Can Sony regain some market share in the PVR market with the HDT500?

Sony have finally come to the party, bringing this rather flash looking SVR-HDT500. In my opinion, Sony devices often look a little clunky and ‘straight laced’ in comparison to other models from the likes of Humax, Philips etc. But this time, Sony have opted for a very clean look – sleek black surfaces that would compliment your HD TV very nicely.

The HDT500 boasts a 500Gb hard drive, with enough space for 300 hours of standard definition recordings, or 125 hours of high definition recordings. This should be more than enough for even the TV addict/enthusiast.

The review continues below the price comparison…

Sony SVR-HDT500 Freeview+ HD Box Price Comparison & Stock Check

Sony HDT500 Freeview+ Receiver Review and Specifications

The HDT500 is disappointing in that it has no show-stoppers – there is nothing that makes you think ‘wow!’. But what it does, it will no doubt do very well. Sony customers are loyal, and loyal for the reason that they know Sony devices are reliable and work well.

In summary, the HDT500 has the following:-

• Twin Freeview HD tuners (for simultaneous recording/watching)
• Picture in Picture (watch one channel as a mini-screen in the corner while watching the football!)
• 8 day electronic programme guide
• 2 x USB ports (for connecting a memory stick or similar to play music/videos)
• Bravia Sync – control all of your Sony Bravia devices from just the one controller, no need for 4 or 5)
• Series Link
• HDMI port (to connect to your HDTV) with HD upscaling for Freeview SD channels.

Sony SVR-HDT500 Best Price & UK Stockists

Our price comparison tool does the hard work for you – it automatically visits the sites of trusted UK stockists such as Amazon, Currys, Dixons, Comet, BestBuy, John Lewis and more, to find the cheapest price for the Sony SVR-HDT500 Freeview+ HD Box.

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+ HD Recorder

Don’t be mistaken by the very similar name to Humax’s other HD receiver, the HD-Fox T2 , the Humax HDR-Fox T2 (note the R in HDR) builds on the success of arguably the most reliable and solidly built Freeview HD Receiver, adding a hard drive recorder in their first Freeview+HD device.

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Cheapest Price & Stock Check:

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+HD Features & Review

The first point to note about this device is that it is a Freeview HD Recorder, not just a receiver. It has twin Freeview HD tuners built in, allowing you to watch one Freeview HD channel and record another Freeview HD channel at the same time (both tuners also receive standard definition Freeview channels so you could watch an HD channel and record an SD channel at the same time, or vice versa).

300 Hours recording capacity

The built in hard drive is 500Gb, giving enough storage for up to 300 hours of standard definition recordings or 125 hours of HD recordings. They always say size is everything and it seems people are becoming obsessed with the capacity of the hard drive  -300 hours is equivalent to 12.5 days of continuous television. Who could ever want to keep that much TV? Lets face it, with most programs, if you haven’t watched it in 12 days then you will have missed the latest episode. This aside, it is useful if you are going away for a couple of weeks and couldn’t bare the thought of missing 2 weeks worth of Coronation Street and Homes Under the Hammer.

Series Link and Recommended Recording

As a Freeview+ certified device, it does all the usual things including pause, rewind and record live TV, series link and has an 8-day electronic on-screen program guide. It will also recommend what programs you may like to watch/record based on the programmes you have already recorded. How intelligent this feature is is yet to be seen, but it can’t be any worse than some of the suggestions other people make as to what I should watch.

Home Media Player, Internet TV and Radio

Apart from the obvious ability to view and record Freeview HD channels (currently BBC HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD), perhaps some of the fanciest features of this device are in the ‘media player’ department. Long gone are the days when a Freeview Recorder simply plays and records TV programmes. This device can also play music either from a USB hard drive or via your home network. Now strangely this device doesn’t offer WiFi compatibility, but it does have an ethernet port on the reverse of the box. When connected, it can retrieve and play media content (mp3, jpeg, xvid files) from your computer and play them through your television. Needless to say, the Humax is fully DLNA compliant (the new standard for home media sharing).

The second part to this is the internet catchup / BBC iPlayer functionality. At launch, this is not accessible on the HDR-Fox T2, however Humax plan to release it via  a free-of-charge OTA (Over the Air) update. When it is released, it is expected to add SkyPlayer, BBC iPlayer and other content, possibly to include LoveFilm etc.

Overall Summary

Humax was a little late in bringing this to the market – other manufacturers have been selling similar devices since June or July this year. However, judging by the customer comments so far, Humax have got this absolutely right – with the best (internet connectivity) still to come. Menus are great, responsive programme guide and quality you would expect from Humax. Stock is limited right now, and as this device just won the What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision 5 star award in October 2010, if you see stock, buy one while you can!

Humax HDR-Fox T2 rear panel specifications

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+HD Recorder Best Price:

Our price comparison tool checks all the major online and high street retailers for stock and cheapest price on a daily basis. We will add more stores in to this comparison as stock becomes more freely available.

