Recording off the tele, what do you use?

So, my trusty Humax freesat recording box looks like its on the blink and they’re no longer available.  There doesn’t seem to be much out there, is everybody streaming these days or is there some hidden gem of a recording device available???

Why not just stream?

I haven’t had an aerial, dish or drive for a few years now.

If you have decent broadband a firestick or similar is all you need.

Why not just stream?

Recording means you can skip / fast forward the ad breaks.

I don’t think they are probably as good as Humax, but there are still Freesat options, eg. https://www.richersounds.com/freesat-uhd-4x-1tb/
Have you got an aerial to make Freeview an option? I think that will open up more hardware options.

Unfortunately Sky Q is the Rolls Royce of satellite based recording, it really is pretty slick but $$$$, possibly not silly money if you don’t need sports/cinema.

We use a Freesat Box – if I couldn’t fast forward ads I’d barely watch any non-BBC content…

https://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/set-top-boxes/recordable-4k-tv-box?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAxKy5BhBbEiwAYiW–4Fsf-00s4ffOlBUHQVu5az4KDsdkg-a4B4qaUvteTxQQvZNs1oc9xoCx-YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

If your TV is relatively recent (i.e. last 10 years) you may be able to just plug a USB thumb drive in for recording.

pretty sure all of my tv’s have that built in….never used it

just plug a USB thumb drive in for recording

But can you program it to record in adavnce??????

Unfortunately Sky Q is the Rolls Royce of satellite based recording, it really is pretty slick but $$$$, possibly not silly money if you don’t need sports/cinema

Sky Q is brilliant, but “old” tech now. Satellite TV will cease to be available in the UK in the next few years as the satellites are getting towards the end of their usable life. Sky Q will be Sky’s peak and then they will become yet another streaming provider as they struggle to differentiate themselves.

But can you program it to record in adavnce??????

Yes, on my TV at least. Once the drive is plugged in it adds the record option (including series) to the programme guide.

What TV (make and model) do you have?

Edit: a downside of this method is that you may not be able to record and watch live TV at the same time unless it is dual-tuner.

But can you program it to record in adavnce??????

It depends on the particular telly, but it’s usually just a matter of selecting the program in the guide.  Not sure how far into the future the guide usually goes thought (might be a week).  Again, it would depend on the particular telly whether you could create repeat recordings for the same show too.

I’d say it’s worth trying it out to see if your telly does what you need.

our TV has it built in. I’ve been using it recently after the Topfield pvr packed in. It’s nowhere near as good as a our proper Panasonic pvr. Not sure if they still make them but you can pick one up second hand very cheaply as loads of people seem to have given up recording TV. Recording TV is still way better than streaming imo.

We use the Virgin Tivo box, a bit spendy but not much more than an equivalent fibre broadband provider. Hit series link and it’ll record all episodes as and when they’re available. Not sure if its still available, or if you’re stuck with the newer (but apparently not as good) TV 360 box now.

Why not just stream?

Because often, for stuff you want watch ‘live’ (like the Tour highlights), you can’t start watching it say ten minutes after it started.

We’ve got a Humax freesat box with what seems to be a random UX generator, as it never seem to be the same process twice to record or watch something. It does my nut in, but it does what we want it to.

I’ve not used them myself but I’ve had the freeview equivalent of this on my amazon wishlist for a while, for use in the caravan – then we got rid of the caravan

Oakcastle SB200 Freesat Free to Air HD Satellite Box TV Recorder

Looks like they’re no longer made and sold brand new though

EDIT – at £15, worth a punt?
https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/majority-oakcastle-sb200-hd-freesat-satellite-box-tv-recorder/

EDIT – at £15, worth a punt?
https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/majority-oakcastle-sb200-hd-freesat-satellite-box-tv-recorder/

Important Note – SB200 satellite box will not receive any BBC channels

We’ve got a Humax freeview box that still gets regularly used for recording stuff.

dmortsFull Member
Unfortunately Sky Q is the Rolls Royce of satellite based recording, it really is pretty slick but $$$$, possibly not silly money if you don’t need sports/cinema
Sky Q is brilliant, but “old” tech now. Satellite TV will cease to be available in the UK in the next few years as the satellites are getting towards the end of their usable life. Sky Q will be Sky’s peak and then they will become yet another streaming provider as they struggle to differentiate themselves.

