Philips HDT8520 500GB PVR Freeview HD Digital Terrestrial Recorder

Simon Heather

at 7:38 am

I bought the Philips HDT8520 Freeview HD PVR in order to watch and record the new Freeview HD channels. Before I bought this model I was considering the Digital Stream and 3view models. The 3view still hasn’t been released so I went for the Philips PVR based on its good looks and the fact it is engineered by Pace.

The box is physically smaller than I expected due in part to its external power supply brick (like a laptop) and has a very smart clear display. It has a gimmicky pulsating light on the top edge which is best turned off. I used the HDMI connection to my Panasonic Plasma TV and stereo audio connection to my amplifier. Setup was quick and found all three HD channels. The picture quality of HD was excellent and the SD channels also looked good. Watching ITV1 in HD was so much better even with upscaled HD programs (only a few programs are native HD).

Recordings use AR (accurate recording) but there is no padding option currently so sometimes recordings may get clipped if the AR broadcast isn’t accurate. There seem to be a few glitches in the HD transmissions which cause occasional “HDCP authentication error” messages and some of the HD broadcasts with surround sound have had garbled audio – this seems to be common across Freeview HD boxes so isn’t specific to the Philips.

The EPG is currently quite weak and needs some more work on it – it is not possible to select a program to view from the EPG – you can only record it. To change channel you have to enter the channel number or use program up/down buttons. Hopefully this will be sorted in the next software update. Another missing feature is padding.

Overall I am fairly happy with the Philips PVR and give it three stars purely for the HD picture quality. When they fix the major problems it will be a four star product – adding features like BBC iPlayer would make it five stars. There is a software update planned for end of July (with another in September) so people may wish to wait until this upgrade is released and then they will know whether the bugs are fixed – Pace have not issued a list of what is going to be fixed in this release.
Rating: 3 / 5

Rog

at 9:51 am

If you want a Freeview HD recorder for the World Cup, and I did want one, then buy this now. The HD quality is superb, and with two HD tuners, you shouldn’t miss a kick.

However…

Having used only Panasonic DVD recorders, and without fail been impressed, I’m rather disappointed by the quality of the software here. As has been pointed out, the EPG interface is poor, and the inability to pad recordings is a real downer, leaving you totally dependent on the AR broadcast signal.

And it’s buggy. Pause playback for more than a few minutes, and you often can’t “un-pause” (with the pause or play button). You find you have to stop playback altogether and then go back in from the menu, to resume where you left off. Also, fast forward and rewind sometimes carry on to the end/start of the program, whatever buttons you press. I’ve seen these repeatedly, but I’ve also seen other minor one-offs, which I initially put down to unfamiliarity with the interface. I didn’t realise this was a ‘Beta-test’ model.

Anyway, as I say, I can put up with this, and I can record and watch the footy in full HD. Can’t wait.
Rating: 3 / 5

Lee

at 11:22 am

Unfortunately Philips seems to have rushed this product to get it out in time for the World Cup, and probably scored a home goal in the process!

It lacks many features you might take for granted on much cheaper brands, for example you can’t search the guide, or add a manual recording, or pad recordings to avoid missing the start and end.

The interface is basic and no thought seems to have been given to how someone will use it day to day. Also the network port and USB plugs are not used, and it is hard to imagine given the basic features that Philips has been able to include now, that they could ever manage to add things like iPlayer to make use of the network port. The USB just seems to be used for updating the firmware, something it desperately needs now I think.

The light pulsates if you switch it on in the menu (marked Demo mode, I know what a light looks like?) so it doesn’t stay on permanently to provide any ambient light, so will drive most normal people insane and really is a gimmick, or at least if it had a setting so it was permanently on when the PVR is on, it might be useful then.

Unfortunately mine has given me problems with crashing when searching through the EPG something you have to do a lot of as it lacks any searching, why when I get to the bottom can’t I just carry on and find myself at the top again? That is just one of the frustrations with the interface.

On a positive note HD pictures are stunning, but I think that is down to them being HD rather than anything the Philips PVR is doing, and standard def is on par with the TV. Another good thing is that it is very quiet, helped by having the power supply outside the box I expect, and the brick power supply is quite small.

Perhaps given several months of firmware updates it may be worth looking at, but at the moment I’m going to have to return it, and I can’t rate it any higher than one star because of that.

My advice if you can, wait a few months for the problems to be ironed out, and I expect they will cheaper with more choice as well by then.
Rating: 1 / 5