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Reviews - Hard disk/drive recorders (PVRs) and Freeview
decoders (PVR = Personal Video Recorder, also known as DVR =
Digital Video Recorder)
So why this mini-site and why this focus? As a household making
the huge leap from analogue technology (videos) to digital technology, we
wanted to do it properly. So no messing around with recordable DVDs,
formats, storage and scratches. Since 99% of our TV
recording was simply time-shifting, i.e. watching programmes when we wanted to
rather than the at the midnight slot dictated by the TV companies, why bother
with removable media at all? Why not simply ditch boxes of old much-used
videotapes and move to a hard disk-based recorder? Less clutter,
higher quality, longer life and less remote controls
littering the living room!
In our case, we replaced the old VCR and Freeview box with an
all-in-one unit, one of the PVR models
available. The experiment has hit a few very minor glitches, but we're
pleased we took the jump. It was tempting to go even more 'converged', buying a
unit that recorded to (and played) DVD, as well as Freeview and hard disk, but
then 'all our eggs' would literally have 'been in one basket', should anything
have gone wrong. At least by separating out DVD playback, we can in the event
of a problem simply plug the DVD player straight into the TV and still have
something good to watch!
Read also our Observations so
far and an example of a hard disk-based PVR being
used in the real world.
Pros/cons of PVRs versus DVD recorders and combined units
PVR/Freeview tuner (the solution we went for) |
PVR with built-in recordable DVD |
Just a recordable DVD unit |
- Relatively cheap
- Very simple, no DVD blanks to buy, store and manage
- One remote for everything, as simple as it gets
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- Expensive
- Flexible, in that you can record to either hard disk or
DVD, more complicated to use
- You'll also usually have a separate Freeview box and a
separate remote etc.
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- Relatively cheap
- Great for archiving recordings that you or others want to
watch in a different location, inelegant to have to juggle DVD blanks and
remember where they are and exactly what's on them
- You'll also usually have a separate Freeview box and a
separate remote etc.
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Steve Litchfield, June 2007 |