Sony SVRHDT500B Freeview HD Personal Video Recorder with Twin Tuner

This is Sony's first high definition Freeview hard disk recorder, making Sony among the first major electronics brands to launch a Freeview+ HD player in the UK. Freeview HD (high definition) is gradually being rolled out across the UK and new players are being launched as the market grows. Standard definition (SD) Freeview uses the DVB-T standard, whereas Freeview HD uses DVB-T2, meaning that in order to get Freeview in high definition, you'll need to buy a new box with a DVB-T2 tuner inside.

Sony's SVR HDT-500 Freeview+ HD box contains the necessary DVB-T2 tuner for receiving Freeview in high definition, and also contains a 500GB hard disk drive for recording TV programmes. In fact, the SVR HDT-500 contains two DVB-T2 tuners, meaning you're able to record two programmes simultaneously. If you've ever used a Sky+ HD box, this works along the same principle. You can pause live TV, rewind, skip forward (though no further than the point at which the live broadcast has got to) and record up to 300 hours of SD programmes and 125 hours of HD programmes, which should be enough for most people - if you plan on recording more than this you can always opt for the 1TB version, which has twice the capacity of this one.

The box itself is very sleek and fits in with the recent Sony product branding, with a glossy face and matted top and sides, and a minimalist approach to buttons. It's relatively light, but heavier than a normal Freeview box due to the presence of the hard disk drive inside. The power supply is actually an external unit, so you have a little black box (just a bit bigger than a deck of cards) that plugs in between your wall socket and the player itself. Although this can be a little unsightly, it does help to keep the player cool internally, thus keeping the internal fans running at a slower (and quieter) pace.

The remote control is what you'd expect from most Sony devices these days, it's slick and well laid out. It's slightly wider than a standard Sony TV remote due to the extra buttons it needs, but if your TV supports Bravia Sync you won't need to use your TV remote at all. Bravia Sync is Sony's branding for HDMI-CEC, the ability of connected HDMI devices to be controlled with a single remote. If you own a Sony TV from the last five years, chances are that it will feature Bravia Sync. As this is a standard technology across most brands, you may be lucky enough to find that your non-Sony devices are able to be controlled with the SVR HDT-500's remote too.

The SD picture quality is very good, and not far off the very best available. It automatically upscales to whatever resolution your TV is set to (either 720p, 1080i or 1080p) and produces very few visual artefacts in the process. You get all the existing SD channels exactly as you would on a normal Freeview box.

In addition to the SD channels, you have the HD channels. There are currently only a handful of Freeview channels available in HD, the latest addition being BBC One HD in October 2010 - before this the only BBC output in HD was from BBC HD, a part-time channel showing a selection of HD programmes from the BBC. Alongside BBC One HD and BBC HD are ITV1 HD and 4HD, with more channels set to follow in the future.

When watching TV you have a variety of features available, including the usual subtitles, descriptive audio and 'red button' services. You can also use 'Picture in Picture' mode for showing one channel in the corner of the screen while watching another. It may sound strange but it's quite handy if you want a flick round the channels while adverts are being shown.

The menus and TV guide are very clean looking but are also quite plain compared to some other players. One of the The SVR HDT-500's main competitors, the 500GB Humax Freeview+ HD box, shows a video preview of each channel as you browse through the TV guide listings and it would have been nice to include such a feature here. Sadly, not only do you not have a video preview but you don't even have a text preview as part of the TV guide. You actually have to highlight the programme you may want to record and then press the 'Information' button for a synopsis. This seems to be the only real oversight on this player, but it's frustrating enough to become a bit of a pain, especially when looking through dozens of episodes of The Simpsons to find which episodes you want to record.

A nice surprise was to find an HDMI cable enclosed, which is exactly what you'll need to connect this to an HD TV. There are also plenty of other options including a digital coax socket for 5.1 output and a standard network connection to hook the player up to the internet. There isn't anything useful to be gained from doing this at the moment but the BBC iPlayer is currently scheduled to be integrated with the SVR HDT-500 sometime in May 2011, meaning you'll be able to stream TV programmes over the internet.

One thing you'll want to check is that you can actually receive Freeview in HD, otherwise this will just show the SD channels until your area receives the new signal. You can easily find out by going to the Freeview website and using their coverage checker.

Overall, the Sony SVR HDT-500 is a well built, very stable Freeview+ HD box. I've not encountered any problems with stuttering, freezing or audio dropping like some other players around, and I'm very pleased with the overall image quality. The menus are fast and responsive, and it's very easy to set up thanks to a simple walkthrough guide when you first turn it on.

To go with my super-duper new Sony 40" HD LED TV (new in Jan 2011) I wanted a way to record programmes easily without having to fire up a standard definition Freeview box in a cupboard, change inputs and press loads of buttons. The EPG in the TV is excellent - 9 rows and importantly, a decent space for a summary of each programnme as you scroll about. All it needed was a 'Record' button so I could select a programme and set it to record.

I had hoped that the this recorder, being the same generation as the TV and with the wonders of BraviaSynch, would do this for me. I had fondly hoped that after setting it up a 'Record' button might appear in my TVs EPG, but no luck. In fact you're supposed to feed the incoming signal into the recorder first, then take it to the TV. Thus the recorder is always on (and warm, using electricity - a simple physical loop-through now seems to be impossible) and thus you have to use the recorder's EPG. You'd think it would be the same as the TV's EPG, being the same generation and all that. Oh no it bloody isn't. Same size screen of course, but now only 8 rows and most annoyingly, NO summary visible as you scroll around. Instead, you have to select a programme, then press the 'info' button to bring up two lines of description, then press 'info' again which gets you a bit more, then press 'back' to make the info go away, then carry on scrolling. We know Sony can make a great EPG because there is one in the TV; quite why they threw it away and went back a step defeats me. Infuriating.

As a result I use the TV EPG instead and leave the recorder switched off and only switch it on when I want to record something. Then I have to change inputs, try to find the programme again (because the recorder is invariably set to a different channel), hit 'Record', then change inputs again and then switch it off, going back to the TV.

Apart from that, the product works well, picture quality seems very good, it's not noticeably loud, it looks nice, it's small. However the functionality is not as good or as intuitive as the TV (or the old Sony HD/DVD recorder) and whoever did the EPG bit should be shot - because Sony can make it better and didn't. Such a silly thing to trip up on. So my grand plan to buy Sony recorder because it would be totally compatible didn't quite work, but it is still the best of the various options as the remotes do interact to a certain extent.

ETA: Once recorded, there is no facilty to edit out adverts or over-runs. As it's on a hard drive this should be easy - my old Sony DVD/HDD recorder could do it. So why not this one? The menus are full of options but never what you want. Not intuitive; as suggested elsewhere I think someone else designed this machine and Sony just bought it in. Fix the interface/functionality and it woud be perfect.

I've had one of these PVRs now for about a month and I can only say good things about it.
The picture quality is excellent and the sound is dramatically better than through my old freeview PVR.
Recording and playing back is a doddle as is set-up (which only took a few minutes all without stress or agro). The screens and menus are clear and easy. And while the fan noise can be just noticed when you stand near to the unit without any sound on, I have never noticed it when watching TV.
The menus are clear and easy to read and when connected to the internet via a network cable you can vie BBC Iplayer via the red button.
Oh, and if you have a Sony TV the remote control operates both your TV and the PVR.
I chuffed with mine.
What more is there to say?