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DVD/HDD Freeview Recorder advice please
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Posted February 10, 2013 at 10:41AM
Wondered if someone could point me in the right direction. Looking for a recorder that will record two programmes while watching third. It's a terrestrial aerial into a Panasonic TV (TX-26LXD80 if it helps). I'm looking at a Samsung BD-E8900M which seems to fit the bill, any advice regarding this or other units I might have a look please.
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Posted February 10, 2013 at 1:00PM
Most units will do that although having only two tuners they are limited to which channels are being recorded and watched due to the multiplexing of the channels. I have one of the early Humax PVRs (not the HD version) and that will record 2 and watch a third (with mux limits). If the TV itself also has a Freeview tuner then of course you can always watch that if the multiplexed channels clash with viewing.
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Posted February 10, 2013 at 2:01PM
chub_tor
Thanks, although I'm not sure what you mean by 'multiplexing' & 'multiplexed' channels. I'm only interested in the 'free to air' stuff and my TV does indeed have it's own Freeview tuner.
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Posted February 10, 2013 at 4:30PM
Although Freeview has many channels they are not all transmitted individually but are sent in blocks so that several channels use the same block. For a full list of the channels and the blocks they are sent in see this link http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freeviewchannels.html.
In practise this means that if you are recording two programmes in two different multiplex blocks then you cannot watch a third programme in a different block.
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Posted February 10, 2013 at 11:27PM
When y6ou Say watch a third It as to be one of the two recordings that you are Making I have the Humax PVR 9300T You can Record Two at Once but you need to switch to freeview that's built into TV to watch a Different one,to the ones you are Recording, or you can record two while watching one already Recorded
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Posted February 11, 2013 at 8:13AM
You can record 2 channels and watch 1 on the TV.
You can record 2 channels on the same multiplex and watch a third on the PVR.
You can record 2 channels and watch 1 previously recorded.
You cannot record 2 channels on different multiplexes and watch a 3rd on the PVR if its on a different multiplex.
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Posted February 11, 2013 at 8:13AM
Actually woodchip that is incorrect. This statement is copied from the Humax website for the DTR-T1000
"Watching live TV gives you all of the features you'd expect, including the ability to rewind and pause live TV. As there are dual Freeview HD tuners, you can record two programmes at once and watch a third, provided it's on the same multiplex as one of the current recordings (multiplexes being the small groupings that digital channels are broadcast in)."
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Posted February 11, 2013 at 2:55PM
Ok But do not understand what you are on about
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Posted February 12, 2013 at 9:52AM
The ability to split more than one channel from a multiplex block would appear to be a function of the tuner and/or its software/firmware most appear not to but as chub_tor says the Humax DTR-T1000 is one that is able to split two channels from a multiplex but none of my Panasonic PVRs have this capability.
I havnt gone into this in any detail but some of the PC tuners and software seem to be able to split off a number of channels.
If anyone has knowledge of this perhaps they could share it with us.
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Posted February 12, 2013 at 2:04PM
Must admit that on the Odd occasion that I have got two recordings starting that the one I am watching does not urn off. So it works on occasions as above
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Posted February 13, 2013 at 7:55PM
chub_tor
Apologies for the delay in replying. Thanks for your input, I've now grasped the meaning of your first post.
Thanks again. :-))
