Beneath the minefield of streaming services, podcasts, feature-length YouTube videos and millisecond TikToks, Television still exists!
If you're growing tired of subscriptions and internet pre-requisites, a Freeview recorder could be the retro answer to your woes. If you want to reclaim ownership of your content, watching whenever you like regardless of a subscription, regardless of device brand, then recording your own bank of high-quality films and TV could be the way to go.
Get the full run-down on Freeview recording here!
Can You Record Freeview?
Many of us who have been drowning in online content might find the idea of recording strange. For one, online content is always accessible again just by pressing "replay", but also in many cases your phone or app will actually block you from screenshotting and recording content!
This is part of a wider issue of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others recycling content between each other as we explored last year, but with Freeview you have none of that to worry about!
Since Freeview is freely aired, available subscription-free for anyone with an aerial and a decoder, they have no real incentive to hide content or restrict you from accessing it. You can't be charged later, ads can't be added in, the content is "as-is".
So, provided you have an aerial to receive Freeview, a TV or set top box that can decode it, and a TV screen to display it, you can record what you like!
How to Record Freeview TV
How you go about making a recording will change depending on your device.
- For TV's with a Built-in Recorder you can simply use your TV remote to set up and start recordings. They will be saved to an internal hard drive. These types of TV are actually incredible uncommon, so it's likely your TV is just for watching, not recording. But that's okay, use one of the other methods below.
- For Set Top TV Boxes with Recording you'll need to connect the aerial into the set top box, the video cable (HDMI or SCART) into your TV, and then set up recordings through the set top box. Some will record to a USB stick so you can fill hundreds up and label them separately, creating a library of recorded content. Some will record to an internal drive, that you can organise through the menus.
- For PC or Mobile Tuners that let you watch TV on your computer or smartphone, you'll need to check that the app you are using supports recording. Or, you can make a screen recording while running the TV program.
The key thing you'll need in all these cases is somewhere to facilitate the recording. This can be a USB stick, internal drive or even a phone's internal memory if watching via an app.
More often than not you'll be able to identify a record button by the letters REC and a big red dot. In fact, all the controls are fairly standardised now!
Some restrictions you might have depending on how you record Freeview are:
- Recording HD Channels. Some recorders will record is standard quality, while many will adapt to match the channel and therefore record in HD when available. Always make sure you have more space than you need available so that HD recordings don't get cut off, as they have a much larger file size!
- Recording multiple channels at once. You are likely to be using either a single tuner or a dual tuner. If you're using a single tuner, you can't watch a different channel to the one you are recording. If you have a dual tuner, you can watch any other channel while recording one because the device can simultaneously tune to both. Make sure your recordings don't overlap if using a single tuner!
- Recording Space. Of course, you'll need enough space to make the recording. For HD channels leave around 1GB of space for each hour of recording. For SD channels, it can be as low as a tenth of that!
Why Record TV Locally When Catch-Up Exists?
When it comes to TV and video content, it's been demonstrated that we can't trust cloud and streaming services to be reliable. Content is passed from distributor to distributor and left unavailable to customers who previously paid for access.
Not only that, but online content can even be different to that from the time of broadcast. Famously, the Starbucks Coffee cup from Game of Thrones was removed in all versions available online once the mistake was noticed. This is a minor change, but larger issues such as different cuts of the film being used online vs on VHS (Like the classic film Short Circuit not featuring the mountain scene online) are also prevalent.
Recording your own copy of a show, film or other broadcast will give you unlimited access to watch, rewatch and save the recording. No company can take it from you, and you won't lose access when any of your hundreds of subscriptions end.
If you use a model that records to USB you can label them up and create a veritable library of broadcasted content, available at your fingertips and all absolutely free! (Well, except for the cost of buying more USB sticks, but considering they can be as large as a terabyte now that's hardly an issue).
Bear in mind that while these reasons might make someone move to TV recording, others simply don't have a choice! Lack of the required internet speeds can mean that one household might only be able to catch an episode by recording it locally and watching later.
Explore Simple Solutions
For a box that strips back all the internet-enabled features and provides just what you need for Freeview and TV recording, the DVB482 (for USB only) and DVB502 (for internal storage or USB) are the best options for the budget. You don't want to overspend on a set top that has internet features when you are trying to record Live TV, so using one of these DVB models tends to be more efficient than the "high end" competitors.
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