TV+ Boxes. Tell me what you know.........

[Paddlechick666]

We're moving in a week or so and I seriously need to cut costs.

I've had Sky+ & Virgin V+ for the last 2 years and am loathe to lose all that lovely recording, pausing live tv and so on.

However, my new TV will be HD/Freeview ready and I saw a TV+ box in Tesco for £79. It apparently allows you to pause live tv, record and watch at the same time etc.

So if I drop my TV+ package with Virgin I'll save £20+ pcm which would pay for the box from Tesco in 4 months.

Anyone know anything about these boxes and if they're a good idea?

My only last regret would be not getting Five Live and First Look Home & Away!

TIA

[Paddlechick666]

bump

[EricL]

This is a list of the channels you currently get on Freeview

BBC One, BBC Two, ITV 1, Channel 4, Channel 4+1, Five, Five US, Five Life, ITV 2, ITV 3, ITV 4, BBC Three, Sky Three, BBC Four, E4, More4, Film4, Film4 +1, UKTV History, Dave, Virgin 1 , Teachers TV, Community
News / Sport BBC News 24, Sky News, Sky Sports News, BBC Parliament
Kids CBBC, Cbeebies, CITV,
Shopping QVC, Bid TV , Price-drop TV , Ideal World
Interactive / Info BBCi, Teletext, FourText

plus a load of digital music channels.

All free and more added every year.

[SaintGeorge]

No idea about the boxes in Tesco, but I have a Humax which is wonderful.

Pricier (175-200 ish) but I'm really glad I spent the money. You can record 2 channels at once and (depending on channel chosen) watch a 3rd. 'Which' recommend it as the best PVR on the market.

[WendyWeber]

Which also recommended another one in the latest test, I'll go and look....

[WendyWeber]

Ah, it was THREE others:

Tvonics DVR-FP250
Price: £180
Score: 86%
Type: Freeview Playback
This TVonics PVR is our highest-scoring Freeview Best Buy and the manufacturers have done a great job.
It's Freeview Playback (Phase 1) compatible and comes packaged in a small box and its twin-tuners let you watch one channel while you record another (though you can't record two channels and play back a third as you can with the Humax).

Humax PVR9200T
Price: £200
Score: 79%
Type: Freeview Playback
This PVR from Humax works with Freeview only.
It stores up to 80 hours of programmes; picture and sound quality are both excellent.

Topfield TF5800PVR
Price: £250
Score: 78%
Type: Freeview
This Best Buy PVR from Topfield works with Freeview only. It has a large-capacity hard drive that's capable of storing up to 80 hours of programmes. Picture and sound quality are both excellent. It has a viewing card slot that allows to you to subscribe to Top-up TV ? a package of extra digital channels.

Virgin V+
Price: £150
Score: 73%
Type: Virgin
The Virgin V+ is the only cable television PVR. It can also receive high definition (HD) signals - far superior to normal TV but not the best HD picture quality we've seen. You'll also need a HD-ready TV. As a PVR it works brilliantly and it can store about 80hrs of normal telly (or 20hrs of HD). It's also hugely versatile, letting you record two programmes while watching a third and simply bristling with features.

They did test some cheapy ones but didn't recommend them.

[foofi]

www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10055&cat=stb
My dh sent me a link to this in an email - I have no idea why!

[Paddlechick666]

thank you all, i will have a good look around later.

i actually have the virgin v+ box but they will take it away when i stop subscribing to paytv thru them

unfortunately i can't afford much more than the £80 box in tesco as i've to buy a dvd player too.....

[Enid]

am thinking of getting Humax to replace sky + - I LOVE LOVE the sky + feature but dont really watch any sky channesl regularly

[Paddlechick666]

this is the kit at Tesco direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-2438.aspx

i think this is what i'll go for. along with the TV, DVD player and hoover I am on a spending spree next week!

[lurkingdad]

I've got the Topfield box and it's great. There is a website for users where you can download extra programs for it to bring in additional features. You can also connect it to your PC via USB to download films to your PC or Media player. There is also a newer version due for launch with a larger hard disk, and a software update for the current box to bring in features like series link and time shifting when the programme starts late.
And if you are really IT literate you can create a website that will allow you to set it to record over the web.