Zinwell ZMT-640PVR

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sbiddle

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#183463 11-Dec-2008 09:41

RickD: I heard from someone a while ago that Zinwell were releasing an official pvr firmware + USB HDD combo in Australia, and if you google long enough you can find an image of a Zinwell USB drive that looks like it sits under and matches the DVB-T box.

I have a NAS that has LAN+USB, it would be awesome to be able to record onto that using the Zinwell via USB and then watch the recordings using XBMC or another media player attached to the network.

I think you'll find this is the Zinwell 630. I mentioned earlier about rumors of a HDD addon for the 620, I've been told by two different sources that there will not be a HDD solution for this but that we may see this newer 630 unit replace the 620 and that a solution may launch with this.

If this does happen it of course will feature DRM and you will not be able to take your recordings and play them on a PC.

openmedia

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#183483 11-Dec-2008 11:57

sbiddle:
RickD: I heard from someone a while ago that Zinwell were releasing an official pvr firmware + USB HDD combo in Australia, and if you google long enough you can find an image of a Zinwell USB drive that looks like it sits under and matches the DVB-T box.

I have a NAS that has LAN+USB, it would be awesome to be able to record onto that using the Zinwell via USB and then watch the recordings using XBMC or another media player attached to the network.

I think you'll find this is the Zinwell 630. I mentioned earlier about rumors of a HDD addon for the 620, I've been told by two different sources that there will not be a HDD solution for this but that we may see this newer 630 unit replace the 620 and that a solution may launch with this.

If this does happen it of course will feature DRM and you will not be able to take your recordings and play them on a PC.

Plus it will only have a single tuner,.

It will be interesting to see what features they manage to include if they update the firmware for these STBs. Will they allow you to watch an existing recording whist recording a new show for example.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

JimmyLizar

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#183753 12-Dec-2008 15:57

Russell Brown over at Public Address has this to say about the Zinwell unit, hes had one for testing

"Also, the MyFreeview HD PVR (officially, they're calling it a "DTR" or digital television recorder, because that's the name that came up best in consumer research) should be in the shops today. I got a demo of it a couple of weeks ago and was impressed at how much they'd spruced up the original Zinwell box and even had the remote (a typical weakness of this kind of kit, and a particular strength of the MySky) rearranged.
It has two tuners, rather than the MySky HDi's three, but is smart enough to look for and record the next instance of your chosen programme if there's a scheduling clash or a recording failure. The main problem right now? Price. They'll want it to come down from that RRP of $1149 pretty soon."

Find it here http://www.publicaddress.net/default,5565.sm#post5565

"The main problem right now? Price. They'll want it to come down from that RRP of $1149 pretty soon." - Damn right

.....c'mon sucker lick my battery........
binary solo...0000110000110000111...

watling

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#183759 12-Dec-2008 16:48

Anyone out there with a ZMT-640PVR that has got it working with their Harmony remote? Seems the Harmony DB doesn't know about it.

jonathan18

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#183776 12-Dec-2008 20:28

watling: Anyone out there with a ZMT-640PVR that has got it working with their Harmony remote? Seems the Harmony DB doesn't know about it.

More importantly for the rest of us - what's the verdict on this unit? I for one would really appreciate hearing some feedback from anyone who owns the Zinwell PVR. Thanks in advance!

watling

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#183783 12-Dec-2008 21:39

So far so good, Haven't really had a good play, but it works pretty much as you would expect, I had ( selling now on tradeME if anyone is keen) a topfield that did the same sort of tricks, but I'm lovin the HD picture now.
TV3 seems to have higher volume than other channels, There doesnt seem to many many options to adjust things,Also not sure if it keeps just x episodes of a prog or if you have to clean em up yourself. Way back I used to have a tivo which handled that stuff so well.

