Freeview recorders

Some TVs have it built in. You may need to add some storage like a memory stick. We have this on one TV and it works OK but its not as good as a proper freeview recorder. Probably worth getting a box. They seem to have fallen out of favour with streaming taking over but I still like it. Plenty of good second hand ones out there. You can pick up a BT youview box very cheaply (you don't need any account or sub to make them work). Panasonic and Humax make good boxes too.

if the TV doesnt have it built in, then the humax aura is probably the best out there.

FWIW I am finding a lot more programmes with failed to record or due to copyright reasons that prevent me recording from Samsung smart tv to a USB HDD. Not sure if same applies to free view recorders (years since we used ours) but something to think about. We can’t pause or record a lot of programmes these days. 

The Manhattan T3-R has a much less cluttered UI than the Humax according to reviews.  We've got one and like it.

Not sure if same applies to free view recorders

never had that issue with our humax, records everything asked of it

The Manhattan T3-R has a much less cluttered UI than the Humax according to review

The manhatten is decent, but can only record 2 channels at once while watching a third, whereas the humax can do 4 (as long as they only on 2 different mux's) while you watch a fifth, might not be a big deal for people though

I'll reinforce the Humax love - I thought our brilliant when we used it.  Moved to a house that had no aerial reception so now we're internet TV only household - which is weird.

Just recently stopped using a Humax Fox T2 recorder and it has been faultless for donkeys years. Aerial blew down just before Christmas so we are on internet tv

Some TVs have it built in. You may need to add some storage like a memory stick.

I was going to say this, but I've second-guessed myself halfway through typing a reply.

I have a high-end TV. It has record capability built in, but requires external storage. I couldn't get a pendrive to work, so it's now got my nice WD Passport spinnydisk hanging out the back. Pause/rewind mostly works but can crap itself sometimes (no different from my experience with the old Sky HD box really), but recording is kinda naff. It's generally preferable to use iPlayer/ITV-X et al and just stream.

We've had a Panasonic freeview box for years (having sacked off a Samsung one that was a pile of shite) and it's been faultless in terms of timer-recording programmes, and playing them, and doing all the 'Pause Live TV'/rewind/fast-forward etc. Just checked - model is DMR-HW120.
When we bought it, the one thing I thought it was missing was the ability to copy something good or important to DVD or whatever. In reality, I probably would never have actually used that.

Humax Freesat box here (no aerial), but was a Sky dish when I moved in. Great bit of kit, must be 10 years old. I constantly use the pause/fwd functions.

Record plenty too, extra advantage being I can flip past the adverts.

extra advantage being I can flip past the adverts.

Yep, definitely prefer to record things and then skip ads rather than watch on the streaming services where I can't skip the ads

We've been using a Manhattan for a couple of years with no issues.

Humax t2 here. Still utterly reliable and we bought it when they first came out.

some good recommendations there, thanks chaps.  looks like theres no cheap options then so she'll have to decide whether a couple of hundred or so is worth it to her for something she may not use much.

cheers

£50 for a dtr-t2100 youview box on eBay. Had ours for a few years and it works fine. Not as nice as the Panasonic on the other TV but much cheaper.

BT tv box pro 4k. Now called EE tv box pro 4k I believe. Fabulous device. You can fully use them without a BT subscription. We use two.  Closest you'll get to virgin/skys offerings for a decent price. 

I picked up a Manhattan box for 7 quid from a charity shop, look on eBay if there's any, my last one is still going strong after 15 years.

BT tv box pro 4k

If you record an ITV channel in IP mode it now doesn't let you skip past the adds.

Have they got a dish or an aerial?

Have they got a dish or an aerial?

aerial only.

Another humax owner...t2000 i think (aerial), can't even remember how old it is (10 years maybe) and it's been faultless. One thing to note though as it's not WiFi enabled so hard wired with internet via the electrical socket plugs (Still works fine though for recording etc even if it wasn't internet connected...just needed for apps and updates)

Jeez, I just googled our recently retired Freesat Humax and one place has a new one for sale for £349.99, which is a lot more than ours cost, can't remember price but was probably about £150, and 2nd hand units are more than ours when new. You can buy a whole new smart tv for that! I know there's been a bout of inflation recently but that's just robbery.

If you record an ITV channel in IP mode it now doesn’t let you skip past the adds

Works fine on aerial. It's got like 4 tuners. Can record something liked 4 things at once.

If you buy secondhand, check if the device is supported for ITV-X - it no longer works on some older boxes due to, ahem, 'enhanced security'. My Panasonic is one of those affected 🙁

We've got a Manhattan something or other. We've had Humax and Panasonic in the past and there's not much to choose between them

I'd echo the comment about making sure that you have up to date channels and apps

I've got a Manhatten T3-R 1TB but I see that they've replaced it with the T4-R which is suppossedly a bit snappier and is smaller.

