Digital Video Recorders

[alywin]

Now imagine listening to Beethoven ...... "As the end of the exposition of the 5th symphony draws near .... have you considered having your brakes checked at Campbell's garage. There's a free oil change with every service ..... Now - lets carry on to the recapitulation ..."

Grrrr - Fume!

Been there, done that. Sky Arts broadcast the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in a quadruple bill - and then broke into one of the longer pieces to insert an advert break. I wrote and complained.

PS: Why is it impossible on this forum to do a multiquote? I think it's the only forum I've ever found which doesn't allow it.

[richardfinegold]

The manufacturer, Channel Master, is still in business although they stopped making the players years ago. They did promptly answer an email and advised me to a factory reset and provided the Link. Everything now works

[Anastasius]

What surprised me is that there do not seem to be TVs for sale that incorporate DVRs for OTA in the set-in fact I didn’t find any. Out TV in the basement is a 40 inch Sony 1080i and since I don’t use my glasses while exercising I frequently have to squint at the screen to navigate menus. It seems that it should be feasible to incorporate the DVR in a 50 inch or so unit and have it cost only a few hundred dollars more than the price of the used DVRs on eBay

Our Samsung TV does. Well, it needs a USB hard drive plugged in but that's no great issue. All the gubbins to record the required programme at the right time etc is built-in. Plus dozens of apps (what's wrong with calling them programs?) for all the streaming services built-in.

[Dave2002]

Been there, done that. Sky Arts broadcast the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in a quadruple bill - and then broke into one of the longer pieces to insert an advert break. I wrote and complained.

PS: Why is it impossible on this forum to do a multiquote? I think it's the only forum I've ever found which doesn't allow it.

I think it is possible if you know a bit about coding. You might have to use a couple of browsers and access the for3 site twice, and do a bit of copy and paste.

Our Samsung TV does. Well, it needs a USB hard drive plugged in but that's no great issue. All the gubbins to record the required programme at the right time etc is built-in. Plus dozens of apps (what's wrong with calling them programs?) for all the streaming services built-in.

Might be better to use an SSD nowadays - and should work, though the question remains - "Why isn't tne functionality built in? It shouldn't increase the manufacturing costs much."

[richardfinegold]

Our Samsung TV does. Well, it needs a USB hard drive plugged in but that's no great issue. All the gubbins to record the required programme at the right time etc is built-in. Plus dozens of apps (what's wrong with calling them programs?) for all the streaming services built-in.

Which model is it? I did a cursory search and didn’t find many that did

[richardfinegold]

I think it is possible if you know a bit about coding. You might have to use a couple of browsers and access the for3 site twice, and do a bit of copy and paste.



Might be better to use an SSD nowadays - and should work, though the question remains - "Why isn't tne functionality built in? It shouldn't increase the manufacturing costs much."

I actually experimented with a usb flash drive with the Channel Master, recording a program on one unit and playing in back on the downstairs unit, and it worked well, and these units are 15 years old. Now that my problem is resolved I will resume using the 1TB HD that I had connected but the usb works and I guess than manufacturers are trying to keep the units as thin and inexpensive as possible

[Anastasius]

.....


Might be better to use an SSD nowadays - ..."

Why ?

[Anastasius]

Which model is it? I did a cursory search and didn’t find many that did

Our model is no longer made and so not relevant to the discussion. However, I Googled the latest model thence to the manual and looks still to be built in...albeit the caveat in the text.

https://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/202405/20240515103233001/BN81-25561C-300_EUG_ROPDVBEUD_EU_ENG_240507.0.pdf

Page 123 etc

[AuntDaisy]

["Might be better to use an SSD nowadays - ..."]

Why ?

Solid State Drives (SSD) are much faster (read/write) than mechanical hard drives, they also have no moving parts, so, in theory, should be more reliable.

[Dave2002]

Our model is no longer made and so not relevant to the discussion. However, I Googled the latest model thence to the manual and looks still to be built in...albeit the caveat in the text.

https://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/202405/20240515103233001/BN81-25561C-300_EUG_ROPDVBEUD_EU_ENG_240507.0.pdf

Page 123 etc

Curious to know what model that is - the latest one you linked to. I looked at the manual, and there is no indication of the specific model - not even a specific range.
Regarding recording the manual simply mentions that it only works for programmes received via an antenna.

Looking at the contents page [page 2] there is little indication of what broadcast standards this range of sets can receive [may vary with region] - and it doesn't look as though it will also do satellite reception, which some modern sets will do.

As mentioned earlier, it may be easier and cheaper for manufacturers to make multi-standard sets, which will perhaps be capable of doing more than some users actually want, rather than targetting each region and user group. It's not clear whether this is a cheap, medium or high end range - so comments regarding costs etc. difficult to check out.

An SSD capable of supporting recording and time shifting should be compatible with TVs like this - typical cost for a 1 Tbyte SSD likely to be around or under £100.
The functionality could be built in to the TVs, though if the "policing" to make sure that users don't try to record streams from the internet or other inputs are put in place, then that may just cause more problems than it's actually worth. A hardware device which could record input from HDMI - for example from a computer - could be very useful for making some videos.

One additional issue re recording is what format any recording would be in. Some manufacturers make it very hard for data recorded to a hard drive or SSD to be used on any other device - allegedly to prevent piracy and unauthorised copying - but that can actually work against end users in some cases.

[richardfinegold]

Solid State Drives (SSD) are much faster (read/write) than mechanical hard drives, they also have no moving parts, so, in theory, should be more reliable.

It wasn’t the hard drive that failed in my issue. In fact the memory portion of the DVR was fine

[Anastasius]

Solid State Drives (SSD) are much faster (read/write) than mechanical hard drives, they also have no moving parts, so, in theory, should be more reliable.

The creator of SupeDuper - one of the best backup programs for the Mac, does not recommend backing up to SSD's. That is good enough for me as a cautionary tale.

[Anastasius]

Curious to know what model that is - the latest one you linked to. I looked at the manual, and there is no indication of the specific model - not even a specific range.
Regarding recording the manual simply mentions that it only works for programmes received via an antenna.

Looking at the contents page [page 2] there is little indication of what broadcast standards this range of sets can receive [may vary with region] - and it doesn't look as though it will also do satellite reception, which some modern sets will do.

As mentioned earlier, it may be easier and cheaper for manufacturers to make multi-standard sets, which will perhaps be capable of doing more than some users actually want, rather than targetting each region and user group. It's not clear whether this is a cheap, medium or high end range - so comments regarding costs etc. difficult to check out.

An SSD capable of supporting recording and time shifting should be compatible with TVs like this - typical cost for a 1 Tbyte SSD likely to be around or under £100.
The functionality could be built in to the TVs, though if the "policing" to make sure that users don't try to record streams from the internet or other inputs are put in place, then that may just cause more problems than it's actually worth. A hardware device which could record input from HDMI - for example from a computer - could be very useful for making some videos.

One additional issue re recording is what format any recording would be in. Some manufacturers make it very hard for data recorded to a hard drive or SSD to be used on any other device - allegedly to prevent piracy and unauthorised copying - but that can actually work against end users in some cases.

I really think you are losing the plot here, Dave, and expecting far too much by over-complicating things ! You seem to be expecting a TV to do everything, including the kitchen sink.

We like to keep things simple. We have a Humax that records two channels at the same time. Sometimes there is a clash (usually at 9pm) when we need to record a third channel. That is when the built-in record function in the TV comes into its own. All the functionality you need is there.

I've given all the necessary information Models change., All the time. So prudent for anyone contemplating a new TV to contact their customer service or better still go to see one and check out the functionality is there on that model.