Digihome HD
This is a Vestel T7300 box, which has kind of been replaced by the T7650 already. The Amazon price is not so good, given that Argos currently have a Bush branded version of this same box for £114.99 now, albeit with 320Gb HDD.
Saw it on the Amazon Lightning Deals yesterday at 150 quid but Googling for T7300 took me to the Argos thread where I found your link to the Bush that you posted weeks ago, futaura.
How'd we ever shop before the Internet?
How'd we ever shop before the Internet?
In my haste, I now realise I didn't really answer the original question. The T7300 is by no means a bad box, even if it may have been superceded by the T7650. If you are familiar with the Vestel SD PVRs, then you will instantly be at home with a T7300 - the software and user interface is very similar, but enhanced obviously. Many of the problems that plagued the old SD software are gone for the T7300.
This may change, or may have already changed, but a pro for the T7300 is that it uses the HTML based iPlayer, which has the high quality option. Whereas the T7650 has the red button MHEG iPlayer which IMHO is not really as good, but this is the "official" way to do it which is what the Sony and Digital Stream boxes use too.
The main con would be that it is unclear whether the software will be developed further. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. £114.99 is certainly a relative bargain considering that is now cheaper than most of the SD PVRs.
This may change, or may have already changed, but a pro for the T7300 is that it uses the HTML based iPlayer, which has the high quality option. Whereas the T7650 has the red button MHEG iPlayer which IMHO is not really as good, but this is the "official" way to do it which is what the Sony and Digital Stream boxes use too.
The main con would be that it is unclear whether the software will be developed further. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. £114.99 is certainly a relative bargain considering that is now cheaper than most of the SD PVRs.
Yes, essentially they are very similar. The HD PVRs have a different colour scheme, but the user interface is functionally the same with the addition of some new features compared to the T810.
What is the reliability like on these PVRs? I am thinking of buying one and have seen them from ebay/Amazon sellers listed as 'new' (most likely returns) for £80 (Bush 320GB version).
I'm quite happy with the general layout of the Vestel/Cabot software, and am happy enough that it's simple to use (this won't be for me but actually for my mother). But if it's continually crashing etc then its a problem -- I could probably live with it, but she won't.
Looking at this against the main rival which would be one of the small TVOnics 500GB boxes, which I'd imagine will be of higher quality but of course with TVOnics sadly having gone under this would be a dead-end as far as support is concerned.
I'm quite happy with the general layout of the Vestel/Cabot software, and am happy enough that it's simple to use (this won't be for me but actually for my mother). But if it's continually crashing etc then its a problem -- I could probably live with it, but she won't.
Looking at this against the main rival which would be one of the small TVOnics 500GB boxes, which I'd imagine will be of higher quality but of course with TVOnics sadly having gone under this would be a dead-end as far as support is concerned.
You're right about the TVOnics support, but you could say the same about the Bush in some respects if you're going to get it from ebay. It's hard to make out exactly whether those boxes on ebay and amazon are a T7300 or T7650, unless the photos are 100% correct in all cases (wouldn't be sure on that). The problem is that the B320HDPVR mode number is used by both the T7300 and T7650 versions of this box - I guess we can blame Argos for that 
. The Bush T7300 is no longer available new (Argos only have the T7650 versions now).
Reliability is generally very good. However, the T7300 that I have has some issues that were fixed for the T7650, but I'm unsure if they were ever fixed for T7300. The biggest issue that I can recall is that the T7300 has a tendency to fail to record 2 programmes at once if you are watching live tv on the box (even if you are already tuned to one of the channels to be recorded). This isn't an issue on the T7650. The "bigger" problems on both the T7300 and T7650 are that with series timers set on HD channels, often it will choose to record future episodes from the SD channels instead. And that repeats of episodes from series timers are recorded if the original recording is deleted before the repeat is aired. But, that's about it really. My T7300 is going strong after over a year of use, and is a backup to my T7650 and mirrors the recordings. I now use my T7300 mainly just to watch HD programmes with DD5.1 sound, seeing as the T7650 cannot do that yet. Certainly, crashing is not an issue on the T7300 or T7650.
On the plus side, I've seen some pretty dumb/flakey reasons in Argos reviews regarding reasons for returns which in some cases indicate that 100% working units were returned.
. The Bush T7300 is no longer available new (Argos only have the T7650 versions now).Reliability is generally very good. However, the T7300 that I have has some issues that were fixed for the T7650, but I'm unsure if they were ever fixed for T7300. The biggest issue that I can recall is that the T7300 has a tendency to fail to record 2 programmes at once if you are watching live tv on the box (even if you are already tuned to one of the channels to be recorded). This isn't an issue on the T7650. The "bigger" problems on both the T7300 and T7650 are that with series timers set on HD channels, often it will choose to record future episodes from the SD channels instead. And that repeats of episodes from series timers are recorded if the original recording is deleted before the repeat is aired. But, that's about it really. My T7300 is going strong after over a year of use, and is a backup to my T7650 and mirrors the recordings. I now use my T7300 mainly just to watch HD programmes with DD5.1 sound, seeing as the T7650 cannot do that yet. Certainly, crashing is not an issue on the T7300 or T7650.
On the plus side, I've seen some pretty dumb/flakey reasons in Argos reviews regarding reasons for returns which in some cases indicate that 100% working units were returned.
Originally Posted by futaura:
“The "bigger" problems on both the T7300 and T7650 are that with series timers set on HD channels, often it will choose to record future episodes from the SD channels instead.”
“The "bigger" problems on both the T7300 and T7650 are that with series timers set on HD channels, often it will choose to record future episodes from the SD channels instead.”
My last Vestel seized up completely some time ago so I'm trying to recall how I used to set it up. I think I used to go thru the channel list and delete those I didn't watch. If this is done so that only HD versions of BBC1, ITV1, C4, BBC-HD (and other desired SD channels) are enabled, wouldn't that prevent the problem? Or not?
My Technika Smartbox handles channel elimination in the same way and won't even display them unless they are enabled in the Channel List, they don't show in the EPG either so it keeps it uncluttered.
I would so love a Vestel HD PVR but have no excuse whatsoever to shell out for one
Originally Posted by parthena:
“My last Vestel seized up completely some time ago so I'm trying to recall how I used to set it up. I think I used to go thru the channel list and delete those I didn't watch. If this is done so that only HD versions of BBC1, ITV1, C4, BBC-HD (and other desired SD channels) are enabled, wouldn't that prevent the problem? Or not?”
“My last Vestel seized up completely some time ago so I'm trying to recall how I used to set it up. I think I used to go thru the channel list and delete those I didn't watch. If this is done so that only HD versions of BBC1, ITV1, C4, BBC-HD (and other desired SD channels) are enabled, wouldn't that prevent the problem? Or not?”
Yes, that probably would work around it, but that isn't the point
. Also, BBC HD is generally a mixture of BBC2/3/4 content, so you can't go deleting all those as obviously only certain programmes are shown on BBC HD. Likewise, not everything on BBC1 is shown on BBC1 HD, particularly regional programmes. It's a shame because otherwise the Vestel software is extremely friendly and can't be faulted when it comes to HD stuff - it supports the HD alternative flags used on the BBC channels, so can press blue to switch to the corresponding HD channel (highlighted differently in the EPG too) and also set it up to automatically record HD content instead of SD if available (which works when you set up a timer, but not always for subsequent episodes in a series). Until the Vestel software works as intended in this respect, I won't be happy 
.