The Technika Smartbox 8320HD - Freeview HD, twin tuners and hard drive for recording, built in WiFi and BBC iPlayer. What more could you want from one box?

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+HD Recorder

Tesco appear to have gone and done it. Not only have they released a Technika branded model that does more than everyone else’s equivalent Freeview HD recorders, but it is also considerably cheaper, especially bearing in mind the hardware and features that it crams in.

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Best Price

This price comparison tool automatically checks the leading UK stockists of the Smartbox 8320HD on a regular basis to save you trawling the web to find the best price. As this Technika unit is a rebranded unit from FetchTV, it also searches for the FetchTV Smartbox 8320HD also.

Technia Smartbox 8320HD Freeview HD Recorder Review

For some time we have been waiting for the 3View Freeview HD box, boasting not only Freeview+HD but also ‘home media server’ capabilities, but this hasn’t (yet) arrived. In the meantime, Tesco have put their foot on the pedal, moved in to fifth gear and pipped them to the post.

The Smartbox 8320HD is actually manufactured by IP Vision and has been snapped up by Tesco to add to their Technika range which is usually aimed at the budget end of the market. However with this device, they could be stretching their target audience a little further.

The Smartbox 8320HD boasts twin Freeview HD tuners and a 320Gb hard drive, allowing you to record two different Freeview HD (or standard definition channels) at the same time. It also offers HD upscaling, taking those standard definition channels and ‘digitally enhancing’ them to make the most of your HD TV set. You also get the usual Freeview+ features – pause, record and rewind live TV, series link, 8-day on screen EPG (TV guide) etc etc.

In addition, the Smartbox has 2 USB ports, allowing you to transfer recorded programmes from your Smartbox on to your USB pen or removable hard drive to play on your PC at a later date.

Freeview & BBC iPlayer

Where the real interest lies is with the ability to view content from online on-demand and  catchup-TV services such as the BBC’s iPlayer and Sky Player. The Smartbox 8320HD comes with built-in ethernet port and WiFi (unlike other Freeview boxes that have ethernet port as standard but where WiFI requires an optional adapter).

Once you have entered the details of your home network, you can connect to the BBC iPlayer and similar services using the menu system on the Smartbox. This is perhaps the one feature that people have been asking for in a Freeview box for some time.

Content from the FetchTV movies on demand is often not free (movies are priced around the same as you would pay to hire from Blockbusters or similar). However, all of the content on the BBC iPlayer are free.

Sky Player also works in the same way as the BBC iPlayer, the only difference being you have to be a Sky television subscriber (or subscribe to the Sky Player service) to view. This is good if you have Sky in the living room, but don’t have it in the bedrooms for example.

Home Media Server

When you connect the Smartbox 8320HD to your home network (either via ethernet cable or WiFi), it will automatically detect any media files (photos, music, moves etc) and play them on your TV. (This requires Windows Media Player 11 and to enable sharing on each device on the network. This is a simple task to do and instructions are provided).

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Specifications

All in all this is a power-house of a device. Check out these specs:-

• Twin Freeview HD tuners (DVB-T2)
• Upscaling to 1920 x 1080p
• DLNA compliant Media Centre with support for mp3 audio files, MPEG4 video, jpeg, gif, png image files
• 320Gb Hard drive
• Built-in WiFI adapter (802.11n for fastest and greatest reception)
• HDMI output for connection to HD TV
• RF output for loop through of TV signal to television for analogue channels
• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• Dimensions: 20.5 x 5.0 x 20.5 (cm) w x h x d
• Power usage: Standby 0.6w, In use 19w

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Summary

It is fair to say that some of the feedback from early buyers of the model from tesco weren”t all that positive (bugs with softwre etc) but on 21st June FetchTV released a software update that seems to have done the trick.

Expect this model to be in hot demand – with many Tesco stores you can buy online and choose to collect from your nearest store so they reserve stock for you. Not all stores allow this, but most Tesco Extra stores do. (Goods are usually available to collect the day after purchase). Alternatively, for £7 they will guarantee delivery to you in a specificed 2-hour time slot (operational 7 days a week).

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+ HD Price Comparison

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+ HD Video Review

This is a video made by an early buyer of the FetchTV system showing just how easy it is to use the Smartbox and view content from online services such as FetchTV, iPlayer etc.

We are told that this model, sold under the Philips brand, will be made by Pace, who have had huge success with a number of previous Freeview devices and particularly the Sky boxes which really created the market for hard drive recorders. It packs in a 500Gb hard drive, sufficient to store 125 hours of high definition recordings, or many times more standard definition programmes. In line with other Freeview + devices, it has twin Freeview HD (DVB-T2) tuners, meaning you can record two different Freeview HD channels (or 2 different standard definition channels) simultaneously. What’s even better is that you can also playback previously recorded programmes at the same time as recording.

