Hey,

As a follow on to my best device for hooking TV/Blu-Ray thread, i'm now looking at ideas for a good HDD Recorder to be connected to the USB on my Sony Bravia TV.

I've looked at the Humax PVR9300T and it seems to have some good reviews but after 1st hand experience from my fellow Briskodians please??

Hey,

As a follow on to my best device for hooking TV/Blu-Ray thread, i'm now looking at ideas for a good HDD Recorder to be connected to the USB on my Sony Bravia TV.

I've looked at the Humax PVR9300T and it seems to have some good reviews but after 1st hand experience from my fellow Briskodians please??

DO you mean USB or HDMI? I have both the 9300T and the current HD Humax (well I gave my 9300 to my mum). Both work well and the HD Humax works well after a software update earlier this year. Versatile machine too

No relevance but I use 2 x Panasonic DMR-EX75 160GB HDD with a DVD recorder and Freeview.

Plus side > editing recorded material on HDD, burning discs from HDD or Freeview, Pause & Play TV, multi-disc recording formats including DVD-R - DVD+R

Composite or Scart inputs. Hack for multi-region, (normally region 2). SD card slot.

Connection outputs Scart - HDMI - Composite.

Minus side > After approx 400 disc burns, laser fails and needs replacing E-Bay £50.00 (DIY) - U81 error message Freeview fault £32.00 fault fix fella on E-Bay.

No USB connection.

I've had a Humax 9300T for 2 and a half years. Its not perfect but reading around, it seems to one of the better of a bad bunch. I used it for Standard Def. freeview (obviously) upscaled to 720p over HDMI to my 720p 32" LCD TV. I don't bother with the TV freeview tuner any more and just watch everything through the Humax. Fine but it means when stuff starts or ends recording you get a glitch if you happen to be watching something else at the time. plus a little message for a seocnd when stuff starts recording.

Other than that, it did seem to lose the live pause function for a bit but 3 weeks without use, left on standby has seemed to fix it but sometimes it will still just unpause itself and carry on playing or even lose the paused segment and jump straight to whatever is being live fed at the time. Easily got round by just pressing record before you pause something so you still have a copy if it gets upset. Could be my fault for running it pretty close to full most of the time - as people do. It occasionally gets it timing wrong but not very often although it struggles with childrens programmes where they never seem to fit the advertised times. The number of times I've got only 4 mins of peppa pig is unbelievable.

I'd probably mark it 7 out of 10. It does what it needs to do most of the time, it would be nice to be able to put stuff onto a USB key which you can't do but seems to be better than lots of the other units available.

I think either HDMi or USB would be fine but then the instruction manual for the TV states i can record things through a USB connected HDD Recorder. :wonder:

I did think about the possibility of getting a DVD Recorder or even a Blu-Ray Recorder but with the programs i would like to record, i don't think i will ever need to put them onto a disc of any kind and would either store them on the Hard Drive or delete once i've watched them.

As the TV is a 1080p and the Humux is 720p, does that mean the programs i record will be in 720p?? (Sorry, bit of a noob when it comes to things like this!!)

Also, can programs be recorded through just the HDMi cable??

The 9300T is like a hi tech video recorder. It has a twin tuner though so you can record 2 things at once or watch one, record something else. It does all the work with the freeview signal and my TV just recieves the signal like any aux input over the HDMI.

As its Standard Definition it'll only be in 500 and whatever lines which is the standard output from the box. You can select an upscale to 720p option but the recordings are only in Standard Def because that's what they're broadcast in. You would need a High Def box to get High Def. And to be honest there isn't much difference between the normal pic and the upscaled picture on my TV.

Not sure where USB is coming into it. My TV is a few years old so has no sort of network connectivity. Can you now connect the Humax boxes to a network? I thought the USB port on mine was just for s/ware updates/fixing the box.

These are the "Special Features" for my TV, which shows the USB Recording bit:

Special features

Electronic programme guide (EPG): YES (not Gemstar)

On-screen clock: YES

Sleep timer: YES

On / off timer: YES

On-screen instruction manual: YES

BRAVIA Sync: YES

Auto photo mode:

Picture and picture (PAP): YES (1 tuner only)

Picture in picture (PIP): YES (1 tuner only)

Position control:

Distance alert:

Parental control: YES

USB Photo Viewer: YES

USB Music Player: YES

USB Video Player: YES

USB HDD Recording: YES

Picture Frame mode: YES

Multiple language display: YES (27 languages)

Favourites: YES

Quick start: YES

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/tv-80-32-lcd/kdl-32cx523#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

I'm not sure about the USB on the Humax box but for the TV it can be used for a WiFi dongle to connecr to Internet TV.

