PVR for the aul lad

FrankGrimes

I wanna get my dad some form of PVR or similar for Christmas. He saw my Windows Media Center setup and loved it.

With a budget of €200 to €300 tops obvioulsly Media Center is not a runner but I'm wondering what options might suit him in that range. A DVD recorder, possibly with harddisk too might suit, especially if you can start watching the recording before its finished.

An Electronic Programme Guide would be class aswell cos he makes a fair few mistakes in programming his VCR to record, but again I doubt there's many options in this price bracket that would have it.

Divx playback would be a bonus cos he could watch stuff I burn to disc for him.

I know theres hundreds of devices that do some or all of the above but trying to figure it out is a minefield so any experiences or recommendations anyone has are much appreciated.

SouperComputer

What about an older PC from adverts.ie for say 150e then run either GBPVR or MediaPortal? You should be able to get a very respectable system for 200-250.

FrankGrimes

Thanks, good idea and worth looking into.

Haven't used GBPVR or MediaPortal but am sure they'd more than do the job. Do they both have an Irish EPG?

What min specs would I need? Would need a decent sized hard-drive I suppose, plus tv tuner obviously - could I really get all that for under €300?

Am thinking noise might be a problem with a low-end setup - whats your experience been like, would it be possible to get some decent enough that's not too noisy for €300?

SouperComputer

Min spec for GB PVR is a PIII 700 or so. Id aim for a 1.7GHZ cpu. If you bide your time on adverts, you could easily get a 1.7/512/60GB system for 150e or under. Maybe throw up a wanted ad too. You could try electronic recycing in Finglas too: 01-864 0806, ask for Bryan.

Graphics wise, anything that gives you TV out will do. You can get an EPG for GB-PVR, but its a bit messier than MCE. Then again the software is also free!

Noise wise, I think its possible to get a fairly quiet PC for the money.

Sparky

You could try some of the K|i|S|S range of PVRs

http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=558

FrankGrimes

Nice one, that Kiss dp558 looks class though might be out of budget. Does it have an Irish EPG or can it be configured to do it?

Thanks Souper - will start keeping an eye on what's available in 2nd hand market. Any adivce on what to look for that might indicate a quiet machine?

Does Media Portal not have an EPG (Irish?)?

What remote control would I use for eithe GBPVR or Media Portal?

Sparky

Yeah the kiss has an Irish EPG, but is set up with epg ids. Setanta and Channel 6 dont have listings, but all the rest do.

You can also record from a scart input and do a sort of remote record via the web with the online EPG.

It does however have to be connected into the net all the time to get updated etc. But I guess you considered this already.

FrankGrimes

Sparky-s wrote:

It does however have to be connected into the net all the time to get updated etc. But I guess you considered this already.

Thanks for that info, nope, I'd overlooked the fact it needed a web connection, stoopid mistake. He has NTL broadband which is in another room. Getting a wireless router in the TV room and wiring it into the PVR and then installing a wireless card in the other PC room would probably get around this but does add to the budget. The Kiss sounds like a great device for the money - have you used one? What's the noise and usability like?

Sparky

I have a DP 558 myself. It's pretty easy to use and has some nice features like linking certain programs to the IMDB, online radio and PC link to show movies from your PC on the TV. You can also FTP into the player to copy recorded shows. It's very quiet when watching TV, but if you switch your telly off, you will hear the HDD heads working while it records the programmes. But in saying that, it's not old hard drive loud. You would have to steady your ears to hear it.

Oh yeah, it plays DVD's


Just one thing to mention: Is your dad using it for the terrestrial services, or fully with a set top box (Sky, NTL)?

FrankGrimes

he's using NTL Digital, and has one of the old set top boxes (big massive samsung one I think), so might need an upgrade. Is it not compatible with NTL Digital?

Might still be a runner on NTL basic cable only, but not sure.

