Icecrypt T2400 Freeview+ HD Recorder with 2TB Hard Drive
Product Overview
The Icecrypt T2400 is a great way to receive and record stunning pictures from Freeview and Freeview HD. It offers video output up to 1080p through HDMI, full 8-day EPG, playback of video, audio and image files and MHEG interactive television support. This is the perfect way to get the same high quality visuals from your television viewing as from your Blu-ray and DVD. Available in 1TB and 2TB versions. 37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
superb bit of kit, By
minniedaminx - See all my reviews
This review is from: Icecrypt T2400 Freeview+ HD Recorder with 2TB Hard Drive (Electronics)
This is our third freeview PVR and is by far the best. After our temperamental old Sagemcom DTR67320T Digital TV Recorder with Freeview+ decided yet again that it was going to 'forget' to record something, we decided to upgrade to a Hi-Def PVR. OK, but which one?The price:feature balance is always tricky, but capacity is usually top of the list. The newest versions of this model feature a 2TeraByte hard drive (upgraded from the previous 1TeraByte) - for about the same price as the current top of the range Humax (which itself features 1TeraByte, much more generous than the 'big brand' competition who are still offering a somewhat puny 500Meg)
So far? Yum.
Next: connnectivity. The T2400 is again pretty well stocked. External USB slots for backup? Yup. HDMI? Well, dur. SCART backup (in which case, why are you buying a HD PVR...)? Yup. Digital Audio Out? Yup. Ethernet Port? Yup.
Pretty much beats the competition at this price point into the proverbial cocked hat.
But - is it any good?
So far, an unqualified YES. The standard Twin Tuner offers the usual ability to record two programmes at the same time (and unlike our old Sagem, will also record from the Radio channels) and if it notices a conflict, will offer to check the schedules to see if one of your choices has an alternative transmission time, with a manual fallback if it can't find an alternative for you.
If you indicate you are recording a series, it will automatically save the recordings in a series folder and save the associated descriptions for each programme in the series (the Sagem only remembered the first description, if it could be bothered to remember the series at all). If you choose a programme on a SD channel and there is a HD broadcast version, it will offer to record the HD one instead.
Once the series is finished (or if the series misses a week - damn you, BBC coverage of Wimbledon!) the schedule will remain on your recording list and will wait patiently until the programme is back on the EPG before picking it back up again, like Virgin's TiVo box.
The digital audio complements the HD video very well. We have ours connected to the LG HB405SU 5.1 Blu-ray Home Cinema System with DLNA & BD Live and the unit will auto-select the sound output, depending on whether or not we have the Home Cinema system switched on at the time (which is actually better behaviour than the LG405SU)
Another unexpected benefit was the remote control. The remote for our Toshiba TV died some time ago (although as all we used it for was to change volume and signal source, we did that from the panel on the front of the box, we couldn't be bothered to replace it), but the Icecrypt's remote is capable of acting as a programmable remote (a bit like the All-in-One type remotes) and there's a full list of 4-digit remote codes at the back of the manual, so now the Icecrypt remote operates both the PVR and the TV.
How about that storage capacity?
Well, we've had ours for over a month and there's a couple of pages worth of recordings (mostly series folders, a mixture of SD and HD) and we've not dipped below 1.92TB yet. Given that it reported 1.96TB just after tuning and loading the EPG, that isn't bad. And given that the unit will allow you to trim off bits (getting rid of the annoying CBBC presenters on Horrible Histories seems like a pretty good prospect), the small savings per recording will soon add up.
Downsides?
