Product Reviews: Humax PVR-9200T Personal Video Recorder

Humax PVR-9200T

The Humax PVR-9200T Personal Video Recorder (also known as a Digital Video Recorder), which is available in the UK for around 175 GBP, allows you to record Freeview TV programmes. It uses an internal 160GB hard disc so there is no need to use VHS tapes or DVDs to record programmes.

Note that there is a very similar model available called the 9200TB but the specifications are about the same.

Specification:
* 160GB Hard Disc
* 2 SCART outputs connection (for TV & VCR/DVD recorder)
* 2 Freeview tuners
* USB socket

With this PVR, you can easily record up to 2 different Freeview TV programmes at the same time (ie. from 2 different Freeview channels) for later playback. You can also record 1 programme while watching another. Note that you can have quite a number of recordings scheduled, as long as they aren't set to record from more than 2 channels at the same time.

Picture Quality:
The picture quality is very good, and unlike DVD recorders, the TV recordings are stored on the hard disc exactly as they were broadcast (ie. without any further compression).

Hard Disc:
The 160GB Hard Disc allows you to record over 100 hours of programming, however there are PVRs available which have 250GB hard discs so they should allow a lot more recordings.

USB socket:
There is a USB socket on the unit which should allow things like copying programmes to your PC so you can view them on your PC. However this does not work well in practice as it can put invalid characters in the file names and the software to rename the files does not work. The USB socket can also be used for transferring things like MP3 files from your PC to the PVR.

Interactivity:
Changing channels or recording programmes is fairly easy, as there is a guide button to scroll through channels and make a selection. You can also change channels by entering the channel number, just like any TV or Freeview Receiver.