Decent twin HD tuner PVR

perkinma on 24/06/2013 - 23:43

Looking for some feedback on what people are recommending as a decent twin HD tuner PVR. Requirements would be:

  • genuine twin tuner, ie record two completely independent channels and watch a third pre-recorded show.
  • IceTV compatible EPG.
  • 500Gb HDD.
  • quiet, ie don't want to listen to its fan noise while watching TV.
  • well supported (ie so have a good chance of being able to get my new AVR remote to control the PVR, HDMI control channel compatible).

Topfield would be the first name to come to mind for me but have no idea of what manufacturer would come next.

Essentially looking to replace a Beyonwiz DP-P2 that I have finally got sick and tired of dealing with the appallingly slow network speed, lack of HDMI control and lack of support for universal remotes.

Any and all suggestions on what to look at greatly appreciated.

Edit: No freeview junk either.

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

    • perkinma on 05/07/2013 - 00:06

      From what I can find I think that is the TPR5000, so doesn't have IceTV support.

      Otherwise I know nothing about it so couldn't comment further.

  • srhardy on 25/06/2013 - 15:57

    Ive personaly tested dozens of dual tuner pvr's and most were crap and i either returned them or after testing instore i decided to keep looing but then i discovered TOPVIEW PVR with intelligent (series) record like the austar/foxtel PVR and now i can record between 2-4 channels and play back a recording simutainously.

    the channel has to be two versions of the same one, so 7 and 7TWO, and say 9 and GO ; it wont do more than 2 channels but it can do up to 2 versions the same channel

    add in the intelligent record (its not hard but you can press the blue button on the show in the TV guide and it will auto catch every episode as long as you dont have a channel conflict… also the TV guide is sensible and usefull set out, plus you can 'pad' recording start and finish times so you dont miss the begginning or end of your favorite shows; with some sucess… Its not perfect but it helps as 9 especialy is bad at running late after the reality shows, followed by 10, then 7

    Pay about $300-350 from jbhifi or quivelient retailer.

    • MGF on 22/07/2013 - 19:21

      Would you recommend the top of the range Topview against any of the Panasonic or Samsung?

  • srhardy on 26/07/2013 - 09:07

    Panna/Sansng with suck as pvrs, bought, tested and retruned…

    TOPFEILD or get austar/foxtel IQHD (then cancle the HD channels to save money but you get to use the better box) otherwise get the TOPFEILD

  • wbeer on 28/07/2013 - 19:05

    You can get a Topfield TRF7160 - for $167 at Dicksmith til monday. (RRP $400, JB -$300ish)

    I see you're in cairns. ( A few of their stores(Dicksmith) have stock. )

  • psych23 on 06/08/2013 - 09:25

    Looking for something similar for my mum but have no idea where to start.

    Basically just need to be able to automatically record shows (easy to set - she's a mum) whilst being able to watch other tv shows.

    She won't record too many so not sure how much memory she would need.

    Would a Topfield be overkill or if you get a good deal worth the money?

    Any help would be much appreciated.

  • perkinma on 26/10/2013 - 20:39
    +3

    I guess to close out my original post a little - I ended up building a MythTV system.

    I had wanted to learn a bit about Linux for a while and there is nothing like learning it the hard way - and trust me for a beginner MythTV is the hard way.

    But for $150 of USB tuners and a couple of old PC's from parts I had around the place I've got an 8 tuner recording system that looks like nothing else I've seen with features like automatic commercial detection (50% of the time), some great recording smarts like duplicate episode detection and a gorgeous look through the display of fanart / coverart matched to the recordings. It probably took 200 hours over 3 months to setup and get running mostly stable but most of that was because I knew nothing of Linux beyond test booting from a CD. I still put in 5 hours / week fine tuning but I feel the results I'm getting justify the effort it's taking - plus I'm learning all the time.

    Certainly not going to be for everyone or for the faint-of-heart but it is an option worthy of consideration.

  • MITM on 31/10/2013 - 16:08

    Thanks for the update and well done.

    Now that you've all but finished building it, you'll have time to watch quadruple more recordings than us plebs with only twin tuners.

    Great effort.

    • perkinma on 31/10/2013 - 16:19

      Thanks. The 8 tuners was a bit of a bonus. It was only supposed to be 4 because the 'sub-tuner' (or whatever it is called) on each tuner stick was apparently not supported in linux. But they were cheap so I was happy with just the 4. However one day just for kicks I thought I would enable the sub-tuners (not sure what the correct term is, where the chipset tunes to the main frequency but can extract two channels from the main multiplex like 7 and 7Two or ABC1 and ABC24 at the same time) and it all just worked. Didn't have to do anything except enable it in software. Went from 4 tuners to 8 with 10seconds of work.

  • MGF on 01/11/2013 - 10:05

    Great job perkinma!! I'll be coming to you in the future for nerdy advice.

    So, from what I gather so far, everyone's favourite is one of Topfield quad tuners and best value for your buck, do we all agree on that?

    M.

    • MITM on 01/11/2013 - 13:41

      Had a Pioneer before DTV arrived making it redundant.
      Now have a Panny, but still struggling with it…

    • perkinma on 01/11/2013 - 13:52

      Your comment made me look around at the Topfield's again. The Good Guys have a couple on clearance at the moment, in particular the 2400 ($339) and the 2470 ($400) with only a couple of dollars delivery to some capital cities.

      I've put them up as a bargain so will see what the collective community thinks of the prices….

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