Sky box or DVD recorder with HD

dinneenp

Hi,
(I'm not sure if this should be in a different thread or not...)
I'm living in Galway, currently have NTL.

I'm trying to decide between changing to SKY Box (40GBS, €150 for the box, €79 for installation, €22 per month then) or to get a good DVD recorder with HD (top of my choice so far isSony 720- €349 in Cork (€449 everywhere else)with 160GB HD).

With sky I can record 1 show and watch another.
Click one button and box will record programme every week.

I've contacted Sony to see if DVD recorders can do this and he said they have the function but Sky, Chorus BLOCK it. Does anyone know if it's the same for NTL.

Does anyone have any other input?

Cheers,
Patrick.

byte

I believe that NTL/Chorus/UPC are to launch a PVR box for their cable system, though don't know when it's going to be launched.

Sky+ can't be beaten for ease of use. However you mention paying €150 for a 40GB Sky+ box? The current new boxes have 80GB of usable space (another 80GB used by Sky Anytime).

If you're going for a standalone PVR, I suggest maybe looking up "Guide Plus" or Guide+. It's a new form of Videoplus, which is supposedly good, though I think you need to have Eurosport for it to work (it downloads programme info from teletext). Not too sure about series-linking recordings, which is easily done with Sky+

Using a PVR with NTL would mean you can't watch one digital channel, while recording another, though I suppose you could use the analogue channels if recording off digital, or vice versa.

SteM

I've got a tosh 160gb hd recorder that I use with NTL digital in Dublin. It's fine but still works like a VCR. You still have to set it to record something and set a seperate reminder in the digital box to change the channel. They're good if you want to

- pause live TV
- start watching a program you're half way through recording
- cut ads out of a recording to archive to a dvd-+r
- watch a program you have recorded while recording another

having said all that I think we'll be going for Sky+ in the near future. It's a all in one recording/viewing system whereas digital boxes with a seperate HD recorder aren't.

dinneenp

HI,
Thanks for the reply. So are you saying that with a DVD recorder that if I want to record something I have to-
set in dvd recorder and also a reminder in the digital box (NTL box). I presume this can be done in advance (weeks).
Ya- I've heard that sky+ is great and so easy to use.

subway

thats right,
you wont have a guide to select programs from etc and most wont be able to change channels on the set top box.

SteM

dinneenp wrote:

I presume this can be done in advance (weeks).

NTL's EPG only covers the that day and the following 2 days so you you can only set a reminder on the NTL box for shows during that time.