How can it play back anything different? There is only one stream of bits whether it comes from the hard drive or the tuner?

Some boxes offer the option of compressing the stream further to provide more storage, e.g. the Panasonic range, similar to the old SP/LP setting on a VCR.
It is also not beyond the realms of possibility that a box could transform the stream to provide better storage capacity without informing anyone that it is doing so. I admit it is very unlikely but it can not be ruled out totally.

Another month passes and still not a single software or firmware update for the Philips HDT8520!

Hi


Well they are currently saying the beginning of August, so shouldn't be long to wait, then again.....

Still no details of what fixes are included, which they must know by now surely, and absolutely zero support.

Dare I say it the Humax is looking pretty good currently.

Regards

Phil

In this months Home Cinema Choice magazine (185) they have a group test of 3 Freeview HD PVRs from Sagemcom, Digital Stream and the Philips.

And there group test winner was the Philips.

So what is What Hi Fi and Home Cinema Choice seeing that us consumers are not?

In the case of the Philips there is a bit of a wow factor when unboxing it. But it is only after reading Nigel Whitfield article on his blog recently about how reviews work for many freelance journalists (and why the work they do on a review may be done and dusted within a day) that I began to see why these journos appear to have gone off in one direction, and real world customers (who have to live with the units) have a common set of negative experiences.

There didn't seem much wrong with the Philips when an online hands on demonstration was posted by the Inquirer back in March. Similarly, unpacking the PVR in your office and looking at the menus, remote and making a few notes before putting it back in the packaging is also a mistake. Take it home however, remove your existing PVR and use the review model for a few days should be enough, in the Philips case, to give you a list of irritations and bugs in common with what general customers spotted within a shorter time than that.

Which is exactly what any good reviewer should do.

GG

up until yesderday i was in the the philips hdt8520 camp i got one when it 1st came and yeah it has it bad points but as pvr it is good box ............

But i sent a message to philips asking them when the update is coming plus what will be happening , this is what they sent me

Unfortunately the next software release has not been confirmed yet. We were hoping to send it out earlier this month however due to unforeseen circumstances and instability with the original version it had to withdrawn.We are currently working hard to have a release available for Late August / Early September however the content and fixes can’t be confirmed as there are still changes being made.Please keep checking on our support page regularly for more information. This can be done via: http://www.philips.co.uk

mmmmmm sorry philips fans had enough i'm selling up and going humax hdr fox t2

Hi

I don't think it was ever realistic given the number and types of bugs that anything was going to happen quickly in terms of firmware updates, my optimistic for a quick fix soon faded.

I don't believe they can fix these issues, they may have a stab at some, which if your email reply was correct, they've tried hacking it and found it worse and not better.

We can only guess at the internal issues and problems the department that was responsible for the HDT8520 are facing to cause this to ever come to market. The bugs were not excusable, any short time of testing will have revealed a lot of them, so Pace obviously took the decision to ship anyway, without any idea of when they could fix them.

I wouldn't sell the box, return it as not fit for purpose and get a full refund, why should you be out of pocket for faulty goods?

Good luck.

Regards

Phil

Having received my Humax HDR T2 today, I can confirm that taking my Philips back for a refund a few weeks ago was without doubt the right thing to do.

The Humax is streets ahead.

Pace/Philips - look at the Hummy and see what a good PVR should be like. I hope you are ashamed of the unfinished mess you released to us paying customers which it seems you continue to treat poorly with mixed messages and broken promises.

Hi

I also have the new Humax, there is no comparison between this and Philips/Pace box.

There is no reason in this world to choose or keep the Philips/Pace box over any other PVR in my opinion, it really is the lowest of the low in terms of usability, reliability, and lack of support. They could work on the firmware for a year and still it would not come close to what is available now on other boxes.

