Having two tuners, the Z500 will let you record one channel while you watch another or record two channels and watch either one of them. Or you can record two channels while watching something you previously recorded. For the record, that 500GB hard drive is good for 268 hours - more than 11 days - of MPEG 2-encoded off-air content.
The remote's top notch
The Z500 adds two significant features not found on previous generation TVonics DVR machines. The first is picture-in-picture, which lets you view a small screen rendering of one channel while watching another. You can move the small screen into any desired corner of the main screen, which we found handy.
The second is Alternate Instance Recording (AIR), which uses the eight-day Electronic Programme Guide to find another broadcast of your chosen planned recording if the first clashes with other recordings.
Beyond this you also get all the current Freeview+ goodies such as series link, schedule tracking, digital text and interactive support. Howver, the Z500 lacks the Audio Description function found on cheaper TVonics devices such as the MFR-300.
User-friendly touches abound on the Z500. To start with, it maintains a two-hour buffer from the last time you changed channels, allowing you to rewind live telly without having to record it in the first place.
You can customise the EPG
Click for full-size image
When you access the recording library, you're told how much free space you have in terms of hours rather than the percentage figure beloved by Sky. It also tells you much space you've used and how much is allocated to scheduled recordings, again in hours.
The clear and well laid out EPG eschews the more common approach of a favourites list, instead letting you re-order all the channels and then hide the ones you don't want too see, allowing you to tailor the EPG to show exactly the channels you want in the order you want. Radio and TV listings are kept separate, making EPG navigation even easier.
COMMENTS
@ Bit Rate AC
>> "dirty little secret" that's brewing for Q4 2009 onwards - "HD Ready" equipment with integrated SD tuners should really be investigated by Ofcom or someone because you have to apply an external HD source to get HD! (Richard Floyd)
>That's why it's HD *Ready*, it is ready for you to apply an external HP Sauce to it, just the same as an HD Ready TV without an integrated tuner is. It has an HDMI input.
Errm, for the average man on the omnibus, "HD Ready" means it will do HD - and "HD Ready" + "Integrated Freeview" means it will do HD Freeview when it arrives. As Richard Lloyd suggests, there is going to be a LOT of disgruntled people when they see on the news that HD transmissions have arrived and the HD channels have appeared in the guide, but for some reason they won't show - it's going to be fun for the dealers explaining why that new TV isn't actually broken.
And as for showing time left, yes, all the Freeview channels use a similar bit rate - it does vary, BBC generally uses over 2GB/hr, some others under 1.5GB/hr. But unless you are down to the last few gigs of disk space, it's going to be accurate enough, especially if the 'time remaining' is done on a pessimistic basis.
It looks rubbish...
Sounds rubbish and has the specs of...you guessed it...RUBBISH!
another nearly but not quite...
in the lines of save the best stuff for the five year business plan...
this is another not quite right product.. problem is the competiton (in this case Humax) has already done better.
Shame the brits cant keep up.
I wonder whether they will be able to pull thier finger out and release a sellable product before they fold? Im still holding my folding.
Ah?
You are kidding right?
No HDMI, Standard Definition and Scart stopped being used 5 years ago.
Old technology in a shiny box.
Paris, because i bet she has a shiny box.
Bit Rate.
>> you're told how much free space you have in terms of hours rather than the percentage figure beloved by Sky. It also tells you much space you've used and how much is allocated to scheduled recordings, again in hours.
That's great for Freeview, perhaps all the channels on freeview are the same bit rate. On Sky different channels use different encoding, some are high bit rate, high quality - others are shit. So there is no way a Sky box can tell you how much time is remaining on the box, as it depends on what you want to record. I suspect Freeview isn't entirely disimilar in this respect.
>> "dirty little secret" that's brewing for Q4 2009 onwards - "HD Ready" equipment with integrated SD tuners should really be investigated by Ofcom or someone because you have to apply an external HD source to get HD! (Richard Floyd)
That's why it's HD *Ready*, it is ready for you to apply an external HP Sauce to it, just the same as an HD Ready TV without an integrated tuner is. It has an HDMI input.
>> As for this TVonics unit, a total thumbs down because of the SD tuner and lack of HDMI...
Well indeed, it is SKIP Ready.
*please note any typo's may be related to my skipping breakfast this morning
