Recommendation for a simple PVR

[RogerS]

...as it's for my cantankerous, miserable, foul-tempered mother which means that anything I get for her won't be right. Too hard - too difficult - wrong colour - too big - too small etc etc.

So any heads up for something that is simple to operate by an 86 year-old eejit would be much appreciated.

TIA

 

[Jensmith]

Humax are good. Not sure about which is the best for non technically minded though. It's easy for us but then we're of the young generation

 

[Racers]

Hi,

My mother-in-law has got the hang of a Humax, and if she can do it then any one can!

You can get returned one with a full guaranty from Humax http://humaxdirect.co.uk/prodCat.asp?ca ... y&type=stb £89.95 plus about £5 postage I think.


Pete

 

[Woodchips2]

Hi Roger
We've got the Humax which is relatively easy to operate but the handset buttons are quite small and it is easy to press the wrong button and turn it off. My 91 year old mother-in-law is partially-sighted and has Sky Plus and she finds that very straight-forward and I think superior to Humax but I don't like Mr Murdoch :evil: :twisted:
Regards Keith

 

[thick_mike]

Another vote for Humax 9300T. My Mom and Dad are both 80 and get on with it famously.

 

[gregmcateer]

+ about another 20 for Humax.

Would take a lot to shift me onto a different one - even the missus can use it - I never get a look-in, now, (on the Humax or the missus!)

 

[RogerS]

Thanks guys. We've also got a Humax which should help with the Helpdesk facility offering long-distance support :?

 

[RogerS]

Pete, thanks for that link. All ordered. Actually, in hindsight, a no-brainer as the user interface is exactly the same as the one we have so that will help for the inevitable call(s). Oh God... what have I let myself in for. I can see it now....four months down line..it wont record any more because it is full and she won't have deleted anything (despite being shown how to).

"But I didn't have to do that on my VHS recorder"... :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

 

[Benchwayze]

Blimey! I must be getting old. What the Heck is a PVR!

Okay! So Google tells me it's a Personal Video recorder.

How is it different from my VHS-DVD recorder? Mine has stopped recording unless the Television is actually switched on, and tuned to the program you wish to record. Which is pointless, if you want to watch something else. (I am using Iplayer far too much these days.)

So I am tempted to ask, short of buying another TV, would a PVR solve my problem?

 

[Benchwayze]

Humax are good. Not sure about which is the best for non technically minded though. It's easy for us but then we're of the young generation

Ho, Ho, Ho!
Careful Jenn..... One day you'll be saying, 'Blimey! It's April already. Where is this year going?' :lol: :lol: :lol:

My daughter (40 something) came to re-tune my VHS recorder.

Now it's loused up completely... As already said, now it won't record unless the telly is switched on; where there was no problem a month ago, now there is!
So I am going to need a Technician at £40.00 a pop after all!
(hammer) (hammer)

 

[RogerS]

....
So I am tempted to ask, short of buying another TV, would a PVR solve my problem?

Where do you live? Once the whole country has moved over to digital TV then your video recorder will no longer be able to record TV programmes. You will still be able to play tapes already recorded.

But a PVR is the way to go ...especially when you go digital....as I am guessing that your TV is an analpgue one and so will also cease to function post-DSO (digital switch over). Provided that your TV has a SCARt connector then a PVR such as the ones from Humax will let you record two channels simultaneously while watching something that you've previously recorded. Setting up to record a programme to record is also a lot easier IMO then delving through the Radio Times for the code to enter.

Post-DSO you may need a new aerial and/or downlead cable from aerial to TV.

Lastly, if you are over 75 AFAIK you can get assistance to go digital.

EDIT: If Brummagem = Birmingham then you ARE already digital .

 

[Benchwayze]

Roger...

Panasonic DVD/VHS Recorder DMR-EZ49VEB

Panasonic LCD 32" TV with Viera. (And a few other Bells and whistles we never use!) .
We bought his set-up just prior to the switch-over. Everything was tuned in when switch over occurred.
So, I don't believe this has anything to do with the digital issue. When I first bought this recorder and TV, we had already gone digital.

The recorder was working perfectly, on VHS or DVD, and we were able to record whatever programme we wished, whilst watching another. The recorder merely had to be switched to the channel you wished to record.

Now for some inexplicable reason, that facility has vanished. If I switch on the recorder, and not the TV, the TV comes on, displaying whatever channel is selected on the recorder. So, the recorder can control the TV, and vice-versa. if I switch off the TV, the recorder goes off too, unless it's recording.

If I set the recorder to a channel and start recording, it's fine as long as I leave the TV on. if I switch off the TV (and go and do something more interesting instead,) the recorder records a blank transmission from the time I switched off. Now, since, we were completely digital from the get-go., what has suddenly changed?
There is a TV button and an Avi button on the remote, which seems to have some effect, but although I RTFM, until it's worn out, nothing in there seems to correlate to what is actually happening. :?

