Digital recoder for an oldie?

[Mark.]

With us flipping over to fully digital soon my in laws, who video loads, are going to need a new recorder and they have asked me for advice. Otherwise they will just go and buy the first one they see.

Any guidance out there folks? I've not recorded a single thing for about 10 years so no real clue, only stipulations are
1. It must have a video player too (piggybacking theold the the new just won't happen)
2. Want's it to record to DVD
3. Must be pretty simple for our more mature users

[jjones]

simplest solution is

sky+
portable tv with built in vhs kept in the garage for the once a year they want to play a VHS recording of cliff in concert from 1986,

no DVD writer but do they want that as they do not understand that they will not need a "copy to hold in their hand" as it is all held in the sky+ box

i only suggest sky+ as i have experience with it and we had the exact same scenario with the mother in law, she gets on fine with sky and suprise supruse hasn't requested use of the VHS TV yet. not sure what the free view boxes are like

[Mark.]

I see your logic, but there is absolutely no way on this earth that anything will be paid for over and above freeview.

This needs to be a 'free' solution.

[dave_s13]

To be clear, you want a single box that:-

1. Plays VHS tapes
2. Burns DVD's
3. Records from freeview

Happy to be told otherwise but that does not exist.

You can get combined freeview pvr/dvd recorders but I've no idea what they are like to use
http://www.richersounds.com/product/dvd-recorders/...

Do they really need to burn broadcast TV on to DVD's? You can store a lot of sheit you'll never watch on a 500GB PVR....Humax are a safe bet for these.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/freeview-frees...

The VHS player will have to remain I reckon.....do they really watch old VHS tapes??

[Mark.]

Well, I only had a brief chat at the weekend and they do seem to have seen some at Comet but I'd like to have a look round for them.

And yes, they actually do want to still watch VHS.

I've asked for model numbers of what they have seen, so I can check Amazon etc.

[dave_s13]

I stand corrected

http://www.comet.co.uk/p/DVD-Players-&-Recorde...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-RDXV60-DVD-HDD-Rec...

Should have googled harder.

Not cheap are they.

I'm genuinely interested. What do they watch on VHS?

[randlemarcus]

dave_s13 said:

I'm genuinely interested. What do they watch on VHS?

Their old "Saturday night" tapes

[dave_s13]

randlemarcus said:

Their old "Saturday night" tapes

specialist stuff then

[Mark.]

No they don't seem particularly cheap.

What do they watch? No idea to be frank. The mind boggles.

[FlossyThePig]

Slightly O/T but how old are the "oldies"?

[cjs]

DVD recording is a PITA, they will struggle if they're not tech savvy.

Get a Freeview PVR, a Humax or similar, it will answer all their recording issues and more, even my 80+ year old mum uses one.

Leave their existing VHS plugged in for when they want to watch some of their old tapes.

[Mark.]

FlossyThePig said:

Slightly O/T but how old are the "oldies"?

mid/late 70's

[Mark.]

cjs said:

DVD recording is a PITA, they will struggle if they're not tech savvy.

Get a Freeview PVR, a Humax or similar, it will answer all their recording issues and more, even my 80+ year old mum uses one.

Leave their existing VHS plugged in for when they want to watch some of their old tapes.

Good info cheers, I did mention going down the HDD route, will do so again.

[telecat]

Let them Keep the VCR and plug it into a HUMAX 9150T or 9300T. I'd avoid HDD/DVD recorders as they are expensive.

[snotrag]

What they said.

Humax PVR, and keep their existing VCR setup.

This is exactly how I have setup bot my Parents and my Grandparents who had the same questions.

Humax PVR's being not only very good, but also generally pretty user friendly, particularly when compared to the Horrendous GUI's I've seen on some other kit.

Install it, then jsut show how to press 'guide', how to scroll along, how to press record, then how to play or delete recorded programmes. Easy!

[Mark.]

Thanks chaps, I think this is the way to go - if I can convince them

[dave_s13]

I think if you can get it across to them that recording stuff today is all about PVR's and that none of the cool grandmas and grandads use musty, wee smelling tapes or DVD's anymore.

I've just remembered but my in laws bought a DVD recorder a few years ago with the intention of it replacing the VHS. Never got used, too much facking about/buttons to press. In fact I think the only real use for a DVD recorder is if you want to tranfer home movies on to disc and you don't have one in the PC/laptop.

Everyone, 100% of people, who think a PVR/Sky+ isn't for them will think differently as soon as they use one for a bit.

Edited by dave_s13 on Friday 17th February 12:51