HDD Recorder - Integrated Tuner or Not

[kelly14]

Hi

I have recently purchased a Panasonice 32inch LCD Tv with an integrated HD Tuner. I want to purchase a HDD recorder to complement the tv to allow me to record tv shows for later viewing.

Could somebody please clarify whether or not the HDD recorder I want to purchase also requires an integrated tuner or will the integrated tv tuner suffice ?

Regards

Kelly14

[admin]

Are you getting a DVD recording with HDD or just a Digital TV HDD recorder?

For the DVD recorder, it will certainly have an analog tuner. Some models will have digital tuners, which is better since it will record programs without having to do any analog to digital conversion (better picture quality). There are some that are also upscaling DVD players (over HDMI input), and that's will improve your DVD's playback quality on your HDTV.

For the Digital TV HDD recorder, some are SD and some are HD, these obviously have digital tuners because that's their primary function. You technically don't need a digital tuner for your TV since it has one built in, but if you want to record HD/digital programs, then this is what you need (since many DVD recorders with HDDs do not record in HD, even if they have HD tuners built in).

Then there's Foxtel IQ, which is basically the Foxtel box with a built in HDD recorder for recording Foxtel programs.

Personally, I would get a DVD recorder with HDD and integrated digital tuner (HD or SD), since you can plug in any device including Foxtel to it and record to the HDD (the quality will be less than that of Foxtel IQ, and you also can't use the Foxtel IQ's built in program guide system, but you do get to make DVDs out of the programs if you wish - you can't record Foxtel box office movies though, since these are protected by Macrovision). A DVD recorder will allow you to write things you want to keep to DVD discs.

If you do want to record lots of HD programs, then you might additionally get a HDTV set top box with HDD recording, but for me, there's not a lot of free-to-air HD content that I'm interested in.

[kelly14]

Thanks very much for that information as it certainly clarified a couple of things for me.

Regards