Do Hard Disk recorders do what Sky Plus does??

Widescreen

Lads, maybe this is a silly question, maybe not.

Do the Hard Disk recorders you see now for around Euros599 do most of what Sky plus does.that is , pause live Tv,record more than one programme etcc.
In other words if you just had your irish channels via Aerial plus FTA satellite stuff, would you have the features I mention for all those channels. The one thing that makes me doubtful about Sky Plus is that if you ever have to get rid of SKy , either for economic or other reasons you lose all the features and it becomes redundant... Anyone know...??

10000maniacs

There are two main advantages of Sky+ over other personal video recorders.
The first is Sky+ records the raw MPEG2 stream before it is processed, thus the recording is identical to what was broadcast, whereas other personal video recorders get what is broadcast, encode it again and then store it. Extra artefacts result with this technique (On top of what is already there), especially with fast moving scenes.
Secondly, As there are two feeds coming from the dish with Sky+, you can watch a channel while recording another, or record two channels at the same time. This is not possible with a Non Sky+ PVR.

dmeehan

10000maniacs wrote:

There are two main advantages of Sky+ over other personal video recorders.
The first is Sky+ records the raw MPEG2 stream before it is processed, thus the recording is identical to what was broadcast, whereas other personal video recorders get what is broadcast, encode it again and then store it. Extra artefacts result with this technique (On top of what is already there), especially with fast moving scenes.
Secondly, As there are two feeds coming from the dish with Sky+, you can watch a channel while recording another, or record two channels at the same time. This is not possible with a Non Sky+ PVR.

would a PVR not work like a standard vcr, recording one thing while you watch another?

10000maniacs

You cannot watch digital satellite while recording digital satellite if you dont have Sky+, unless you have two digiboxes and a dual lnbs (Or two dishes/lnbs).
I thought that was the issue he was asking about.

seano

10000maniacs wrote:

You cannot watch digital satellite while recording digital satellite if you dont have Sky+, unless you have two digiboxes and a dual lnbs (Or two dishes/lnbs).
I thought that was the issue he was asking about.

I can record two sky channels and watch a third with the Topfield 5000 PVR ( a non Sky + reciever)

Capt'n Midnight

10000maniacs wrote:

There are two main advantages of Sky+ over other personal video recorders.

One main disadvantage is that it won't let you watch stuff that you don't have a current subscription for even if you recorded it earlier.

Also given the number of repeats, and FTA channels, chances are that if you time it right you might not need two decoders to get most of what you want anyway.

Marcopolo85

dmeehan wrote:

would a PVR not work like a standard vcr, recording one thing while you watch another?

Yes they do......but not on DSat or Dcable. I've got a Panasonic DVD-RAM unit, which allows you to pause live TV, like Sky Plus, but it won't allow you to record two channels at the same time, as already pointed out.

However, I've seen none of the artefacts mentioned (I recorded the European Cup final and it's fine). One thing to point out - DVD-RAM is the only format (apart from a HDD recorder) that allows you to do this. But choose carefully - DVDRAM units will usually only play back DVD-RAM and DVD-R/RW.

Sony do a 'chasing playback' on their machines, but from reading on the Internet it appears problematical. The Panasonic does what it says on the tin....without any problems. I had a power failure at home the other night, and the unit switched itself back on and resumed recording! Not bad at all.

Mossy Monk

i have a Panasonic DVD-RAM recorder myself. great for analogue tv in that live tv can be paused, rewound and so on. it is a bit redundant for the recording aspect now though seeing as i have Sky+ but is handy if i want to transfer a recording to DVD