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01-09-2008, 10:44 AM
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Beware the Robot Mafia
Group: Administrators
Location: St. Albans, Melbourne
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Looking for a new PVR
Well, my Beyonwiz is starting to shit me. It's got a lot of little bugs that just add up and make me want to throw it against the wall. So I am investigating putting it up on eBay and replacing it with a hacked AppleTV and a separate PVR. Needs to meet a few requirements: - USB port or ethernet to take recordings off and transfer to computer
- Dual tuners (not too fussed about HD - the HD channels have shit on to watch and I don't have a HDTV)
- Have a relatively decent interface (I'm asking a lot I know)
- Component output (I don't have a HDTV, so no need for digital output)
- Able to rip out the HDD and place in a big one (or come with a big HDD (160GB+) standard)
I've found a few contenders:
Topfield TF5000PVRt $286
STRONG 5390 $310
OMNI D550 $250
Some weird eBay only model that says it supports IceTV? $330
So far I think the Topfield is probably the least-shit and can be had for as low as $210 on eBay. Has anyone got any experience with other models that are under $350? |
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01-09-2008, 10:48 AM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Melbourne
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How about a hacked series 1 tivo? Seems to meet all your requirements listed above.
__________________
Current Equipment
Macs 2.0 GHz Unibody Macbook | 2.8 Ghz Alu iMac | 1.8 Ghz G5 PowerMac | 1.6 Ghz G5 iMac | 1.4 Ghz G4 Mac Mini
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Other Airport Extreme | Airport Express
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01-09-2008, 10:59 AM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Sydney
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My honest advice d is to go for a IQ2.
Having tried 1 of everything (mini, topfield, windows MCE) I am now old and tired of frikin around with a PVR to get it working perfectly. With the IQ2 for about 50 bucks or so a month i get:
- A bunch of other channels - yes they are crap but hey they are content (wife loves lifestyle channel, kids love nick jnr)
- reasonably reliable EPG
- someone I can call if anything goes to shit
- arguably the best interface (yeah perhaps tivo is better - now that its here, but its 700 bucks!)
- component
- dual tuners (and I beleive there are 2 more in there just not activated?
I m led to beleive you can rip shows of it as well?
I dont bother with movies as I have the appletv with US itunes account.
My plan is to hang onto foxtel (easy simple) until apple bring out Appletv V2 with tv tuners
__________________
My Blog | My .Mac
I own: PBG4 1.67 Ghz, Mac Mini 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, XBOX360 (Gamer Tag: LANPup), iPhone 3G, Wii. |
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01-09-2008, 11:01 AM
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That TAM guy
Group: Regulars
Location: Melbourne
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I thought you already had a bitchin' PVR setup in the works.
2 x
Quad Core CPU
8GB of RAM
4x SATA HDD
Hardware RAID card
Remote Management/LOM
Redundant PSUs
2RU
What more do you want?
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WANTED: VIDEO INPUT CARD FOR 5500/225 TO MAKE TV TUNER WORK
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01-09-2008, 11:10 AM
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I'm crackin' skulls
Group: Forum Leaders
Location: Melbourne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dminieri
How about a hacked series 1 tivo? Seems to meet all your requirements listed above.
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And it just so happens there's one for sale atm...
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01-09-2008, 11:11 AM
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-insert witty title here-
Group: Regulars
Location: Cook, ACT
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Mac Mini + eyeTV diversity.
All you need.
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01-09-2008, 11:14 AM
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Beware the Robot Mafia
Group: Administrators
Location: St. Albans, Melbourne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmrn
Mac Mini + eyeTV diversity.
All you need.
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The Mini is great and what I'd be using, but I had a Mini hooked up to my CRT and it looked garbage. The quality was abysmal and it was a pain to use. If I had a HD display, it'd be a no-brainer for me.
tcn33 - I may have to talk to you about the Tivo, hah |
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01-09-2008, 11:15 AM
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Resident Pirate
Group: Regulars
Location: Sydney Metropolitan
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oh wait, nvm.
__________________
Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4, Still can't quicklook volume icons of greater than 128*128 when icon was pasted from picture.
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01-09-2008, 11:16 AM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Hobart, Tasmania
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Topfield, by far. I really like their OS, they are an incredibly reliable unit. Don't have one personally, but have played with them at work, and have convinced about three friends' parents to buy them. We sell about ten Topfield units before anything else we stock at DSE, at least at my store anyway.
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Mac: 20" iMac (2.4GHz, 4GB RAM)
Laptop: Dell Inspiron 6400 (Windows Vista, 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM) |
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01-09-2008, 11:35 AM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Melbourne
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maate, that's just typical for these units IMHO!
I'm sort of happy with my Topfield 5000 Masterpiece edition. Topfield is good because there is a community who develop TAPs (Topfield Applications) which help improve the functionality of the units, sort of like the iPhone App store.
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01-09-2008, 11:45 AM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Sydney
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If its only for scheduling FTA recordings, go the official TIVO - better outputs and dual digital tuners for FTA channels.
If your trying to record foxtel as well as FTA channels on the one PVR you will need the old hacked Series 1 Tivos which only has one internal analog tuner (but additionally controls two STB's digital and foxtel).
The hacked ones are going for about $300 delivered on ebay currently.
IMHO Tivo offer the best "mac like" UI in PVR's. Its very wife/parent friendly.
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01-09-2008, 11:57 AM
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Member
Group: Regulars
Location: Perth, WA
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Go the Topfield TF5000 route. 
We've had ours for over 3 years and it's been great. Load up with a few TAPs (definitely with ProgressBarKeys) and it'll serve you well.
We've only just upgraded to a TF7100 (HiDef) and there are bits of the 5000 that work better (with TAPs). |
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01-09-2008, 12:02 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Video Professional, Mostly Melbourne, but work all over Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by injidup
Go the Topfield TF5000 route.
We've had ours for over 3 years and it's been great. Load up with a few TAPs (definitely with ProgressBarKeys) and it'll serve you well.
We've only just upgraded to a TF7100 (HiDef) and there are bits of the 5000 that work better (with TAPs). |
I would 3rd that, I had mine for 4 years! great unit, easy to use! and suits all your requirements you have asked for! |
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01-09-2008, 12:06 PM
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Member
Group: Regulars
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Go for a Topfield TF5000
I've 2xTopfield Masterpieces - HDD is upgradeable (ATA though), and the new HD version (which I don't recommend)
Plenty of user support for TAPs, or you can write your own. You can download via the USB (not really that fast, but it comes down) and I use MPEG StreamClip to do the downloading, trimming, and playback to the TV via my MBP.
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01-09-2008, 12:25 PM
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-insert witty title here-
Group: Regulars
Location: Cook, ACT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by decryption
The Mini is great and what I'd be using, but I had a Mini hooked up to my CRT and it looked garbage. The quality was abysmal and it was a pain to use. If I had a HD display, it'd be a no-brainer for me.
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Solution: A projector. I am not joking. For $800 you can get a decent 720p projector than does an excellent job translating down from 1080p. I have a Benq projector that works beautifully - and I now am projecting onto a whole wall (~5ft diagonal size)! This is where I got it: Newegg.com - BenQ W500 1280 x 720 3LCD 720p Home Theater Projector With HDMI 1100 lumens 5000:1 - a family member came to visit and brought it over (PriceUSA could do it too  ).
Projector + wall + mac mini + eyeTV = heaven. |
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