gat474 Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 My Topfield PVR7000 has finally decided that its hard drive doesn't exist. I was thinking of giving it another hard drive but it won't guarantee a fix and I might be sinking a hundred bucks for nothing. I'm looking for a new PVR with the ability to record two channels at once (don't need to watch another channel though), time shift in that I can start watching a recording before it's finished and reliable. I was looking at the Topfileds again but they are pretty pricey and seem to have a bad rep now. My 7000 was second hand and was never completely reliable dropping channels every so often, not recognising the hard drive and other issues. I'd even consider buying two cheaper single tuner ones so I can put them on separate tv's as long as they had decent size drives. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlewino Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 I'm looking for a new PVR with the ability to record two channels at once (don't need to watch another channel though), time shift in that I can start watching a recording before it's finished and reliable.Any suggestions? Beyonwiz has been fine for me - once the drive crashed and had to lose all recordings but helps clean up old stuff. They've dropped in price to around what you are looking to spend - check DTV and Whirlpool forums. ALW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saxon Hall Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 Magic TV, Twin Tuner with a 1TB drive, currently $249.00 from Crazy Stu. http://crazystu.com.au/Magic_TV_MTV4000PVR_1TB_Dual_HD_PVR_MHEG_5_MPEG_2_4_H_264_HDMI_Optional_Wireless_N_Adaptor-p-324721.html I have had one for about 3 weeks. No issues so far , very reliable and easy to use. Very nice and intuitive Remote Control. You can control your TV's volume and inputs from the RC. A very large thread on DTV Forum here http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=95076 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Range Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 (edited) Magic TV, Twin Tuner with a 1TB drive, currently $249.00 from Crazy Stu.http://crazystu.com.au/Magic_TV_MTV4000PVR_1TB_Dual_HD_PVR_MHEG_5_MPEG_2_ 4_H_264_HDMI_Optional_Wireless_N_Adaptor-p-324721.html I have had one for about 3 weeks. No issues so far , very reliable and easy to use. Very nice and intuitive Remote Control. You can control your TV's volume and inputs from the RC. A very large thread on DTV Forum here http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=95076 Does this PVR also connect to Pay TV & to record some programs I have Optus I have found a great Australian review on utube FR Edited November 27, 2011 by Full Range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antred Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 No PVR in Australia connects to 'pay tv' other than those provided by such services (ie FetchTV for FetchTV and iQ for Foxtel). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Range Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 No PVR in Australia connects to 'pay tv' other than those provided by such services (ie FetchTV for FetchTV and iQ for Foxtel). Thank you for clearing that up for me FR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danter Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 For pure ease of use, cant really go past a Tivo. Bit pricier (about $400 last I looked), but worth it as they are one of those units that just work - minimal hassles and intuitive to use. Worth the extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockandorRoll Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Im really thinking of going Fetch TV through Internode PVR and IPTV in one sleek looking black unit with a movie service and 500gig space for TV downloads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saxon Hall Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 No PVR in Australia connects to 'pay tv' other than those provided by such services (ie FetchTV for FetchTV and iQ for Foxtel). THe Magic TV has no AV inputs however several PVR's do have inputs so are able to record any signals which are fed to it including Pay-TV. BeyonWiz have one in their product line up. Here is another Wintal 500GB PVR10HD which also has AV inputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antred Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 THe Magic TV has no AV inputs however several PVR's do have inputs so are able to record any signals which are fed to it including Pay-TV. BeyonWiz have one in their product line up. Here is another Wintal 500GB PVR10HD which also has AV inputs. Yes but that's not acting as a PVR which by definition has an EPG and knows exactly when to record TV shows like iQ and FetchTV do. Using AV inputs is just acting as a HDD Recorder. I don't think this is what the poster wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gat474 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 Thanks for the repleis so far. I've seen those Magic PVR's and they do tick all the boxes apart from being able to take it back to the store if it plays up. I've looked at so many PVR's now I have paralysis by analysis. The Strong range looked pretty good for a while but then I got to thinking they have so many models with the same features but different casings. What does that mean? All made by third party manufacturers. Topfield has all the features I want but they're more than I want to spend. Beyonwicz and Tivo same situation as the Toppy. I stumbled across the Topfield forum last night and found that my model (the 7000pvrt) has known faults with bulging caps in the power supply and hard drives going south. I have found the bulging caps in mine and may have