|
||||||||
Philips/Pace Freeview HD PVR - HDT 8520 thread |
![]() |
|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|
#26 |
|
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
|
Quote:
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!
Also, don't dismiss the benefits of good interconnects and speaker cables in an audio system, although this is a market that is awash with snake oil, every cable IS an electronic component (yes even optical interconnects) in the system and WILL have an effect on the sound quality, e.g. Speaker cables actually act as quite significant capacitors. |
|
|
|
|
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
|
|
|
#27 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi Quote:
Don't forget that some TVs will allow overscan and other processing to be turned off and display 1:1 pixels - like a PC monitor. This enables a better external upscaler to be used that has access to the original compressed data and hence can build upscaling into the decoding process and compensate for the encoding artefacts it knows about.
Also, don't dismiss the benefits of good interconnects and speaker cables in an audio system, although this is a market that is awash with snake oil, every cable IS an electronic component (yes even optical interconnects) in the system and WILL have an effect on the sound quality, e.g. Speaker cables actually act as quite significant capacitors. As for cables and snake oil, so true. But when talking about digital signals, the cheapest cable will produce the same picture or audio as the most expensive. Put it this way, print a photo to your printer using the cheapest USB cable you can find, then buy a very expensive USB cable with gold plated connections and repeat the printout. The photographs will be identical, and most people wouldn't have expected there to be an improvement anyway. The same applies for all digital interconnects for audio and video, but the marketing for these cables still try and convince us otherwise to cash in on selling expensive cables. Even with analogue and expensive exotic cables, in blind listening tests no one can identify differences or identify the most expensive interconnects over the cheapest ones. As humans we are very gullible and susceptible to suggestion. Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#28 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 113
|
Quote:
Hi
Good point regarding the 1:1 mapping. Although I'm not too sure of the benefit when connecting with HDMI which is uncompressed to the TV. As for cables and snake oil, so true. But when talking about digital signals, the cheapest cable will produce the same picture or audio as the most expensive. Put it this way, print a photo to your printer using the cheapest USB cable you can find, then buy a very expensive USB cable with gold plated connections and repeat the printout. The photographs will be identical, and most people wouldn't have expected there to be an improvement anyway. The same applies for all digital interconnects for audio and video, but the marketing for these cables still try and convince us otherwise to cash in on selling expensive cables. Even with analogue and expensive exotic cables, in blind listening tests no one can identify differences or identify the most expensive interconnects over the cheapest ones. As humans we are very gullible and susceptible to suggestion. Regards Phil Unless something better comes along I'm almost certainly going for this box once we've seen some reviews. Thanks for the feedback. Richard |
|
|
|
|
|
#29 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi
Amazon have just updated the delivery date to the 18 May! Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#30 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1
|
Bored waiting....... for the Humax T2 PVR.
I've had the 9200 for a few years and have praised it time and again, apart from during the period it locked/froze waiting for an update! I've hung on and on for the Humax HD PVR to appear and expected it to appear in May :sleep: . Seems you guys are in the same boat and been told "maybe Christmas"!!!
![]() Well, enough is enough, so ordered my Philips 8520 today, from Laskys. Did a price match to the puresatellite price last weekend, so they promised I could have one from them for £256. However, puresatellite put their price up to £285 this weekend , so Laskys won't honour last week's price - which is fair enough. They have let me have it for £270 and its in stock tomorrow - so should be about 3 days before it arrives!!! I paid the extra £2.95 for quicker delivery. As long as its here for the footy I don't mind, but want to get to grips with it well before then if possible. I know the Humax will have one or two more features, but they are not important to me for similar reasons posted on here. The Philips should do the jobs I want and looks great too. Also, I'm not convinced they'll sort out the 'guide' problem - or is this why its been delayed? I did fancy the iPlayer thing, but I don't have internet access downstairs and I bet the Humax isn't wireless? But I do have a Wii - so thanks for that info cos I didn't realise the Wii did this (I never use the thing that often). Thanks to all for helping me make up my mind - I feel happy that one is on its way
|
|
|
|
|
|
#31 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi
Welcome to the Philips/Pace fan club which might turn into something else if it doesn't turn out to be so good Yes it seems stock is arriving Monday at the retailers so touch wood we get deliveries from Tuesday onwards. The Philips/Pace might still get extra features like iPlayer etc as it has Ethernet and USB ports. Pace have said they want to concentrate on getting a working PVR before they try and complicate things. This is fair enough considering DVB-T2 and Freeview HD is new, we are one of the first (if not thee first) country to use this system. Pace are no strangers to TV over the Internet of course so they are capable of adding new features later. We are not sure why the Humax HD PVR is delayed, it could be resources have been shifted to fix the slow downs/EPG issues on the current models, or might be completely unconnected. Regard Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#32 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: SE11, BBC London, ITV London
Posts: 87
|
Hi
I'm looking at this box too. Does anyone know whether it can transcode the Freeview HE-AAC signal to Dolby Digital. I know the box (from the pic on Amazon) says that it output Dolby Digital 5.1 but just wanted to be sure that I'll be able to get surround sound as my system doesn't accept HDMI audio and I need a box that will output Dolby Digital via the digital output. Thanks! |
|
|
|
|
|
#33 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2
|
Quote:
Hi
Amazon have just updated the delivery date to the 18 May! Regards Phil I guess there must be a queue. Looking forward to hear what other people have to say about it. |
|
|
|
|
|
#34 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 4,520
|
Quote:
Hi
I'm looking at this box too. Does anyone know whether it can transcode the Freeview HE-AAC signal to Dolby Digital. I know the box (from the pic on Amazon) says that it output Dolby Digital 5.1 but just wanted to be sure that I'll be able to get surround sound as my system doesn't accept HDMI audio and I need a box that will output Dolby Digital via the digital output. Thanks! |
|
|
|
|
|
#35 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi Quote:
I ordered mine a week ago. Still says delivery around the end of May.