The topfield was always in record mode in effect, ie: you could always rewind after being on a channel for a while, With this it seems you have to hit 'pause, before this starts buffering now.
The unit isn't really noisy, but you can hear it. Had to teach my harmony remote each command in the end, takes a few minutes, but now its sweet. It has an ethernet port, but no clue in manual what you can do with it, they don't even label the port on the page that lists what's what. I must check if its grabbed an ip address... Hmmm, How do I see that in my router...

hamscanner

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#183900 13-Dec-2008 18:19

When in to DSE power house Hamilton today to have a look at the ZMT-640PVR, Only just got them (2) in today. I’m keen on getting one but would like to know if you can export the recorded programs to a other H/D (for play back or to burn off to disk) how about it Wannabe Geek how did you get on ?

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JimmyLizar

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#183912 13-Dec-2008 19:33

hamscanner:
would like to know if you can export the recorded programs to a other H/D (for play back or to burn off to disk)

I dont think this is possible

.....c'mon sucker lick my battery........
binary solo...0000110000110000111...

JimmyLizar

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#184773 17-Dec-2008 14:24

Just thinking about this some more...if you already have sky digital......(which we do)

ZMT-640PVR = $999 (at DSE)

For same price you could get a mySkyHDi ($599) and have 3+ years (40 months) of Sky's $10 HD ticket.

Pros:
- if mySkyHDi receiver breaks down they will replace or fix at no cost to you (as sky still owns the receiver)
- possible future receiver upgrades at little or no cost to you, thus ensuring you always have the latest technology
- you can record a huge amount of extra channels over what Freeview can provide

Cons:
- if you decide you dont want mySkyHDi after, say, 5 months, there is no way to recover the cost of the receiver. With a Freeview PVR you could at leat sell the receiver.

They way I look at it, if you already have sky, why would you bother with the PVR-640PVR, especially at the current price.

.....c'mon sucker lick my battery........
binary solo...0000110000110000111...

watling

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#184777 17-Dec-2008 14:36

Maybe the Sky box is better. I'm not particularly interested in the extra channels myself.
Other observations after a few days use. If you have it set to say, record the news at 6, and you turn on the telly at quarter past, you cant just hit rewind to go back to the start, you have to go to the list of recorded program, find the item, and start playing. Not a big issue, but not like a Tivo, or even the Topfield, that realises you are watching the same stream and lets you move the 'playhead'. It still does the timeshift thing really, just nowhere near a nicely implemented.
Also fast forwarding is not as responsive as other players, there is quite a lag between saying play after fast forwarding, and having it resume nicely. I also miss the fact it doesn't have the 30 ( or was it 60 ) minute buffer that was always caching the current broadcast. Sounds like I'm going on , but I had a Series 1 Tivo, and that was still miles ahead of anything I've had since. Even the way it would rewind just the right amount after fast forwarding was smart.

Lovin the HD picture on this new unit though :-)

jonathan18

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#186367 28-Dec-2008 14:03

A question for anyone who owns, or has played with one of these units -

Does it output the picture at its original resolution (ie TV3 in 1080; 1 and 2 in 720, and the rest at 576)?

The manual, which I reckon is terribly written and not at all comprehensive, seems to indicate that it does - page 8 provides the only information on the V.FORMAT button:

To switch among AUTO / 1080i / 720p / 576p / 576i

Am right in assuming that the "auto" does output the picture in its native resolution? It's just that from what I've read, the Zinwell receiver (not PVR) outputs all channels to a set resolution, and I was hoping this wasn't something they've carried over to their PVR.

Any other thoughts on this unit would be appreciated as well - would be good to see a full-scale review somewhere as well...

Thanks to anyone who replies... am still contemplating purchasing a unit at DSE's current price of $849, which finishes today.

Cheers
Jonathan

Deev8

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#186399 28-Dec-2008 18:45

jonathan18: ... am still contemplating purchasing a unit at DSE's current price of $849, which finishes today.

Given the current difficult climate for retail businesses, I'm sure that you will see the PVR available at $849 or better again before too long.

When other manufacturers release their Freeview|HD PVRs, the competition should help provide some downward pressure on prices as well.

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