PVR: Personal Video Recorders

On this page, we look at the next generation of video recorders, known as the PVR

What is a PVR?

PVR stands for "Personal Video Recorder", sometimes known as the DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

Rather than recording onto VHS video cassettes, a PVR allow you to record TV programmes onto a hard disk that's built into a set-top box.

There are several advantages to using a PVR to record your favourite TV shows: no tapes to rewind, the ability to pause live TV, integrated programme guides, and series recording, plus a lot more storage space than a standard VHS cassette. You can copy programmes down onto video tape or a DVD recorder for archiving, if you wish.

This page contains information on the range of digital video recorders available in the UK for Freeview and Digital Satellite, helping you work out which is the best PVR for you.

We featured PVRs in Show 06 of our online radio show.
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Choosing a PVR

If you're looking to replace your video cassette recorder with a digital hard-disk recorder, here are some options to look for when selecting a PVR:

Twin tuner - Typically allows you to record one digital channel whilst watching another digital channel.
EPG - Electronic Programme Guide (an on-screen TV listings service for easy selection of shows to record) - Look for something with at least a 7 day EPG
Disk size - PVRs have different sized hard-disks. If you're likely to record and store a lot of shows, consider a box with a larger drive
Series Link - Set-and-forget option to mark a favourite show to record future episodes in sequence on the same channel

Sky + Planner
The Sky+ Electronic Programme Guide

PVR Digital Recorders

There are a lot of recorders out there on the market. The following table lists all of the major UK models currently available, but are some of our best buys:

Box	Why should you buy?
Sky+	The mother of all PVRs - a must for Sky Digital satellite customers, and recently voted Best PVR by a leading consumer magazine.
Virgin V+	The PVR for customers of Virgin Media cable - has three tuners
Logik LPV2250	Huge hard-disk (holds 125 hours), easy to use
BT Vision	Supports Video-over-Internet. FREE to BT Broadband users
Humax PVR9200T	Recommended by users of this site

Below is a list of PVRs available in the UK:

