUDIO L/R RCA
•Digital Audio: SPDIF, TOSLINK & Coaxial, HDMI
•USB: USB 2.0, 5V-1000mA, For USB External HDD, USB Flash Disk, USB DVD-ROM¹
•SATA II: For internal 3.5" SATA II HDD x 1
•Ethernet: RJ-45 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port
•Optional Wi-Fi dongle: Astone AW-N290 USB 802.11n Wi-Fi Dongle
•Analog Video Record: NTSC/PAL
•Record quality: HD, HQ, SP, LP, EP, SLP
•DTV Support: DVB-T, DTV EPG
•Record Function: DTV EPG / Timer Recording, Pause Live TV, one-touch recording
•Movie Video: MPEG-1 (DAT / MPG / MPEG); MPEG-2 (MPG / MPEG / VOB / ISO / IFO / TS / TP) MPEG-4 (MP4 / AVI / MOV); DivX 3/4/5/6, Xvid (AVI / MKV) H.264 AVC (TS / AVI / MKV / MOV) VC-1 (TS / AVI / MKV / WMV); WMV 9 (WMV); Real Video HD 8/9/10 (RM / RMVB); FLV (FLV)
•Movie Audio: Dolby Digital AC3/Plus/TrueHD, DTS/HD Master Audio/LBR, LPCM, MPEG-I Layer 1/2/3, MPEG-II Layer 1/2 multichannel, MPEG-4 HE AACv2, Real Audio
•Movie Subtitle: srt, sub, smi, idx+sub², ssa, DVD subtitle, DivX subtitle
•Music: MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, AAC, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, iTune, M4A(AAC), M3U(Playlist)
•Photo: JPG(40-mega pixel without limitation of resolution, Baseline), BMP, PNG, GIF, TIF, TIFF
•Power rating: +12V 2A
•Power consumption: Operation: 7 W (USB device/HDD consumption not included)
•Standby: 0.5 W
•Size: 206 x 151.5 x 51 mm (L x W x H)
•Operation temperature: 0-40 Celsius
•Package Contents
•AP-360T HD Media Player
•Power adapter
•Remote control unit
•AAA batteries
•Mini jack to RCA composite cable
•RCA YPbPr cable
•User's manual

Great find shlocker, looks tempting.
Shame it's ala DM500 with external PS.

Catchoftheday.com.au
SOS deals for subscribers
$299 plus $9.95 delivery
I was tempted to buy one now but maybe wait a little longer, I feel better things will come out and with the Aussie dollar climbing, even cheaper prices.
A quick google search have found them even cheaper
as low as $179 but without the harddrive.