(TBH, I am considering a Tivo-box. It might be far less hassle! ) We do get continual interruptions of service, asking us to update new channels that have been 'found', which is pineappling me off though!)

PS. The assistance is available to my wife, but because of my position, it ain't free, (Not that it bothers me.) considering I get the benefit of no Licence, because of my wife's age. I just don't see the logic in having to have a programme playing to record it. The idea of recording programmes is so you can watch them at a later date. As for TV quality, and 'intermissions'. it's like returning to the 1950's, except there's no potter's wheel, or goldfish to entertain you when service goes belly-up!

 

[RogerS]

John

When you say VHS or DVD then if that is all in the one box then I understand the confusion at my end as in order to have a DVD capability, chances are that there is also a hard disc/digital/whatever inside your recorder. So my comments re recording on VHS are no longer valid. However...it does beg the question as to the complexity going on inside since recording on VHS is an analogue process. So you've got the digital signal coming down to your recorder. The signal is then converted into analogue so it can be recorded on the VHS tape. You could try connecting your aerial cable first into the recorder and then feeding it to the TV (is your TV digital or analogue?).

TiVo..are you in a Virgin area then? Going cable? 'cos that's the only way you're going to run a TiVo (without buying an old TiVo and an old Freeview box that is compatible with it). The Virgin TiVo user onscreen interface is reputed to be pretty dire compared to the original and very elegant TiVo.

 

[Benchwayze]

I reckon I must be in a Virgin are Roger as I am on Virginmedia broadband, and it wouldn't take much to have the cables extended to the TV.

The aerial is plugged into the recorder. This isn't an old recorder btw. It was all bought together, as a package, and I was careful to make sure they were compatible with digital. What could have happened I guess, is that when we were TOLD we had been digitised, we hadn't, and only now have they completed the process. So now my video recorder which wasn't cheap. is u/s!
There is also an annoying, 'go-green', 'eco-friendly', power-saving auto switch-off facility on the TV, :roll:
I can't circumvent this, so if I did record something, and went out, it would be ruined by the TV switching itself off after an hour or so!

They call it progress!

 

[Racers]

Hi,

My thoughts are that you have got it set to record from a scart/hdmi input not the tuner built into the recorder.

Pete

 

[RogerS]

I reckon I must be in a Virgin are Roger as I am on Virginmedia broadband, and it wouldn't take much to have the cables extended to the TV.

The aerial is plugged into the recorder. This isn't an old recorder btw. It was all bought together, as a package, and I was careful to make sure they were compatible with digital. What could have happened I guess, is that when we were TOLD we had been digitised, we hadn't, and only now have they completed the process. So now my video recorder which wasn't cheap. is u/s!
There is also an annoying, 'go-green', 'eco-friendly', power-saving auto switch-off facility on the TV, :roll:
I can't circumvent this, so if I did record something, and went out, it would be ruined by the TV switching itself off after an hour or so!

They call it progress!

You've got my interest piqued, John. What are the model numbers? No guarantee I will find a manual online. Ruddy manufacturers seem to take great delight in removing older manuals from their websites.. :evil: .

EDIT: Pete may have cracked it, though!

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Pete...

I have a sneaky suspicion you might be correct.
I'll call in the man from the shop down the road.
Like anything else that goes wrong, leave it to an expert!
(And I don't mean a ' Squirt' that used to be a spurt!)

Thanks again :wink:

 

[devonwoody]

I got one about a month ago and posted here. Mine is very handy watching live I found this week I can push the fast rewind buttion on live tv and it runs back to where you want to repeat a viewing you want to watch again because you did not hear or other reason.

Mine has internet access direct from the router but I am concerned that a virus can come into the humax ( the internet comes in direct, not through the computer) because there is no virus intercept.

Humax warn that there is no recompense from them. Got a three year free guarantee from P.Jones the supplier and lower than retail price.

Roger, how about a pill box for the lovelyu lady. :wink:

 

[nev]

Seconded for petes suggestion.
the vcr can record a telly signal from the aerial/ built in tuner or a signal fed into the scart skt. looks like the vcr is set to record AV2 (which is the signal coming from the telly). Change the channel on the vcr to say bbc1 and try it then.

 

[Benchwayze]

Seconded for petes suggestion.
the vcr can record a telly signal from the aerial/ built in tuner or a signal fed into the scart skt. looks like the vcr is set to record AV2 (which is the signal coming from the telly). Change the channel on the vcr to say bbc1 and try it then.

Will get No. One Son onto it at the weekend. He's already had one go, but if I show him your post, it might give him another clue. (One of those clues, wot I don't not got!) :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks Nev.