Buy a single tuner or double tuner digital recorder ?

[brian777999]

I need to buy a digital recorder soon as they will be turning off the analogue TV signal in my area in a few months time and I will no longer be able to use my old video recorder when that happens.

 

I would like to be able to record a program while at the same time watching another pre-recorded program. Do I need a twin tuner to do that ? I thought I would but some people are telling me ''No, a single tuner will do that for you ''. The sales people in the shops are useless ! They do not have a clue ; one person will tell you one thing and then another person will tell you something else.

 

I know a twin tuner will record two programs at once.

Edited September 28, 2011 by brian777999

[Del]

A single tuner should do that.

As you say, a twin tuner will record two things at once. I have Virgin+ with a triple tuner, and can record two things while watching a third (either live or already recorded).

Just about the only thing I can't do is watch something while I'm copying it to a DVD.

[phil-b259]

If you want to record one channel while recording another then yes you need two tuners be that two seperate boxes or one box with two tuners contained within the same device (be awere that some devices may have more than one output yet still only contain a single tuner).

Edited September 28, 2011 by phil-b259

[Butler Henderson]

Think most digital recorders are twin tuners anyway.

[Ron Ron Ron]

The good news is that there are lots of recorders available, many of which have twin tuners costing not much if anything more than a single tuner model. Are there still any single tuner models around?

I'd get a twin tuner model, because sooner or later there'll be 2 things you'll want to record at the same time.

 

I don't record much, but when I do it's like buses; 2 programmes I want to record turn up together.

 

The other thing is do you want a hard drive (HDD) based PVR, or a HDD recorder with a built-in DVD recorder for archiving recordings that you want to keep?

 

 

.

Edited September 28, 2011 by Ron Ron Ron

[Butler Henderson]

Heres a thread on another forum that may be of use

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1539250

[spamcan61]

These have a pretty good reputation by PVR standards and are cheap as chips from Tesco, twin tuners and 250GB storage, high volume established manufacturer, for less than 40 quid:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...323177812048995

 

Although it is 'refurb'

Edited September 28, 2011 by spamcan61

[Talltim]

You can still record digital telly with a VCR,, but you do need a digibox

[Guest]

I'd get a twin tuner model, because sooner or later there'll be 2 things you'll want to record at the same time.

 

I don't record much, but when I do it's like buses; 2 programmes I want to record turn up together.

Yes that++ Don't even consider a single tuner DVR. Recordings will fail all over the place due to clashes. Even allegedly consecutive programmes will usually overlap by a couple of minutes. The BBC never run to time...

[spamcan61]

You can still record digital telly with a VCR,, but you do need a digibox

 

..and it's fiddly recording programmes from different channels on the same day; managed it once but decided a 40 quid HDD recorder was soooo much more convenient.

[brian777999]

I called the manufacturer and it turns out that SOME single tuners can record one program while watching another pre-recorded program but it is difficult to find out which ones can and cannot, hence all the confusion. The manuals are not clear on this either so that does not help.

 

It will be much simpler but more expensive to buy a twin tuner.

 

NOTE : I live in Cairns, Australia.

Edited September 29, 2011 by brian777999

[Poor Old Bruce]

I have just bought a twin-tuner job from Argos for 99.99 GBP. It will record two programmes at the same time (except it didn't bother with one on Monday night because it got the date wrong - goodness knows how!) but the only way to watch a third prog is to go back to the TV tuner on the 'source' button. Still wondering what to do about progs I want to keep.

[Guest]

Still wondering what to do about progs I want to keep.

Have a look in the manual. Some DVRs let you save programmes to a USB device.

[melmerby]

If you are using satellite it appears you only need two tuners to record two programmes and watch a third as long as any two of the channels are on the same transponder, at least that is the situation with the Humax Foxsat HDR.

e.g. record ITV1 HD, record BBC HD and you can watch BBC 1 HD at the same time.

The Foxsat can also dump programmes to USB hard drives to free up space on the internal disk.

 

Keith

[coachmann]

Whilst we still had analogue I was sold an expensive Sony digibox with hard drive. It has two tuners....One for analogue and the other for the digital signal. When the analogue signal switched off a few years ago that tuner was left redundant. The other tuner only allows one signal, therefore I cannot record a program AND watch a live program at the same time. I can only watch pre-recorded things at the same time as recording something. Buyer beware.

[melmerby]

Whilst we still had analogue I was sold an expensive Sony digibox with hard drive. It has two tuners....One for analogue and the other for the digital signal. When the analogue signal switched off a few years ago that tuner was left redundant. The other tuner only allows one signal, therefore I cannot record a program AND watch a live program at the same time. I can only watch pre-recorded things at the same time as recording something. Buyer beware.

I don't think any of the PVRs called twin tuner these days would be classified in that way.

