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Philips/Pace Freeview HD PVR - HDT 8520 thread |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Philips/Pace Freeview HD PVR - HDT 8520 thread
Hi
Just thought I would start a thread about the new Philips (designed by Pace) HD PVR. Anyone considering this PVR? When I find any info such as reviews or links to manuals I'll add them here. At the moment we just have the same press release appearing everywhere. A demo of the box is here. Regards Phil |
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#2 |
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Yes, considering this one as Pace/Philips are well established names.
I checked Comet and they are quoting home delivery from the 17th May onwards, that's in the London area. The other box I was looking at is the Sagemcom unit but for some reason Comet have removed it from their listings. But I'll be waiting to see some reviews first before I buy. |
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#3 |
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Hi
Same here for my area, so looks like they have an estimate of arrival in the UK. I'm tempted to order it from Amazon regardless of any reviews being posted, they have a good returns policy and within 7 days I'll know whether it is good for keeping or not, I normally break something in a lot less space of time ![]() Regards Phil |
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#4 |
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Amazon are quoting 3 to 5 weeks delivery and I to would rather order from Amazon.....hate shopping at Comet.
I dare say other boxes will be on the market ready for the World Cup and if you wait until it's over then I would think prices will start to fall. The Pace/Philips still looks like the best option but as I said I'm going to wait for an independent review of it and others before spending £300 or so. |
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#5 |
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Hi
Just put an order in with Amazon, they are quoting estimate delivery date of 24 May to 5 June 2010. Thought if a limited supply I'll be first on the list, and if it arrives elsewhere first I can always cancel the order. Regards Phil |
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#6 |
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Quote:
Hi
Just put an order in with Amazon, they are quoting estimate delivery date of 24 May to 5 June 2010. Thought if a limited supply I'll be first on the list, and if it arrives elsewhere first I can always cancel the order. Regards Phil |
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#7 |
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Hi Quote:
I'll be interested in hearing what you think of the box. After seeing the demo video the one thing I will be turning off is the "Ambilight" feature; can't really see the point of it.
![]() I assume it doesn't change colour either with the picture, I thought the whole point of the Philips "Ambilight" was to adopt the prominent colour shown on the TV to give the feeling the screen didn't stop at the edges of the set. Certainly a gimmick, although as the guy demonstrating said it makes it stand out in the shop, which is probably it's main purpose. I will post up a review when I get it. Regards Phil |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Yep, this box is definitely on my short-list, along with the Sagemcom. I'm eagerly waiting to hear more about them both before making a decision.
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#9 |
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Hi
I contacted Pace about the delivery and they say the end of the month. I also pointed out how odd it was there is no specs or downloadable manual on either Paces or Philips website, in fact you can't find any mention of this product on either website! You'd think they would be shouting about it a bit more considering this is the first round of launches for HD PVRs. Regards Phil |
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#10 |
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Quote:
Yep, this box is definitely on my short-list, along with the Sagemcom. I'm eagerly waiting to hear more about them both before making a decision.
Quote:
Hi
I contacted Pace about the delivery and they say the end of the month. I also pointed out how odd it was there is no specs or downloadable manual on either Paces or Philips website, in fact you can't find any mention of this product on either website! You'd think they would be shouting about it a bit more considering this is the first round of launches for HD PVRs. Regards Phil Popped into my local Comet and had a very silly conversation with a member of staff...as far as he knew they weren't selling a Freeview HD PVR and when I pointed out it was on the website I got a very blank look...which is about par for Comet .
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#11 |
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Hi
Sounds about right for a Comet salesperson ![]() Yes I really wanted to check if padding was available as accurate recording isn't that accurate. A Humax this would replace on accurate recording often meant we lost the start or last seconds of a recording, something that hasn't happened with simple padding! I'd rather the start and stop times were under my control and not someone at the TV company, as like PDC before it, I always ended up losing more recordings than were saved by a late running program. Just reading the manual and there is padding on the Sagemcom, it is on page 32. You need to select what they call timer mode, and just like the Humax SD models, adding padding cancels series link, why it needs to I don't know. Regards Phil |
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#12 |
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Hi
Looks like the dates are slipping. Comet were quoting the 17 May as earliest delivery date, that has now moved to the 24 May, which is the same date Amazon are giving me on my pre-order. The Sharp HD PVR has also slipped to the end of May and the 3View box they are saying despatch on the 27 May. Wouldn't surprise me if these are all coming over from the same manufacturer in China on the same boat Are these things ever going to turn up in time for the world cup? Regards Phil |
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#13 |
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Quote:
Just reading the manual and there is padding on the Sagemcom, it is on page 32. You need to select what they call timer mode, and just like the Humax SD models, adding padding cancels series link, why it needs to I don't know Availability on any of the new PVR's seems to be very vague...lets hope that container ship doesn't run into any bad weather ![]() Yeah, I just love Comet
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#14 |
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I'm quite seriously looking at this box, to replace my long serving (and sometimes infuriating) Toppy. I've found it for £256.99 + free p+p, though i don't know anything about this company. A particular point of interest for me is the USB port. I know that out-of-the-box it only supports photo's and music, but does anyone know if it can be upgraded via firmware to support video playback (DivX mainly), or does this need to be in the hardware?. It would be great to be able to just plug in a flash drive and watch my AVI's.