Presume that means Freesat will cease too?

I have a Humax aura 1tb that needs selling if your interested.

About 15 months old and cost something like £250.

It’s my late mum’s and as far as I know it’s working fine.

£125 posted

PM me later on if interested as I’m going out now.

Presume that means Freesat will cease too?

I’m not well up on this area but the increasing availability of services / apps such as Freeview Play and Freely certainly suggests that this is the case

catchup tv ?

catchup tv ?

Still not as simple or convenient as watching something you’d recorded.  Recording means everything is in one place, easy to find, easy to skip back and forward and guaranteed to be available.  Every streaming service I’ve tried fails in at least one of those areas.  iPlayer is probably the best of the bunch but I wonder if that will see much development with the BBC’s dwindling funding.

My brother has a Manhattan freeview box that works well. They are about £170 in Argos. Etc.

My TV has the “just add USB storage” option. I couldn’t find a pendrive that worked so it’s got a 2TB hard disk dangling out the back of it. It is, if I’m honest, a pretty crap solution. Its primary use is for pausing live TV while I go for a poo.

Recording TV is yesterday’s technology. Anything I’m likely to want to watch is variously on iPlayer or a multitude of other apps. Between catch-up TV and subscription streaming services, in the unlikely event that there’s something unavailable that I want to watch then I’ll buy the DVD or torrent it.

Sky Q is great, but they are a dreadful company to deal with. As soon as this contract expires I’m packing it in.

Its primary use is for pausing live TV while I go for a poo.

You see, this is what you gadget freaks are always doing, overcomplicating things with technology.

I have a network Tuner with the ariel into it. (Silicondust HDHomeRun CONNECT DUO Network DVB-T/T2 TV Tuner HDHR5-2DT(UK) )

This has access to network storage and from the tuner menu i will record.

I too worry about this our existing one is 18 years old and we still use it loads

Its a sony freeview recorder that you could burn stuff on to dvd with (the dvd part failed several years ago) but we still use the freeview recorder, its great for recording a series or movie and not having to watch adverts!

BT TV 4K – CEX – £92

Job done.

He’s looking to replace a FreeSAT box, and hasn’t confirmed if he has an aerial, so the continuous FreeVIEW box recommendations might be totally pointless.

Yes, its a freesat box I need as I no longer have an ariel. Many thanks for all the suggestions I think I’ll go for the one muffin-man linked to. Funnily enough I’ve still got a combined dvd vhs player attached to the tv so I could use that, but the children would probably either disown me or treat it as a history project…………………

I’ve bought an LG and a Phillips TV over the last decade and they both had Freesat receivers built in. Check the back of the TV to see if there’s a connector before buying a new box, maybe?

Newer Freesat box is probably your best bet if you must have recording.

Satellite TV (Sky/Freesat) has another 5 years, SES who run the satellites are contracted through to then, but who knows beyond that. Earliest Freeview (aerial) switch-off is 2030 but more likely 2034.

Always had Humax… But the boxes are in the cupboard now 🙁

Watch everything though ROKU. If that gets to onerous with streaming and ads.

It’s back to the books and arts, anyway I have noticed I’m reading more now anyway.

Telly aint that important to me.

Don’t forget the MP4’s and MKV’s out there 🙂 Hint, Hint nudge nudge.

Funnily enough I’ve still got a combined dvd vhs player attached to the tv so I could use that, but the children would probably either disown me or treat it as a history project

It’s astonishing to me that DVD is basically dead. I remember it launching (hell, I remember VCRs launching) and it was like the only format you’d ever need for ever. I wonder if Blu-Ray will go the same way? Short of streaming killing off physical media completely it’s hard to envisage improving on 4k BD. I know 8k exists as a format but that’s higher than Imax Digital for god’s sake. We’re heading towards the arms race we had with camera megapixels, there surely has to come a point where we’ve reached “enough.”

OP when you get the Freesat box plug all the leads / wires into it, turn it on at the mains then leave it for 12 hours before you try tuning the channels in etc.

Not all but most times if you don’t do this the box won’t pick up the satellite signal.

5yr old samsung telly here, USB stick plugged in the back. Allows me to record programmes in advance (using the TV guide) and pause live TV.