MegaSack DRAW - 6pm Christmas Eve - LIVE on our YouTube Channel
After many many, years with SKY we are finally leaving them after one piss take too far.
Whilst we have a smart TV Mrs HTS still wants the ability to record (Countdown, Corrie etc) rather than watch them via streaming. Everything else we view is via iPlayer, Disney+ and Netflix.
Looking at a Humax Aura, but is there anything else that we should be considering?
I'm thinking of doing the same, but relying on streaming by catch up to watch things I'd miss... any particular reason why Mrs Harry doesn't want to do this? Interested, because there may be a down-side to my plan that I hadn't thought of!
Whilst I appreciate the “security” having recordings readily accessible, I fairly recently got rid of our Humax box and now access everything on demand via the TV and internet. I see no need for more wires and an extra remote.
Guessing you've still got your sky dish and cables? If so just plug one of these in. I got one when I ditched Sky and it's fine - the interface isn't as slick though.
I know streaming is most peoples preferred method now but the ability to fast forward adverts is very useful!
any particular reason why Mrs Harry doesn't want to do this?
Because she doesn't want to do it. Reason enough as far as I'm concerned.
Still got the dish and cables. Will have a look at the Freesat.
On a lot of the on demand programs with adverts, particularly the dramas, the adverts are very short. Not even long enough to stand up and go for a widdle!
We got a second hand Freesat box when we ditched Sky. The UI does my nut in, but for the purposes of what we need it to do (i.e. occasionally record stuff) it's fine.
The vast majority of our watching is via streaming, but recording stuff is handy for when you're going to watch the thing 'live but start a bit late'.
Some smart TVs have the option to set recordings from the TV guide to a USB hard drive. It's usually pretty basic, but might be enough for what you need. Worth having a look.
So, ignoring the motives, the Freesat will work with the exiting dish and cables, and the Humax via our WiFi? Both are about the same price. So it is down to the one with the best / easiest user interface.
I rarely watch TV, and when I do it is via streaming on the laptop. I just need something that can record Countdown/Corrie/The Chase etc, be reliable and not be a pig to use.
Films, dramas etc are streamed.
Looks like the Humax needs a conventional aerial - so not wifi for recording...
https://humaxdirect.co.uk/products/humax-aura-4k-android-tv-recorder
Some smart TVs have the option to set recordings from the TV guide to a USB hard drive.
This. I've got an old 2.5" sata drive stuck to the back of our LG TV's.... simple recording options that work and even a basic scheduler.
Works well enough for the small amount we'd use it. Personally I'm very much over having a box sat under the TV.
I refer the poster to ITVX ..!
I hate ITVX
Looks like the Humax needs a conventional aerial - so not wifi for recording...
Ah, we don't have an aerial. So that's that one out of the running. Good spot. Thanks!
Because she doesn't want to do it. Reason enough as far as I'm concerned.
Faced with that nonsense logic, my response would be "OK" and then leave her to sort it out.
Most (some / many / all?) modern TVs have the ability to record once provided with storage. Ours has a USB hard disk dangling out the back of it at my other half's insistence that "we" needed to record things. It's been used... three times maybe? It's simpler - and way more reliable - to jump onto iPlayer / ITVX et al than it is to sod about navigating recordings. Granted you lose permanence, but are you really going to randomly want to watch an episode of Constipation Street from eight months ago?
"We've always done it this way" is a terrible justification for doing anything, and 20 years ago was 20 years ago.
... recording aside, how are you currently watching TV? You have a satellite dish but no conventional terrestrial aerial? Does your TV have a satellite decoder? Are you still using the old Sky box? Is it all Internet?
I've never checked if the TV can record. 5 year old Samsung.
So it could just be a case of sticking a big memory stick in it?
recording aside, how are you currently watching TV? You have a satellite dish but no conventional terrestrial aerial? Does your TV have a satellite decoder? Are you still using the old Sky box? Is it all Internet?
Satellite dish with SKY+ box and WiFi. No terrestrial aerial.
So it could just be a case of sticking a big memory stick in it?
Mine didn't like a USB stick, I thick it needs to be a 'real' drive.
