Freeview HD PVR - The Facts as I understand them

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Freeview HD PVR - The Facts as I understand them - 5 December 2008

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#188967 12-Jan-2009 13:34

Strange...I can reach the site from my home PC but not my work one. An email to info@ bounced....

jonathan18

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#189034 12-Jan-2009 17:15

smac:
jonathan18:

I emailed them on Monday to find out when it will be available - no reply yet, but will post here when (if) I do hear back from them.

Have you heard back? I just tried to see if their site was updated and it seems to have been taken down?

No such luck yet - my first email took a number of days to get bounced back (the email address included the hyperlink appears to be incorrect - missing the "digital"), and have had no reply to the one that hopefully got there. Will send a reminder today!

broozm

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#189091 12-Jan-2009 22:13

I haven't been able to wait - and splashed out on the eXtra Terrestrial - hoping that the promised PVR firmware happens eventually...

Just to share my research on what Freeview PVRs and potential PVRs are available- take a look my summary spreadsheet here http://www.findasensor.com/personal/pvr.htm

and the pdf including images here: http://www.findasensor.com/personal/pvr.pdf

All corrections, updates and additions welcomed.. perhaps I need to make this available as a Wiki so everyone can contribute? (Anyone know where/how to do this?)

Bruce in Hawkes Bay

jonathan18

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#190951 21-Jan-2009 07:05

jonathan18:
smac:
jonathan18:

I emailed them on Monday to find out when it will be available - no reply yet, but will post here when (if) I do hear back from them.

Have you heard back? I just tried to see if their site was updated and it seems to have been taken down?

No such luck yet - my first email took a number of days to get bounced back (the email address included the hyperlink appears to be incorrect - missing the "digital"), and have had no reply to the one that hopefully got there. Will send a reminder today!

Have now had a response from Sommet -

We do have the PVR that is under development. It is a twin tuner, 250Gb HDD, continuous time shift, PnP.

The price point will be $599 RRP, we hope to start testing later this month.

So the price for the 250GB has gone up $100 compared to what was originally quoted, but not too surprising all things considered (esp the dollar) - and at $599, certainly a lot cheaper than the ridiculously priced Zinwell.

"Testing later this month" suggests it will be a few months until it's available, though.

No1Daemon

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Master Geek

#191829 24-Jan-2009 15:59

Hi all

I just tested and returned a Hyundai AH3110

Picture quality was excellent. Set up was easy.
The channels were hard to sort, no easy method and some of the menus had spelling mistakes etc which made it seem a bit cheap.

Its unfirtunate the only way to use the EPG to record a terrrestrial station is to use the satellite epg and then you can edit the channel information and change the number of the station you are recording to a terrestrial one.

Its a bit clumsy.

My main issue I experienced was small gaps in the audio occasionally. My biggest issue was with the man selling the units. Jack at Ultrapower technology.

When I rang to ask questions about the epg he just gave me a sales pitch and had no interest in helping me, only in proving his machine was the best.
English is his second lanquage.

When I emailed him to say I had the sound gap issue, he offered for me to return the unit and I took him up on his offer. He then proceeded to tell me I was a liar and I was returning the unit for reasons other than what I had stated. I do not appreciate people calling me a liar. On the telephone he went on and on about how it was the best machine in the world and then blamed my hdd enclosure for the audio gaps, even though I had already told him it happened with or without the hard drive enclosure being plugged into the unit.

In the end he did refund me and as I stated the picture quality was excellent so if you can avoid dealing with Jack somehow, you might have no problems.

I am going to wait a bit for some more units to come on the market. Sommet digital is coming out soon and hopefully more combo machines will not be too far away.

Deev8

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Ultimate Geek
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#191962 25-Jan-2009 14:12

I've noticed that the entry for the SatMax SM801 Freeview|HD receiver on the official Freeview website says:

Fully supports HD recording to external USB hard drive up to 720gig

No mention of that functionality on the SatMax website though, so perhaps they are another manufacturer intending to provide simple a simple PVR function through a future firmware upgrade.

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UltraPower

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#194831 9-Feb-2009 02:12

No1Daemon
Master Geek

Hi all

I just tested and returned a Hyundai AH3110

Shame on you Steve, we have sold over 200 sets of Hyundai AH-3110 with the best Feedback ever , you are the only one attacking us and my person espacially for no reason , yes my English is my second languge but I could speak 5 languges, could you? We are in this biz for more than 18 years and we do our best to get world's best product to NZ. And now you claimed that Hyundai the company which in charge in Korean Broadcasting made a receiver with some fault in sound . Do you think we could still selling it if that is true,. You are the one who described yourself as a lair not me
This time I will not let it go for damaging our biz , this is your second time already after you have attacked our company and me with a lausy feedback few month ago for other set, what a time waster .

jonathan18

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#194836 9-Feb-2009 07:57

Hi Ultrapower

With the beginnings of a flame war showing it’s ugly head, can we ensure that this thread doesn’t end up like that dealing with the Extra Terrestrial STB, in which the importer/seller quickly proved how to lose friends and alienate people, and no doubt ensured a decent loss of sales? (see http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=83&TopicId=24705 )

Perhaps, if No1Daemon is happy with this, you could provide a reasoned response to the issues that he had with his unit. No1Daemon wrote:

… blamed my hdd enclosure for the audio gaps, even though I had already told him it happened with or without the hard drive enclosure being plugged into the unit.

