EchoStar HDS-600RS SlingLoaded TV Anywhere Freesat+ HD digital TV recorder

[IMPORTANT UPDATE (Feb 2012): As of firmware version 121R this device now supports DiSEqC - see below]

First of all, this is a great piece of kit. Feature-wise it is absolutely superb, I've yet to find it lacking in any feature I would want - and that's after about a month of using it.

It's not without it's faults, though - hence the four stars. I'll get to the faults later as there are many positives to mention first.

THE BASICS

This is a FreeSat HD receiver and PVR. That is, it receives free to air satellite services (no subscription required) on the Freesat system in the UK including HD services and allows you to record them directly on the box (no external recorder like a VCR required. This means that it is the Freesat equivalent of Sky+, or Sky+HD to be more accurate.

In addition to this receiver / PVR functionality, this box also has the SlingMedia / SlingBox system built in. This system allows you to 'watch your own TV' anywhere you have internet access. This is different to Sky's "Sky Go" system which a allows you to watch over the internet some of the same services you have subscribed. The Sky system, I believe, streams the programmes from Sky to your browser, whereas the Sling system actually streams the programmes from your own Sling box - in this case the Echostar HDS-600RS.

This Sling functionality means that not only can you watch all of the TV channels that you can watch on the box at home over the internet, but you can also watch your recording over the internet. What's more, you actually get the full EPG and system menus etc. in your browser window - it really is as though you were sat in front of your TV at home. Well, almost. The quality of the picture you get on your PC - including the on-screen menus and EPG - depend very much on the 'uplink' speed of your home internet connection (remember most ISP give you a reasonable download speed, but a tiny fraction of that speed for uploading!). Therefore on-screen text can be pretty difficult to read, but it is still usable, and in most cases it's not the text/menus you are watching - still it will be something to consider for some people.

You'll gather from the above that in order to use the SlingBox functionality in the HDS-600RS you are going to need a broadband connection - that will be obvious to some, but maybe not to everyone looking for a FreeSat receiver so I figured it's better to mention it. Network connectivity is wired only, no wireless I'm afraid. Home plug adapters such as the TP-Link TL-PA211KIT 200Mbps Mini Powerline Ethernet Adapter - Twin Pack work fine if you intend to place this box nowhere near your broadband connection.

In the pictures the box looks pretty ugly - that's Sling styling for you, all sling boxes are that funny wedge shape. I guess it's branding, but it's not particularly nice, and coupled with the shiny in places plastic case I thought this box was going to look awful. When I opened the box it didn't look great, and the red flash down the sides just looks cheap. However, when hidden away under the telly it actually doesn't look awful - the red lights on the front buttons are a bit on the bright side though, especially in a darkened room.

AS A FREESAT RECEIVER

This box scores very highly as a Freesat HD receiver. It has twin-tuners so you can record one programme and watch another at the same time, or even record two programmes at the same time so long as you are not trying to watch a third).

Picture quality is excellent in both SD and HD, and surround sound is supported on both the S/PDIF optical digital audio output and the HDMI connection.

The programme guide is nice and clean, and nice and fast - this is quite often the let down in any set top box, but Echostar have done well here. O pressing the 'Guide' button you are presented with a list of categories of channel. You can, of course, just select all channels to view the lot, but the groupings are pretty sensible so can speed up finding the channel you want. There is also an option for 'On demand' services which include the BBC's iPlayer and other 'catch-up' services to launch soon.

One feature that I really like is the fact that the SCART output remains live when an HD output is set on the HDMI output. This is useful when, for example, you have an HD capable projector with HDMI connectivity and a CRT TV without. Many set-top-boxes and BluRay players, for example, disable the SCART output whenever an HD output is selected on any output due to the fact that they don't have down-conversion capability. This is a very welcome feature in this box as it allows the box to feed a CRT TV (or 'second TV') in SD for regular viewing, and the big telly in HD via the HDMI connection for big viewing.

The choice of channels available is down to FreeSat, not this box, so I won't go into that here. If you want to know what is available head over to the FreeSat website for the latest channel line-up.

AS A PVR

Recording a future programme is simply a case of pressing the record button on the remote while that programme is selected in the guide. Pretty standard stuff, so good to see it hasn't been messed with. Series linking is also supported, with the option of recording a single programme or a whole series popping up when appropriate when you press that record button. Of course manual recording times can also be set [UPDATE: It ses that in version 121R the ability to setup manual recordings has disappeared. There has been no explanation why from Echostar yet, but I will update this review if I hear anything].

A library is kept of your recordings which can be accessed by hitting the 'lib' button on the remote. Oddly the manual record function is not available this way, to get to that you have to choose the 'library' option on the main menu (accessed by hitting the sling logo button in the middle of the remote).

Recording seems pretty robust with both individual recording and series linked recording working reliably. You may want to tweak the over-time record settings though as the default has cut off credits on a couple of my recordings... a few more minutes would be safer.

SLINGING

The Sling functionality works well. I didn't have any problems setting this up, just head to watch.slingbox.com with your favourite web-browser and follow the prompts. You should do this from your home network first to make sure everything's working, then when you want to connect from a remote network for the first time make sure you have your slingbox id (found in the main menus under the slingbox settings) handy as you'll probably need that in order for the sling systems to find your box.

