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21 Feb, 2006

Humax PVR-SMART Reviewed

Well, I've been using my new PVR, the Humax PVR-SMART (aka PVR-9200T), for about a couple of weeks now, so I think I've explored it enough to give my impressions.

Options

I decided a buy a PVR because I was getting tired of missing TV shows I was too lazy to make the time to watch at the broadcast time. After a little research I decided on a dual-tuner PVR so I could watch one show while recording another, or record two shows at once. It didn't take long to discover that the Topfield TF5000PVRt is perhaps the most popular PVR in Australia. But it's RRP was much higher than what I was prepared to pay (although you can get it a few hundred cheaper if you are prepared to haggle). The Humax PVR-SMART grabbed my attention because it was cheaper and the mirrored faceplate matched my Panasonic amplifier and DVD player. This thread helped me make my final decision, despite Topfield fanboys jumping in with their biased opinions.

Purchase

I bought the PVR-SMART from Sunshine Computers and it arrived about a week later.

Packaging Contents

In the bright green and yellow PVR-SMART box was my PVR, a remote with batteries, RCA Audio/Video cable, SCART to S-Video/Composite Video adapter, manual, and a CD with software for transferring file to and from the PVR with a PC. The SCART adapter was greatly appreciated.

Build

The PVR casing looks quality. If you buy one and it appears the faceplate is scuffed, you'll find there is a near-invisible film over it that can be pealed off. The box isn't as wide as standard audio/video equipment. It may be a better idea if Humax were to make it wider and a little shallower, even if it's size is mostly wasted space.

I didn't have high hopes for the remote as even remotes with brand-name A/V equipment is often hit or miss. But the PVR-SMART's remote is pretty good — not great. It's not as cheap looking as I thought it might have been. Some of it's most useful buttons, such as PiP buttons and screen ratio toggle are hidden behind a sliding cover. Fortunately the cover is easily removed.

Connections

On the back the PVR-SMART has a single antenna plug with loop out, 2 SCART plugs (one for TV and one for VCR), your typical RCA A/V connection, an RS-232C plug (for firmware upgrades) and SPDIF optical. S-Video can be extract from either TV or VCR SCART connection with the included adapter, and you can also extract CVBS (I think this must be RCA Video) and with the TV SCART only you can get RGB (and I think this must be component video). On the front, hidden under a fold-down panel is the USB connection for transferring files too and from a PC. So aside of SPDIF coaxial and that new connection for high definition displays, it has all the connections you should need.

Setup

The setup was fairly straight forward, and I wouldn't expect many to run into problems, with the exception of using the S-video connection. Until you change the SCART options you will only get a black and white picture. Some people may not realise this.

PVR-SMART gets its time from the digital broadcasts and some people have expressed concerns that if the wrong time is sent by a station then you may miss a timer recording. But apparently this is pretty rare.

Watching TV

I don't have a high quality TV, but the picture appears as good as a DVD. It doesn't appear to apply any sharpening (which you would expect but is still worth noting). I'm using the optical connection for audio so it can't get any better than that.

There is a small delay between switching channels, but this is most likely normal for a digital tuner. I did notice that this delay becomes larger when I'm transferring large files (6 hour video) from the PVR to a PC though.

When you switch to a channel it briefly displays the program title, along with additional information such as the audio type, censorship rating, if it's being recorded, a progress bar that shows how much of the program has passed and how much time is left, and the option to view what is on next.

The PVR-SMART does not display the video for HD channels, but you can listen to the audio

EPG

Since Australian televisions stations are pathetic in their support for EPG I can't really comment on how well the PVR-SMART uses the EPG. Just to clarify, no station in my area are showing anymore EPG information than what is currently on and what is on next. Channel 7 doesn't display any EPG information at all, not even what is currently showing.

Picture in Picture

With dual tuners, you can watch one channel whilst having another displayed in the corner of the screen, or display them both side by side. You can also change which corner of the screen the second channel displays in, and you can switch the second channel with first channel. PiP is most useful for preserving your timeshift buffer (refer to the tips & tricks section) so it's a shame the buttons are not more accessible on the remote.

Timeshifting

The PVR-SMART automatically buffers up to 2 hours of live television so you can pause and rewind the shows you are currently watching. Unfortunately if you change channels the buffer is instantly lost. This was most annoying for myself when I rewound back 1.5 hours during a double episode of Smallville, and accidentally pressed the channel button instead of the volume button. There is no way to force the PVR-SMART to maintain the timeshift buffer on a specific channel, but this is not unusual for PVR's that do auto-buffering. Some other PVR's require you to press a button to start a timeshift buffer.