I guess there must be a queue. Looking forward to hear what other people have to say about it. Quote:
Hi beefqueen, HE-AAC to Dolby Digital transcoding is not available at the moment. However the plan is to resolve it via an OTA update or you'll be able to add the new software via USB when its available for download from philips.com. For the time being the advice for the HDT8520 will be to set the Audio Capabilities setting to PCM until the upgrade is done.
Interesting information, do you work for Pace/Philips?Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#36 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 47
|
Thanks for the tip --will try and get one this week. I presume the price will go up after the Budget at VAT is predicted to go up to 20%.
I usually obtain a 10% discount in Comet by producing my NHS ID Badge, so should be £270 mark
|
|
|
|
|
|
#37 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 4,520
|
Quote:
Interesting information, do you work for Pace/Philips?
Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#38 |
|
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
|
Quote:
But when talking about digital signals, the cheapest cable will produce the same picture or audio as the most expensive.
So although spending too much on a HDMI cable is just plain silly, so is buying the very cheapest you can find. (Actually the best option is to go with Display Port instead of HDMI.) |
|
|
|
|
|
#39 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi Quote:
HDMI is a digital interface it will exhibit the same characteristics as a analogue connection when subject to interference or poor connections
If bit-errors are introduced the effects are obvious. You need to remember the cable isn't carrying a picture, it is carrying numbers, so the effect of a bit error will usually result in an obvious change to a pixel in the picture. For example black becoming white, or dark red becomes light red. A few errors will go completely un-noticed as millions of pixels a second pass before you, hence the need not to bother with error correction. If the cable is so bad that a very high percentage of bit errors are occurring the picture will be unwatchable rather than degraded like an analogue signal. Over the short distances for most HDMI cables, the cable would need to be very bad indeed to cause problems. Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#40 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: London
Posts: 1,552
|
To anyone buying this box online at Comet in the next couple of days, enter the promotion code 5199AW when viewing your basket for a £15 discount. This deal expires on the 20th May.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#41 |
|
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
|
Quote:
Complete and utter nonsense, where do you get your information from, the back of a very expensive HDMI cable?
So many people see the word 'digital' and automatically think it means the data either gets there or it doesn't. With HDMI having no error correction or detection on the picture data the data for a pixel may get there or may get there slightly changed. As you say due to the fact that there are millions of pixels being sent all the time you'll not notice a few going wrong but as the problem gets worse there'll be more and more. So as with an analogue signal the picture will gradually deteriorate. Some people may be watching a sub-standard picture without knowing it simply because they have nothing else to compare it to. No, I don't support buying stupidly expensive cables. But I would like to counter the myth that even the cheapest of cheap cables will work fine - just because it is 'digital'. |
|
|
|
|
|
#42 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi Quote:
LOL, no my information is from the HDMI specification!
So many people see the word 'digital' and automatically think it means the data either gets there or it doesn't. With HDMI having no error correction or detection on the picture data the data for a pixel may get there or may get there slightly changed. As you say due to the fact that there are millions of pixels being sent all the time you'll not notice a few going wrong but as the problem gets worse there'll be more and more. So as with an analogue signal the picture will gradually deteriorate. Some people may be watching a sub-standard picture without knowing it simply because they have nothing else to compare it to. No, I don't support buying stupidly expensive cables. But I would like to counter the myth that even the cheapest of cheap cables will work fine - just because it is 'digital'. My point is any errors are going to be obvious. Someone complaining the colours are a bit washed out and "should I buy a better cable" should be told no, as it will not make jot of difference. Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#43 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Rotherham S Yorks
Posts: 34
|
Quote:
To anyone buying this box online at Comet in the next couple of days, enter the promotion code 5199AW when viewing your basket for a £15 discount. This deal expires on the 20th May.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#44 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1
|
John Lewis
Just to let you know, the Philips HDT8520 is now available from John Lewis for £299. It's not on their web site, but if you ring up you can order one. I rang up last week and picked one up yesterday.