We've got a Humax Freeview box that we still use to record things.
It is useful for fast-forwarding adverts - especially F1 highlight on C4. It's also useful for fast-forwarding through the gumpf if you just want to get to the action.
In some instances it is more convenient than streaming.
F1 example again - I watch the highlights and normally wait until my daughter is in bed, so I can watch it without constant interruption. If we don't record it, more often than not it is not yet available to stream as it is currently on the TV, but I'm almost the whole show behind. So, to watch it I would probably have to wait until the next day.
With the freeview box recording it, I can watch it as soon as I am ready.
Same goes for other programs where we might be a bit behind the live schedule but would like to watch from the start. iPlayer does 'watch from start' or 'watch live' but I don't think many of the other channels do.
We also have a load of films recorded that we can watch whenever & stuff for my daughter like the Julia Donaldson animations that tend to get punted out at Christmas & stuff like Wallace & Gromit films etc.
Yeah, perhaps available elsewhere, but easy to find on the Humax.
None of it is a real deal-breaker & if we didn't already have the box we probably wouldn't bother getting one - but while we have it & it works, it is pretty useful.
I keep meaning to try the hard-drive in the TV option but am not sure how good it is and don't have a spare drive just to try it out.
Thanks Stumpy. I also don't have a spare hard drive to try it out.
I wouldn't class that as "nonsense logic" BTW.
Granted you lose permanence, but are you really going to randomly want to watch an episode of Constipation Street from eight months ago?
Maybe I've missed it, but I don't think permanence is anyone's justification for recording. For some people, having to sit through compulsory adverts is jut not a viable option. Recording is one way to solve that, and I think the only way that doesn't involve paying a subscription.
Our TV has Freesat built in. One remote. Cabled to.the Sky dish.
If something needs a "terrestrial" aerial then surely it's Freeview and not Freesat?
I wouldn't class that as "nonsense logic" BTW.
It isn't.
One of irritating STW truisms is that one can pretty much guarantee that one of the answers to "I want one of these, can anyone recommend one?" will be "no you don't". It's pretty arrogant TBH
I wouldn't class that as "nonsense logic" BTW.
It isn't.
One of irritating STW truisms is that one can pretty much guarantee that one of the answers to "I want one of these, can anyone recommend one?" will be "no you don't". It's pretty arrogant TBH
It's pretty arrogant TBH
Sort of, but can also be useful as a sanity check and/or coming up.with ideas you'd not thought of or things you didn't know existed. In a previous life my job involved satisfying folks IT requirements. Usually they'd present an almost fully-formed idea and I'd try to show them how things could be done simpler and/or cheaper if they'd only presented their requirements to me rather than their proposed solution. It almost always worked.
It's pretty arrogant TBH
Sort of, but can also be useful as a sanity check and/or coming up.with ideas you'd not thought of or things you didn't know existed. In a previous life my job involved satisfying folks IT requirements. Usually they'd present an almost fully-formed idea and I'd try to show them how things could be done simpler and/or cheaper if they'd only presented their requirements to me rather than their proposed solution. It almost always worked.
yeah check the smart tv - a lot have freesat built in
It is useful for fast-forwarding adverts - especially F1 highlight on C4. It's also useful for fast-forwarding through the gumpf if you just want to get to the action.
Same here for Moto GP, plus I also found the picture quality not to be as good for streaming vs recorded.
One of irritating STW truisms is that one can pretty much guarantee that one of the answers to "I want one of these, can anyone recommend one?" will be "no you don't".
Maybe. But there's also the argument that if someone doesn't know all the options then maybe it's a good idea to supply them?
For example...
After many many, years with SKY
... the OP may not be aware that most TV's will do their own recording as he'd not needed to look at the options for "many, many years."
There's pointing out available options, and there's telling someone that what they are looking for, or more actually what they are wanting to do with it, is nonsense.
What I want is a box that will record and has a track record of being a reliable solution with a reasonable user interface.
The TV is "floating" with all connections buried in the wall. If it has a USB it has to be in such a position that that any additional drive can be accommodated without any support and without being seen.