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#15 |
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Hi Quote:
I'm quite seriously looking at this box, to replace my long serving (and sometimes infuriating) Toppy. I've found it for £256.99 + free p+p, though i don't know anything about this company. A particular point of interest for me is the USB port. I know that out-of-the-box it only supports photo's and music, but does anyone know if it can be upgraded via firmware to support video playback (DivX mainly), or does this need to be in the hardware?. It would be great to be able to just plug in a flash drive and watch my AVI's.
Pace/Philips seem to concentrating on getting the basic PVR features working first, then will look to upgrade the software later, but of course there are no guarantees they will do this. I guess it all depends on how popular the box is, but it has competition already arriving with TV over internet support, and Pace/Philips don't seem to be doing much to promote the box, for example try finding any PVRs on Philips website. Regards Phil |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
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I have seen some photos of Pace/Philips PVR and it look superb and easily the best looking PVR that I have ever seen.
I am very interested to see some reviews of the Pace/Philips HDT8520 Freeview+ HD PVR as I would like to get a Freeview+ HD PVR to replace my Topfiled TF5800PVR which I brought last year in January 2009 but HD broadcasts on Freeview will not be available in my area until next year 2011 when the region that I live in Anglia have our DSO. Will the Pace/Philips HDT8520 be available from all Comet stores or are Freeview HD PVR and standard Freeview HD receivers just available to store/shops that are in an area that have Freeview HD converge? Also I am not that bothered about where or not the Pace/Philips HDT8520 PVR will support BBC iplayer as my PS3 and Wii which are connected to my 42inch Full HD LCD TV have it. And I am not bothered about connecting the PVR to the Internet or using the PVR as a media hub because all I want from a Freeview+ HD PVR is that has to look good have a big hard disc, and receive all the HD channels that are broadcast on Freeview and be able to record. For me the Pace/Philips HDT8520 fits the bill perfectly. Also I from photos that I have seenI like the front LCD screen which not only tells you the channel number but also tel you the name of the channel. Most PVR and recivers give you one or the other but not both so well done Pace. I did have a look on the Internet to see if I could find some more information about the Pace/Philips HDT8520 and here is what I have found. http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/03...nds-on-photos/ http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sourc...bc1ee9fb173c0a And Comet are already selling the Pace/Philips HDT8520 for £299.99. http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/pro...HILIPS-HDT8520 |
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#17 |
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TV King Take a look at this http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...reeview-hd-pvr
PhilipL posted it at the begining of this thread. |
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#18 |
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Quote:
Hi
The hardware should support video playback via USB as I think all the set-top-box LSI's support this as standard. Of course it still has to be supported in software. Pace/Philips seem to concentrating on getting the basic PVR features working first, then will look to upgrade the software later, but of course there are no guarantees they will do this. I guess it all depends on how popular the box is, but it has competition already arriving with TV over internet support, and Pace/Philips don't seem to be doing much to promote the box, for example try finding any PVRs on Philips website. Regards Phil I know what you mean about the Philips site, i did have a look a week or so back, and there was absolutely no mention of the box. I'll probably wait until this has been on sale for a couple of weeks and check the reviews. |
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#19 |
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Quote:
TV King Take a look at this http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...reeview-hd-pvr
PhilipL posted it at the begining of this thread. I watched the video and I must say that I am very impressed. I like the look of the menus and I do not mind that the 8 day epg does not have a window that shows the channel that you are watching. I also like how easy it is to use but it still has all the features that I look for when buying a PVR. And Pace should be congratulated for concentrating on getting the basic of the PVR working first before they even think about adding BBC iplayer, media streaming Internet content etc which I do not really care for as I have my PS3 and Wii for BBC iplayer. All I want is form a PVR is it get the basic right first which is just what pace are doing. So well done Pace. Will the Pace/Philips HDT8520 be available in all Comet stores e.g. Essex or are they just available from store/shops where Freeview HD is already available? Also does the Pace/Philips HDT8520 have a optical socket for connecting to a surround sound home cinema amplifier? I am defiantly going to buy the Pace/Philips HDT8520 and until Freeview HD is available in my region Anglia next year when we have our DSO the PVR will just upscale the picture. |
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#20 |
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Hi Quote:
Also does the Pace/Philips HDT8520 have a optical socket for connecting to a surround sound home cinema amplifier?
