40in TV with built in PVR

Associate
Joined
3 May 2007
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2,007
Looking for a TV with built in PVR for my mum preferably no larger than 40in. It's been a while since I've looked at TVs at this size so turning looking to the collective knowledge of OCUK.

/Salsa
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Nov 2003
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Lancashire
I picked up a Samsung MU6400 for the kids room a while ago .Nice TV for the money . Allows you to record to a usb drive as well.

None of the TV's that allow this though are particularly user friendly in this area. I couldn't live with it as my main DVR. Far better off with a Humax box if Sky is a no no
 
Man of Honour
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29 May 2010
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Cheshire
Pretty-much what the other guys have said. Very few decent makes have a proper in-built PVR. Of those that did, you'd have found it was either a poorly implemented in-house solution, or when done right, the set cost was disproportionately higher than a TV with a separate box.

The other major flaw in the plan was serviceability. If a stand-alone PVR breaks down, you either have it repaired or replace it. When its an inbuilt unit, then the whole TV has to go off to be fixed, or you purchase a new external PVR and abandon the built-in one.

What I also noticed was that the TV choice itself was poor for PVR-inclusive models unless spending premium-product money.

Plenty of TVs support recording to a USB port. This could be a USB stick or a USB drive. The catch is that often the TV has only one tuner. That means if you're watching then you can't record from another channel at the same time. A stand-alone PVR doesn't have this problem. They generally have two internal tuners, plus you still have the TV's own tuner.
 
Soldato
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Glasgow
Agree with above, I briefly tried using my LG OLED's built-in PVR function, it's awful. Clunky to navigate, massive on-screen notifications whenever it's about to record something (and again when it starts recording), and overall just not user-friendly. I quickly went back to using my BT TV box.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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21,781
Looking for a TV with built in PVR

I thought the latest freeview play , held the potential to give seemless access to catchup services from a generic EPG, somewhat obviating the PVR ?

- for the money you would pay for an external usb ... that's >50% of the way towards a (humax) BT tv box, from ebay say.
 
Associate
OP
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3 May 2007
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2,007
Hmm, I've actually got a spare BT humax box kicking about so may just go down that route.

In which case, what panels are worth looking at in the 40in bracket? Was looking at last years Samsung UE40MU6400U but seems EOL and out of stock.

Any suggestions?

/Salsa
 
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