- 500GB Compact and quiet Freeview+ Digital TV recorder
- Watch, record and pause digital TV
- One touch record
- Compact and quie
- Energy Savings Trust approved
Product Description
Freeview+ Digital TV Recorder. Recording TV has never been so simple. No tapes, no discs, no fuss. Watch, record and pause digital TV. Works with analog or digital Televisions. Includes an integrated Freeview Digital TV receiver inside so you do not need a separate Freeview Receiver. Dual channel recording with Picture in Picture. Supporting the full feature set of Freeview+ including the ability to record a complete TV series, reschedule a recording and alternative instance recording. Compact and quiet. Ideal for use where space is limited.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Rubbish rubbish rubbish
And believe me when I say that I’m being complementary about it.
I’ve had nothing but problems with this. At one stage I was tempted to rip it put of its socket and dispatch it to the nearest skip.
Problems I’ve had is that keeps crashing. I’d be sitting watching a program, then suddenly switches off and on again. This usually happens when it’s recording a program. And because it crashes during a recording, I miss vital minutes off the recorded program as well as the one I was watching at the time, and worse if I’m watching delayed live play.
On occasions the remote does operate the box. I end up having to turn the box off at the mains to get it working again. Again, not ideal if you are watching delayed live play.
I’ve phone TVonics and they have informed me that software upgrade will be send via the digital signal to resolve this problem. When I pressed them as to when this could happen, they said that they are waiting for the bbc to allow them to send the upgrade. When I pressed them further to give me a rough date, they were unable top do so. So I asked them when did they apply for permission to send this upgrade … surprise surprise they said they couldn’t give me that information.
Your best bet is not to buy this box and look else where.
I hope this information has been useful. But even if it’s not, I can guarantee it’s more useful than the idiots I spoke to at TVonics.
Rating: 1 / 5
I originally bought the previous version, the FP1600, direct from Tvonics. I wanted something that worked silently for the bedroom and this fitted the bill. There were some niggling little problems from time to time, such as recording every single repeat of a programme, even though it had only been set once on the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), and occasionally it would not record something set on the EPG with a message “not found”. Then disaster! Turned it on one day and it would not start; it came up with a message that the disk needed reformatting.
I could write about 2000 words on all the problems I had with the Service Centre, inluding their losing the machine for two weeks but that will be a separate report if anyone wants it. Anyway, it turned out the machine had died, losing all the unwatched programmes! They sent us a replacement and then the fun really started with many of the above faults occuring again and again. The last straw was when the machine started automatically turning off and re-booting every 2 minutes, whether you were watching, recording or playing back; which made all recordings useless, missing about 1 minute in every 2!
So they agreed to replace it with a DTR Z500; I wish I’d accepted the offer of a full refund! I set a week’s recordings on the EPG and found out halfway through the week that about 75% hadn’t been recorded, with that “not found” message on the timer list, including on programmes that hadn’t even happened yet. It recorded the same programme twice at the same time, using both of the twin tuners and I hadn’t even set it (it was a repeat of a previous programme that it had already recorded)! It won’t let me record Sunday’s local news programme if I have set it to record Saturday’s etc, etc.
So I tried setting it to record using the timer rather than the EPG. Oh dear, oh dear, it is now obviously switching off and re-booting, like the previous machine, but this time in 10 minute bursts, meaning I have now lost yet another programme I really wanted to see.
I will be contacting the customer service director tomorrow to get a full refund.
They do tell me that there will be a software download around the end of June but I don’t trust them to have fixed the problems and really think they should withdraw this product from the market until the numerous software bugs have been totally fixed, as it is currently not fit for purpose.
Rating: 1 / 5
I bought this is January ‘09 and I’ve had nothing but trouble. It’s easy to set it up, but it’s not exactly intuitive to actually get it to work after that, and the instruction manual isn’t very clear.
The ‘all-in-one’ controller does not control my TV, and does some very weird things with some of the buttons. Others don’t do anything at all. I still use my regular TV remote as well.
The main problem is it keeps freezing. When it does this, you carry on watching TV without realising, but when you want to change channels or stop, it won’t let you. The only way is to take out the power plug and restart. It can also do this when you’re fast forwarding through a program or rewinding, and you can do nothing to stop it (it keeps fast forwarding!). It also does this on occassion when it records, so I have a couple of 10-hour recordings. When it’s like this, it won’t record pre-set programs as well. I can’t trust it if I go away to record what I want.
It also has a really annoying habit of recording every single repeat of the same program, so it will record weekday eastenders, and the omnibus sunday edition.
I bought it from the manufacturers and I have contacted them several times. Their customer services don’t exist, and there is no chance of a replacement or my money back. Don’t believe the manufacturers reviews. It is a waste of money and utterly rubbish.
Rating: 1 / 5
I have had this product for a week and I am very impressed. The ease of set up was amazing. I am pleased with the quality of the build – it is a metal tube with all the bits placed within the tube – very robust.
Unlike other boxes it is very very quiet, the fan apparently only kicks in if it is very very hot. We have not heard it yet.
The multifunction remote allows me to control my TV and DVD player from it – great!
I only have one scart socket in my TV and I can now run my DVD palyer through the box – no need to use a switching box.
I knew the box did not have a HDMI plug as I did not need one, but if you do this is not for you.
Unlike other recorders the Programme guide seems to load and update pretty quickly so can record things when you are in a hurry
It has been incredibly reliable in recording programmes – unlike the Thomson I previously owned which kept corrupting recordings.
Not the cheapest, but if buy cheap you buy twice!
I just wanted to update my review. I have now owned this for a month and no problems!
It has never frozen and records excatly what I wnat it to. The sound quality is great when it is connected to my stereo. Still 5 stars for me and worth the money. It is just so much better than the thomson I had previously owned. I also like the fact that the libary tells you how much room there is left in hours not percentages, just making it more user friendly. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5