Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Had mine months, works wonderfully, upgrades well, 6 April 2006
I have had this PVR for six months and use it daily. It's worked brilliantly for me from the off and I haven't regretted buying it at all - great value for money. I find it really simple to operate and the display/recording function is great. It is possible to connect the unit to an external source, such as a DVD recorder, if you want to transfer your recordings. It's worth noting that the dual tuner function allows you to record one channel while watching another (as opposed to making recordings of two simultaneously to the HD to watch later). While you are recording one and watching the other you can pause, rewind, play or fast forward the channel you are watching (up to a maximum of thirty minutes delay on the channel being watched).Each upgrade (I've completed two now) has improved functionality and installed in a couple of minutes without a hitch; for example, the record function no longer adds 5 minutes before and 15 after a programme when choosing programmes by name from the programme guide, meaning that consecutive programmes may be set for recording by one button press while in the programme guide (a couple of firmware upgrades ago this time either side of a programme was included in this function and, whilst great for not missing a second of the programme concerned, it was not good if you wanted to set recording for something before or after that programme via the guide). It was always possible to avoid this issue by setting the timer instead of using the one button press feature while reviewing the programme guide but I agree with the reviewer commenting on this earlier incarnation that it wasn't the greatest idea as who wants to spend time on a workaround for an issue that shouldn't be there in the first place ? Thankfully this has disappeared now. In terms of installation, I was up and running in a few minutes. It's pretty much automatic once you have the unit plugged in and the on screen instructions are easy to follow. Like all freeview boxes, if you experience any signal "drop out" or pixellation when viewing channels check your aerial as this is more likely to be the cause of problems than the box itself (it may be necessary to boost the signal). When buying a PVR this aspect becomes more important as, if the signal is lost during a recording, that recording will terminate at that time and only pick up again (as a separate recording) if the signal is strong enough - I had this issue, boosted the signal with a digital aerial on the first day I got the unit and have not had a drop out on recording since. It was nothing to do with this PVR but mention this as it is not necessarily the most obvious conclusion you first draw when your PVR splits recordings in two (hope this info saves others some time and frustration !).
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good - and a real bargain, 18 Nov 2006
All in all I think this is a pretty good PVR that has all the features that matter - seven day EPG, pause live TV, and two freeview tuners.
I found it to be pretty much plug and play with the device picking up all the freeview channels in a matter of minutes. The EPG is a little fiddly, especially as the guide physically changes the channels on the TV when you scroll through them in the programme menu. However, it has never once (in three months of use) failed to record something that I wanted. It did crash once in the early days when doing an automatic software update, but since then I've had no problems.
I would fault the manufacturer on failing to point out a few things in the pretty sparse product manual.
For example, thanks to the two tuners you can of course record and watch different channels at the same time. But what you can't do is use the pause live TV option while doing so.
If you do, the device jumps directly to whatever channel you were recording on once that programme has finished (and you lose the last few minutes of whatever you were watching!).
But, I think the very fact that you are getting a unit with two freeview tuners for just over £100 is pretty amazing value for money. As long as you are prepared to find out a few of the product quirks for yourself, I'd definitely recommend it.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best . . ., 8 Jan 2006
By A Customer
I bought the Sagem PVR 6280T over a month ago so the comments are based on a few weeks of use.In general PVRs are magic; the ability to record programmes without searching for a blank video cassette and the ability to freeze live programs for up to half an hour before watching will transform your viewing experience. I rate the Sagem highly. It is well constructed, runs quietly and has not frozen once since purchased. I use it in Somerset with a standard high-gain roof aerial and booster amplifier. The design does have a few quirks. If you are watching in deferred mode and a pre-set recording starts, the deferred channel that you are watching jumps to live! This has cought me out a couple of times. Thank goodness for repeats! Also if making recordings on channel five using the guide programme, the five minute news break confuses the timer and means you lose the second part of the recording unless you change the end-time manually. Easy to do. This is a processor based unit. It takes some fifteen seconds to switch on and off which can be a little offputting until you get used to it. Just think of it as another computer! Note that recordings will start and run successfully from standby mode - the manual fails to mention this fairly basic feature.
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