a crack at fixing that but will hold off on the new HDD until I find out what a 250 or 320gb one will cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 If you can find a superseded Panasonic for the right money it will do everything you want. I know that my model was going quite cheap awhile back if you can find one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclemack Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 If you can find one, the Digitel+ HT8300 is a cracker. It's made by Homecast in Korea, has 500gb and twin tuners. Not overloaded with features but it's easy to use, has a well designed interface and is cheap. I've been using the Homecast for nearly three years and it's great. Might find one at JB for around $200. Cheers M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stav Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Mate get a media player with twin HD tuners built in ,Tvix , AC Ryan plays all formats, you could put a 2tb drive in it . I have got the Slim duo Tvix media player cost me about $400 with a 2tb drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gat474 Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 Just to finish this thread off I ended up with one of the new Topfield 7160's. The Magic TV looked good for a while but suspecting that PVR's are generally not the most reliable product out there I wanted to buy locally so I could knock on a door if I had a warranty claim rather than negotiate by email. I'd seen the 7160 around for $400 but ended up getting it for, well, not sure if I can mention the price on SNA but once I took my $50 Chrissie money into account I spent no more than $260 of my own coin. Does everything I want, has a brick and mortar store for warranty return and none of the bad rep that the previous Toppy models seem to attract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhslick Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Picked up a TiVo with 1TB drive this weekend from Harvey Norman for $440...Ticks all the right ones for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerslave Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I got a 1TB twin tuner PVR from Aldi for 179$. I like bargains Seems to work fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Leece Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Just to finish this thread off I ended up with one of the new Topfield 7160's. The Magic TV looked good for a while but suspecting that PVR's are generally not the most reliable product out there I wanted to buy locally so I could knock on a door if I had a warranty claim rather than negotiate by email. I'd seen the 7160 around for $400 but ended up getting it for, well, not sure if I can mention the price on SNA but once I took my $50 Chrissie money into account I spent no more than $260 of my own coin. Does everything I want, has a brick and mortar store for warranty return and none of the bad rep that the previous Toppy models seem to attract. Lucky you getting it for that sort of price. I just picked one up on Sunday for $400 with a LAN cable - my old Toppy 5000MP is becoming unreliable so I needed a replacement. The unit looks very good so far, quad recording over two frequencies and a reasonable HDD size. Only down side is that the remote makes moves on both the 7160 and the 5000 MP, so while I have both with recordings on I have to cover the IR sensor on one of them. :-D Good unit, though. I was torn between getting another Beyonwiz, but the quad recording got to me. It might come in handy when the TV channels put all their good programmes on for one single hour in the week... :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicprObe Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Yes but that's not acting as a PVR which by definition has an EPG and knows exactly when to record TV shows like iQ and FetchTV do. Using AV inputs is just acting as a HDD Recorder. I don't think this is what the poster wanted. When has EPG recording EVER worked in Australia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hired goon Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 G'day, When has EPG recording EVER worked in Australia? Here in the U.S. I use Hulu Plus via a Roku box. Typically a program is available the day after it airs and I stream it over the interwebs straight to my television. I have a list of favourite shows and every day new episodes are added to my queue. No worrying about setting timers, no scanning of EPGs, no adding 'padding' to account for Oz broadcaster's inability to start an episode at the advertise time, no worrying about missing the start or end of an episode, etc. It's effing brilliant. I'm not looking forward to coming back to the interweb backwater of Straya, and dealing with the childish telecoms and broadcasters again. --Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerslave Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I got a 1TB twin tuner PVR from Aldi for 179$. I like bargains Seems to work fine Ive owned this for about 6 weeks, used it for about 3 of those weeks and I rekon the Hard Disk has died! I hope Aldis 60 day return period will be honored My fathers one has worked almost perfectly for 6 months, maybe I bought the refurbished version as Aldi seem to re-sell stock cheaper some months later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacker Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I think all of u may have missed the fact that no recent PVR can record onto its hard drive from the outputs from the foxtel or austar. The Pay boxes seem to be able to pick up that they are being recorded off and dont allow it. Please correct me if im wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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