Some more pictures of it, and of the remote are up at Amazon now. Regards Phil |
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#21 |
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Quote:
Will the Pace/Philips HDT8520 be available in all Comet stores e.g. Essex or are they just available from store/shops where Freeview HD is already available?
I am defiantly going to buy the Pace/Philips HDT8520 and until Freeview HD is available in my region Anglia next year when we have our DSO the PVR will just upscale the picture. I doubt if the PVR will upscale the picture as you will only get the standard Freeview channels so I don't think you'll see much difference as your TV is already doing that job. |
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#22 |
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Hi Quote:
I am defiantly going to buy the Pace/Philips HDT8520 and until Freeview HD is available in my region Anglia next year when we have our DSO the PVR will just upscale the picture.
Your TV is already upscaling the picture, it is unlikely you will see a better picture from the PVR, and there are some situations where upscaling at the source will give you a worse picture than the TV doing it.Regards Phil |
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#23 |
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Quote:
Hi
Your TV is already upscaling the picture, it is unlikely you will see a better picture from the PVR, and there are some situations where upscaling at the source will give you a worse picture than the TV doing it. Regards Phil Shouldn't this be similar technology in PVR's? |
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#24 |
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Quote:
Shouldn't this be similar technology in PVR's?
(Though some manufacturers are notorious for having poor upscalers, e.g. Humax.) |
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#25 |
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Hi Quote:
Chaps; could you clear up this upscaling issue for me. I bought a Toshiba HD DVD player as it was cheap but it does a REALLY good job of upscaling standard DVD's.
Shouldn't this be similar technology in PVR's? There are good reasons why the TV is often better. Due to overscan, your TV must apply some scaling, and you can't usually turn the TVs scaling off, so you get two lots of processing going on, never good as each scaling process (can be up or down-scaling) introduces a loss of detail. If you only have a 720p TV then when you think of the maths you can understand why you would not want to upscale at the source; 1) DVD Resolution is 414,720 pixels. 2) If your DVD player is set to upscale to 1080i then the DVD has to increase 414,720 pixels upto 2,073,600 pixels using fairly standard maths to average out values and guess at what those pixels should be, the point to note here is you have created 1,658,880 pixels, over 3 times the number in the original source. No matter how good the upscaler, it is just guess work, you can't put back in detail that wasn't there in the first place 3) Now you send that to your TV that supports 720p which typically will be 1366x768, so that is 1,049,088 pixels, so your TV in order to display the upscaled picture needs to throw away 1,024,512 pixels. Your TV has no idea what are pixels from the original picture on the DVD and what are the made up ones, so inevitably original pixels are lost, that is real image data thrown away. On top of that it has to average out the surrounding pixels, so any original pixels left are now altered and average out. So you are watching a picture that is just an estimation of what was there before. If your panel is 1920x1080 then at least it doesn't need to throw away all those pixels, but it will be processing for overscan and so zooming in enough to cause a second lot of scaling. Now you find people swear blind the above scenario results in a better picture. But then you can find people that swear blind their £200 interconnects to their amplifier and exotic directional oxygen free speaker cable has improved bass and treble and made the music more engaging, but do a blind listening and people can't tell the difference! Of course upscaling isn't the only thing happening, sharpening and contrast enhancement will also be in the mix to help give the appearance of more detail. If the source is applying more of this processing it might look better, but in terms of actual resolution and detail, it is just an illusion and you might be better off upping the sharpness and contrast on the TV. Upscaling can't improve the resolution and detail in the picture (it can't do magic) and the only purpose of upscaling is to ensure it fills the TV screen to the edges. If you can get away with doing this once on the TV, you are retaining as much of the original picture information you possibly can. Regards Phil |
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and had a very silly conversation with a member of staff...as far as he knew they weren't selling a Freeview HD PVR and when I pointed out it was on the website I got a very blank look...which is about par for Comet 