I bought it to replace my old twin pace recorder which couldn't cope following the digital switch over in my area (Wiltshire). It's looking very good and and I'm very pleased with it so far. it does record two channels at once - and even continues to allow live pause on other channels whilst recording two (I was recording on BBC1 and BBC2 at the time). This still works when recording both BBC HD and ITV1 HD. Regards Dave |
|
|
|
|
|
#45 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 617
|
Philips HDT8520 First Impressions
Took delivery of a Philips HDT8520 this morning.
First impressions are very good. Small unobtrusive box, simple lines with a quality look and solid feel to the build. Menus are very fast, the handset very responsive and the picture delivered via HDMI excellent for both HD and SD channels, so much better and cleaner than the way SD channels were handled by my Humax 9300T via HDMI and scart. Menus are clean and sharp and set up is easy to follow for the novice or ordinary user. The EPG is lightning quick to load (compared with the switch on and come back in 15 minutes approach I got used to with the Humax). Lots of options to play around with and most importantly you can dictate the format of the output via HDMI, or let the box handle it automatically for you. There are several features missing however that I really liked about the Humax. First and most importantly, there is no manual tune option, its autoscan only. Disappointing given the problems encountered in those aeras that have already switched over. What the Philips does offer in overlap areas (which has shown up in my case) is that it will ask which region you would like to use, where more than one transmitter region is detected. This is a great feature but rather than store the alternative region channels in the 800s for flexible viewing choice, the box disregards the region not chosen and deletes the channels from the channel list. Having used a friend’s Humax Fox-T2, the way channels are organised is more in keeping with the 9300T than the Philips so more useful to the more advanced user. Another point is that if you are in an overlap area where you can receive both Channel 4 HD and S4C Clirlin, you basically have to chose one or the other via the region choice. You can’t have both, unlike the Humax which effortlessly stores both on channels 52 and 53, despite them coming from different transmitters. Secondly there is no option other than to use the Freeview+ EPG for recording. You cannot manually record a programme nor can you manually introduce a buffer before and after a programme. I’m hoping the EPG is deadly accurate and takes into account any late running or re-scheduled programmes. Otherwise, living with the Philips is going to be interesting. I never used to trust the Humax EPG anyway (Lewis anyone?) and used to set up most of my recordings with a manual buffer on all occasions. I sincerely hope Philips manage to succeed where the Humax 9300T failed. That said, I rather like some of the touches that the Philips box gains over the Humax, such as a smarter EPG and menu interface, simpler handset, the ability to set up favourite channel lists, to re-order or remove channels in that list and then use it as the default list when switching on, much better than using the Freeview channel list which has no sensible order after ITV2. I like the way you can chose eco mode and aerial power options and change the brightness of the front panel (which is even better than the already great front display of the Humax). I also like the fact you can switch off that silly light on top (talk about pimping up a freeview box!) Timeshifting, chase play, live pause, i.e. all the features you’d expect in a good PVR are all there. In summary, having spent a couple of hours with the unit so far, while I can see why Philips / Pace have gone for simplicity over flexibility, I found it a bit restrictive during set up. On the positive side, the EPG, menus and SD picture quality far exceed the Humax, as does the processing speed. As for HD – well the output is easily as sharp and detailed as Sky+ HD. The Philips is a quality product and packs a picture which thankfully wipes the floor with my Humax 9300T. However, high on my software shopping list would be the handling of more than one region on the channel list and manual recording. If Philips / Pace could add those in a future software update then the box would not just nudge ahead of the humax, it would trounce it by a country mile. |
|
|
|
|
|
#46 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2
|
Quote:
Took delivery of a Philips HDT8520 this morning...................
|
|
|
|
|
|
#47 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Leeds
Posts: 427
|
Quote:
Great review. Sounds like a good machine. looking forward to getting mine.
Most of the competition have this feature now, will it be added I wonder? |
|
|
|
|
|
#48 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 617
|
Not got that far yet as my first objective was to use it as a PVR rather than a media player.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#49 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi
A good review. I am too a little worried about no option to manually record or have buffers. Support and manual now at: http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/d...ctn=HDT8520/05 Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#50 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London
Posts: 68
|
Hi Phil
In addition to your concerns about the lack of option to manually record or have buffers, according to the User Manual it only has 8 event timers. Is this true? Other than the above, it is looking good. |
|
|
|
![]() |
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 16:49.





, so Laskys won't honour last week's price - which is fair enough.