As previously mentioned you control the box exactly the same way you would sat in front of the TV (even with an exact replica virtual remote on screen). The quality will more than likely depend on your uplink speed from home to the internet, unless you are using a mobile / netbook / iPad / whatever to view over a 3G network or something slower / flakier (yes, there are mobile applications for apple, android and WM6.5 and 7 for viewing your Slingbox!!!). One other thing to note is that services such as iPlayer are not available through the slinging - this is probably a rights issue as it would potentially circumvent the BBC's iPlayer restrictions on only being able to view iPlayer content in the UK (actually a content owners restriction placed on the BBC rather than the BBC themselves).

INSTALLATION

If you have an existing Sky installation with a spare LNB output (that's the plugs on the bottom of the bit sticking out of the dish) - or preferably two spare - then setting up this box is simply a case of plugging this box into the LNB output(s), into your network (homeplug network interfaces are a good option, and you don't need to go to the expense of buying the Sling branded ones), plugging in the mains, switching on and following the on-screen prompts. If you only have one spare LNB output the box will still work, though you'll only be able to record/watch one channel - you need two LNB connections to record one while watching another (or record two channels simultaneously).

Network-wise the box will look for a DHCP server by default, and this works seamlessly so you'll probably just leave that alone unless you have specific network requirements in which case there's a menu for setting your network parameters. Pretty basic, but it should be enough.

One thing to note is that you don't seem to be able to do anything at all with the box without an LNB connection. Everything here is presented as a satellite service even the BBC iPlayer so you can't just hook up the box to the network and fiddle with that. Not that you are likely to want to, but I was still setting my dish up and wanted to have a look at the menus - not possible until you've got some services/channels loaded into the box's database.

BEYOND FREESAT

When you first power on the box it will look for the default FreeSat transponder. I couldn't find a way of getting to any setup menus at this point as I've mentioned, but once the box is tuned and up and running a quick dig around in the setup menus reveals an option to switch the box out of FreeSat mode. This means that this box can actually be used as a free-to-air satellite receiver for any DVB satellite network. If anyone knows how to access this menu before having tuned into FreeSat services, feel free to post a comment to ths review as it may help someone out. Read more ›

Just a quick update for anyone considering buying one now. I would ignore early reviews as software updates have made them redundant. The latest software is v121R (only available via internet at time of writing as its new).
Important stuff.
1. It has never missed a recording.
2. No harder to use than when you first got your Sky+ (remember?)
3. The remote is fine (although I use "Logitech Harmony 600" for controlling everything).
4. Sling works very well.
5. It will only get better as Echostar release future updates.
6. Unusual design, but looks fine under my TV. (lights can now be dimmed and it can be made silent in standby)
7. Read the manual as most of the things people have issues with can be changed in the settings!
8. Would I buy it all over again, Yes. At £179.99 there is just nothing to compete. Humax old/outdated/more expensive. Samsung more expensive/not as good.

I own a Humax Freesat box myself, but recommended the Echostar to a technophobic relative so that I could log in using Sling to help them use the box.

They haven't needed any help at all!!! It is far far easier to use than our Humax. Here's what I've spotted so far:

1) The menus look nice, and seem really well designed.
2) When the box is asking you something (e.g. "would you like to record this in HD?" or "the programme you are trying to record clashes with one you have already set, would you like to record it on ITV+1 instead?" etc) it asks in plain simple English which anyone can understand.
3) The remote control is programmable (i.e. it's a learning remote), _and_ comes pre-programmed with codes for 10000s of TVs. A bit like Sky's remote (and unlike Humax's) it has _dedicated_ buttons for the TV's power button, volume buttons, mute button and AV select buttons. This means you don't have to worry about selecting the right function or mode to get the TV volume to work.
4) It's faster to use than the Humax. Especially the guide (EPG) and the library (list of recordings) are much faster to appear.

Main criticisms are the size of the writing on the remote control (the buttons themselves are small too, but because the space between them is good, this doesn't seem to matter, even with large fingers!), and the fact there's no RF modulator output for feeding really old TVs. It's clearly not meant for people with really old TVs (the menus look great on an HDTV!), but I bought an RF modulator separately and plugged it into one of the SCART sockets so my relative could watch the STB in the kitchen too.

I'll have to wait and see if my relative finds it 100% reliable before I can say I'd like one myself. Until the recent software update, I found the Humax 100% reliable, so would never have swapped. Now I've seen how slick a modern box can be, and seen some frustrations with the Humax on the latest software, I think I might be temped - and that's without considering the Sling functionality (which I don't need myself as I already own a Sling box!).

The Echostar is £50 more expensive than the Humax, but when you're spending this much money already, it's probably worth it to avoid the life-shortening frustrations of using a lesser box!

P.S. the five star rating is from my relative, who is utterly delighted with it - she tells me this every time I speak to her! Previously she had seven analogue channels (really, seven: two different ITVs and BBC Ones) and a complicated DVD-R that she rarely used. The Echostar STB is a revelation.