	BT Vision V-Box Free PVR The BT Vision service launched in December 2006, offering live digital TV as well as video on demand. The BT Vision V-Box has a twin-tuner, supports Series Link and holds 80 hours of TV. The box supports download of a stack of films and TV shows over Broadband. More on our BT Vision page The box is FREE to BT Total Broadband customers.
	Daewoo DSD9520 PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Card slot suitable for subscription services. Has EPG. Hard Disk: 80Gig (40 hours) Outputs: 2 x SCART, stereo audio, digital audio Available for £114.28 from ASDA online Available for £149.99 from Tesco.com
	DigiFusion FVRT200 Features: Freeview PVR. Uses SCT compression to squeeze up to 80 hours of TV onto its 80Gig hard-disk. Twin tuner. Has a 14 day EPG , and supports editing & live TV pause/rewind Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Available for £149.99 from Maplin Electronics Available for £162.53 from ASDA online
	DigiFusion FVRT95 Features: Freeview receiver with a built-in 80gig PVR hard drive. Record TV and radio onto hard disk, pause and rewind live TV. Twin tuner. 8-day EPG. Appears similar to the FVRT95, formerly available at Argos. Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Available for £99.99 from Maplin
	Goodmans GHD8015F PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Hard Disk: 80Gig (35 hours) Tuner: Twin Other: 7-day EPG. Pause live TV Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Available for £139.99 from Argos (Cat 532-0620)
	Humax PVR-9200TS (Silver) PVR-9200TB (Black) A Freeview receiver with a built-in hard drive. Features include: 160GB built-in hard-disk (up to 100 hours recording) - Supporting Freeview Playback Twin Tuner Supports subscription services (requires CAM) Electronic Programme Guide Outputs: 2 x SCART, modulated RF out A host of other extras including Picture-in-picture, USB support for PC connectivity, mp3 playback, live pause & dolby digital out. Available for £152.79 from Martin Dawes Available for £154.94 from Dixons Available for £164.80 from 24-7 Electrical Available for £173.18 from Dabs.com Available for £174.13 from Tribal UK Available for £179 from John Lewis Available for £174.99 from Comet Available for £179.99 from ASDA online A 320Gb version, the Humax PVR-9200TBX, was announced in October 2007. This offers a larger hard-disk, with up to 200 hours of recording. It's available direct from Humax, but we don't know of any other suppliers at this time. If you do, let us know
	Logik LPV2250 / TVonics DVR-250 Large Drive One of the largest hard disks around. Voted top Freeview PVR in May 2007 by a leading consumer magazine 250GB built-in hard-disk (up to 125 hours recording) Twin Tuner 8-day Electronic Programme Guide Outputs: 2 x SCART Available for £179.99 from Currys
	Panasonic DMREX75 DVD Recorder/PVR/Freeview 160Gb HDD Recorder (for up to 284 hours), Freeview Tuner and DVD recorder. DVD RAM/DVD+R-RW. SCART sockets. 160Gb hard disk. Up to 284 hours on HDD. Analogue and Freeview digital tuners. SD card slot. HDMI slot. MP3 and JPEG compatible. Available for £299 from Littlewoods Extra.
	Pioneer DVR-540HX-S, DVD Recorder/PVR/Freeview 160Gb HDD Recorder (for up to 455 hours), Freeview Tuner and DVD recorder. Formats: DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD-R dual-layer , DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD+R dual-layer , DVD-RAM Input: 1 x SCART , RCA , S-Video Output: 1 x SCART , RCA , Component Video output , S-Video , Coaxial Digital Audio Analogue and Freeview digital tuners. Live pause, high-speed copy. MP3 and JPEG compatible. Available for £315.99 from Amazon.
	Sagem PVR62160 PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Hard Disk: 160Gig (up to 80 hours) Tuner: Twin Outputs: 2 x SCART, Optical, RF loopthrough Available for £169.99 from Argos (Cat no: 532/0761)
	Sagem PVR6280T PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Released Aug 2005 Hard Disk: 80Gig (40 hours) Tuner: Twin Other: 7-day EPG. Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Available for £119.99 from Argos (Cat no: 532/0572) Available for £152.56 from Amazon.co.uk Available for £174.99 from Empire Direct
	Sky+ PVR Digital Satellite Receiver TOP CHOICE Exceptionally versatile, and highly recommended, the hype says that this will change the way you watch TV, and for once, it's not wrong! Sky Plus offers a better experience for Sky customers - you can set programmes to record up to a week in advance, watch one satellite channel while recording another satellite channel, record programmes without videotape, record two different channels at the same time, and pause / rewind live TV (when the phone rings). It also has a feature called 'Series link', which automatically records episodes of your favourite series, keeping track of schedule changes. The current Sky+ boxes holds around 40 hours of shows, and recently was awarded top of the PVRs in a PVR survey conducted by a leading consumer magazine. Outputs: 2 x SCART, 2 x modulated RF outputs, 2 x phono audio out, S-Video, RS232, optical audio (for Dolby Digital 5.1). Available for between £99 and £149 depending on package when ordered from www.sky.com. The box is also available in an HD-version For more, see our dedicated Sky+ page
	Sky HD Satellite PVR Looking for the widest collection of HD channels to complement your HD TV set? Then you'll be needing a Sky HD box. This offers the same functionality as the SKy+ box above, plus High Definition. Outputs: Mostly as per the Sky HD box, with an HDMI socket for Hi-def. Available for £199 or £249 (depending on package), when ordered from www.sky.com. For more, see our dedicated Sky HD page
	Sony RDR-HXD560 - PVR, DVD Recorder & Freeview Features: Freeview receiver with 80 Gig hard disk and a DVD Recorder. Supports access to Freeview , recording onto DVD (multiple formats supported: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW ). PVR records up to 106 hours onto built-in hard-disk Output: 2 x SCART, S-video, digital audio. Available for £349.99 from Argos (Cat: 085/0360) Available for £319.99 from Play.com
	Sony RDR-HXD710 - PVR, DVD Recorder & Freeview Features: Freeview receiver with 160 Gig hard disk and a DVD Recorder. Supports access to Freeview (with 8 day EPG), recording onto DVD (multiple formats supported: +R ,-RW,+RW,-R). PVR records up to 269 hours onto built-in hard-disk Output: 2 x SCART, S-video, digital audio. Available for £378.95 from Amazon Available for £399.99 from Empire Direct Available for £429.99 from Play.com
	Sony SVR-S500 Features: Freeview receiver with 80 Gig hard disk. Twin tuner, 14 day EPG, Pause and rewind live TV. Pause and rewind live TV. Also features folders for storing recordings, and Selective Recording Edit (crops recordings). Output: 2 x SCART. Available for £173.72 from ASDA online Available for £182.85 from Tribal UK Available for £199.99 from Amazon Available for £199.99 from Empire Direct
	Topfield TF5800 PVR Twin tuners, 160Gig hard disk (up to 88 hours recording time), supports time-shifting & dual recording, Electronic Program Guide (EPG), MP3 via USB 2.0 for storage of personal files. CI slot compatible with subscription services. Became available April 2005. Outputs: 2 x SCART, modulated RF out Available for £209.99 from Empire Direct (Silver or Black) Available for £219.95 from Firebox Available for £248.98 from 24-7 Electrical There's also a version with a 250Gig hard-disk, for £279.90 Available for £279 from John Lewis or for £349 from Empire Direct
	Thomson DTI 6300-16 - Top Up TV Anytime PVR Twin tuner, 160gig hard-drive (for 120 hours of TV) Output: 2 x SCART, digital audio and RF modulated output Available for around £99 from Empire Direct, Argos and Amazon. A version with a 250Gig hard-disk is available at Argos online for £129.99. More on our TopUp TV Anytime page
	Virgin Media V+ Records up to 80 hours of cable TV. Supports HD Hi-def. Has three tuners, allowing recording of two channels, while watching a third. Replaces the Telewest TVDrive. See our Cable TV page for more. Output: 2x SCART, 1x modulated RF, 1 x HDMI Available only to Virgin Media customers in cable TV areas. Installation fee: £150. Monthly fee £5 (unless on the XL package). More details at www.virginmedia.com. Offer: Half-price V+ Box installation until 31st May 08

