Sony SVRHDT500B Freeview HD Personal Video Recorder with Twin Tuner
Feature
- Freeview+ Digital Tuner
- 500GB Recorder
- Pause Live TV & Series Record
- HDMI Output & Ethernet Port
Product Overview
Freeview+ Digital Tuner & 500GB Recorder, 8 Day Electronic Programme Guide, Pause Live TV & Series Record 331 of 340 people found the following review helpful
High quality, fantastic picture, By
RayG - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony SVRHDT500B Freeview HD Personal Video Recorder with Twin Tuner (Electronics)
This is Sony's first high definition Freeview hard disk recorder, making Sony among the first major electronics brands to launch a Freeview+ HD player in the UK. Freeview HD (high definition) is gradually being rolled out across the UK and new players are being launched as the market grows. Standard definition (SD) Freeview uses the DVB-T standard, whereas Freeview HD uses DVB-T2, meaning that in order to get Freeview in high definition, you'll need to buy a new box with a DVB-T2 tuner inside.Sony's SVR HDT-500 Freeview+ HD box contains the necessary DVB-T2 tuner for receiving Freeview in high definition, and also contains a 500GB hard disk drive for recording TV programmes. In fact, the SVR HDT-500 contains two DVB-T2 tuners, meaning you're able to record two programmes simultaneously. If you've ever used a Sky+ HD box, this works along the same principle. You can pause live TV, rewind, skip forward (though no further than the point at which the live broadcast has got to) and record up to 300 hours of SD programmes and 125 hours of HD programmes, which should be enough for most people - if you plan on recording more than this you can always opt for the 1TB version, which has twice the capacity of this one.
The box itself is very sleek and fits in with the recent Sony product branding, with a glossy face and matted top and sides, and a minimalist approach to buttons. It's relatively light, but heavier than a normal Freeview box due to the presence of the hard disk drive inside. The power supply is actually an external unit, so you have a little black box (just a bit bigger than a deck of cards) that plugs in between your wall socket and the player itself. Although this can be a little unsightly, it does help to keep the player cool internally, thus keeping the internal fans running at a slower (and quieter) pace.
The remote control is what you'd expect from most Sony devices these days, it's slick and well laid out. It's slightly wider than a standard Sony TV remote due to the extra buttons it needs, but if your TV supports Bravia Sync you won't need to use your TV remote at all. Bravia Sync is Sony's branding for HDMI-CEC, the ability of connected HDMI devices to be controlled with a single remote. If you own a Sony TV from the last five years, chances are that it will feature Bravia Sync. As this is a standard technology across most brands, you may be lucky enough to find that your non-Sony devices are able to be controlled with the SVR HDT-500's remote too.
The SD picture quality is very good, and not far off the very best available. It automatically upscales to whatever resolution your TV is set to (either 720p, 1080i or 1080p) and produces very few visual artefacts in the process. You get all the existing SD channels exactly as you would on a normal Freeview box.
In addition to the SD channels, you have the HD channels. There are currently only a handful of Freeview channels available in HD, the latest addition being BBC One HD in October 2010 - before this the only BBC output in HD was from BBC HD, a part-time channel showing a selection of HD programmes from the BBC. Alongside BBC One HD and BBC HD are ITV1 HD and 4HD, with more channels set to follow in the future.
When watching TV you have a variety of features available, including the usual subtitles, descriptive audio and 'red button' services. You can also use 'Picture in Picture' mode for showing one channel in the corner of the screen while watching another. It may sound strange but it's quite handy if you want a flick round the channels while adverts are being shown.
The menus and TV guide are very clean looking but are also quite plain compared to some other players. One of the The SVR HDT-500's main competitors, the 500GB Humax Freeview+ HD box, shows a video preview of each channel as you browse through the TV guide listings and it would have been nice to include such a feature here. Sadly, not only do you not have a video preview but you don't even have a text preview as part of the TV guide. You actually have to highlight the programme you may want to record and then press the 'Information' button for a synopsis. This seems to be the only real oversight on this player, but it's frustrating enough to become a bit of a pain, especially when looking through dozens of episodes of The Simpsons to find which episodes you want to record.
A nice surprise was to find an HDMI cable enclosed, which is exactly what you'll need to connect this to an HD TV. There are also plenty of other options including a digital coax socket for 5.1 output and a standard network connection to hook the player up to the internet. There isn't anything useful to be gained from doing this at the moment but the BBC iPlayer is currently scheduled to be integrated with the SVR HDT-500 sometime in May 2011, meaning you'll be able to stream TV programmes over the internet... Read more
78 of 80 people found the following review helpful
5*......Great Picture. Great Sound. Looks Good. Job Done, By
Andrew W. Martyr-icke "andy_icke" (Evesham, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony SVRHDT500B Freeview HD Personal Video Recorder with Twin Tuner (Electronics)
I've had one of these PVRs now for about a month and I can only say good things about it.The picture quality is excellent and the sound is dramatically better than through my old freeview PVR.
Recording and playing back is a doddle as is set-up (which only took a few minutes all without stress or agro). The screens and menus are clear and easy. And while the fan noise can be just noticed when you stand near to the unit without any sound on, I have never noticed it when watching TV.
The menus are clear and easy to read and when connected to the internet via a network cable you can vie BBC Iplayer via the red button.
Oh, and if you have a Sony TV the remote control operates both your TV and the PVR.
I chuffed with mine.
What more is there to say?
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Sony just works, By
Redowl - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony SVRHDT500B Freeview HD Personal Video Recorder with Twin Tuner (Electronics)
Having had Sony products for a number of years I had been waiting for this model to be released for some time.My previous hard disc/DVD player was a Sony though only single tuner and not HIDef and has served me well for a number of years. I am still running the old model in tandem withe the new HiDef one. They coexist quite happily .
The SVR -HDT 500 that I have was a breeze to set up and needed very little help from me to complete the task.
The remote is of the familiar Sony standard and intuitive to use.
I have seen mentioned by other reviewers that the fan noise with this model was a problem but I have not found it so with the model that I have, in fact it is not heard.
I am finding the series record feature with the twin tuners a real boon, and so easy to select and set up recordings.
The picture quality in HiDef through the recorder seems very good.
The one thing I did find a bit stange at first was the slower time the delete a recording you have finished with especially recordings made in HiDef. , and I know people will say there is more data to deal with with HiDef, but the standard resolution recordings take longer also, compared with my older Sony recorder. This is is a minor issue though, and one I can live with.
Otherwise a thoroughly blilliant product.
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