Couldn't give a toss what the box looks like or even how big it is as it will be housed in a closed unit where it can't be seen. And before anyone says "How will the remote work then eh, smartarse.?" It will.
It's pretty arrogant TBH
If people already knew better then they wouldn't be asking others for advice now, would they.
If I posted "what iPhone for knocking in nails?" would good advice be discussing the relative mass of the iPhone 16 vs the Pro, or suggesting a hammer instead?
I worked in Support for decades. People generally pose questions by first forming their own answers and then making their narrative match it. "Are you sure that's what you really want/need?" is 100% a valid troubleshooting question. If we cannot accurately define a problem then we cannot efficiently resolve it. This is basic stuff, I've literally built a career out of it because no-one ever stops to ask why. Do we even know how long the nails are?
In this specific case there is precisely three reasons IMHO why someone would want to record broadcast TV - and please, correct me if I've missed something here. 1) some form of disability, 2) ignorance of better alternatives or 3) wilful stubbornness. "Have you considered something else..." is a legitimate question, equally "yes I have" is a legitimate answer to that. It would be remiss not to check.
How on earth is expertise "arrogance?" Why are we even here? Would you rather ask advice from cretins?
Good grief, today is turning out to be f'kn weird. I know the OP personally should that matter to anything, I would hope that he takes my comments as they were intended.
There's pointing out available options, and there's telling someone that what they are looking for, or more actually what they are wanting to do with it, is nonsense.
These are not mutually exclusive, the difference is just semantics.
To paraphrase Billy Connolly, "'**** off,' he hinted."
That Humax Freesat box uses your existing Sky dish - no other aerial required.
In this specific case there is precisely three reasons IMHO why someone would want to record broadcast TV - and please, correct me if I've missed something here. 1) some form of disability, 2) ignorance of better alternatives or 3) wilful stubbornness.
Again. People want to be able to skip adverts without paying for a subscription.
Some people (eg. me), value their time/sanity, and having to sit through un-skippable adverts is not an option.
Also, people have explained how if you record record sporting events you can start watching when you want, rather than being restricted to when they become available the next day on streaming services.
...oh. And we want to be able to skip through adverts.
Again. People want to be able to skip adverts without paying for a subscription.
... to which there may be better solutions. See now how when "arrogantly" pressed we're suddenly starting to define problems properly? This is Good.
Some streaming solutions allow you to skip adverts. Some recording solutions embed them so you can't (trivially). Do we see the word "advert" in the OP at all?
Indeed, is "advert" mentioned anywhere by the OP in this thread or is it a wholly fabricated issue? It's a consideration worth discussion for sure, but we've just gone full circle. Why is no-one getting shirty because the OP asked about TV recording and someone randomly sparked a debate about advertising? Does Harry's wife care about adverts? Who knows.
Faced with that nonsense logic, my response would be "OK" and then leave her to sort it out.
That particular statement may be lacking in logic, but some free to air channels cannot be streamed. For instance, Quest, which is now the only way to see cycling and MotoGP without paying someone, cannot be streamed for catch-up unless you have a Discovery+ subscription. So my Panasonic PVR records almost exclusively Grand Tour and major race highlights and MotoGP sprint races and main race highlights off Quest.
OK OK. Everybody back down!
Freesat box with a 2TB seems to be the best option as it seems to have the same functionality as the SKY with regards to skipping through stuff. The Humax needs an ariel input and I don't want a hard drive dangling off the back as the TV is flush to the wall.
Thanks for your input.
If you want to get angry have a look at the news. Silly questions about TVs are not worth raising your pulse over!
Grand Tour and major race highlights and MotoGP
I appreciate that maybe these aren't Mrs Spider's cup of tea, but hey, maybe she's really into Shed and Buried or Salvage Hunters.
She's more of a Hitler's Mega Structures/Nazi Gold Hunters/Russia's Craziest Serial Killers sort of gal.
Update. Finally out of our SKY contract, but the ****ers still debited my account, so I wait with anticipation for a refund.
