BT TV Pro Recorder

SavenSaven Member Posts: 65 ✭
edited 22 March 2022, 1:16PM in Community
The ‘old’ BT TV Recorders can be used without a BT TV subscription and are probably the best TV recorders available today.
My question is can the new BT TV Pro recorders be used in the same way?
I understand there may be legal issues as to who owns these new boxes but I am only interested in their functionality, not their legality.

Comments

  • kodikidkodikid Member Posts: 1,106 ✭✭
    Youview is a subscription free service. 
    A pro box is simply a freeview pvr.
    Deacon Blue hit from October 88
  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,794 ✭✭✭
    Saven said:
    The ‘old’ BT TV Recorders can be used without a BT TV subscription and are probably the best TV recorders available today.
    My question is can the new BT TV Pro recorders be used in the same way?
    I understand there may be legal issues as to who owns these new boxes but I am only interested in their functionality, not their legality.
    @Saven

    You don’t ‘buy’ a Pro box on eBay, you just pay the current keeper a consideration for transferring a box owned by BT into your safekeeping instead of theirs.

    That way, they aren’t a thief, you aren’t a receiver of stolen goods, and you can talk about a Pro box obtained in this way on the Community 😛
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • WelshPaulWelshPaul Member Posts: 41 ✭
    Saven said:
    The ‘old’ BT TV Recorders can be used without a BT TV subscription and are probably the best TV recorders available today.
    My question is can the new BT TV Pro recorders be used in the same way?
    I understand there may be legal issues as to who owns these new boxes but I am only interested in their functionality, not their legality.
    Works in exactly the same way as any other Youview box. 👍
  • kodikidkodikid Member Posts: 1,106 ✭✭
    edited 23 March 2022, 12:47PM
    WelshPaul said:
    Saven said:
    The ‘old’ BT TV Recorders can be used without a BT TV subscription and are probably the best TV recorders available today.
    My question is can the new BT TV Pro recorders be used in the same way?
    I understand there may be legal issues as to who owns these new boxes but I am only interested in their functionality, not their legality.
    Works in exactly the same way as any other Youview box. 👍
    In the same way a model T works the same as a Fiesta.
    If you thought BT made the best recorders previously then wait till to you get your hands on this bad boy, literally next generation. 

    Deacon Blue hit from October 88
  • WelshPaulWelshPaul Member Posts: 41 ✭
    I have two here myself. Such hardware is always fast at first, give it a couple of years of software updates and GUI upgrades and it will probably run like an old fiesta too.
    I also have a T4000/1TB, T2100 and T2000 and all of these were just as fast as the pro box when I purchased them years ago. The T2100 and T2000 are virtually unusable for me now.
  • kodikidkodikid Member Posts: 1,106 ✭✭
    WelshPaul said:
    I have two here myself. Such hardware is always fast at first, give it a couple of years of software updates and GUI upgrades and it will probably run like an old fiesta too.
    I also have a T4000/1TB, T2100 and T2000 and all of these were just as fast as the pro box when I purchased them years ago. The T2100 and T2000 are virtually unusable for me now.
    Was thinking more of the 4 tuners, wifi and far superior remote, but... aesthetically think the T4000 had a beautiful display with it's wide colour changing bule light on the front. 
    Deacon Blue hit from October 88
  • WelshPaulWelshPaul Member Posts: 41 ✭
    I don't use the built in WiFi, ethernet for me. As for the remote, it doesn't do anything that my last remote didn't do TBH. I don't watch enough TV to make use of the 4 tuners but it's great to have them just in case. I only purchased two to replace the T2000 and T2100 YouView have crippled with the latest software updates otherwise I wouldn't have bothered personally.
  • Jeffuk1Jeffuk1 Member Posts: 89 ✭
    I also have two but sadly use them side by side as an 8 tuner!  Suprisingly I don't watch everything I record!

    :)
  • Q11Q11 Member Posts: 3 ✭
    I read a review which said there was a £20 activation fee from BT when you start your Pro box service. 

    Am I correct in assuming that someone buying a Pro second hand (or 'giving a consideration for transferring a box owned by BT into your safekeeping', as Roy put it) doesn't pay this if they are just going to use it as a Freeview PVR?

    And that (unlike Sky Q) it doesn't 'call home' / refuse to work as the old owner should have returned it?
  • kodikidkodikid Member Posts: 1,106 ✭✭
    edited 12 April 2022, 12:53PM
    There is no pro box service. 
    The pro box is a FREEview pvr.
    Once you have obtained one it has no connection with BT whatsoever. 
    For my sins I subscribe to BT broadband so not sure if the pro box parsay would work with every router. 
    Deacon Blue hit from October 88
  • StephenStephen Member, Super User Posts: 800 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If you connect the TV Box Pro via ethernet then sure it works fine, but the box's wifi is tailored to BT Broadband so if using it on another ISP you need to make sure 5 Ghz is available and it's on one of a handful of bands at the moment.
    It doesn't call home to do any self-destruction, no, as no YouView box does.
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