My ana/digi PVR wasn't hailed as "twin tuner" when I bought it some years ago. Maybe as the signals were in the same band it actually needed just one UHF tuner to store the channels?

 

Keith

[brian777999]

The other tuner only allows one signal, therefore I cannot record a program AND watch a live program at the same time. I can only watch pre-recorded things at the same time as recording something. Buyer beware.

 

Do what I use to do with the old video recorder : split your antenna signal using a splitter . One cable goes to the input on your tuner/recorder and the other goes to the input on your TV. You connect the TV to the recorder using RCA plugs (yellow, red, white)

[coachmann]

Thanks Brian. WSounds like a good idea. But I wont reduce the power of the signal by splitting it will I...?

[melmerby]

Thanks Brian. WSounds like a good idea. But I wont reduce the power of the signal by splitting it will I...?

 

Isn't there an RF (aerial) feed through? Very unusual if not. (and splitting the signal does reduce the power by a minimum of 3dB I think)

 

EDIT: Do you have a seperate Freeview box/tele ?

If not one program only I'm afraid.

 

Keith

Edited September 30, 2011 by melmerby

[spamcan61]

Thanks Brian. WSounds like a good idea. But I wont reduce the power of the signal by splitting it will I...?

 

Unfortunately this won't work anyway because you've only got one digital tuner, which can only receive one mux.* at any one time. What might be possible is to watch a different channel in the same mux. as one you're recording. Virtually all PVRs and most decoder boxes have 'RF pass-thru' anyway, so you can feed the signal through one box to another without bothering to split it. Which channels are on which muxes are listed here:-

 

http://www.dtg.org.uk/industry/dtt_channels.html (although this is not always 100% accurate it should be pretty close)

 

 

*short for multiplex, a group of 'channels' transmitted on one nominal RF frequency

 

At least a separate decoder box is only 15 quid thes e days, or 35 quid for a HD one;OK it's not as convenient but cheaper than a new PVR.

[brian777999]

Thanks Brian. WSounds like a good idea. But I wont reduce the power of the signal by splitting it will I...?

 

Most people do not have a problem. If you were in an isolated area and had a weak signal to begin with (common problem in rural Australia) then you might notice a difference but usually the picture will still look the same.

Edited September 30, 2011 by brian777999

[brian777999]

 

Unfortunately this won't work anyway because you've only got one digital tuner, which can only receive one mux.* at any one time. What might be possible is to watch a different channel in the same mux. as one you're recording. Virtually all PVRs and most decoder boxes have 'RF pass-thru' anyway, so you can feed the signal through one box to another without bothering to split it. Which channels are on which muxes are listed here:-

 

http://www.dtg.org.u...t_channels.html (although this is not always 100% accurate it should be pretty close)

 

 

*short for multiplex, a group of 'channels' transmitted on one nominal RF frequency

 

At least a separate decoder box is only 15 quid thes e days, or 35 quid for a HD one;OK it's not as convenient but cheaper than a new PVR.

 

Why won't this work ? I just did it ! I bought a twin tuner this morning and split the aerial into two : one to the digital tuner and the other to the TV. I probably did not have to set it up this way but I did and it works fine. The digital recorder can record two stations while I watch a third station.

 

Perhaps things are different in the UK ?

[coachmann]

My TV is one of the last of the old flat screens but with a back the size of a bungallow. In otherwords, it is not modern and does not have a built in digital docoder. Actually its quite a pallava but as we dont watch a lot of 'live' TV, only pre-recorded movies, it will have to do for the minute. Problem only arise becasue her indoors always watches Emmeriod and Corrie and I have to avoid recording any movies at those times.

[spamcan61]

 

Why won't this work ? I just did it ! I bought a twin tuner this morning and split the aerial into two : one to the digital tuner and the other to the TV. I probably did not have to set it up this way but I did and it works fine. The digital recorder can record two stations while I watch a third station.

 

Perhaps things are different in the UK ?

 

Coach's problem is that his 'twin tuner' PVR only has one digital tuner, and now his region has switched to digital only so it's not twin any more. I agree there's nothing fundamentally wrong with splitting a signal between two tuners, other than a bit of loss - many domestic splitters will be resistive types with 6dB or so loss, but it wouldn't help in this specific case.

[brian777999]

My TV is one of the last of the old flat screens but with a back the size of a bungallow. In otherwords, it is not modern and does not have a built in digital docoder. Actually its quite a pallava but as we dont watch a lot of 'live' TV, only pre-recorded movies, it will have to do for the minute. Problem only arise becasue her indoors always watches Emmeriod and Corrie and I have to avoid recording any movies at those times.

 

Aha...now I see. I resisted the lure of digital for a long time too but they are going to turn the old analogue signal off in a few months so I had to make the change.