We've had the Freesat box in for a few weeks and it is great. Does exactly what the SKY box did but without paying £65 a month for the privilege. Should have done it years ago!
Unfortunately Sky are no longer offering any satellite TV deals now - just Sky Glass and Stream - so even Freesat users have only got until the end of the decade before the satellites are switched off.
So goodbye to recording any TV.
Perhaps Betamax will make a comeback and finally have it's day! 🙂
Got a few years yet then...
So goodbye to recording any TV.
Assuming a decent connection (which we should, the same would be true of satellite signal), on demand viewing negates most reasons to record TV. It's nice to have everything in one place rather than playing App Roulette, and some things you might want to keep, but this is why we have piracy.
Exactly that ^
It is just used for recording The Chase, Countdown and Coronation Street to be binge watched when she has time. Well worth the cost of the box IMHO.
Shame it'll be redundant in 5 or so years, but until then it'll do just fine.
The main reason to record is to skip adverts not to keep programmes.
Try watching a programme on ITVX, 5, C4 or U etc. The adverts are so intrusive now.
100% this. I also find it easier to FF/REW on the PVR than I do on some streaming services
Unfortunately Sky are no longer offering any satellite TV deals now - just Sky Glass and Stream - so even Freesat users have only got until the end of the decade before the satellites are switched off.
So goodbye to recording any TV.
Perhaps Betamax will make a comeback and finally have it's day!
I guess far more 'old school' recorders are Freeview/aerial based rather than Freesat/dish based. Freeview over aerial seem to have slightly longer legs.
Coming your way soon - no aerial required
Tho I confess we hardly use our current humax
Ooooh! Interesting.
There is of course a whole industry of satellite dish and TV aerial installers that will soon be out of work.
Had a Freesat box / hard drive a few years now since ditching SKY. It's virtually as intuitive, has saved a tidy sum and is great for skipping adverts. Hadn't really considered that if SKY were to abandon satellite broadcasting, transmissions might disappear. Would there be sufficient demand for someone to maintain the medium? Would Freesat need to become 'still cheaper than SKY' sat?
Coming your way soon - no aerial required
I wouldn't be so sure about that...
"The Humax box is thought to be a hybrid device as the PVR functionality will surely need terrestrial programming via an antenna – so recording something will do so from the conventional TV signal rather than internet stream."
So it seems to be a conventional Freeview based PVR + channel apps. As Humax boxes have apps already, the only change is it's Freely based for live channels? Which seems somewhat pointless if you need to feed it an aerial for the PVR bit.
Would there be sufficient demand for someone to maintain the medium?
Current ones are coming to the end of their life and it's way cheaper to send your output down the existing fibre network than pop new satellites in space. And the demand doesn't seem to be there.
https://rxtvinfo.com/2024/how-soon-is-satellite-tv-switch-off/
The Humax box is thought to be a hybrid device as the PVR functionality will surely need terrestrial programming via an antenna
I wondered if it might skip the antenna and record a live stream to enable later playback, either using the raw data or by re-encoding the decoded image. That would then potentially give the option for timeslip viewing on platforms that don't support it (eg C4) so I could get home half way through the F1 highlights and immediately watch it from the start. Which incidentally is why recording live TV still beats streaming for me.
The main reason to record is to skip adverts not to keep programmes.
Try watching a programme on ITVX, 5, C4 or U etc. The adverts are so intrusive now.
I suppose I watch so little broadcast TV these days that I don't really care about "normal" advert breaks, but that's a good point.
I suppose I watch so little broadcast TV these days that I don't really care about "normal" advert breaks, but that's a good point.
It didn’t seem to be a good point when you were vociferously telling me skipping adverts had nothing to do with it back in September further up this thread 🤪
Well, no, I was saying that the OP hadn't mentioned adverts until I laboured the point (and I explicitly told you that I was referencing the OP).
Whilst I appreciate the “security” having recordings readily accessible, I fairly recently got rid of our Humax box and now access everything on demand via the TV and internet. I see no need for more wires and an extra remote.
For me, the advantage of being able to record rather than use the catch-up streaming services is being able to skip through the adverts, which most of the streaming services don't allow you to do.