Regards

Phil

Dear phil

Thank for help but i have a feeling i won't be able to get refund on my box as i got when it came out over 3 months ago over the internet . and yes humax box looks the bee's knee's if i can't get refund i'm selling it on ebay and getting humax

from paul aka pmh80

The Phlips is not fit for purpose - just list the issues documented here as evidence:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pvrs-...sues-list.html

- Simon.

mmmmmmmm no wonder they having back off me got refund sadly not going to get the fox t2 right away getting xbox i miss it and i'll save up for the fox for christmas

Hi


Good news you are getting refunded as hated to think you might have lost money on selling it on.

The HDR-FOX T2 is in a completely different league to the Philips/Pace, and it has no pointless flashing ambilight feature either that they forgot to add an ON option for. I'm sure it will cheaper by Christmas as well.

Regards

Phil

Download here:

http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/d...ctn=HDT8520/05

Nice heads up!

I wasn't expecting that until some time in September...

Shame is I have to wait until tonight to try it out

I've followed the instructions but ever time i try to install the software, i get unexpected error occured and installation aborted.
This box and support is just getting worse

Hi

Reports are not encouraging and little really seems to have changed, you have to wonder what they have been doing for 5 months.

Silly bugs like deleting and then having to move and reselect the next item to delete is fixed.

The EPG you can now press OK to watch the channel or RED to record it.

Early reports suggest transcoding is perhaps incorporated now, however lip-sync is completely out.

No major interface changes have taken place as requested by users, so it is basically the same poorly implemented interface with some bug fixes and possibly more things broken, for example changing the channel to one you are recording halts the recording without warning is one such report.

No padding or manual recording options added.

No release notes, very poor not to let people know what has been fixed or what changes are implemented.

Philips technical support didn't know the update was due or on their website as can be seen from posted transcripts of on-line support conversations.

The update was delayed until the beginning of September, but released the end of August, so I expect Pace and Philips are celebrating an early release

I'm sorry for those who hung on in the belief new firmware was going to make this the PVR it was advertised to be, as it doesn't appear that will be the case. In my opinion the whole system is flawed, probably due to a bad decision to use the middleware they have, and seeing additions llke iPlayer or USB playback/transfer options appearing on this box have to be slim to non-existent given the current struggles just getting a basic PVR.

Regards

Phil

Check that the USB stick you are using is formatted as FAT32, it might be that it is formatted to NTFS which linux based devices (such as PVR's) can't read.

Hi - I am having a problem updating the software on this unit - I have followed instructions and put the .bin file into the root dir of my USB key and nothing - searching for ages and then nothing at all. I wonder if the update is right, as I have used the USB key may times successfully on other units. Any help much appreciated.
Thanks

After hearing about the software update, I purchased one of these from Currys yesterday. I got it home, installed it and updated it successfully. My first impression was that it was a good PVR. It seemed quick, stable and fairly easy to use. However, I discovered a major flaw in that it only records the first episode of a series record in HD and then reverts to the SD equivalent. For an HD recorder, that is an absolute joke. Given that it's not fit for purpose, I took it back to Currys and got my money back. Not impressed at all. You'd think such a flaw would have been spotted before it went on sale and at least fixed in the first software update. This is the last time I ever buy a Philips product - even my Philips DVD player recently packed up a little over a year after I bought it. I've now gone back to my Humax PVR 9150, which I've been immensely pleased with since the software update in May. I'm planning on monitoring the Humax HDR Fox T2 thread and possibly buying one of those once the initial bugs have been ironed out.

Hi


The update has fixed very few of the problems, the HD timer recording SD is one of them.

The Philips will probably be the first box to retail for less than £200 in a desperate attempt to got shot of them.

Go for the Humax FOX T2, it is in different league.

Regards

Phil

Can anybody else please confirm this to be true? If so, somebody at Philips should be fired, preferably a product management person who clearly has not used or understand their own product.

Hi


This bug has always been present in some form or other, I just don't think it has been fixed in the latest version.

Regards

Phil