If there isn't much difference between the Standard and High Def, then i might go with the Humax as it's around the £140 mark in some places. The other option is pay out a bit more and get the Humax HDR-Fox T2 1080p 500GB recorder with Freeview HD but it's £100 more for more memory, pixels and HD.

Are there any other brands people would recommend??

As an additional, just been looking on the Sony website and came across this product... http://www.sony.co.uk/product/rec-external-hard-disc-drive/hd-pg5u#pageType=Overview which states it is compatible with my tv, so it would save the messing with having a freeview box and freeview tv but would it be as good??

Edited 15 November, 201114 yr by vRS19TD

As I think I recall, Panasonic allow you to record to USB devices, but they have to be a certain make. Perhaps Sony are a bit more flexible with this, but I don't think a PVR would work with a USB in the way you want it too. If you want to Connect to your WiFi router, you must look at a bridge device, it will enable you to connect all your devices to the router and hences the web. If the bridge device only has one port then you simply add a switcher. Trust me, I have done and it works 100% reliably. And if I can do it, then almost any one can do it too The Humax HD PVR can be used to stream Music, Pictures and Videos too, once you connect it to your network.

I think the USB HDD record means that you can plug any old USB external hard drive into the TV and record to it. It will be limited to recording the channel you are watching, so you are much better off going for an external recorder like the 9300T or a Freeview HD one.

Think the OP is a little confused here.

The new Sony's let you plug any USB stick in (and possibly a HDD) and allow you to record to it.

I would go for a Humax but would get a freeview HD one if your budget allows, such as the HDR-FOX T2

Think the OP is a little confused here.

I have gently tried to find this out twice :(

I use a HUMAX 9150T and its GREAT, never missed a beat.

I think the USB HDD record means that you can plug any old USB external hard drive into the TV and record to it. It will be limited to recording the channel you are watching, so you are much better off going for an external recorder like the 9300T or a Freeview HD one.

Thanks.

Think the OP is a little confused here.

The new Sony's let you plug any USB stick in (and possibly a HDD) and allow you to record to it.

I would go for a Humax but would get a freeview HD one if your budget allows, such as the HDR-FOX T2

Not sure how i'm confused!

I'm just going by the specifications of the TV where it says i can record TV onto a HDD via the USB.

As Mannyo said though, that would only record the one channel, so i will be better off going for something like the HDR-Fox T2 where i can record 2 channels or record 1 and watch the other without any fuss. :yes:

Having done a bit of a search for the HDR-Fox T2, it seems to be a fair machine, so i might have to start looking for something similar.

I have gently tried to find this out twice :(

You confused me a little with your talk of bridges and connecting to WiFi, which was something i asked in my other thread, not this one! :p

If you're after a standard definition PVR, may I suggest adding a Topfield to your list? It can run 3rd party applications "TAPS" which makes it very versatile, in particular one called MyStuff allows it to search by name, series or a key word. Like Briskoda, there is a very helpful community who are more than happy to help.

More info here:- http://forum.toppy.o...forum/index.php

and briefly discussed here too:-

http://briskoda.net/...66#entry2447266

Edited 17 November, 201114 yr by JBD1974

In reply to the original question I would go for a Humax, either PVR9150T or PVR9300T (bigger hard drive & HDMI)if I was buying standard definition, or the HDR FOXT2 if you want high definition. I've tried a few other PVR's but most seem to be a little flaky.The Humax boxes do occasionally have issues but Humax seem better than most at resolving these issues by making new software available.

If you're after a standard definition PVR, may I suggest adding a Topfield to your list? It can run 3rd party applications "TAPS" which makes it very versatile, in particular one called MyStuff allows it to search by name, series or a key word. Like Briskoda, there is a very helpful community who are more than happy to help.

More info here:- http://forum.toppy.o...forum/index.php

and briefly discussed here too:-

http://briskoda.net/...66#entry2447266