Told Sky to Shove it - what now?

[welsh blackbird]

I've finally had enough of Sky ripping me off, so I've cancelled my subscription.

I want to go over to Freeview with the top-up channels, but I still want the facilities that Sky+ offers, such as pausing programmes and recording one while watching another.

I think I need a DVD recorder with a hard drive and a Freeview tuner and card slot built in. Does such a thing exist? If so, which is the best one and if not, what is the alternative?

Any advice much appreciated!

Cheers,
Richard

[plug]

They do exist I have just brought one but without freeview, I got a Sony RDR-HX510, don't know what is the best or not, I think there have been a thread on this not so long ago.

>> Edited by plug on Monday 2nd January 10:44

[telecat]

The Humax 9200-T is a good unit but lacks DVD. Its a twin tuner 160GB HD recorder with a CAM socket for a card reader. I have just bought one and it is doing very well for me. Only drawback is the (current) lack of "chase" recording feature.

[Don]

welsh blackbird said:

I've finally had enough of Sky ripping me off, so I've cancelled my subscription. I want to go over to Freeview with the top-up channels, but I still want the facilities that Sky+ offers, such as pausing programmes and recording one while watching another. I think I need a DVD recorder with a hard drive and a Freeview tuner and card slot built in. Does such a thing exist? If so, which is the best one and if not, what is the alternative? Any advice much appreciated! Cheers, Richard

I've gone down the route of a Media Center (A WinXP PC with special Media Center software).

Actually better than Sky+.

I got an Evesham eBox. My only complaint is that it is a little noisy. HUSH PCs do fanless ones that are much quieter and therefore "lounge friendly". Take a look at one of those.

A friend of mine decided against a Media Center and got a DVD-writing,Hard disk recording,twin Freeview recieving dedicated box. Not sure if it would be any more reliable - but I'll ask him what make it was...

[Stu247]

I have a Topfield TF5800PVR that does the job nicely !
160Gig harddrive (250Gig version also available), Twin tuners & CAM slot for TopUpTv etc.

No DVD writer but you can upload recordings to a PC via the USB connection and burn the DVD that way if you want.

Around £250 IIRC.

[JoolzB]

Stu247 said:

I have a Topfield TF5800PVR that does the job nicely ! 160Gig harddrive (250Gig version also available), Twin tuners & CAM slot for TopUpTv etc. No DVD writer but you can upload recordings to a PC via the USB connection and burn the DVD that way if you want. Around £250 IIRC.

A friend of mine is looking into getting one of these recorders and his research also came to the conclusion that the Topfield was the best option altho a bit more expensive iirc.

[Eric Mc]

Watching TV is getting more and more complicated. I've been looking for an excuse to watch less telly - maybe now is the time.

[medusa]

I think it is the Sony HX710 or 910 has hard drive & freeview inbuilt.
Check www.totaldigital.biz/default.php
just bought a Sony 510 from them last week.

[Plotloss]

As Don says a Media Centre is probably the best way...

Loads of companies make them and loads of companies are making chassis for them so if you are a bit handy with a screwdriver then making a dedicated media centre PC is childs play.

[mybrainhurts]

Ask Telewest to drag their cables in your direction.

You can now select programmes to watch, pause, rewind, fast forward on demand.....

Without a hard disk....

Last seven days of programmes, I believe.

[telecat]

I trawled around www.digitalspy.co.uk to get the opiions on that. The feeling is that the Topfield is good but the Humax should be better a few update down the line.

[gooby]

telecat said:

I trawled around www.digitalspy.co.uk to get the opiions on that. The feeling is that the Topfield is good but the Humax should be better a few update down the line.

Got a couple of Humax boxes (without hard drive) £80 each and about 60 channels (about 8 good) enough for me, all free with a few extra pay channels. The humax has on screen guide and listings like sky and I save at least £400 a year on what I used to spend on sky.

[Code Monkey]

mybrainhurts said:

Ask Telewest to drag their cables in your direction. You can now select programmes to watch, pause, rewind, fast forward on demand..... Without a hard disk.... Last seven days of programmes, I believe.

depends on content pushed up by bbc, itv etc. NTL can do the same, through the interactive, can also view some old stuff, repeats etc of things like little britian and the office.

[pgm]

I've completely had it with them too - worked out that at the current rate, by the time we have paid our mortgage off (referenced as we have just sorted our mortgage out) we will have given the Murdoch's ten grand of our hard earned!

And all for a load of total sh1te - It takes so long to look through all those menus to find something to watch, only to discover there is nothing - what a waste of my life.

I am going to tell them to shove it tomorrow and buy 2 cards for our receivers from sky at £18 each to get the free to air and free to view channels subscription free.

My only problem is that our sky + recorder will no longer work and the subscription for recording is £10 per month - not happy about this!

Looks like I too will be heading down the HD recorder or computer based system like you guys - this is the first I've heard of these systems so any advice welcome

Cheers
Paul

[docevi1]

I liked the look of the Topfield boxes mainly because they are customisable with "Taps". The problem for me is two fold, firstly they aren't natively network friendly (although there is the option to fiddle with a Linksys USB hub) therefore can't be controlled remotely (i.e. set it to record something whilst away from the house by browsing it's website) and secondly you can't watch things encoded.