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Freeview set-top recorder

For less than £200 you can purchase a Freeview personal video recorder.

For less than £200 you can purchase a Freeview personal video
Published on by on UK Free TV

For less than 200 you can purchase a Freeview personal video recorder, such as the Thompson DVR shown here. Even at this quite reasonable price you can use a seven-day programme guide to schedule recordings and pause live TV.



If you wish to use Freeview interactive services such as BBCi or Teletext, or listen to the many digital radio stations broadcast alongside the Freeview television channels these boxes are your only options.



Whilst these boxes lack some of the sophisticated features of Sky+ and Windows Media Centre, a Freeview personal video box will still record two programmes whilst you watch a recording and features a seven-day programme guide only found on the highest priced Freeview boxes.







Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom


Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

andrew
Monday 29 January 2007 11:54AM
It is misleading to show the Freeview Playback brand logo on the same page as a DVR made by a manufacturer who is not a member of the Freeview Playback consortium.
Briantist
Monday 29 January 2007 12:28PM
andrew: there is no Freeview playback logo on this page. The service has no logo yet, and no public statements have been made about the hardware vendors.
beth
Tuesday 13 February 2007 2:14PM
i have taken the power lead out of my Thomson DVR box as the picture froze and now i have put it back in the box wont turn back on, what do i do??
Briantist
Tuesday 13 February 2007 2:48PM
beth: check the fuse in the lead, you may have blow it when you removed the power in the way you did.
george Davies
Saturday 4 August 2007 1:51PM
my tv has free view built in , if i purchase a digital recorder
do i just need a play back model and not one with free view ?
Alun
Tuesday 20 November 2007 9:50AM
George, check that the Freeview card inside the TV will actually give an external output and not just send internally to the screen (my TV doesn't have an external option). "Internal only" will mean that the TV will not give an external digital signal and the recorder will need it's own Freeview tuner. If your TV's Freeview card does give an external output then you will only be able to record the programme you are watching at the time. A digital recorder with it's own Freeview tuner (or better still two tuners) is the more versatile option.
Suzanna
Wednesday 12 March 2008 8:36PM
Hi can anyone tell me if you can add a PVR to a flatscreen tv that already has built in freeview?
Briantist
Friday 14 March 2008 8:55AM
Suzanna: You can use a PVR with any TV.
Anna
Friday 20 February 2009 11:21PM
how do i know if my tv with free view is an internal or external output? i wanted to get a digital recorder and the cheapest i could find had freeview.
Briantist
Friday 27 February 2009 8:34PM
Anna: Almost no analogue or digital TV has a tuner output. If you want to use an external recorder, the tuners are located in the box, not the TV.
Liz
Friday 20 March 2009 8:37AM
HELP! I have a Thomson TopUpTV DVR box, which no longer allows access to the library. I think the last thing recorded has corrupted, as when you select the library the whole thing freezes, you have to un-plug to be able to get it to work on normal freeview. I have 28 hours of recording time left (from about 45), and can't see how to fix as it will not let me record anything now. Any advice?
ANGELA
Thursday 1 October 2009 11:58AM
I have bought a TV with an internal Freeview tuner but i cannot get any of the Freeview channels does anyone know what i need to do to watch them.
Briantist
Thursday 1 October 2009 4:09PM
ANGELA: You need to connect to a roof-top aerial pointing at a Freeview transmitter. Pop your postcode into the box at the top right to find out your options.
LutonFan
Sunday 6 June 2010 8:02PM
If have a Humax PVR 9200T and have been experiencing sluggish response times since the national retune event, there is a download scheduled on 9th june.

I assume this download is to fix this problem. I believe the boxes are set to search for new firmware at 4am each morning. Leave the box in standby overnight and follow the on-screen prompts.
Briantist
Monday 7 June 2010 7:46AM
LutonFan: The updates are broadcast on a continuous loop, you can do them at any time whilst the update is being broadcast - Wednesday 09-06-2010 10am to Friday 11-06-2010 9am.

www.dtg.org.uk link icon DTG :: DTT Receiver Downloads .
LutonFan
Friday 11 June 2010 12:09AM
Briantist- Yes, I am aware the updates are on a continous loop.

The boxes, as default, are set to search for the new firmware at 0400 HRS, so it will will only recieve the download at the time the box is set to.

The box allows the user to change the 'time' that the box will actually detect the new version.

The latest version, (as tested with a box at work), cures the sluggish response times and the EPG population issues.



Briantist
Friday 11 June 2010 8:58AM
LutonFan: You can usually instigate a manual upgrade at any time, however, as this is presumably what you did on the other box.
LutonFan
Monday 14 June 2010 1:10PM
Briantist- Yes, tried a manual rescan first, but the box seemed to freeze up. Not sure if this problem was in relation to the issue that the download was supposed to cure.

Would be interested to see if other users had the same problem, or if it was an isolated incident.



Briantist
Wednesday 16 June 2010 5:59AM
LutonFan: I didn't mean a "manual rescan", that simply looks for a list of channels and the EPG, but a "manual upgrade" that looks for the software.
LutonFan
Saturday 19 June 2010 2:21PM
Briantist- typo error..I meant manual upgrade
Briantist
Monday 21 June 2010 7:10PM
LutonFan: All I can think is to do the "reset" thing listed on
Welcome to HUMAX [UK]
.
John
Friday 25 March 2011 9:23AM
I am looking to buy a freeview recorder for use in my caravan - is it possible to record programs at home then take the box with me to watch when I'm away? - being a hard disk recording I imagine it should be but just want to make sure.
Thanks
John
LutonFan
Saturday 26 March 2011 3:20PM
John- Should be OK as far as I am concerned, just keep the box well away from any magnets eg car speakers and so forth.

Chris
Sunday 27 March 2011 9:09AM
John - I think a big concern would be making sure the freeview recorder is adequately packed to withstand any rattling about on the journey. Original packing comes to mind.
Debby Daniels
Friday 6 April 2012 10:59AM Caerphilly
Hi my neighbour is having problem's with her free view recorder's. For some reason every Wednesday she is loosing everything, she can't record or get any listing's up on both boxes. The rest of the week everything is working fine. Is this happening due to Free view still going live. My post code area is CF83 4FS. Your help would be much appreciated
Debby
Friday 6 April 2012 11:13AM Caerphilly
Hi my neighbour is having problem's with her free view recorder's. For some reason every Wednesday she is loosing everything, she can't record or get any listing's up on both boxes. The rest of the week everything is working fine. Is this happening due to Free view still going live. My post code area is CF83 4FS. Your help would be much appreciated
Stephen
Saturday 7 April 2012 9:48AM
Hi, Debby : Tell your neighbour to format the HD. Warning: she will lose any stored recordings though.
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