Digital Stream DHR8203U Freeview+ HD, 320GB HDD, 3 x USB, Set-top box with CI Slot
- Average Rating:
- List Price:
-
£299.99
Product Info
- Brand: Digital Stream
- EAN: 0793573992611
- Manufacturer: Digital Stream
Features
- FIRST Freeview HD+ PVR in the UK
- 2 x DVB-T2 Tuners allows two HD or SD recordings at the same time
- 320GB Hard Drive for 180Hrs SD recording or 60Hrs HD recording
- 8 day EPG with Series Link and Trailer-Booking (new Freeview feature)
- 3 x USB 2.0 ports for software upgrade, and media upload/download
Editorial Reviews:
The Digital Stream DHR8203U is the first Freeview HD PVR (Personal Video Recorder) available in the UK. Not only can you record SD programmes, you can now record HD at the touch of a button.
The 8-Day EPG has one touch recording, supports Series-Link to enable whole series recording, and the newly released feature TRAILER BOOKING. This lets you set a recording simply by pressing the green button during a normal advertisement for the programme.
There is no subscription cost whatsoever for Freeview HD, unlike other HD options.
Spotlight customer reviews:
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Great picture, but flawed
- Comment: I recently bought this to replace my Sky+HD box. The SD upscaling is fantastic and the recent software update has made the EPG much quicker than Sky.
Pros:
Large disk, easy to setup, series recording a doddle
Cons:
Very noisy hard disk / fan (lost a star for this)
Can't tell which recordings have already been viewed
Fix the noisy hard disk and it would be a 5-star PVR!
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Disappointing!
- Comment: Although the picture quality is excellent in both HD and standard formats, this is a very expensive piece of kit which you need to know a few things about:
1. Very easy to use and install.
2. Very noisy. And I mean VERY noisy. You will hear the hard drive cosntantly vibrating!
3. The card slot needs an extra adapter before it will accept a card. These are pricey, if indeed you can locate one at all.
4. These boxes are not compatible with the Sky Sports services offered by Top Up TV although ESPN is fine.
5. The programme guide is very slow.
Overall I'm disappointed with this product, especially given the high price.
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: DIGITAL STREAM FREEVIEW HD PVR
- Comment: CONNECTED UNIT UP TO FREEVIEW HD READY PANASONIC VIERA TV. FOUND ALL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE HD CHANNELS READILY. THE RESULT WAS A MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN DEFINITION ON THE HD CHANNELS AS WELL AS THE STANDARD DEFINITION CHANNELS. WISH THERE WERE MORE HD CHANNELS BUT SUPPOSE THEY WILL COME IN DUE COURSE.
A.J. MORGAN. BRISTOL
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: Its nice
- Comment: Worked straight out the box. HD looks fantastic would like more channels though. C4HD keep putting a lot of SD stuff on there like friends!? Minor things that threw me were the terms used , its not called record on this box , its called reserve. You can easily just "OK" on a show and it asks you if you want to reserve single , or series. You can organise your recordings in your own named file . But as yet I haven't found out how to record straight into a specific folder. One glitch is if you try to delete the recording, ( reserving? reservation? ), that you are watching , then the thing crashes and needs to be restarted. And if you are watching a recording from the beginning before it has finished recording then it will flick to the start of the recording when it completes recording. Only minor issues that will probably be resolved with a firmware update. Otherwise good stuff.
- Customer Rating:
- Summary: update: new software makes this a winner!
- Comment: Update: the revised software has greatly improved this box, I'm now extremely pleased with it. No bugs to speak of, and easy to use: I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a Freeview HD recorder.
.......:...........
I've had this box for a couple of days, and on the whole I like it.
What's good:
- Great picture quality
- Pretty good sound quality, particularly for TV broadcasts
- Intuitive menus and easy to set up
- Feels reasonably well made.
What's bad:
- I've had a couple of 'glitches' where its failed to record programmes
- If you switch it off, it forgets the entire recording schedule, as well as the EPG
- Long recordings appear to get 'chopped up', if you try and record something else at the same time
- The menus and EPG move far too slowly
This product is one of the front runners in the race to get a Freeview HD PVR into the market, and on the whole, it does a reasonable job. But my fingers are crossed that some of the bugs and issues are addressed, when the software update is made available.
