Denver DVH-1238DVBT multiregion upscaling DVD with Digital TV & recording function

For some reason equipment of this category have very poor reviews and I had trouble finding out what I really need so I will try to describe this product that I bought as well as I can and hope to help someone.

This is a product that will basically enable you to:
a) play dvd's and video files to your television.
b) record files from the tv to a usb stick, sd card or external hard disk.
c) turn a pc monitor or an old analog television to a freeview tv.

I purchased the product to turn a relatively new lcd monitor 21'', that had no other use in the house any more, to a tv that can play dvd's and record open to air channels on usb sticks.

The product had the BEST delivery service I have ever seen in online shopping! I ordered the product on a wednesday dawn around 5:00 am at 8:00 am the same day I received an email that was telling me that the product is shipped and 2 hours later that it will be delivered at thursday 3:15 pm to 4:15 pm. There was a link to the email in case I wanted to chage the delivery time. Next day I received a reminder and I could still change the time if I had to. The delivery was completed in time and the product was in it's original very sturdy packaging.

The player is a standalone device that has a retro look reminding me of old amplifiers. the case is made of metal on top and bottom and only the front panel is silver plastic.

I had to buy a hdmi to dvi cable from amazon to connect the player to the monitor. But I new that all along. A very positive thing this player has is that it has a wide range of ports that you can use it to get the signal from the device to your monitor. Among them is scart, hdmi, RGB analog, coaxial. There are seperate outs for sound if you prefer to use seperate speakers instead of the tv speaker like; the classic R/L output and optical (s/pdif), so you won't have problem connecting the device probably. There is even an antenna loop (RF loop) that can allow you to share the signal with another device which can be helpful.

As soon as the device was connected to the monitor the setup wizzard started automatically. I was prompted to choose country and osd language. After that it started scanning for free to air channels. It managed to scan all the major uk tv channels and probably all of the small ones. It has also scanned the radio channels of the area and stored them separately. After that you get to see real tv on your monitor.

The picture quality is quite good, not excellent but nothing to blame really. HD upgrade can be switched on and off and you can choose between 720p, 1080i and 1080p according to what your monitor/tv can support. Turning HD on improves picture quality but not spectacularly. Generally, I am pleased with the picture quality 4/5.

EPG is a classic EPG function. Programmable for 15 days ahead. The layout of the EPG is pleasant and easy to naivgate. Device supports subtitles, teletext and has an add to favourite channel function.

dvd player produced very good quality of picture and can play divx, xvid, mpg and avi files apart from dvds. You can even insert a dvd with various files written and see them from your tv/monitor. Of course you will be only able to play the supported formats. You can also stop and resume, repeat A ->B, step frwd/bkwd, change chapter, go to main menu instantly e.t.c.

Another interesting feature of the device is that it can rip audio CDs to a usb or sd card.

Recording can be done to a usb stick, sd card or external hdd. the usb stick must be a fast one otherwise you will get a notice on your screen that the speed is not good enough. the size of the usb drive is not limited, I have tested up to 120 GB external hdd. To the contrary the maximum size of sd card the reader supports is 2GB! and this is only mentioned in the manual that comes with the product! You can record directly while you watch a channel or via the EPG, timeshifting is supported. You can access your files through a basic file manager also.

It is important to mention that the files that will be made by recording are not encrypted in any way. You can play them on your laptop, copy them and use them anyhow you want.

The tv control has a good size and I wouldn't say that it breaks easily, if you treat it normally. Only flaw I find is that the remote controller is not very responsive first time after a long interval(you have to press the button twice the first time) and the batteries that came with it were worn out.

The device has also 3 arcade games in th memory chip that can be accessed from the setup menu.

All in all it is at least an "honest" deal that will give you at least as much as you pay for. If you need to add pvr, dvd playing function to a modern tv is a good deal, if you need to revive a lcd monitor this is an even a better deal as you also get the dvb function.

The biggest drawback for me is that the documantation for the product is kind of short so you have to experiment yourself a bit, I hope my review will aid to a more straightforward use of the product.

Not what I expected. The remote cover for the batteries snapped the first time I tried to put batteries in. Quality in design is poor as you would expect from the price. I would not recommend this to anyone. The up scaling of the picture is good for the price. Sound out put not so good.