Key: With modulator
Prices, specifications and offers are subject to alteration. Refer to the websites that we link to for latest prices, information and conditions

Old / Discontinued models

	Bush IDPVR801 Features: Freeview receiver with a built-in 80Gig hard drive for up to 80 hours of programming. Last seen for £129.99 from Littlewoods Direct. Know an online supplier?
	Bush IDPVR802 Features: Freeview receiver with a built-in hard drive. Can record up to 40 hours of programming. Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Last seen for £149.99 from Littlewoods Direct. Know an online supplier?
	Evesham iPlayer HDTV PVR 80 Gig Hard-drive (70 hours recording) Video On Demand content over Broadband (IPTV) Freeview Onboard High-Definition upscaler (HDTV) HDMI (High Def) socket 2 x SCART , 1 x USB sockets 1 x Ethernet Supports MPEG and WMV video formats As of July 2007, no longer available. Last seen for £240 from Misco.co.uk.
	Fusion FVRT145 Features: Freeview receiver with a built-in 80gig PVR hard drive. Twin Tuner. Pause and rewind live TV. 7-day programme guide. Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Last seen for £124.99 from Argos. Refurbished version for around £45 from Micro Direct Know an online supplier?
	Goodmans GHDD1785 DVBT PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Hard Disk: 80Gig (35 hours) Twin tuner, 7-day EPG. Pause live TV. Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Last seen for £130 from Argos Know a supplier?
	Inverto IDL-7000T Freeview 80Gb Features: Freeview receiver with a built-in 80Gb Hard Disk (60 hours of recording), Twin Tuner, PiP Channel Search, 14 Day Programme Guide, Series Record (Weekly/Daily), Instant Replay and rewind live TV. Trick Playback Modes Output: 2 SCART and RF loopthrough with modulator Last seen for around £175 from AdvancedMP3players
	Pace Twin Digital TV Recorder Features: Freeview PVR, twin-tuner, pause Live TV, 10 hours hard disk recording time, watch 2 separate channels on 2 separate TVs. Output: 2 SCARTs and modulated RF For more details, see our Pace page Availability: Sadly discontinued, but try Amazon or Ebay.co.uk
	Panasonic TUCTH100 Pause live Freeview TV, 80Gb HDD, 40 hours recording, twin-tuner, time-slip function (record & playback), 24 event recording. Output: Digital optical out, and RF loopthrough Last seen for £262.23 from Dixons. Know a supplier?
	Sagem PVR6240T PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Hard Disk: 40Gig (20 hours). Twin tuner. 7-day EPG. Time-shift & instant replay. Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Last seen for £129.99 from Argos Know a supplier?
	Sagem PVR7280T PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Released Aug 2005. Hard Disk: 80Gig (40 hours). Twin tuner. 7-day EPG. Card slot for subscription services Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough Last seen for £180 from Argos Know an online supplier?
	Sagem PVR72160 PVR to allow recording of Freeview onto hard disk. Released Aug 2005. Hard Disk: 160Gig (up to 80 hours). Twin tuner, card slot for subscription services Outputs: 2 x SCART, RF loopthrough, optical audio Last seen for £179.99 at Comet Know a supplier?
	Sony RDR-HX510s -PVR & DVD Recorder Features: Analogue tuner with 80 Gig hard disk and a DVD Recorder. Plays pre-recorded DVD's & CD's. Records on DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R DVD+RW Blank Media. With SMARTLINK Outputs: 2 x SCART. Last seen for £250 - £310 from Currys and Empire Direct. Know a supplier?
	Thomson DHD-4000 Twin Freeview Recorder Features: Freeview receiver with 40 Gig hard disk (up to 20 hours of TV) and a twin tuner. Became available in April 2004. Output: 2 x SCART Last seen for £99.99 from Bennetts Electrical
	Thomson TiVo PVR10UK Built-in harddisk (40Gigabytes for up to 40 hours of TV). Pause live TV. Electronic TV guide. Learns your viewing preferences Availability: No longer in production, and very hard to find. See TiVo page for stock

