What's the cheapest HDD tv recorder?

carryo

I'm looking for a HDD recorder that can record analogue tv signals. The cheapest that I can find that does the job are combo DVD players (eg. JVC XVDDV1 DVD Player and HDD Recorder for STG£500) or combo DVD recorders (eg. Toshiba RD-XS30 HDD & DVD-RAM/R recorder for STG£550). I don't need the combo option as I already have a DVD surround system and I don't need DVD recording.
There is a stand-alone HDD recorder from Pace (Puma / Twin DTT-HDD for STG£178) but unfortunately this only records Digital Terrestrial channels currently only available in the UK and it has no capability to record from analogue RF, Scart or S-video inputs so it's no use in Ireland at the moment although the price would be just right for me.
Does anyone make a HDD tv recorder in this price range (<£200) which would be suitable for Ireland?
(Don't even think about suggesting 'sky-plus': I'm not gonna pay a €700 a year subscription for this!!!)

ShaneOC

Originally posted by carryo
(Don't even think about suggesting 'sky-plus': I'm not gonna pay a €700 a year subscription for this!!!)

You should get Sky+. Only €300 for the kit and free subscription*

* Terms and conditions apply.

carryo

Originally posted by ShaneOC
You should get Sky+. Only €300 for the kit and free subscription*

* Terms and conditions apply.

Free sub? Yeah if you pay €60 a month for 2 premium services. Is that as good as it gets? I'm thinking that I've spotted a gap in the market. OK how hard could this be?
HDD €60, TV card €60, PSU €10, Box €5, Conectors €10, bit of software (1 hour) and I'm in business. There must be a market for this out there: so why are the big boys not doing it already?

Phibsboro

I'll buy one!

Unfortunately it ain't that simple. The TV card quality will be sh*t for a start - u need something like a Hauppauge PVR 350 card to get the right quality capture and (especially) TV output. Thats €200 for starters. Then u need the computer to put it in! Then you need to figure out how to get the listings (short of typing them in yourself)...

The software would actually take u years, but fortunately some people have already started - have a look at www.mythtv.org. You can use it, a computer and the bits you already mentioned to get a basic PVR up and running on a computer. To get anything like Sky Plus, u need the PVR 350, a pretty big HD and a fair bit of messing round in linux. Its great fun tho

As for why the big boys ain't doing it - they are, there are a number of (expensive) HDD recorders available. The key thing lacking imho is Irish EPG listings (which SKy and Myth have).

Colm

rymus

Windows XP Media Centre Edition... saw it on TV running on a HP box with all the bells & whistles, media card readers & so on. Fairly pricey but a nice setup to be sure.

edit: actually... not as bad as I thought. Theres one on the HP site for $939.99

TCP/IP

Dont mean to barge into the thread but I am selling a Thomson DTH7000 intergrated DVD player and 40gig hard disk recorder on reason I fancy a new sim free mobile I am looking €350 for it. Only six months old used the recording once. Maily just store photos and MP3 on it.

carryo

The Mythtv and the Windows Media center look great for an integrated solution but as you both indicate the cost is gonna be close to €1200 if you want reliable performance (real-time mpeg de/encoding uses so much resources). Then to be completely integrated I'd have to figure out how to get them to operate my various set-top boxes automatically - probably with an IR blaster. So for now the PC as HDD recorder is out of my price range and not quite what I need. Even Skyplus won't record itv, ch4 or 5 if I have the irish one or else none of the irish channels if I get an english one.

All the HDD options available at present are at the very pricey end of the market as you say because they all have extra features - satelite/DTT decoders, DVD or EPGs. I suppose more basic models will become available once the manufacturers have skimmed the market with the early adopters. VCRs are not going to be around in a few years so I suspect there will be a mass-market HDD solution comming very soon. Perhaps this will even be part of the next iPod funtionality !