The obvious (to me, at least) answer is Sky, but it's not the only solution. In fact, it may not even be the best one.
The reason I thought of Sky first is because they did a fantastic job with the remote. It's actually a Philips design, as is the code base that means the remote can control most makes and models of TV. The result is that with just one remote control it's possible to watch and record and playback TV programs and operate the TV volume. You can even turn the TV on and off with the Sky remote. That's most of what anyone really needs to do on a day-to-day basis.
The fly in the ointment with Sky - apart from the subscription cost - is the new Sky Q system. It's not as simple and clearly laid out as the older Sky HD menu structure. While the system itself does more, I think there are too many steps in some processes, and some of the menu options aren't entirely logically labelled, IMO.
Let's look at some alternatives.
A Humax Freeview recorder could be a good choice. Although the remote's layout isn't as good as the Sky Accessibility Remote, it does still have the ability to control the TV. Other pluses are the ability to record more than one channel at once (great for avoiding clashes about whose program will get cut short), and the ability to pause and rewind live TV. Programming for timer recording is easy too. The TV guide is a grid layout, so setting up recordings is a fairly logical point-and-click operation.
The Humax FVP-5000T is their latest Freeview receiver/recorder (we call them PVRs which stands for Personal Video Recorder). The base model has a 500 gigabyte hard drive which means it can record between 125 and 250 hours worth of TV depending on the mix of HD or standard definition. It can record up to four TV channels at the same time. The price is £189. There are two models further up in range and price, but they do exactly the same thing only with progressively larger hard drives. Buy from John Lewis stores and you'll get their five year warranty thrown in to the deal.
Lower down the price scale there's a company called Manhattan which also makes Freeview PVRs. The products are okay, but the menus and TV guide aren't as simple to use. For a box with the same sized hard drive at the Humax, the Manhattan is £60 cheaper. You pay your money and take your choice.
If this or any other reply was helpful to you, then please do the decent thing and click the T-H-A-N-K-S button. It appears when you hover the mouse pointer near the Quote Multi-quote buttons. This is the proper way to show your thanks for the time and help someone gave you.
