I'm looking to buy either a freeview recorder box or to buy a usb receiver and record on my computer. Can anyone recommend either?
It all depends! I recently bought a TERRATEC Adapter Freeview USB Cinergy DT USB XS Diversity from pixmania for £60 which includes dual tuner and software and remote.
I will be able to use it wherever i take my laptop and it can record when i'm at home. Its the size of a memory stick so it doesn't take up much space either! My tv screen has a dvi port but not hdmi - so I can send a hd computer feed but not an hd freeview feed. This means that a freeview box displays poorly on the screen which is why i bought the usb version. If you're going to go USB then i'd definately reccommend the one above as its good, reliable, good remote and only slightly more than a decent set top box!
The problem I have with my USB stick is that there is a big performance drain when watching TV, especially watching and recording at the same time. I use an external monitor and I cannot watch tv on one screen whilst working on the other. Firstly, Windows MCE does not allow that (for some reason) and secondly I doubt my computer could handle it. It is already jerky even tho its a dual core with 2gb ram. I'm beginning to think that the graphics card (mine is seriously under powered - ie nonexistent cause its a laptop) is the issue.
sounds like you need a better computer!