To all you technics out there advice required by a professional luddite. At present I am the proud owner of a terminally ill video recorder who is in the last throngs of life stop start and spluttering which after ten years I have only just learned how to work without the help of a seven year old child which in U.K the salesman stated they could work. so tried adopting but failed as could not get one on buy or return. The question ( as you are all now poised mouse in hand ) As videos are now hard to come by like teeth in chickens, Would I be better buying a D.V.D recorder with a hardisk thingy or without one as I wish to tape educational programs such as Emmerdale ( isn't it a worry about Cain ) and Have I got news for you. Are special skills needed to work these new fangled machines as being/useless with technology ( eg pull top cans etc) old/set in my ways but amazingly good looking ( He lies about his looks ) and to not upset anyone Don't mention health. All help and advice greatfully received.
Yours in Video mourning Bulldog.            

We bought a LG Hard Drive & DVD recorder in Carrefours.  It is very easy to use, and we use it much more than the old video.  Hope this helps.

Hi
How much was that please?
Bruixot

179 euro

spanishcatfishing wrote on Dec 17^th, 2011 at 6:50pm:

We bought a LG Hard Drive & DVD recorder in Carrefours.  It is very easy to use, and we use it much more than the old video.  Hope this helps.

Hi Spanishcatfishing thanks for info. I have an L.G. T.V. so the L.G D.V.D sounds good but ( there's always a but ) my technical skills on a par with my Spanish speaking and you can only get so far in the shop waving your hands and shouting louder. So how does it work to record on this hard disk thingy do I need a D.V. in or what. As I am still on probation with the T.V zapper. ( Don't ask about the probation as the accident with the T.V. zapper is still a painful memory. )
Yours, Bulldog trainee T.V. engineer.    

I run it as follows - co-axial 'out' of satellite to co-axial 'in' on recorder, then scart 'out' of recorder to scart 'in' on TV.  The set-up is in English on the LG recorder.  Then to record just press record button on the handset for the required length of time or set the timer. Hope this helps.

Hi,
Thanks for latest info ( clear as mud ) but her indoors says its crystal clear ( first row and we've not got the D.V.D yet.) Is it like the video, insert tape ( DVD ) press record then press again for length of time required as timer settings are on my new years list of things to do eg. brain surgery and bomb disposal, so how long will the hard disk tape for.
Many Thanks
Yours Bulldog new owner to be of a DVD recorder 

Hi, records up to 180 on to the hard drive, no DVD require, not sure if it will record 'soaps' though! To record you just have to press the record button to get to the required length of time (the little button with the red dot on it and the letters rec above it), for a 'small charge' you are welcome to come round for a lesson.

Sorry to put my nose in here but what do you want to record ?  Is it programs that are on while you're out or programmes that you watch and then want to watch again later ?

spanishcatfishing wrote on Dec 18^th, 2011 at 7:54pm:

Hi, records up to 180 on to the hard drive, no DVD require, not sure if it will record 'soaps' though! To record you just have to press the record button to get to the required length of time (the little button with the red dot on it and the letters rec above it), for a 'small charge' you are welcome to come round for a lesson.

Dear spanishcatfishing, thankyou again for all the useful information ( as if he would record a soap but not having his glasses on did you say it had to be recorded on a boat ) Do not invite him round as he breaks everything he touches and cannot resist a button, believe me you would pay me just to get rid of him.
Bulldog.

Bigyin wrote on Dec 18^th, 2011 at 11:16pm:

Sorry to put my nose in here but what do you want to record ?  Is it programs that are on while you're out or programmes that you watch and then want to watch again later ?

Dear Bigyin,
Your nose is welcome the answer is yes to all, But ( a worried Bulldog  ) does it make a difference if I'm In or out  when recording. If we record a film on the hard disk then want to keep it, can it be put onto a DVD and is it easy to do. Remember you are writing to a man who when in a shop buying his first video recorder assured his wife VHS would never last and bought a Betamax recorder and also the only man in the U.k to buy the very big and heavy bush T.V with built in tuner.
Yours Bulldog with the kiss of death to technology.

The reason I ask is that with the simple hard disk recorders you can only record the same channel that your are watching but of course they can be set up to record while you're out.  My question was a round about way of finding out if your were hoping to watch one channel and record another.
There are a lot of different recorder types out there.  Some allow you to record to hard disc and also to DVD, others don't.  As far as I can make out, some record the output of your satellite receiver (the one that goes into the TV) whilst others have built in tuners but they aren't all Freesat tuners (some are just Freeview which wouldn't be much use to you here).  I might be wrong about some of this so it would be good if an expert (like Nigel) could jump in here.  By the way, I've been reading some bad reviews about the LG boxes.
For what it's worth.
Bigyin

I've not had much experience with these devices but I'm fairly sure the majority of DVD/Hard disk recorders have Freeview (TDT  - Terrestrial digital TV) receivers in them. This would mean you can use them with the built in tuners for terrestrial (national/local) TV. To use them with satellite TV you would need 2 Freesat (or SKY) receivers (or a receiver with twin tuner), a twin LNB (one for each receiver) and then set the boxes up with different RF output frequencies, plug them into the Antenna IN sockets on the DVD/Freeview box (if it has 2, if not add a combiner and feed from that to the one input) and hope you can receive the different channels on the individual tuners.

