PVRs and Freeview

[pjphilli]

Hi
My VHS recorder is getting a bit old so I have been on the lookout for a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) which allows recording TV directly to an inbuilt harddrive. I see most of the big suppliers are highlighting a feature called Freeview. What does this provide - basically?
- Permits access to Freeview Electronics Program guide - a good thing I suppose.
- BUT Freeview does not permit the automatic skipping of adds (only fast forwarding) and permits the broadcaster to signal to your PVR if it does not wish you to record certain content or be able to pass it on to other users.
Perhaps this "industry standard" would be better described as Freeview
Big Brother.
Any comments?
Cheers Peter

[supernova1965]

Hi Peter


I think you will find that freeview is great it is just the normal channels with their digital output and if you have a PVR my favourite is TOPFIELD or TOPPY for short you can record with the latest TOPPY 4 channels simultaneously and skip foward in 30s jumps or more I think. Both my home computers have USB Dual HD tuners that turn our computers into PVR's I got 2 of them onsale from WOW for $90.00 a bargain and they work great. And it means I can be checking out IIS while watching TV I have the computer record a whole series so I never miss a program I have Win7 home premium that I only had to make one change to because of a pause live tv problem but once I deleted a registry key that was causing the problem worked great. It was something to do with aspect ratio's that is only used in the US.

[mswhin63]

Freeview is simply a directory of programs that can be recorded. TIVO is similar but pay a subscription for more up to date changes.

I have noticed channel 9 is not very good at updating information.

[gary]

Hi Peter,

'Freeview' is simply the consortium of free to air digital TV stations.

It includes the five major networks, namely ABC, SBS, Seven Network, Nine Network
and Network Ten that broadcast in the metropolitan areas and their regional affiliates
in the rural areas.

On the digital broadcast channels, these free to air broadcasters are transmitting the
same programming on one channel as what you are use to receiving on your
analog VCR at the moment plus they are all broadcasting additional channels with
different programming as well.

In a nutshell, the consortium sees itself competing with pay TV and so
have been aggressively advertising themselves lately.

The Freeview consortium transmit the Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
which the PVR can then display and allow the user to setup recordings in
advance.

Though it is never advertised as an 'ad skip' feature, some of the better PVR's
come with a pair of buttons that allow one to jump back and forth through
"chapters" that the PVR automatically divides the recorded program into on the
fly as it is recording. Some of these players have built-in heuristics that try
and determine when best to mark some point as the beginning of a "chapter".
For example, they look at when the scene appears to change or for that fade
to black that is common at the beginning of an ad period and the resumption
of the program. So not 100% accurate all of the time, many of them do
a pretty good job of skipping over that stuff you may not have time to watch.

The "chase play" feature of a good PVR, that is the ability to watch a
program at the same time whilst it is being recorded, including the ability to
pause, stop, rewind and fast forward (up to the point it is currently recording)
is a feature that I am sure once you have experienced that you will not miss your
old VCR.

Better PVR's often have larger disks and recording times and additional features like
the ability to dub to a recordable DVD. Commonly, a better PVR also
has faster response times when you press a button to say, playback or fast
forward or rewind, compared to the lower cost generics.

I have personally not encountered a Freeview digital channel program that could not
be recorded to a PVR.

As some of the Freeview channels are only transmitted in High Definition (HD)
format you might want to consider a PVR that has an in-built HD tuner, but if you
still have a standard definition (SD) TV, then has the ability to scale down to SD.

The TiVo which is a PVR that uses its own EPG was featured in the
Sydney Morning Herald on 8 Feb 2011 and I recommend you might like
to read this article carefully if considering it.
See http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/blogs/gadgets-on-the-go/tivo--dead-or-alive/20110208-1al3j.html

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

You are quite right, Freeview branding on a PVR means unavailability of the programmable skip feature which would otherwise be there, in many types of PVR. This is viewed as a shameless scam at one extreme by some, and no big deal by others, as you can still FF through the ads.

In a Freeview box the EPG is standardised, and easier to use, which is an advantage. Otherwise, PVRs will display the inferior EPGs which are broadcast by the networks along with the program. This means the presentation varies, and is often wrong.

