h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ok, about to look for a dvd player, combined with hdd recorder.

Any tips? I'm confused by apparently conflicting advertising!

Ta!

It's a bit of a nightmare, but worth it once you get it sorted.

Things to consider:

Do you want to burn programmes to disc? Do these discs need to be compatible with your computer, other people's computers and other people's dvds? (there's different formats that aren't compatible)

How much recording do you think you will do? As per usual buy the most storage you can afford. I can easily fill a 160G HDD with TV to watch, but then I'm a bit of a magpie and often don't get round to burning stuff I want to keep so it sits on the hdd for ages.

Make sure you can try out the thing in the store, or that you can return it if you don't like the interface. Some recorders are pretty straightforward, others are diabolical. I set up one for my parents last year, and it was incredibly clunky and time consuming to work through all the menus (i.e. more steps than were necessary). They gave up in the ends and got mysky instead.

Allow time to have a look through the manual before you buy. If you can't make sense of it, will you be able to figure out the recorder yourself?

My recorder is more than 5 years old now, so I'm not sure what is standard these days, but the things I looked for were:

Chase play - where you can start recording and then start watching before recording has finished. Essential if you want to avoid ads. I watch most TV like this now. I just start maybe 15 or 20 mins into an hour programme so I can just jump through the ads when I get to them.

Forward recording. I think my player only goes for up to a month ahead, which is annoying the times I've been away for more than a month. You might not need a month, but check what the recorder does and make sure it suits your needs.

Editing ability. My recorder is pretty easy to cut out ads, but it's still time consuming.