NEW Freeview HD Digital TV Receiver Tuner Set Top Box Terrestrial + USB Port Schedule Program Recorder

I love this product. It does exactly what I want it to do - records TV onto a memory stick/hard disk for me to put onto my plex server for watching later on. So for those who are wanting some more detail as to what it does here goes. Connecting the box is very simple and the set-up is too. I have a good signal here so I got all the channels I would get on a more expensive tuner. The picture is pretty good, maybe a little soft for some but I find it acceptable (it is very similar to the quality you would get with a DVD recorder from about 10 years ago). I am using a 8GB Lexar USB drive which plugs into the side of the unit, I might get a larger capacity one later on. I did try and use the SD card reader slot with a SanDisk 32GB MicroSD card with an adapter but it could not read the card to write to it. Anyway, you use the EPG (which is a little slow, but it works) to find the programme you want to record - you then "book" it into the PVR, what is really cool is you can choose when to start and when to stop recording which is great to stop it from cutting off the intro or end of a programme (which used to wind me up silly with Sky+) - I often pad 10 minutes each side to avoid this from happening. Then I put the device into standby and leave it, the next day I unplug the USB drive and put it into my computer. The files are MTS format and record at the resolution of the program - so 576i for standard def or 1080p for HD content. The recordings come in at around 15000kbps of video bitrate which is very good, audio is set at 128kbps which is also plenty good enough. It is worth turning on deinterlacing in VLC to get an even clearer picture. What is really neat is that it will record whatever aspect ratio the content was broadcast in, so for older programmes (that are the ones I want to record) it will record them in the proper 4:3 format, but then click back to 16:9 for adverts. The only issues I have with this item are: - The controller is pretty rubbish, buttons are squishy and don't always register and the layout is very confusing with terms that seem confusing - If you unplug a USB drive from the device it will sometimes get upset and then refuse to record to the USB drive - to remedy this you just need to turn the device off and then back on again with the USB connected (i think this is because it possibly runs on a Linux operating system which often has issues with drives that have not been removed properly)

Great item at a bargain price

This model needs a firmware update as some glitches are still in the software but good value item.

First of all the instructions are useless. There are no specific instructions how to record a programme or even how to play back if you can record - which I could not! I managed to get the list of programmes, but had to be switched off and on again before a full list appeared. I then used common sense to record a program, but it just gave the start and finish time as the actual time of day! I went into every single menu to attempt to correct this but no luck, so I manually put in the start and finish time as shown in a separate TV guide. It did not record. I might add that I spend over two hours this morning attempting to get it to work without success. I really should have taken notice of the 14 single star ratings that it had been given, and not the glowing ones, that to me were very suspect indeed. I am returning it. Tom Crossley Also, the picture is of poor quality. I should add that I have another SD card recorder, but wanted two as I record programmes at home on a SD card at home then play them on a boat. I chose this one as it had more features. My first recorder gave a much better picture, even with the Scart cable as it had the ability to alter the picture size, which the new DVB-T does not.

Easy to set up and find stations and a perfect picture , so no complaints there. I already had a 64gb usb memory stick and after 5 minutes figured out how to record and playback programmes. To delete a program from the stick though had to remove and put it into my laptop. The only problem I have , is certain buttons on the supplied remote , interfere with our TVs main controls. For example, when I want BBC1 , pressing 1 on the channel number selector pad , alters the "source" setting of the TV , away from Scart 1 so have to get the other remote for the TV itself to get back to the scart source. The volume-up button brings up the TVs menu settings ! It's probably just a clash with my make of TV (Hanspree) that won't happen with other makes.

Good signal plug and play fast scan set up with HDMI socket and scary socket

Really easy to use and set up. Instructions were straight forward and no technical jargon! Good for a tech phobic like me!

Can't recommend this item, I've been using it for a few months and have finally given up with it and purchased a Youview set top box. Picture quality not brilliant and program guide not very good.