Lidl Portable TV Hard Drive Recording Offer - Any Good?

Ernest

Does anyone know if this week's special offer from Lidl (see below) is likely to be any good?
http://www.lidl.ie/en/Offers.htm?action=showDetail&id=26565

It refers to a Verbatim TV Hard Drive (1TB) plugged into your television set via a USB cable to enable recording and playback of digital tv programmes. Price is €99.99.

icdg

From what I can make the TV has to specifically support it. Seems that it is just a hard drive and the PVR functionality is all contained within the TV. That being the case I'd also imagine that for it to be of any use as a PVR you'd also have to be using an internal DVB-T/S tuner in the TV

Kristopherus

Its pricey for a 1tb drive. There are a lot of other drives available for considerably less. Have a look at Argos.

Pepsie

Fully agree with what has been advised to you as above & that €100 is too much for a USB attached 1TB Hard Drive.
Shop around, you will get much better value

Ernest

Of course €100 would be a little expensive for an ordinary 1TB external hard disc drive. The question is, though, whether this particular product offers additional functionality as a tv programme recorder. The Lidl description is a bit vague. The descriptor says it has the capacity to pause and record/reply live tv. How exactly does this work? When plugged into a USB socket of a television, can it be operated via the remote control of the tv set?

CJhaughey

Just be aware that in order for it to work on a Sony TV it will have to be formatted for the Sony TV you have, it will not work on any other television afterwards.
You can't even take it from one downstairs to another upstairs.
I have a H/D thats locked to my TV and its more or less useless as it can only record from Digital terrestrial broadcasts not SKY, Sony doesn't allow that.
I cannot reformat it to use it again for anything else.

Ernest

CJhaughey wrote: »

Just be aware that in order for it to work on a Sony TV it will have to be formatted for the Sony TV you have, it will not work on any other television afterwards.
You can't even take it from one downstairs to another upstairs.
I have a H/D thats locked to my TV and its more or less useless as it can only record from Digital terrestrial broadcasts not SKY, Sony doesn't allow that.
I cannot reformat it to use it again for anything else.

I don't have a SONY television set......

BionicRasher

Ernest wrote: »

Of course €100 would be a little expensive for an ordinary 1TB external hard disc drive. The question is, though, whether this particular product offers additional functionality as a tv programme recorder. The Lidl description is a bit vague. The descriptor says it has the capacity to pause and record/reply live tv. How exactly does this work? When plugged into a USB socket of a television, can it be operated via the remote control of the tv set?

This offers nothing that a regular hard drive would not have. As per the description on the Lidl page 'You need to check if your TV supports USB-Recording' You need to connect this to compatible TVs with the USB Record & Play feature. Therefore its the TV that is doing the work and this is just the storage for the recordings. Go buy a cheaper external drive and it will do the exact same thing.

CJhaughey wrote: »

I cannot reformat it to use it again for anything else.

you can remove an external hard drive but it will need to be reformatted to use elsewhere. You will lose your recordings but you will be able to use the drive again.

din0saur

More info here including list of compatible TVs

http://www.verbatim-europe.co.uk/en/article/usb-recording/

Ernest

din0saur wrote: »

More info here including list of compatible TVs

http://www.verbatim-europe.co.uk/en/article/usb-recording/

Thanks dinOsaur. the linked pdf document has quite a small list of compatible tvs - lots of Sonys and only a few Samsung for example. Also each tv model has a reference to compatibility with a specific Verbatim hdd recording model - those listed for particular televisions do not seem to include the one Lidl is offering as far as I understand it. Also most of the tv models listed (apart from the Sony ones) do not have "format", "record" and "record and playback" ticked whatever that means (cannot be formatted??, cannot record and playback??). All in all not encouraging.

Gerry Wicklow

I know with Samsung TVs the HDD uses a custom disc formatting ( based on linux I think) but, even if you access the files, the recordings themselves can only be viewed on the original TV. Also you can only record the channel you are watching. It is possible to set a timer but the TV will change to that channel when needed. Samsungs no longer support series linking on Saorview thanks to 2RN "fixing" it. Other makes seem to offer similar basic recoding "features".

CJhaughey

BionicRasher wrote: »

you can remove an external hard drive but it will need to be reformatted to use elsewhere. You will lose your recordings but you will be able to use the drive again.

Not on the Sony, they use a proprietary format that can't be reformatted.
Don't believe me, have a look online.

BionicRasher

CJhaughey wrote: »

Not on the Sony, they use a proprietary format that can't be reformatted.
Don't believe me, have a look online.

disk is probably formated in the EXT3 format, readable from linux. You should be able to reformat on a windows PC steps below may differ depending on the version of Windows
BE AWARE THAT ALL DATA/TV RECORDINGS ON THE HDD WILL BE ERASED!!!

1. Click on "Start",
2. Right click on "My Computer",
3. Click on "Manage"
4. click on "Disk Management"
5. You will see the unformatted disc (disc without Volume name). And from there you can reformat.

!!!!!!BE SURE THAT YOU SELECT THE RIGHT DISK, otherwise the HDD of your PC will be erased!!!!!!

Anyway back to the topic. This device is no more good than any bog standard HDD. There are cheaper versions that will do the same thing as its the telly doing all the donkey work.