Easiest to use digital TV recorders

There’s now a good range of easily usable digital TV recorders on offer. All those below have the 'digital tick' and the top four performers had versatile Freeview+ features. See more about this standard for digital boxes at Freeview+.

Through an aerial
The Humax Duovisio PVR-9200TB, costing £164.69, was generally intuitive to use with a remote control that was good to handle and a well laid out TV guide that was easy to navigate. Its Freeview+ features could be downloaded – over air or from the internet – on to the earlier model Humax PVR-9200T.

Next in terms of ease of use and available cheaper were the Wharfedale 160DTR, £119.99, and the very similar Technika AEDTR160S7, £119.97. Both had clear and logical on-screen menus, well prompted TV guides and well laid out remote controls.

Close behind came the versatile Hitachi HDR162, also at £119.99 and easy to use with a well designed remote control. The instruction manual could be improved though - more detail, clearer diagrams and larger text please.

The TVonics DVR-250, costing £189.99, and TVonics DTR-FP2500, £179.99, were intuitive and straightforward to use. Their remote controls were well laid out with good size, well spaced buttons and good contrast labelling. Their on-screen TV guide were versatile and simple to use, but not easy to read because of the TV picture behind and some poor colour contrast.

The Evesham PVR160, £149.99 and Sharp TU-R160H, £169.99 are very similar to each other and were generally easy to use. More detailed instruction manuals would have been helpful. Navigating the remote controls was logical. The versatile TV guides were well prompted.

The Digihome DTR160, £94.99 was also generally easy to use and intuitive. It had versatile Freeview+ features – such as being set to record a TV series.

All these terrestrial PVRs have the ‘digital tick’

By a satellite dish
Thomson Sky HD and Sky+ Thomson 160 are digital satellite digital TV recorders available with Sky subscription services. They have twin tuners and plenty of features, including audio description for visually-impaired people. Sky HD receives high definition channels. Both these Sky recorders were intuitive and easy to use. Check deals and services with BSKYB – see Links - Sky.

For test reports on products that are no longer manufactured, see discontinued products.

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