Using your PC as a PVR:

If you've already got a PC, why not use it to record TV programmes onto your hard-disk?
It's a lot cheaper than buying a set-top box hard-disk recorder, and gives you more flexibility to edit recordings, burn them onto a DVD, or copy TV shows off to a portable video player, such as the Creative Vision:M.

Hauppauge Win TV PVR USB Watch TV in a resizeable window on your PC screen, record to hard-disk, pause live TV, schedule your TV watching and recording and create Microsoft AVI or MPG movies.
The most common solutions come from Hauppauge, and are available either as a PCI card (that fits into a PCI slot inside your PC), or a USB device to plug into your PC.

PC-based PVR receivers are available from Dabs.com , PC World, Maplin, and Amazon.

For more on getting TV and video on your PC, see our TV on your PC page

Blind / Partially-sighted: Thanks also to Larry M for the following: "Re. the Nebula Electronics DigiTV PCI & USB pc freeview receivers. I am Vision Impaired and the Nebula offering gets my 5 star approval! The software enables PVR recording, using the PC's Hard Drive, AND is totally programmable by the Vision Impaired using a Screen Reader. Audio Description can easily be turned on or off, as can Subtitles. It gives the full range of Freeview channels and Radio stations. Website: www.nebula-electronics.com

PVR FAQ

Some general questions asked by our visitors

Sky PVR

A message from site visitor Edward Yates: "Are there any hard-disc recorders / DVD disc recorders or DVD/Hard disc type recorders available that will record programmes from Sky?"

Answer: Getting Sky+ is the obvious choice for recording Sky channels onto hard-disk. The cost of the Sky+ box depends on your Sky package - check online to see how much it'll cost. If you don't want to go for Sky+, most (if not all) DVD recorders can cope with recording via a Line In feed from a Sky box.

As for other PVRs that support recording from Sky, the standard Freeview PVRs can only record from their built-in Freeview tuners. Combined DVD/HDD recorders are your best bet - we'd love to be able to add a list here, and if you can help, please add to this thread in our forum.

The only issue with a two-box solution for recording Sky, is that you have to remember to set the recorder to record "Line in", then ensure the Sky box is set to the right channel. This two-step process is eliminated with Sky+.

Need some help or advice? Ask in our PVR forum