If you live in a Freeview area and have a decent home computer, why not use it as a digital TV recorder?
If you've ever thought how great it would be to record one TV programme while watching another, you may have looked into buying a hard disk recorder (also known as PVRs).
Those that live in a satellite or cable region could plump for a Sky+ or V+ box available from Sky and Virgin respectively. Both of these cool bits of kit allow you to record one channel while watching another (the V+ box actually goes one better and allows you to record two channels whilst watching a third).
Not only can you set your box up to record the whole of your favourite TV series, at the touch of a button, they have the added convenience of allowing you to pause or rewind live TV -- handy for when the phone rings halfway through Corrie, or to instantly replay that important penalty shot.
Of course, this functionality comes at a price; the Sky+ box costs £99 and you'll need to pay £10 per month or subscribe to two of its premier channels (although Sky is to waive this fee in some cases).The V+ box has no upfront fee but costs an extra £15 per month, or £10 per month if taken out with its XL package.
But if you want to avoid a pay TV subscription, then Freeview Playback could be a good choice. This allows you to pause and record all the channels broadcast on digital terrestrial TV.
Another new alternative is BT Vision. This works in a similar way to a Freeview Playback box with the added convenience of on demand movies, and additional TV programming delivered via broadband through your phone line. Pricing for on demand content is on either a Pay As You Go (PAYG) or subscription basis, but you will need to have BT broadband and BT Home Hub (not necessarily the cheapest option) plus you'll be charged a £90 installation fee.
However, did you realise there was another, possibly cheaper option -- the ability to record and watch TV using your trusty PC?
Requirements:
Well, there are a few conditions. For a start you'll need a fairly fast computer. As a rough rule of thumb, we reckon the minimum requirements are a PC with 1.7GHz processor or faster with 512MB RAM. This will allow you to record one channel to your PC at a time (if you'd like to record two channels simultaneously, or watch one channel whilst recording, you'll need to increase the specification).
The other thing to point out is that you'll also need a fair amount of free hard disk space, to store you recordings (as a guide, many of set top box PVRs come with 160GB of disk space).
DVB-T Tuner
So what is required? Well, if your PC is up to these requirements and you can receive Freeview, by far the simplest way to make that PC into a hard drive TV recorder is by buying a DVB-T tuner. By buying a piece of kit like the Hauppauge Nova T-500, you'll get a TV card and remote control. Fit the card into your computer, follow the instructions and you should be able to receive and record Freeview digital TV on your machine (it also has its own electronic program guide (EPG) to make programming easy). Not bad for £55.
What's more, with this particular piece of kit you should be able to record two channels at the same time. You can then play back your recordings on your computer and also download them to your Apple iPod (provided it plays video).
However, unless you've got the Media Centre edition of Windows XP or the new Windows Vista Home Premium on your PC, you may find that the interface leaves a little to be desired (however, help is available in the form of two open source projects: Team Media Portal and GBPVR).
Watching Recordings on your TV
Of course, it's worth mentioning that although you may love the idea of recording TV to your home computer, unless you have a large monitor and comfortable seating around it, watching recordings could become slightly uncomfortable. The obvious solution would be to somehow use your TV instead.
The simplest answer would be to put your computer into your living room and connect it to the TV, if you have suitable connections on the back of your graphics card. However, many people prefer to leave their PC in their study or bedroom. In this case, and provided you have a wireless home network you could buy a product like a media centre extender. Alternatively, if you have an Xbox 360 games console you can do much the same thing, and use it to stream the recorded content from your computer (provided it runs Windows Vista Home Premium).
Of course, those that don't live in a Freeview area may find that the cable or satellite options are their best solution. However, if you do live in the right region and you have a computer that would be fast enough, why not consider making it into a PVR?