hard drive recorder

[jetcat]

i am looking for a hard drive recorder for my DD(12) for Xmas. I was initally thinking of a DVD recorder as well, but as I am looking to spend under £200 I am not sure I would get one for that price??

She has sky in her bedroom (no tv aerial)_ but instead of paying the £10 per month for sky plus, I am looking to pay a one off cost.

Any idea?

We have a humax one which is great and easy to use. not sure why you would want dvd recorder as well.

thanks bunny. To be honest, i thought of the dvd recorder first, then realised that the hard drive one could be fine on its own - ie. it is not essential to have the dvd recorder.

Will check out yours, thanks

I don't think a FreeView recorder will do the same things as Sky+. It won't get the Sky channels! With no tv aerial you may find you can't even get the recorder working... I found that with a DVD Recorder a couple of years back, without an aerial connection it refused to complete initial setup.
To get around that, do initial setup where you do have a tv aerial... then relocate it to your DD's room. You will need to check that it can record from Scart input... so it may then record the current live channel the Sky box is showing (if the output isn't Macrovision protected - anyone know if it is?).

If you want it to record a channel the sky box isn't currently viewing then I don't think it will work.

Found some forums that you may like to read... people have given this a go and find it does work to an extent. Won't record Box Office movies. If you hit EPG on the Sky box, that will appear on the recording.

Recording Sky
Recording from a Sky box

oh carp nannynick - that looks really complicated! I thought it was simple, as in putting the new hard drive recorder next to her existing sky box, connecting with scart and away we go

I am so un-technical its ridiculous, so think maybe she will get a new mobile instead

Probably won't apply if your daughter watches any specific Sky channels/MTV, but for others where there's a satellite cable, it might be an option to consider a FreeSat box (with recorder) so there's only the purchase price to find, no monthly fee. Could even go for FreeSat with HD, and upgrade the TV later - just depends on your family needs and budget to some degree.

For some people using Sky they might be able to scrap their multi-room facility, perhaps switch to Sky+ for the living room and allow the family to record on that (but be harsh about things getting deleted if they are filling up the disk).

Use FreeSat in any other rooms and get the best of both world - rooms with TV/Radio and the lounge with Sky for any specific shows, and only one Sky fee to pay.