Recommend me an HD Freeview / On Demand / PVR box

[sicasey]

Our Sky TV contract has thankfully come to and end and I've given them notice of cancellation.

Crap content at over inflated prices and besides we only generally watch the 'core' free-view channels.

The only good thing about Sky for us was: 1) The ability to watch on demand content from the main channels, whilst skipping the adverts 2) Record/FF/RW programs.

Therefore, can anyone please recommend a non subscription box that does the following (if one even exists):

1) Has HD Free-view programs
2) Has on demand content (BBC/4OD etc)
3) Has the ability to record said free-view programs.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by sicasey on Wednesday 10th February 13:14

Edited by sicasey on Wednesday 10th February 13:15

[SlidingSideways]

We got one of the Humax YouView boxes via our ISP. Seems to do the jobs you need, plus we get extra channels over the BB as well (inc. Eurosport)

[sicasey]

I forgot to mention that at the moment there is no coax connection.

Can these boxes stream everything over the webs, live TV etc?

If not then it's not the end of the world to get an aerial guy in.

[LordGrover]

Humax offers a freesat box so you continue to use your dish if you want.

ETA: demo vid.

Edited by LordGrover on Wednesday 10th February 14:24

[sicasey]

LordGrover said:

Humax offers a freesat box so you continue to use your dish if you want.

ETA: demo vid.

Edited by LordGrover on Wednesday 10th February 14:24

Interesting, thanks.

So this box would plug into the existing Sky dish cables?

[LordGrover]

Yep. I'd go for a refurbed one, save a few bob: click?
Still has one year warranty.

[sicasey]

LordGrover said:

Yep. I'd go for a refurbed one, save a few bob: click?
Still has one year warranty.

Fantastic, much appreciated.

[sicasey]

Out of interest, does anyone else have any other recommendations?

Just for comparison.

[Disco_Biscuit]

We got a second hand Talk talk You View box for £40 off eBay, does the job, It's HD and has catch up, bit slow but ok for what it cost.

Has twin tuner so can record 2 channels at once.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I have two HUMAX FreeSat boxes in use - absolutely bloody brilliant solution for very little money. Record off the free HD channels and watch it all back without ad's. Direct replacement for a Sky box.

I think my boxes have 500Gb hard drives but you can get 1Tb for just a few more ££ if you want to do a lot of recording. Available from Amazon.

[Adam B]

Can you buy Sky content for a Humax?

Looking at options other than my current £100/month Sky bill

[Ozzie Osmond]

^^ I don't think so. Humax is for "free to air" only IIRC.

But if you're expensive on Sky it's your contract that's the problem - an old Sky box can be used after terminating the contract but it won't let you record. That's where the Humax wins.

[Adam B]

to be fair £100 includes phone line, broadband and sky movies and films

debating Virgin who keep throwing huge discount bumpf through my letterbox

or threatening to leave Sky and see what they offer, which I can do in a month (new router = new 12 month contract when I moved in)

[gregs656]

Disco_Biscuit said:

We got a second hand Talk talk You View box for £40 off eBay, does the job, It's HD and has catch up, bit slow but ok for what it cost.

Has twin tuner so can record 2 channels at once.

Is that one of the DN3*0T boxes? They are a bit slow. The old BT ones are as well, the T1000. Kinda undermines what is a really good interface.

The 2nd generation boxes seem much better, certainly the T2100 that I have now is.

Depending on your provider you can get different Sky content through YouView.

[Barkychoc]

I haven't bought one of these but possibly will at some point

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/APPLE-TV-2-UNTETHERED-JA...

[LordGrover]

They must be getting old now... how fast are they by today's standards?

[vrod]

I'm still on sky but my mum and dad have the HUMAX freesat recorder and always say how good it is.

Any freesat device will work with your existing sky dish.

Other option is as per my Panasonic Freesat TV - there is a USB connection that allows you to connect a hard drive that records freesat or freeview to the external drive (like a PC HDD). Only problem is with only one tuner if you are recording it you have to watch that channel of something you have recorded.

[Adam B]

chatting to a mate, it seems Now TV + Netflix + Amazon might be the way to go

Now TV gets me Sky Atlantic / Sky movies / sky sports

[Chris Type R]

Adam B said:

chatting to a mate, it seems Now TV + Netflix + Amazon might be the way to go

Now TV gets me Sky Atlantic / Sky movies / sky sports

With Now TV, if you periodically cancel the renewal, the system is automated to offer you a reduced rate for a number of months e.g. recently cancelled the 6.99 entertainment pack & was offered it at 4.99pcm for 4 months.

EDIT: Predominantly using a combination of Humax Freesat HDR (HDR-1100S) and Now TV. Also have Amazon Prime content (as a side affect of Prime membership), and will rent movies from Amazon or Google Play occasionally.

Edited by Chris Type R on Friday 11th March 11:23

[twokcc]

Have a Humax Foxstat HDR and agree with all comments above an excellent product
However will not support BBC iplayer after September 2016 see
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/tv/v2_closur...

Presume this only applies to old Humax but if you see any very cheap offers on them may be worth checking first

All other satellite channels still available AFAIK but thinking future purchases will be separate boxes support periods for any sort of new technology seems to be getting shorter so having a TV with built in recorders could easily become useless.

Going back to Iplayer on computer with Chromecast which works just as well