You are dealing with separate issues here.
You will not receive hd television unless you subscribe to it, either through Sky or Telewest.
Any recorder will have to be hd ready to record hd quality.
The best reviews are in the monthly magazines such as home cinema.
You need to decide if you want a pvr hd recorder - which records only to an internal hard drive.
Or a dvd recorder with hard drive that archives recordings to dvd r or dvd rw.
Do you want built in freeview?
I would wait, and pay about �300 for one with a twin tuner - then you can record two different channels at the same time.
Read the magazines, and spend time in the shops getting information, a feel for the jargon and an idea of specs and prices.
They are no harder to set up than a vcr, by the way.