Otherwise Freeview is just what you would get anyway from free to air channels

It's a moving feast at the moment, so you need to do the research. Some PVRs have one tuner, and some two, which means you can then record 2 shows and watch a third, if the third is on the same network. Some even have more, so you can confuse yourself about what's recording and what's not :D:screwy:

Some PVRs like the TIVO must be connected to an Internet service for best function, either by cable or wireless home networking. Others are independent of that but have a USB socket so you can load a program recorded from some other source like a PC. However then there might be compatibility issues.

Topfield is a good brand which offers all these different options in their models, but there are others.

http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/technology/home-entertainment/digital/dvr-review-2010-11.aspx

http://www.productreview.com.au/c/set-top-boxes-tv-receivers-dvrs.html

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum=8

Cheers

[mswhin63]

I have 2 twin tuner PVR, one a Sony 3 years old still have a basic Freeview function although I haven't updated firmware yet.

The other one is a branded Freeview TEAC and works well in some way although lacks a bit sensitivity. I have a Strong as well with external HDD/USB connectivity better sensitivity but can't record captions.

[alistairsam]

this is the definition of freeview from their faq.
"Freeview is the free digital (http://freeview.com.au/faq/glossary.aspx?glossaryId=1) television service in Australia. It comprises all the channels from Australia’s free-to-view (http://freeview.com.au/faq/glossary.aspx?glossaryId=15) broadcasters, including the ABC, SBS, Seven Network, Nine Network, Network Ten, Prime7, WIN and Southern Cross."

I use a normal P4 PC running XP and the free software called mediaportal.
its an open source media centre software that i think is much better than the win7 media centre.

ability to record one program and watch another solely depends on whether you have more than one free tuner, and also whether the second channel is from the same channel group/ frequency band.

those comfortable with installing and configuring software would opt for setting up media centres with win7 or other media centre software and usb tuners as its almost free except OS license, else any decent off the shelf PVR with dual HD tuner and atleast 160G HDD will be more than adequate.

[michaellxv]

I have 2 Tivo's we love them so much. They MUST be connected to the Internet to get the guide and from what I have seen this is more accurate than the broadcast EPG. There is no ongoing subscription (in Australia).

http://www.mytivo.com.au/ if you want to know more.

It's best feature is the season pass. Tell it to record a show and it will record it even if they move the timeslot.:thumbsup:

It also tries to learn what you like and if it gets bored starts recording similar shows for you. I have caught many shows I would otherwise have missed like this.

[Jaybee]

We have an old Topfield that is just SD, but still does a great job, and a Homecast HD. We have also found that you can record up to 4 channels with 2 tuners, so you can record Ch7 and 7mate while recording Ch 10 & Ch11, so it seems that 1 tuner will record different streams in the same band. neither of my PVR's are Freeview branded so are not crippled in any way, as are the freeview branded ones. Tivo is distributed in Australia by the Seven Network, so they have a vested interest in making it as difficult as possible to skip ads.

[mithrandir]

Freeview is more or less Tivo without the ability to skip adverts. Freeview PVRs are supposed to get the EPG off the signal. I have had a dual HD tuner PVR for about 6 years. IceTV provide an EPG I can use to program it.
If 9 (and Go! and GEM) actually kept to their program schedule and started programs on time, you wouldn't have to watch it live to check things started near time and even were the right program. Should the Freeview consortium throw them out for not being compliant?

I haven't checked, but WIN, being part of the 9 network, are probably as bad.

10 have a habit of not starting on time, but their EPG is normally correct. For instance the paper guides might say 19:30. The EPG might say 19:37 and the pre-program ads will finish by 19:39.

Andrew

[pjphilli]

Thanks all and particularly Gary for your comprehensive reply. I am thinking about getting a Topfield dual tuner 500GB model. So far as the advert skip facility, even if this is not provided specifically I think I read that a fast foward of x30 is specified which should be quick enough to skip quickly through those adds that you don't want to view. Also, I understand that the ability of the broadcasters to prevent recording of certain programs is a future facility and it is hard to see that the broadcasters would be doing this that much. (Still better keep the old VCR on standby!).
PVRs certainly are a great advance on VCRs and the prices are now very tempting.
Thanks Michael for the heads up re TiVo.
Cheers Peter