My T3-R has had extremely little use, and none now as I've got Freesat, so if you are after a second hand one PM me, as this thread has reminded me that I should probably ebay it.

But as it is for your mum I would buy a new one, they are only £170, and then you are less likely to get complaints about sluggish interfaces (probably) and can offload support issues to Manhattan.

Last time I looked, 2nd hand BT Freeview boxes can be had fairly cheap on Ebay.   You don't need a BT subscription for them to work.  I think the BT boxes are made by Humax who have been in the Freeview games for many years.

You could also try CEX - they have a 2 year warranty on some electricals.  Might be worth looking into that.

CeX (UK) : Stock search (webuy.com)

mams asked if this ones any good for recording live tv.  can you stop a live programme and then restart it again when ready?

https://www.amazon.co.uk//dp/B08LFGYT1F?tag=experevi-21&ascsubtag=1405950

thanks

I have the Humax aura and it's the biggest pile of donkey poo ever.

I bought the most expensive thinking it would just work fine, but it's pretty naff.

The software needs an update but it seems that the company no longer have the staff to do that job.

Problem is there is very little choice around for Freeview recorder's

ok thanks for the advice, the search goes on 🙂

Theres a 2nd hand version of the one we've got, on The Bay for £100

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156152139698?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338353466&toolid=20006%26customid%3Ds%253AGS%253Bgc%253AEAIaIQobChMI8Znf6dy_hQMV7pxQBh34fQKfEAQYAiABEgInhPD_BwE%253Bpt%253A1%253Bchoc%253A2&customid=s%3AGS%3Bgc%3AEAIaIQobChMI8Znf6dy_hQMV7pxQBh34fQKfEAQYAiABEgInhPD_BwE%3Bpt%3A1%3Bchoc%3A1&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Znf6dy_hQMV7pxQBh34fQKfEAQYAiABEgInhPD_BwE

thanks mate, ive passed this recommendation onto her.

cheers

BT TV Box Pro, seriously.

thanks for the recommendation mate, but shes just ordered the one in the link above from ebay ^^^

o-kaaaaay, she bought the one linked above by @thelawman but ive just been round to try and get it working but i think i must be missing something, cos we're nearly there, but just dont get any pictures from the channels.  a quite important factor methinks 😀

so, what am i missing?  ive fed the original aerial cable into the 'in' on the recorder.  then another one going from 'out' to tv.  thats all fine, cos even when the recorders switched off, her normal 'live tv' works as it did before.

ive also connected an HDMI cable from recorder to tv.

however, when i choose the correct HDMI input in 'source' and then 'guide' on the remote, the list of channels comes up, but each one says 'no programme data.  press 'i' to retrieve'.  pressing 'i' does nothing except say 'retrieving data', which it doesnt.

am i right in thinking that these connections should give her a picture?  i dont think we need a network connection to just play tv and pause/record etc do we?

this model looks like it needs either a hardwired connection or a wifi adaptor which i didnt know, so we can get her one of those for the apps, but, it should still show the tv channels shouldnt it?

i feel like i should know the answer to this but im flummoxed.

thanks

You could try setting the time...

ah hadnt noticed that.  would it create a problem?  i assumed that once the aerial was plugged into the back, it should just get the channels that are being broadcast now, no?

thanks

You've not mentioned tuning it. That's normally a good place to start.

You’ve not mentioned tuning it. That’s normally a good place to start.

it already looks to be tuned in from previous owner, but just no pic.  if it finds the channels, isnt it tuned in?

cheers

it already looks to be tuned in from previous owner,

Where did the previous owner live? There isn't just one massive transmitting tower in the middle of the country...

good point.  thatll be my next step then, seeing if i can find out how to re-tune it.

cheers

@sadexpunk I feel a little responsible for your problems! Hopefully you're making progress with it, but based on the photo from earlier, I'd agree with the diagnosis that it looks like it needs retuning to the area where you now have it.
Try this if you've not worked it out yet...
1) Press the Function Menu button on the remote
2) Choose 'Setup'
3) Choose 'Tuning'
4) Choose 'Channel List'
5) It then looks like the red button sets it running with picking up the local channels available.
That'll probably take several minutes, after which I think it automatically goes through a series of options like "Sorting by best signal" or "Sorting by regional channels" or similar, and after that it should settle down to display what it's found.

There may be other ways of getting to the same place - i.e. other menu routes. Ours periodically announces that it's being fed with "New channels found - do you want to retune?" and we either ignore it or let it do so, depending on whether we've got 10 mins to spare.