Sparky

It will run grand on basic NTL, but it doesn't mingle in well with set top boxes, or any aux input for that matter, as the PVR cant tell the NTL box to change channel etc.
You can still record stuff from the NTL STB, but you have to do it the old fashioned press record and watch.
I think you can watch the tuner on the PVR while recording an aux input, but I havn't come to that moment yet.
I mostly use my NTL digital box and record from it and in many cases live pause it too.

This is why the likes of Sky+ are so popular.

Tbh he's lucky he has the big samsung. The new pace mini boxes are a heap of crap.

byte

Maybe a PVR with "Guideplus"?

It seems to sort of work with NTL Digital (not sure if it'll work with a Samsung).

Discussion on Guideplus and getting it to work on NTL here:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054870412

sweetie

My pioneer 530 has guideplus which controls the ntl box I have (pace) and is updated over the cable feed a couple times a day. It is one of the most highly regarded HD-DVDs available. It also comes with 160 or 80 gig size drive.

Ghost Train

I'm using gbpvr with xmltv for the tv guide, takes a bit of work to setup by works quite well. Something from kiss or another stb device is probably more user frendly and practical

subway

in terms of the pc keep an eye out for a dell optiplex gx240 or 260 sff.
theyre queit as a mouse and models around 1.4 - 1.8ghz with 512mb ram cost aorund 150eu

ive 2 of them running here and theyre excellent
budget a few more euros for a tv card etc and youll be flying.
for less that the price of a kiss 558 youll be running mce too

FrankGrimes

Thanks, some great info there.

The pioneer 530 seems to be discontinued - what price range was it in?

So is guideplus basically an EPG that can be used by certain DVD recorder and HDD PVRs?

Will keep an eye out for those dell pcs - have a couple of mates who'd like to get media centre setup on a low budget, might suit them too.

Linoge

The Kiss DP558 is a great machine on paper, but in thats about it. Some things it does well - you can stream videos directly from your PC, (as chosen by you from the player), it can play Divx, you can upload videos, music and photos onto it.

Thats when the problems hit. It transfers at a speed of 1mb/sec. Thats about 10 mins for 1 video, and thats using a network cable!

EPG guide is good if you just want to know whats on. Remote recording actually works (you can even do it on WAP).

Recording is the biggest let down of all though. When you schedule a recording the player has to turn off to record, can you believe that! You can't even watch the program that you're recording!

The live pause is pretty crap too. Yes you can pause, but thats about the only function, you can't RW or FF like on Sky. If you decide to change channels, what was recorded while paused is gone forever - theres no option to save it!

The DP558 has its good and bad. Having an EPG does not outweigh the terrible recording options, not by a long shot.

Sparky

That said Linoge, I forgot to point out that my player is hacked.
I have stage 2 firmware on it that gets the best out of it.
I only use it for the recording of external sources and it does stay on the same channel when recording.

Have you updated to their latest 1.1.7 firmware?

Btw I agree with you on the network card. Slow and sh1te, if you plan on transferring data to and from the PC.

Sparky

You could try this:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=327785

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/tree/HOME_ENTERTAINMENT_GR_IE_CONSUMER/DVD_HOME_THEATER_CA_IE_CONSUMER/product/DVDR3450H_05_IE_CONSUMER/catalog.jsp?language=en&country=IE&catalogType=CONSUMER&proxybuster=RDPJKRUGVQAWLJ0RMRESHQNHKFSEKI5P

It's an extra €50, but you could consider it.

sweetie

FrankGrimes wrote:

Thanks, some great info there.

The pioneer 530 seems to be discontinued - what price range was it in?

So is guideplus basically an EPG that can be used by certain DVD recorder and HDD PVRs?

Will keep an eye out for those dell pcs - have a couple of mates who'd like to get media centre setup on a low budget, might suit them too.

I paid 440 for a 530 in richer sounds. They have been superseded by the 540 which in England has a freeview tuner but the european version should suit Ireland. The 530 is probably available on ebay second hand or refurbished.