Hard disk video recorders

[Stephen Coates]

I just ordered from Humax Direct, a refurbished 9150 for GBP85 inc delivery. Should arrive on Tuesday.

The 9150 has a smaller 160GB hard drive, but unlike the 9200, this one uses SATA. It also lacks the USB port, but I think I can manage without that.

[Harrison]

Would it let you upgrade the HDD yourself? If so, you can get 1TB HDDs very cheaply now if it is SATA. About £35-40.

[Stephen Coates]

I think an HD upgrade will be possible if I wanted to do it.

I know that some PVRs are quite fussy about HDs. Apparently some (all?) Vestel boxes use HDs that don't do any error correction unlike most standard HDs. Or something like that.

I don't think I will need to upgrade the 160GB drive for a while though, as I currently manage to record all my progammes onto the few spare GBs on my Mum's box.

Apparently I should be able to access Interlink's website sometime this morning and find out roughly what time it will be delivered.

[Harrison]

I suppose for SD video 160GB should be plenty for quite some time. The problem is when wanting to record HD. It really eats up the HDD space on my SkyHD box.

Have you consider FreeviewHD yet? It should be available all over the country now, with all 5 terrestrial channels being in HD now. Worth it for those without Sky or Cable.

[Stephen Coates]

We should be able to get Freeview HD here. I don't have a suitable television/monitor though.

[Stephen Coates]

Interlink couldn't be bothered to deliver it on the day they were due to deliver it. It came two days late. Never mind.

Anyway, I have it set up and have just about figured out how to use it. I wouldn't say the interface is any better or worse than the Vestel machines. But it works and is a bit quicker.

[Stephen Coates]

The PVR seems to be doing well. All year, it has had sat next to it the Vestel based one (mentioned in other thread) which has hardly been used. I just had a look in the Vestel based one and it has a 320GB Western Digital SATA HDD, so I might just stick that in my computer.

The Humax PVR does get a bit slow and crash sometimes but not very often. The only real problem I am having is recording the new episodes of Family Guy on BBC Three on Saturday/Sunday, but this seems to be a problem with a lot of PVRs as far as I can tell.