As you will only be able to receive BBC HD and ITV HD at the start, this device will also upscale standard definition channels to high definition to make the most of your HD TV.

All of the usual features of a Freeview recorder are there… 8-day electronic programme guide,  chase-play (start watching a recorded programme before it has even finished recording), pause & rewind live tv, Series Link, accurate recording etc etc.

Currently this model is only advertised in Comet and Amazon at £299, but expect it to become widely available once it has been launched. More stores will be added to the price comparison feature below once it is available to buy.

Philips HDT8520 Freeview+ HD Recorder Price Comparison

Sagemcom RTI90-320 and RTI90-500 Summary

In comparison to the older standard definition devices from Sagem, these two models are certainly miles ahead when it comes to appearance. Sleek, shiny and remarkably compact, the RTI90′s will take pride of place alongside your TV.

Both models have identical specifications apart from the hard drive capacity, with the RTI90-320 sporting a 320Gb hard drive capable of storing up to 160 hours of high definition programmes, and the RTI90-500 unsurprisingly boasting a larger 500Gb hard drive, with a maximum storage of 250 hours .

Besides the standard features you would expect to find on a twin tuner Freeview+ HD recorder (pause, record & rewind live TV, Series Link, record two programs at the same time etc), Sagemcom have tried to go one step further. The library of recorded programmes can be conveniently organised in to folders – perhaps giving each person in the house their own personal library avoiding the ‘accidental’ deletion that is one of the most common causes of domestic arguments these days.

Then there is the inclusion of an ethernet port for internet connectivity. While there is no detailed use for this at present, you would hope it is planned to add ‘widget’ capabilities for Twitter, Facebook etc in the not too distant future. It will be interesting to see how long it will take manufacturers like Sagemcom to realise that not everyone’s internet router is right next to the TV. While WiFi is an option on some planned Freeview HD devices, it would be nice to see this as a standard feature to save having to invest in powerline type ethernet adaptors.

The 320Gb model is expected at the end of April / early May, followed shortly after at the end of May by the 500Gb model. In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview provided by Sagemcom themselves.

Sagemcom RTI90 Freeview HD Recorder Specifications

• FREEVIEW+ HD recorder
• Twin DVB-T2 Freeview HD tuners
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive – 160 hours (RTI90-320) or 500GB Hard Disk Drive – 250 hours (RTI90-500)
• 1 HDMI out socket
• video upscaling up to 1080p
• 1 SCART socket
• 1 USB and 1 Ethernet port
• Dolby Digital Plus
• Compact glossy black casing
• Dimensions 26cm wide, 16cm deep, 4.8cm tall.
• 8 day electronic programme guide (EPG)
• Series Link for simple recording of entire series of programmes

Sagemcom RTI90-320 Price Comparison

Our price comparison tool checks prices at leading UK stockists every day to find you the cheapest place to buy. (The prices below are for the RTI90-320 – look a bit further down for the RTI90-500.)

Sagemcom RTI90-500 Price Comparison

3view Freeview HD box and home media hub

A newcomer to the set-top-box market place looks set to bring to the UK one of the first Freeview HD receivers. And looking at the intended specification, this Freeview HD box would appear to have lots of ticks in lots of boxes.

The device is being launched by 3view, a London based company with no apparent previous experience in this field.

Not only does it look visually appealing, but the 3view box has a whole lot more to offer over and above the DVB-T2 tuner required to receive free-to-air Freeview HD television in the UK, claiming to be an all-singing, all-dancing home media hub.

The details available so far describe the device as a ‘next generation high deifnition and internet ready set top box’ with support for 720p and 1080p broadcasts.

The Freeview HD potential is maximised with dual tuners and an integrated 320Gb hard drive, offering full Freeview HD + capabilities. With this comes all of the features you would expect to find in a Freeview PVR – electronic programme guide (EPG), pause and rewind live TV, series link, chase play etc.

Next on the feature list is internet connectivity, adding YouTube and Channel 4 On Demand (4oD) players with BBC iPlayer support coming soon. This is in addition to the ability to stream music and show photos from a Windows PC connected to the network, or from a portable storage device connected to one of the two USB 2 interfaces.

If that’s not enough, there’s always the promise of web browsing via the Opera browser (the same one utilised by many mobile phones and the Nintendo Wii), as well as ‘TV widgets’ – applications that give access to the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Simply connect the optional wireless keyboard and mouse to browse the web from the comfort of your sofa.

UPnP, DLNA and Z Wave are all supported, making this Freeview HD box a truly ‘connected’ box. It is not certain whether this will be a wi-fi enabled device or whether you will need to use the integrated LAN ports. Due to the high bandwidth required to stream HD content, it is likely that a wired connectionn will be required. However, this could be made easier with a powerline network kit.

A full review will be posted on this site, with a liist of stockists and price comparison just as soon as the boxes are launched – hopefully sometime in March 2010. In the meantime, sign up to our free email updates to keep up to date with launches of other Freeview HD recorders.