How can I record one channel while watching another?

A common question for those that have moved over to Digital TV… “How can I record one TV channel whilst watching another channel?”

The simple answer is that you need two tuners – one for recording, and one for watching something else.

Two digital TV tuners?

It’s probably best to take Freeview as an example. If you want to watch one Freeview channel whilst recording a different Freeview channel, you would need two Freeview tuners.

This could be a combination of the following:

• A TV with Freeview built-in, and a DVD recorder with Freeview built-in
• A DVD recorder with Freeview built-in and  a Freeview box connected to your TV
• A TV with Freeview built-in and a video recorder connected to a Freeview box
• A Freeview hard-disk recorder that has two tuners built in (Known as a Twin-tuner PVR)
• A Freeview hard-disk recorder that only has one tuner built in,  and a TV with built-in Freeview
• A Freeview hard-disk recorder with just one tuner built in,  and  a Freeview box connected to your TV

Freeview Suggestions:

Consider a PVR with twin-tuners, such as the excellent Humax PVR9300T, pictured here. A box with twin-tuners makes it easy to watch one channel while recording a second channel without the need for a Freeview-enabled TV or a second box.

Sky Suggestions:

Get a SKy+ or Sky+ HD box. These are twin tuner PVR boxes and will let you record one satellite channel whilst watching a different satellite TV channel. More  on Sky’s Sky+ pages

More information:

• FrequencyCast’s DVR Advice page