Once you've got it going, one thing worth noting is that the red/green/yellow/blue buttons do different things in different parts of the menu, but usually the red one is the most probable option - it starts & stops the recording of a prog that's being broadcast right now, for instance. Or it sets the timer to record one once you've found it in the list of channels/programmes that are to be broadcast tomorrow (or to cancel a planned recording if you've set by accident)

Good luck

@thelawman thanks mate, and noooooo, youre in no way responsible for me being incompetent with tech 😀

ill try that tomorrow when i go back round to her flat again.

thanks 🙂

@thelawman thanks for the advice, it worked, but..... i didnt actually need to do it, for some reason it did it all itself, which is sort of what i was hoping for yesterday 😀

i went to ma's flat, armed with your instructions, plus the knowledge that i needed to change the time, switched on, and what do you know...... 'new channels found, do you want to retune?'  errrr...... yes please.

let it do its thing and all the channels are now there, plus its changed the time automatically.  now why couldnt it have done this yesterday?? 😀

she cant get the internet/apps on it cos it needs a wifi adaptor, but shes not bothered about that cos theyre on the tv anyway, so ive shown her how to keep switching between the two for whatever she needs.

thanks for your help and advice chaps.  a happy mum is a happy life, or something like that....

cheers

Excellent news, all sorted by the sound of it.

Yrs, it's just a Freeview player/recorder. If mum wants various other services like Disney, Netflix, Prime, whatever, she'll need the telly's on board apps, or plug in a Firestick dongle or similar to get them.

Marvellous

If mum wants various other services like Disney, Netflix, Prime, whatever, she’ll need the telly’s on board apps, or plug in a Firestick dongle or similar to get them.

yeah, shes got the apps and wifi on her tv anyway, so wouldnt gain anything from a firestick.  so its either switch back to the tv for them, or get a wifi adapter for the recorder, but my advice to her is just to leave it as is, no need for the extra cost of an adapter if the apps are just a button press away.

thanks

WTF, is that what they go for 2nd hand? I've got a Humax freesat, Panasonic like the one here and an old Sony, was just going to chuck em. eBay it is then

sounds like it need a tune, yup

update time.

mums now decided that she'd also like a dedicated dvd player rather than cobble some dvd adaptor to her macbook.  she never really got on with the tuner/recorder that she bought (more her fault than the player), she doesnt have much space on her unit, so ive advised that she just gets what she needs all in a oner.  she'd like a simple to use/understand twin tuner recorder with inbuilt dvd player.

any suggestions please?

thank you

I can’t help with a current unit but about 10 years ago I had a Panasonic DVD recorder with twin tuners. It was easy to use and set up but failed in its warranty period. The replacement also failed after a further couple of years. Both times seemed to be issues with the hard drive interface with the DVD read/writing section. So based on an old model I would be wary of Panasonic.

I strongly suspect you will be much better getting whatever the best Freeview recorder is (or stick with current) and then adding a separate Bluray/DVD player. A perfectly good disc player will be no more than £80 at a guess. A combined unit would probably be more than the two units separately and the recorder could be a complete dog, as a lot of them are.

problem is, she doesnt really have room for 2 units.  the current recorder sits in the space underneath her tv with no room either side.

cheers

Now I've read back I see the current Freeview recorder is a Panasonic. One reason I wasn't recommending an all in one was that Panasonic seem to be the only people who make them anymore, and my experience with a Panasonic recorder is that the interface and usability was shocking.

If you really want an all-in-one I think your only option is this;

https://www.richersounds.com/panasonic-dmrex97-black/ (£319)

or for a tenner more one that also plays Blurays; https://www.richersounds.com/panasonic-dmrpwt550eb-black/

I still think your better option is separate units for a better recorder experience (and cheaper overall). eg. these (which are both physically small units so might be an option?);

Recorder; https://www.richersounds.com/manhattan-t4r-500gb/ (£169)

Bluray player; https://www.richersounds.com/panasonic-dmpbdt180-black/ (£89) - or Panasonic DMP-BD84EB-K on Amazon at £75 looks a good option (and possibly even smaller).

The Manhatten PVR is only 280 mm wide and a Sony DVD player 230mm, so might they fit side by side ?

thanks, ill have a measure for her.  wasnt sure that blurays play dvd's so had a google and it would appear some dont?

All Bluray players will play DVD's. They won't play HD-DVDs which were the losing format in the HD format wars (Bluray vs HD-DVD). That might be what is causing confusion but you're not going to come across a HD DVD nowadays.

I would say you are safer buying a Blueray player as the older generation, in my experience, just see any physical media as "a disc", so if you have something that can play any "discs" you are less likely to get phone calls about their disc player not liking the disc they are feeding it.