Choice PVR review - November 2015

[IanL-S]

Got an email today saying that Choice had done a group tests of PVRs. The SKIPPA was not one of the recommended ones (not clear from the www site why). But it did out-perform the Altech 9600. It scored very highly on EPG and series recording. I will report more once I get my copy. Yes I know printed copy is so 20th century ... forgot to change my subscription details to get the iPad version (and that would have saved me money).

Ian

[stretch4x4]

Been keen to have a read of that..
Started looking at some of the other options on the market just out of interest and would be keen to see a full comparison

[warkus]

I have an electronic choice subscription Ian, what is it you would like to know?

The humax 4tune seemed to come out on top.

The Skippa scored 64% overall, same as the Beyonwiz T4. No idea how, they are light years apart.

[warkus]

As listed on choice...(I did have to have a little laugh I'm sorry)...

Good points   
•Automatic commercial skip
•Supports Freeview Plus EPG
•Supports IceTV EPG
•Series recording picks up all instances of the selected program, regardless of time or channel
•Can record up to six programs simultaneously
•Internet access required

Bad points   
•Company has gone into voluntary administration
•No facility to edit recordings
•No manual scheduling facility
•Can't rename recordings


So they still reviewed it and at least mentioned that the company was in administration, that's one thing at least...

Mark

[stretch4x4]

Interesting the 4tune did seem to tick most of the boxes..
My only issues ah I wish it could record more than 4 things is sub streams.. And had a PC app to stream live tv to not just iPhone and Android..

[Jondalar]

Intersting that the 4Tune won, I've had one almost a year and barely used it due to the clunky EPG and no IceTV, sticking with the Topfield 2400 instead.  I will say the Humax has a better picture quality though.  Mine is in for repair currently as it stopped maintaining the clock on standby and then started refusing to power the pass through antenna on standby also.  I find the Skippa a very easy to use device and while the quality doesn't feel that great it's worked very well so far.

[Paul55]

I find Choice to be next to useless when reviewing equipment such as PVRs. Likewise computer magazines.
They tend to look at the comparison from a technical viewpoint and ignore 'usability' and functions that can only be appreciated/despised after some time with the device.

[prl]

I agree about Choice not being all that good a guide on PVRs.

The previous PVR review in Choice (print version Aug 2015) marked the T3/2TB down to 0% on standby power consumption. They clearly measured standby rather than deep standby power.

[csutak40]

I find Choice to be next to useless when reviewing equipment such as PVRs. Likewise computer magazines.
They tend to look at the comparison from a technical viewpoint and ignore 'usability' and functions that can only be appreciated/despised after some time with the device.

They seem to be bad at reviewing lots of things lately.  Coffee machines is a good example.  Or a while back, they compared ovens, some brands the top of the line  and others not.  Surprisingly, the top of the line could do things the one not the top of the line could not (however, had they reviewed the top of the line of that brand, it could also do the same thing)  I often find the comments by members are more helpful than the actual review.  Some of the stuff they do make no sense.  The highest recommended model may have a list of "bad points" then the next one down the line  has "nothing to mention" for bad points, yet it got second place - no explanation.

[simoncasey]

The biggest problem for me with choice was the relative weighting they put on their assessments. I often found they weren't appropriate to me but if I was to re rank the items based on my weighting a then it would give a good result. Eg as per prl's comments above, if you generate your own power then standby power usage may not be important so would be rated much lower. If you want the product for an older generation then ease of use and easy to read remote and screen would be much higher rated.
I've always thought it would be great if the online version of choice allowed you to set your own weightings. Still use their assessment of each component, but you could choose which ones were important to you and see what comes to the top of the list.

[IanL-S]

Yes, needs of users are diverse.

I think the SKIPPA would be ideal for my mother-in-law (83 years young).

While I like a lot of things about the SKIPPA, the absence of renaming recordings and not ftp means that it is relegated to a backup device when it come to recording.

Ian

[emmsee]

Could someone supply a list of choice pvr's compared with there relative score?

[create]

Humax 4Tune   74%
Panasonic DMR-BWT955GL   74%
LG HR949T   73%
Panasonic DMR-HWT250GL   73%
Panasonic DMR-PWT550GL   73%
Humax 2tune   71%
Beyonwiz T3   66%
Beyonwiz T4   64%
IceTV Skippa   64%
Topfield TRF-5310   64%
Beyonwiz T2   63%
Fetch TV M605T   63%
Altech PVR9600   52%

[IanL-S]

My understanding is that the TRF-5300 series have not yet been released to market. These units use old technology (unlike many of those reviewed). It uses the same SoC (System On Chip) as the TRF-2400 that I purchased in December 2009. It offers less than the 2400 (no analogue input, no eSATA port and no fan to keep its insides cool).

In its defence, it was under-rated as it does have series recording (via IceTV Interactive); it even has a native series recording (may only be a re-badged IR - Intelligent recording - from the 2400).

Ian

[nis200sx]

Humax 4Tune   74%
Panasonic DMR-BWT955GL   74%
LG HR949T   73%
Panasonic DMR-HWT250GL   73%
Panasonic DMR-PWT550GL   73%
Humax 2tune   71%
Beyonwiz T3   66%
Beyonwiz T4   64%
IceTV Skippa   64%
Topfield TRF-5310   64%
Beyonwiz T2   63%
Fetch TV M605T   63%
Altech PVR9600   52%

Apparently they tested the Skippa with early firmware and didn't update it to the latest version (even though software updates is a feature of the box via a simple menu click).

How did the T3 beat the T4? Maybe they didn't like the T4 remote control. And somehow the T2, T3 and T4 each got different scores for their (identical) EPGs.