So clearly he is of the opinion this problem is not related to his HD (which does make sense if it was happening without it being attached!). Can you provide any further details on this problem? Are you saying that, when you have plugged in the exact unit that returned, that you had no such problems? If he did have such problems (and why would he make it up, when he clearly liked other aspects of the product?), what could cause these and is there anything that could be done about it? (eg, is it related to signal strength?).

You never know – a civilized and informative dialogue could actually result in people buying this product – I for one am still contemplating whether to go with the Hyundai or wait for other HD PVRs to be released. However, having this audio drop-out issue not resolved will certainly mean I’ll stay clear of the Hyundai.

Cheers
Jonathan

UltraPower

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#194857 9-Feb-2009 10:23

Hi Jonathan,
we have tested the returned set for over a week and could not find any fault with it . I can assure you that the Hyundai AH-3110 is working excellent without any bugs not only in Auckland but all over NZ unlike other sets which needed update by air OTA(Summit, Zinwell and others). We were testing this model for more than 6 month before we released it to the NZ market to make sure that everything is working perfectly . If you go to our web-site you could see clearly that we are dealing with top quality products from well known suppliers which we are proud of (ultrapower.co.nz)Just to make things clear here about some brands which came to the market a few month ago, We were waiting since 8 month for software update for the model HDT 801 (terrestrial set) which is exactly the same model and from the same source as Summit and Haute HD3000 but with the only difference a new attractive front panel and it has Video component as well in HD (not certified) , we could not release this model until now because it was not working all over NZ with the same result . We do care for our customers, our motto "customer satisfaction 100% guaranteedWe are doing our best to bring quality products to NZ without any bugs and we have so far succeeded in all our products.The Hyundai AH-3110 is also known as AH-3110 and is selling in Europe like hot cakes , please check by yourself if you could find any such unfair feedback like the one given by Steve (we believe it is a personal thing not related to the product especially since it is so important for Steve that English is my second language that he needed to make it public)
Steve did try to promote the Summit set on two different occassions which could be the reason for his unfair feedback and attacking me personally as a thank you for giving him such a great service . Cheers Jack

UltraPower

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#194863 9-Feb-2009 10:50

Sorry, the Hyundai AH-3110 is know in Europe as Hyundai AH-3100 comes in silver with only one USB input and it is much more expensive than our NZ model. Cheers

sbiddle

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#194868 9-Feb-2009 11:20

If you would like a review done of your box to be posted here on Geekzone then contact Freitasm.

If your product doesn't have any issues then it would be a good publicity as many people have been unhappy with many aspects of other STB's in the markerplace.

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UltraPower

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#194892 9-Feb-2009 13:39

Thanks, I have contacted Freitasm and will send him soon one set of Hyundai AH-3110 to test and review . Cheers

No1Daemon

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#194967 9-Feb-2009 19:30

Hi there

You have made a bit of an assumption in your post. The biggest is that I never said the fault was not with my system, I only said I had a fault and the customer service shown to me was simply to waffle on about what a great machine it was. He showed no interest in my fault or even fixing it. He only gave me a sales pitch and did not make a single suggestion as to what I should check or look at except to put down my enclosure without even knowing what it was.

The main thing that Jack hasnt pointed out in his masses of posts is that I had a fault and he made no attempt to help me. When I mentioned that I didn't like the fact that to record an HD channel you had to select the satellite channels epg and then edit the details of the channel to use to record he just raved on and on about how it was the most beautiful epg he had ever seen, nothing to do with what I was saying to him.

I did say the picture quality was superb. Which it was. I also pointed out what I didn't like. Jack seems to not realise New Zealand is a free country and you can have freedom of speech here.

Remember there are always 2 sides to every story. Your situation and mine could always be different and it doesnt entitle you to remark on what happened in my case.

If the unit was great for you then thats fantastic, and even for the 1000 or million people on trade me, I am very happy for them all but it didn't go well for me.

UltraPower

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#194986 9-Feb-2009 21:05

We are not interested anymore in your feedback and if you don't like Jack just keep it to yourself and don't blame it on the receiver. I don't believe for one minute that you have much knowledge of such receivers and therefor your feedback is uninformed. I am sorry for the time I spent trying to explain things to you and you would not listen. You are free to purchase whatever you like, be it the untested Sommit or anything else. Anyway, thank you for giving me the opportunity to send the set to an individual expert to test and place a fair review on this website. The way you are trying to mislead members of this website is not acceptable. In NZ if you don't like a person that does not give you the right to ruin his reputation.

jonathan18

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#197719 24-Feb-2009 12:16

UltraPower: Thanks, I have contacted Freitasm and will send him soon one set of Hyundai AH-3110 to test and review . Cheers

Hi there - can you confirm whether a unit has been provided for a review? And if so, can we be told when we may expect this review to be posted?

Many thanks

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