Recording

Recording is simple. Just press the record button and you're on your way. It will automatically record for one hour but you can easily extend how long it will record for at any time by pressing the record button again and pressing left or right on the directional buttons. When stopping a recording you are prompted to confirm to prevent an accident.

You can record two channels at once and when recording you may not be able to use PiP or if you are recording 2 channels you may not be able to view any channels you are not recording.

Timer recordings are fairly straight forward to set up and don't really need an analysis.

The only gripe with recordings I have is the lack of chaseplay. What this means is that you can't start watching from the beginning of a recording that is still in progress. It's not until the recording has stopped that you can play it. There has been a lot of demand for this feature and with luck it will come in firmware upgrade.

Playback

You can quickly select recorded programs via a single button, or you can access them from the record menu.

You can fast-forward and rewind at 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x and 64x speeds. Apparently 64x is fairly unique and I personally think it's great, although, because it is so fast if you go past where you want to stop, it can take a little while to get back at the more manageable 16x speed. There has been requests for a speed or two between 16x and 64x which might come in future firmware versions. Another unique feature for the PVR-SMART is how smooth the video is when played at high speed. For some reason I valued this feature pretty high when choosing a PVR.

Aside from navigating through a video by play playing it faster, you can also use the 'commercial skip' button that will jump you ahead 30 seconds (can be changed to 15 or 60 seconds), and 'instant replay' to rewind 7 seconds (can be changed to 15 or 30 seconds). This combination makes jumping past commercials far easier than fast-forwarding.

Editing videos

The PVR-SMART will allow you to edit your recorded videos. It can split a video or delete sections from a video (i.e. for removing commercials). It work pretty well, but it isn't great for precision. You'll likely have trouble finding the exact frame you want to clip from or to.

Transferring files

I have yet to transfer files to the PVR-SMART (it supports playing of MP3's and Photos), but I have transfered videos from the PVR. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere on the Humax site that you could not transfer videos from the PVR to a PC, but this is false. Using the supplied e-Media linker you simply select the video and press the 'upload' (should be 'download' but the software gets its point of view wrong). The only catch is that the downloaded file won't have a file extension, so you need to rename it to end with ".mpg". Note that only some players will successfully play the format of video from a digital broadcast. VideoLAN is one such player.

The transfer speed is the real killer with this function. I didn't exactly time, but it took many many hours to copy about 17GB from the PVR-SMART. An educated guess would be about 5 or 6 hours. The PVR-SMART does use USB 2.0 but it's obviously not high-speed. So you are going to want to have a spare PC located very close to the PVR-SMART if you plan on backing up your recorded videos often.

At one point a transfer got stuck and I was unable to change channels or open the menu on the PVR. It wasn't until I cancelled the transfer did the PVR start working properly again.

Tips & Tricks

The PVR-SMART has some clever tricks that aren't documented in the manual. These are some of my favourites

Recording the timeshift buffer

If you missed recording a program that happens to be in the timeshift buffer, you can timeshift back to the begining of it and press the record button for however long you need to record for. If the entire program is in the buffer the recording will probably complete instantly, but if it's still showing it will complete when the show finishes in real-time.

Preserve Timeshift Buffer

If you need to change channels but don't want to loose your timeshift buffer, press the PiP button then swap the PiP screen. So long as the show you want to keep in buffer is displayed as the main picture or the PiP screen the buffer will remain. Even more clever is that if you keep PiP on, the PVR-SMART will maintain a timeshift buffer for both visible channels.

Record HD TV

Even though it can't display HD TV, the PVR-SMART can still record it.

Transfer a video from you PC to the PVR

If you transfer a video previously recorded and currently stored on a PC back to the PVR-SMART it won't see the file. Instead you have to rename the video so it will overwrite an existing video on your PVR and then you can play it.

Record 2 channels whilst watching a third

Something I didn't realise at first, even if you only have 2 tuners, you can still receive more than 2 channels at once provided the channels are on the same multiplex. For example, you could Record ABC, ABC2 and watch SBS because ABC and ABC2 are on the same multiplex. I'm not sure how far you can take this. Can you record record 3 channels on one multiplex (ABC, ABC2, ABC HD) and 2 channels on another (SBS, SBS World News)?

Quirks & Jerks

A quick summary of what could be improved on the PVR-SMART.

Chaseplay

PVR-SMART really needs chaseplay. With chaseplay you wouldn't have to rely on the timeshift buffer — so you could change channels, switch back and resume where you left off.

High Speed USB

It shouldn't take as long to transfer a recording from the PVR to a PC as it takes to record it.

Conclusion

Normally I buy something like this and I tend to suffer a little buyers regret because I find something I really don't like. But not with the PVR-SMART. Despite it's lack of chaseplay, this is a great player and I would have no issues with recommending it

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