Homecast HT9200DTR compared to MySky HDi

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Handle9

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# 42623 7-Oct-2009 20:50

We've decided to cut the cord with Sky. Ironically it was getting MySky about 12 months ago which helped prompt the change. All the shows we series linked were on free to air TV so we thought that DVB-T would be a really good option. We also realised that we loved PVRs and so off down to JB Hifi I went.

JB sold me the Homecast HT9200DTR for $698. List was $799 but the usual "What's the best price you can do ... for?" was successful.

I'll be running the Homecast box in parallel with MySky for the next month or so and thought I would share my impressions:

Positive for Homecast:
Picture quality & sound is excellent - the same or better as MySky
It's super easy to setup
The menus are attractive and pretty easy to understand
Fast forwarding seems to be much faster although not quite as smooth
500GB Hard drive so way more storage than MySky
Series link is implemented. You get prompted when you choose to record a show whether you want to record the series. It's really nice.

Negatives:
The Remote sucks. It's got tiny buttons and if you don't push them square on they don't work very well. I've got a Harmony universal remote which works much better.
The EPG isn't as usable IMO or as fast as the sky one. You can still watch TV while you go through it.
If you want to change your output (HDMI, Component, Composite) you have to factory reset and you lose all your programmed recording.

All in all I'm really pleased with the device though and am looking forward to not having to pay for High Def TV.

richms

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# 262271 7-Oct-2009 22:26

How is the sound on it? The last 2 homecast dvb-t boxes I have tried have both had suckky audio so back they went and a JC matthews replaced them in both cases.

Richard rich.ms

Handle9

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# 262391 8-Oct-2009 13:13

richms: How is the sound on it? The last 2 homecast dvb-t boxes I have tried have both had suckky audio so back they went and a JC matthews replaced them in both cases.

Seems all good so far. I'm only running it out of the stereo outputs as my HTIB only has one digital input and that goes to the PS3.

dtvs

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# 263109 10-Oct-2009 18:29

Hi,

You can use the "Opt" button and the "A/V+" button to bring up the relevant popup menus to change the settings. Press the "Left" and "Right" button to navigate through the popup menu.

AH

Handle9

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# 263115 10-Oct-2009 18:55

Cool, thanks for that. Very useful to know cause I couldn't figure out how to do it otherwise.

Handle9

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# 263674 13-Oct-2009 15:27

Just an update as to how we're getting on with the device.

Yesterday for some reason it didn't start recording the TV1 news until 7pm. Don't know why, just did. Was most strange. It also didn't record Shortland Street which casued a certain amount of tension for my wife. It did record The Crowd Goes Wild at the same time though.Not sure what was going on there.

Probably the most annoying thing about the box is how it handles consecutive shows on the same channel.

Eg I recorded Border Security and Piha Rescue last night. Due to NZ TV always running late I over run each show by 10 minutes. On MySky it will do this even if it is recording a show on the same channel. What I mean by this is that my show at 7:30pm will have a recording time of 7:30pm-8:10pm and my show at 8pm (on the same channel) will record from 8pm-8:40pm. This means that I can watch the first show all the way to the end (as it always runs a few minutes late).

The Homecast box will record show 1 from 7:30pm - 8:00pm and then cut it off. Show 2 will be recorded from 8:00pm-8:40pm. To watch the whole of the first show I have to watch the start of the second show. It's kind of annoying if you're engrossed in a show and it cuts off and you have to go to the next file to finish it.

I know this seems like quite a minor thing but it's pretty annoying and MySky does a much better job with this. I would have thought it would only be a case of copying the same info into 2 files.

Other than these 2 things we're really enjoying the PVR and not tempted to keep Sky.