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While looking for a PVR i came across this compact design and, having bought a different one previously that wasn't as good as i had hoped, this unit definitely ticks all the boxes. Not only does it record TV but also radio channels as well. You can set its timer to record both, and set a time to finish a manually started recording. Granted its not perfect. Sometimes it will delete a timer setting for no apparent reason and it will stop recordings on its own, but like i said that doesn't happen very often. You may need to test what memory sticks it will use. I use INTEGRAL and they work perfectly. For all its faults it is a brilliant box, in fact its so good i now own 8 of them. I would recommend it to anyone. Its brilliant.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I’ve given this item 3 stars mostly because it has a number of usability issues that drive me ‘up the wall’. First, for the record, I’ve bought about eight of them over the last year or so – and will continue to buy them as my need arises because they do the one thing I require – record in HD. In that time, one unit has died but the remainder continue to work. Over the years I’ve bought many cheap set-top PVRs (Teknikal, EMtronics, Clarity and others) all claiming to be able to record HD programmes – but none can – and some even struggle to record ‘full’ SD (720x576) programmes as well. The August 400 (and the 415) do at least achieve that feat – which is reason enough, for me, to keep buying them. So why only 3 stars? There are two reasons: 1 - when recording (or just displaying) an HD programme – the video output freezes and remains frozen for the duration of the recording. I don’t know if this applies to the HDMI outputs as well – as I use small, AV input, monitors to view the PVR outputs and do not use the boxes as a primary means of watching broadcast TV. 2 – The control software for programming timer recordings is a pain in the proverbial … (a) Using the EPG to set up recordings for a series of programmes which follow one immediately after another is not possible as the software interprets a programme ending at say 9pm as a timer conflict with the following programme which starts at 9pm. Paradoxically, if you start by selecting the later programme first, then select the earlier programme – the timer sees no conflict and will successfully record both programmes. The real butt-pain comes when you need to edit the timings of a programme in the middle of sequence of carefully input (in reverse time order) programmes – then you find that the software will object to a new programme where the end time coincides with an already input programme’s start time. No other cheap PVRs suffer this problem. (b) There is no option to specify the length of a recording (so called one-touch recording) simply by pressing the record button multiple times and/or inputting a desired recording duration – so if you start a recording manually you must be sure to stop it manually at the end of the desired period. (c) The colour scheme for the edit screen is poorly chosen. A thin white underline ‘cursor’ is invisible against a yellow 'selected data-line' highlight background and is a very poor, low-contrast, combination whilst attempting to tweak timer etc settings settings (spot the cursor in the photo) - and a higher resolution monitor doesn’t help - it's a matter of colour contrast - not resolution! (d) The timer software allows for the programming of only 8 recordings at most – this is a meagre number – particularly when compared to the competition. (e) The EPG has no memory for the currently selected broadcast station, it loads up a fresh listing each time it is accessed (a real pain if you want to timer-program a sequence from the same station) – and it often does so slowly, usually in peculiar time order (often starting days ahead but with missing time-slots which may or may not be populated a little later) – and then it frequently ‘sticks’ and will show only the now and next programmes. Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
It's an average range product, it does well for it's price. But there are some unusal technical flaws, the one purchased scrambles/mixes up the channel order at least once a week, so it then needs to be retuned. Also the order of the channels can't rearrange without it scrambling the channel order. It can pick up a wide range of channels, but i found that quite a few channels are pixelated or the signal isn't being picked up properly. I know it's the device that can't pick up the signal because the built in set-top-box picks it up crystal clear. The best feature of this device is it's Recording function, plug in a flash drive and record instantly. But be aware that any recording over 90 minutes, sometimes gets compressed and some data seems to get lost. Also if you plug in a flash drive and use it to watch something from the flash drive that wasn't recorded on it from the device, it only lets you watch apx. 20-30 minutes of the video before it freezes up. Overall it's an Average Quality Device, it won't hurt your pocket & you get a few features out of it.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Great little unit, fits anywhere, you can take it away on holiday and the removable flash drive means I can watch recordings wherever I want. Remote is a bit complicated and needs some getting used to but it works fine.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is an OK little box for the bedroom, I wouldn't recommend it for the main television, maybe get a more expensive one for that. But it has stopped all the pixelating I was getting on my TV in the bedroom, which is what I wanted it to do. So it saved me from getting a new aerial. Quite easy to tune in once I had connected a scart lead.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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