Alternatively buy a Freesat box with twin tuners/hdd etc.  I have installed a few Humax boxes here (search Google) but you would need to get one from the UK ad they don't sell them here.

Nigel

Nigel, I sort of know where you are coming from here,but when poor Bulldog gets to see your reply,i am sure he will head for the hills!  :)

Nigel wrote on Dec 20^th, 2011 at 7:09am:

I've not had much experience with these devices but I'm fairly sure the majority of DVD/Hard disk recorders have Freeview (TDT  - Terrestrial digital TV) receivers in them. This would mean you can use them with the built in tuners for terrestrial (national/local) TV. To use them with satellite TV you would need 2 Freesat (or SKY) receivers (or a receiver with twin tuner), a twin LNB (one for each receiver) and then set the boxes up with different RF output frequencies, plug them into the Antenna IN sockets on the DVD/Freeview box (if it has 2, if not add a combiner and feed from that to the one input) and hope you can receive the different channels on the individual tuners. Alternatively buy a Freesat box with twin tuners/hdd etc.  I have installed a few Humax boxes here (search Google) but you would need to get one from the UK ad they don't sell them here. Nigel

Yeah What he said ^   :)

If anyone's interested, Amazon have the Humax Foxsat PVR 320Gb on at the moment for just under £150 with free delivery to here.

Thanks all again I am now the proud owner of a well behaved L.G DVD recorder, I proudly bought it on my own without any need to speak Spanish looking totally confident and acting well informed, took it home, showed the wife who immediately hit me around the head and asked a typically wife's question where does it say HARD DRIVE, quick on my feet I said Santa would bring that. No need to worry as she took it well ( any chance of a bed at yours spanishcatfishing )and a special thank you to Nigel for such a well explained and totally easy to understand reply even though it caused me a migraine and had to sit in a darkened kitchen with a cup of tea and two digestives
Yours two teeth missing Bulldog. 

Glad to hear you've found a solution.  I presume you've realised that if you use re-writeable dvd discs (DVD-RW) as opposed to DVD-R, you'll be able to record over stuff you've already watched and don't want to keep so I can't see why you would now need to buy a hard disk recorder unless you want the programmability features that some offer (unless I've missed something here) ?

Dear Bigyin, Bigyin, Bigyin,
REALLY!!! Just before I give my wife one of her xmas presents ( The DVDS I've just bought ) What do you think the difference is between ( DVD-RW ) opposed to DVD-R for the less technically minded people than yourself and I on this forum. As for the hard disk features not really sure what these are, so have you ever heard of these double sided DVD's because by the time I got to this point in the shop with the times 2 and 4 times dvds I could feel one of my migraines coming on so therefore needing a strong cup of tea and THREE digestives.
Yours a video missing Bulldog.

I'm going to stop apologising for giving egg sucking lessons as you give the impression that you might find them useful  ;D
DVD-R discs can be written to once.  You cannot re-record over stuff you've already recorded.  This is fine for stuff you want to keep permanently (like The X-tra Factor that you may want to watch over and over and into your doteage)  :o
DVD-RW discs allow you to re-write over the top of stuff you've already recorded like East Enders if you're gonna be out when it's on but once you've watched it when you get home, you won't want to keep it (?) so you can record over it with new stuff.  In this sense it's more like a hard disc and that's why I brought it up.  It may be that you don't need to buy a hard disc recorder.  Just use DVD-RW discs and then decide if you want to keep what you've recorded or not.
The 2x, 4x, 8x etc. refers to the speed of recording and needn't be an issue.  It would help if you could say what make and model of DVD recorder you've bought then we can find out what it's capable of.
(I'd get her a small box of chocs as well just in case)  :-*

Hi, Bigyin,
Always like to suck a good egg as belive me your comments have been useful ( Don't know how to even put the funny faces or pictures on the forum ) I know very little about machines/ computers/ cars etc. but I am an expert at breaking any tool /machine and elctronics. You say about the speed recordings, are these like LP on a video? eg 2x would make a 2hr disk into a 4hr one and 4x into a 8hr one. The recorder is a LG model DRT389H. Not having my glasses with me bought DVDR's thinking they were the recorders but being a husband of many years and not stupid also bought her a jumper she said she liked ( how was I to know with it being Spanish measurements she could wrap it round herself twice and still have enough room for a friend as I'm still in old money and measurements But she took it well ) Took your advice, bought the chocs how was I to know they were dark chocolate.
Yours all flowers to Tortosa hospital please to battered husbands ward Bulldog.         

This is from an earlier post I made "As far as I can make out, some record the output of your satellite receiver (the one that goes into the TV) whilst others have built in tuners but they aren't all Freesat tuners (some are just Freeview which wouldn't be much use to you here). "
Having looked this model up, it seems that it has a Freeview tuner which means you can't use any of the programming features as you can't receive Freeview here.  You may be able to plug the output of your satellite receiver into it and record whatever the TV is tuned to.  I'll do more digging later and let you know.  Have you taken it out of the box and used it yet ?  If not, I'd take it back and swap it for one with a Freesat tuner (if you can get them here).  As I said, the Humax is going very cheap on Amazon at the moment.