SKY+ ALTERNATIVES

[Thos]

I was extolling the virtues of the Sky+ box yesterday. The advantages of recording while watching, pausing live programmes, etc. etc. The person I was talking to didn't have nor wanted Sky however, and it occurred to me that there are hard drive recorders which will operate off Freeview, but I don't know which are comparable with the Sky+ box and have broadly the same functions.

Does anyone have such a box and/or can suggest a good one to buy with all the functions necessary?

Thos.

[AlanHo]

I am on Telewest and have one of their TVDrives - which does much the same as your Sky box. I can also access a library of about 500 movies using the cable box - saves you popping down to Blockbusters for a DVD.

I also have a Panasonic DVD recorder with built-in freeview and a 160 GB hard drive which can be used to record and play back programmes. However - the picture quality whilst very good (VHS Quality) is nowhere near as good as that on the cable box.

Yesterday Telewest broadcast the Man United v Aston Villa match on both BBC 1 and their trial HD channel at the same time. It was the first time I have compared the same outside broadcast in standard and HD qualities and was amazed at the difference. The HD picture was awesome and a great portent of things to come in a few years.

[Thos]

Just out of interest, I thought you might like to know that I found an alternative to the Sky + box which will do almost everything that will do but for Freeview. It is the Humax PVR 9200T and a review can be found here.

Thos.