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Overall the Daewoo is a brilliant box for the money despite its few quirks ive experienced add in an additional tuner and / or the ability to simultaneously record and playback, and you've got a flawless box - as it stands its still a good contender for your money.
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Advantages: Intelligent Remote Layout, Fast EPG, Large 80GB HDD Disadvantages: Single tuner only, Teething Problems
...there were three boxes and daewoo being the only brand i really recognised, and after a recommendation from the sales assistant i went for it.
This box has 2 scarts on the rear, rgb output, stereo audio output as well as Coaxial Digital out. Now while the audio out is a very promising idea i dont believe it is that great since it appears to be lacking any sort of bass whatsoever leaving my technics hifi (previously reviewed) looking ... .../>
Overall the Daewoo is a brilliant box for the money despite its few quirks ive experienced add in an additional tuner and / or the ability to simultaneously record and playback, and you've got a flawless box - as it stands its still a good contender for your money.
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Yup so i bit the bullet and went for a freeview pvr, was a little skeptical as reception round here isnt brilliant. Went to my local dixons there were three boxes and daewoo being the only brand i really recognised, and after a recommendation from the sales assistant i went for it.
This box has 2 scarts on the rear, rgb output, stereo audio output as well as Coaxial Digital out. Now while the audio out is a very promising idea i dont believe it is that great since it appears to be lacking any sort of bass whatsoever leaving my technics hifi (previously reviewed) looking rather powerless as compared to the freeview experience offered by my previous box, Matsui DTR1.
The remote isn't too large, and has a good layout with clearly labelled buttons. It takes two AAA batteries which are NOT supplied which i found a bit stingy, although you do get a scart lead in the box as well as an instruction manual, that - while a little sparse does a good enough job to get you up and recording.
The EPG on this box is very good, detailed and fast and a preview of the channel you are currently watching is displayed in the top right. You can view listings up to 8 days ahead, and schedule recordings to take place, and set reminders to be displayed for programs.
Recording quality is good, and matches the original broadcast, you get 41 hours of disk space on the 80gb hdd which is relatively quiet, if a little noisy when a recording is intialised which reduces to a click every half a minute or so. the problem with this box is that it only has one tuner, meaning its impossible to watch something other than what you are recording. It is also not possible to watch something back previously recorded while recording something, you can only watch back when you're watching live tv. This is a software limitation, since some single tuner pvrs allow simultaneous playback and record. In respect to this limitation chase play is not supported while recording. Another oddity is that time slip while present and working well, has to be manually initiated by the user when it is needed. Channels do not automatically start indexing upon tuning to a new program, and when timeslip is active it is not possible to record. Once the channel is changed, time slip memory is erased as well, so better watch you don't accidentally hit the wrong key!
Input from the second scart is passed through when the box is in standby mode, u can switch to standby while the box is recording, and if the box is in standby and then a recording is scheduled it will auto tune and begin recording and stop appropriately while remaining in standby. The front display shows the time when in standby. there are leds on the front of the box indicated hard disk activity, power and remote signal. Also, when i first got this box recording performance was very poor, constantly freezing and / or jittering. Eventually, it got to the point where it would freeze completely on a frame from a previously deleted recording. This problem is highlighted on digital spy forums, i performed a full hard disk format using the option in the menu. After this, it has since been a rock solid box not a single missed beat on a recording!
You can set the box to delete recordings after a set period of time, or never delete them, which is useful. the box doesn't get very hot and the hdd is almost always silent enough to be tolerable. I cannot comment on the top up tv capbility of the box although it does have a card slot - or the digital output.
Overall the Daewoo is a brilliant box for the money despite its few quirks ive experienced add in an additional tuner and / or the ability to simultaneously record and playback, and you've got a flawless box - as it stands its still a good contender for your money.
