Freesat Freeview euro tv skyThe best kit, The best programmes

Visit Wotsat.com for daily news, reviews and updates from the world of digital TV, or join our forums.

Want to see more?

Technisat hdfv

september 2010

SubScriptionS offer

Subscribe today and get a fantastic subscriber only gift!

For the latest gift offer: Online: wotsat.techradar.com/inside-wotsat/subscribe or call 0844 848 2852(Lines open monday-Friday 8am-9.30pm, saturdays 8am-4pm)

subscribing from outside the UK? Call +44 (0) 1604 251 045 For back issues: www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/wotsatbackissue

* actual discounts vary

Greatgifts!

september 2010 What Satellite & Digital TV 3

teSt freeview

onscreen keyboard. recordings can be set up via the information banner (which displays now-and-next information only) by selecting a show in the epG and pressing record to bring up the timer options (where you’ll also find a VCr, channel-change and wake-up timers) or manually. there’s no series linking, but repeat options include daily, weekly, weekdays and weekend.

You can record one channel at a time and watch a recording from the start while it’s still in progress, but you can’t watch another channel while recording or browse most other menus including the epG. timeshifting only starts after you press pause. recordings can be fast-forwarded and rewound at 4x, 16x or 32x normal speed or skipped through in 10-minute chunks aided by onscreen arrows. recordings are labelled with name, date and time and play in a thumbnail view in the top-right corner of the screen when selected. You can add bookmarks to recordings, rename and edit them by excising chunks (e.g. adverts) in basic but still useful fashion. sadly, copyright concerns mean you cannot play recordings (sD or HD) on anything other than the HDFV. For media playback, music, photos and movies are all well-served by playlist and slideshow options but format support is limited (JpeG, mp3, mpeG-2, mp4). If you’re streaming from a pC, however, technisat recommends using a third-party program such as twonky or tVersity to transcode video into mpeG-2.

picture quality is excellent for live tV. It’s not HD standard but upscaling does boost sharpness in Freeview sD’s often mixed-quality broadcasts. HD channels look as crisp as you’d expect and recordings from both sources look as good as the original.

sound is also clear via our test tV’s speakers and when using the phonos and s/pDIF audio output n

Grant Rennell

featuresFreeview HD: Yes MHEG-5: Yes Teletext: Yes EPG support: 8-day DVb UHF modulator tuning: None Card reader: None Timer: 124 events, one weekSoftware upgrade: OtA/Usb HD video out: HDmISD video out: tV scart (s-video, composite), VCr scart (composite) Audio outputs: stereo phonos, s/pDIF

Technisat hdfvSingle-tuner recording and media playback make Technisat’s Freeview HD debut a bit of a bargain

Like its Freesat HD cousin (the HDFs), technisat’s first Freeview HD receiver also has the benefit of single-tuner recording to external Usb drives,

stealing a march on rivals the Icecrypt t2200 and Humax Fox HD t2 – both of which should catch it up soon.

On top of this there’s media playback either from Usb drives or, as with the Humax, streamed from pCs and NAs drives (provided they support either CIF or upnp sharing). Wireless streaming requires the addition of a technisat WLAN antenna costing £30.

the case design is in keeping with the HDFs and other current technisat receivers. It’s mostly black save for a classy silver navigation ring, illuminated power button and a bright-green, four-digit LeD display. A flap on the right side conceals an inactive smart card slot.

Joining the data ports on the rear are an aerial loopthrough, HDmI output, tV scart (outputting s-video and composite but not rGb), composite video output and coaxial s/pDIF and analogue audio connectors.

As there’s only one Usb those who want to have an antenna and drive connected at the same time can use a Usb hub, though it would have been nice to have an additional Usb port on the front of the machine.

the remote design and layout isn’t that original but button placement is good (even if most are the same size) and, unlike with the retro-upgraded HDFs, you have the benefit of proper pVr controls this time.

setup involves selecting your output (scart or HDmI) and aspect ratio then initiating the automatic scan. the resulting channel list can be called up by pressing ‘OK’ and then sorted into two radio or tV favourites lists. In a neat bit of integration this ‘NAV list’ also acts as a point from which to browse music, movies (including recordings) and pictures on attached drives. the mostly grey interface is rather plain-looking but has copious options for planning your viewing and recordings.

the full-screen epG displays eight-day data as a scrollable timeline grid for 11 channels at a time with synopses shown at the top for selected shows. You can skip to and fro in two-hourly chunks using colour keys on the remote or use the number keys to select a day.

You can also view now-and-next data in a separate menu, view a list of shows for one channel at a time, list programmes and channels by genre and search using an

n www.technisat.co.uk n £150 (approx)

verdictThe HDFV is an excellent Freeview HD receiver with lots of additional functionality for your £150. But its recording capabilities are limited, especially when compared with a fully fledged PVR – and we’d like to see a boost in the number of playable formats to compete with boxes from Humax and Icecrypt.

ratingsPLUSn Excellent performance n PVR and media playback via USB n EPG sorting options

MinUSn Recording playback restricted n No built-in Wi-Fi n Onboard format support limited

Build hhhhhhhhhh

Setup hhhhhhhhhh

Searching hhhhhhhhhh

Performance hhhhhhhhhh

Features hhhhhhhhhh

Value hhhhhhhhhh

83%