Haven't spotted any yet. OK, so the terminology can grate a little (referring to 'reservations' rather than 'scheduled recordings'), but that's a very minor point. Admittedly, I haven't yet attempted to copy recordings to an external HDD (via USB) or over the network (but frankly, that's largely because I haven't yet come close to filling the disk up yet). Reviews of the 1TB model suggest that Icecrypt uses a proprietary format in which to save recordings, but beyond trimming programmes down to remove adverts and continuity announcers, both of which can be done on the fly during playback, this shouldn't be much of an issue unless you wish to share the recordings with someone who doesn't have a compatible playback unit. I haven't yet tested the unit's DLNA capabilities either (as the LGHB405SU already handles this on our LAN) but if it is anything like the rest of the unit, I'd be more than happy with it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Impressive hardware but slightly flawed, By
S Donaldson (Lancs, UK) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: Icecrypt T2400 Freeview+ HD Recorder with 2TB Hard Drive (Electronics)
I realised the other day that the majority of programmes in my Sky HD planner are all available on Freeview HD, so why should I pay Sky £35/month for content that is essentially free. With this in mind I cancelled my Sky subscription and ordered the 2TB Icecrypt T2400. At £270 it would pay for itself after 8 months. Plus, with hard disks currently costing 30-50% more than they were 4 months ago it seemed like decent value.Set-up was very straight forward and within minutes it was up and running. Initial impressions were very positive; great picture quality, both for SD and HD material, and virtually silent in operation. The on-screen menus and planner were simple to navigate and I had no problems setting up series links.
However, being a Sky subscriber for 10 years there were a few things that irked me. The remote control wasn't as intuitevly laid out as Sky's, and although you could program it to operate the TV you couldn't use it to operate the PVR and the TV volume in one go. It was either TV mode or PVR mode. But I could live these nuances.
Unfortunately there were a couple of other issues that I could not live with...
1) On resuming playback after ff/rew it would often take 5-10 seconds for the sound to come back on, and sometimes not at all.
2) Playback of HD material would sometimes pixellate or become corrupt. It was actually recorded this way because if I played the same bit over and over again it would exhibit the same corruption. I have good signal strength so I doubt it was a problem with my aerial. I checked the firmware and I was on the latest version.
Despite being a nice PVR with masses of storage, it just didn't feel as smooth and responsive as my Sky HD box, so in the end I returned it for a refund and changed my Sky subscription their £10/month Freeview HD + PVR package. If you've not experienced Sky and are looking for a good Freeview HD PVR then I'd recommend you have a look at the Icecrypt T2400 2TB. It is possible that I had a faulty unit as I've not read any reports from other people having these problems.
On a final note, my order was fulfilled through Amazon by Superfi, and I just have to commend them on their excellent service. I ordered the item on a Wednesday evening and it was delivered on the Friday morning. When it came to returning the item, they arranged for a courier collection and my credit card was credited within days.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Does not meet expectations for a £200+ device, By
Stuart - See all my reviews
This review is from: Icecrypt T2400 Freeview+ HD Recorder with 2TB Hard Drive (Electronics)
Icecrypt t2400I bought this unit to replace a humax 9150 expecting to have much improved functionality and features, being a newer product with a list of features advertised. I quickly realised my error from first use of the icecrypt, and can advise of the following issues i experienced;
Recording/playback/EPG
At first glance the recording and playback features seem fairly straight forward however whilst attempting to watch and record simultaneously created a very jumpy and stuttery picture/sound especially when an HD program is involved. I also struggle to accept the fact that if you are watching a program live whilst also recording the same program you lose the time shift features completely, eg no ability to pause or rewind. Another annoying quirk of the icecrypt is that the menu and EPG are not available whilst viewing a recording, and any attempt to access simply stops the playback completely.
Using the find by genre feature also has an issue where there are lots of duplicate entries listed eg a film at 9pm then another entry at 9 pm on exact same channel with a blank title.
Screen/display
Another issue noticed is that this unit is incapable of stretching 4:3 to 16:9 automatically, noticed when viewing family guy or american dad. Icecrypt tech support indicated that 'their' customers have a preference to keep aspect ratio of the broadcast, maybe they do I can't count myself as a customer anymore!
Remote control
The remote is well laid out, however it fails to match competitors features for example there are no dedicated buttons for customised skip forward/backward, only similar feature is the yellow button can skip forward ONLY whilst the time bar for the recording is displayed meaning you need to press other buttons first, and If you skip too far there is no easy way of skipping back. I would also warn that the remote is a click type remote which makes noise on every button press, made even worse by the fact that you need to press so many buttons to skip over adverts etc.
All in all I don't think it's cheap price and high capacity make up for these shortfalls and can gladly say that the humax HDR fox t2 1TB at a little more expense completely delivers all the features you would expect from a £200+ device.
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