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Sagem DTR94250S 250GB HD Satellite Digital TV Recorder with Freesat HD | 
| Brand: Sagem
Category: CE
List Price: £199.99
Buy New: £189.98
as of 4/9/2010 11:58 PDT details
You Save: £10.01 (5%)
New (7) from £189.98
Seller: Amazon.co.uk
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1914
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 6.5
Dimensions (in): 19.5 x 12.7 x 3.8
MPN: DTR94250
Model: DTR94250
EAN: 5055257710771
Release Date: March 14, 2010
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Black. | | • | 250Gb Hard Disc Drive. | | • | 60-125 hours recording time depending on recording format. | | • | Pause live TV. | | • | Twin tuner. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Sagem Freesat HD Digital TV Recorder 250GB DTR94250S Sagem Consumer
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
Met my expectations July 15, 2010
Daniel Turner (London)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Positives:
Easy of setup
Ease of use
Quality of HD
Price
Negatives
Bit noisey (which I dont understand completely since I thought the HDD would be solid state!!)
 HD problems July 1, 2010
lakeland sparky (Keswick)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Bought the sagem for it's HD capabilities. When in HD an error message comes up about every hour saying 'Receiver has a problem - reformat Hard disk' this I have done a few times but seems to make no difference. Eventually the Sagem freezes with audio output only, Have to power off at mains to get it going again. Deferred mode doesn't work in HD. All works well in standard def. Unit seems to get very warm.
Good product (but a bit noisy) June 3, 2010
Curlynob (Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK)
29 out of 31 found this review helpful
To give you a bit of a warning - when it comes to Audio Visual gear, I'm not quite as techie minded as some that leave reviews on these pages! I've never had Sky, but I have had Freeview either in a box form or built into my TV for quite a few years now. When I ordered this Freesat box, I was hoping for:
1.An end to that jarring and splicing you sometimes get
2.To take advantage of the HD Ready-ness of my existing TV
3.To get the Sky Plus functionality (whereby you can pause and rewind live tv)
4.To get some extra new TV Channels
In short, this Freesat HD box does all of this. The picture quality is noticeably better than my old Freeview picture - even on the standard TV Channels, and there is absolutely no splicing or picture breakup. The unit comes supplied with an HDMI cable (which I'm pretty sure is unusual) and the two HD Channels you get (BBC HD and ITV 1HD) are impressive. I was flicking between standard BBC and BBC HD which were both showing the same show and even on a 22" screen there's a noticeable difference. Some people say that once you've seen HD it's hard to go back, but to be honest I think they're probably a bit more discerning than I am - I'm quite satisfied with the quality of the standard channels - the HD ones are just a bonus. The Electronic Program guide (EPG) and the whole menu system is extremely easy to use. In fact I wrongly assumed that pausing and rewinding live TV would be more complicated than it actually is! I looked to the instructions to find that you simply press "pause" to pause the program, you can then go and make a cup of tea, answer the phone and come back and press "play" again. It's quite a revelation. To record an up and coming show, you simply bring up the EPG (which is very clear and easy to use) highlight the program you want and press record - job done. It even asks you whether you want to record the whole series whilst you're at it (series link to Sky Plus customers). You can also record one channel and watch another or record two different channels at the same time.
As the name might suggest, "freeSAT" requires a Satellite Dish. This for the purposes of transparency is not included. Because this is a Freesat recorder you will require a "dual feed" dish. In exchange for £120 + VAT, my local TV shop sent a very nice man called Nigel round to fit the dish. It took him about half an hour to fix the unit to the side of the house, drill a hole through the wall into the lounge and set everything up for me. That's right, he even set the thing up and showed me how to use it. A Single feed dish (which would NOT give you the record one channel and watch another feature) would be slightly cheaper at about £80 + VAT. I rang three suppliers in my area and they all wanted similar money. All in then I have paid about £320 for the complete setup. There are absolutely no additional subscription fees to pay or further running costs. The dish itself is quite small and fairly discreet on the side of the house, which I was pleased about.
The Sagem Freesat HD Recorder unit itself is not particularly pretty. I don't know really what other Freesat boxes look like, but this one is not exactly slim line. It's got some bold clunky looking logos on the front, an uncovered USB socket (which doesn't appear to be active or do anything) and a couple of basic looking buttons. It looks nicer in the picture than it does in real life. The LCD display is a bright orange colour, which is certainly clear but perhaps a little too orange for my tastes. When turned on the unit is a bit noisy. If you're sat in the chair closest to the TV it's a little distracting. It's a noise equivalent to the fan on my tower computer but because it's higher up and unfamiliar, it is much more noticeable.
As I mentioned, I was hoping for more TV Channels. There are some new ones, but you do lose some old ones too (compared to standard Freeview) - which was a little disappointing and something that I hadn't really considered. Dave and Dave Ja Vu are both gone. In honesty, I would swap most of the new channels just to have Dave back - although technically I could now just series link QI. Sky Three, Virgin and Yesterday are also gone. The new channels you do get include CBS Drama, CBS Action and CBS something else, which basically means you're good for old American TV Shows like Dynasty. There's also the Horror Channels and a channel called BET which is not anything to do with Betting but quite a good channel in its own right. You also get all of the BBC regional channels, so if you're homesick for your BBC North West or East Midlands programming, that might be appealing. The channels are all in different places to Freeview (BBC One is 101 for example) but the EPG does make it easy to find what you're looking for. There is an Ethernet socket at the back through which you can connect to the internet to watch BBC iPlayer, although I already enjoy this wirelessly though my Wii.
To sum up: I'm very pleased with the quality of the picture and the "Sky Plus" functionality of the Recorder. Not exactly overwhelmed with the new channels and a little disappointed to have lost some of the old channels (although that's not this product's fault). The box is a bit noisy although in fairness I am starting to get used to it. Overall, yes very pleased.
 Splendid, if a little noisy on standby June 1, 2010
Jimbo (Manchester)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
I have been a subscriber to Sky for the last twenty years and am becoming increasingly annoyed by their 'charge what we want, we have a monopoly' attitude, especially when it comes to HD viewing, so I was really pleased to be able to test out this freesat recorder by Sagem.
Set up is relatively simple - a real 'plug and play' situation (connect the HDMI, connect the dish cable and off you go). I say relatively for the following reasons:
1) If, like me you have an old Sky receiver then you will only have one cable coming from your satellite dish. This means if you want to be able to view one channel and record another (or record two channels at once) you will have to climb up on your roof, connect another cable to your dish, and drill holes in your living room wall to be able to connect it. (For Sky+ and dishes after 2002 this isn't an issue as more recent dishes have two or four outputs).
2) You cannot have both your Sky and your freesat connected to your dish at the same time (unless you have a more recent dish - see above).
3) To watch BBC iplayer, you will need to connect your broadband directly to your freesat box via a cable.
However, after connecting the Sagem up, the onscreen setup is really straightforward, the channels are placed automatically in a simple to understand order and the TV guide was really easy to get to grips with. A few things to point out:
1) There are presently only two HD channels available on freesat - BBC HD and ITV1HD - both of which have great content (ITV1HD is basically a copy of ITV1, with mostly HD content and the odd upscaled programme, BBCHD is the cream of the BBC with a real mish mash of programmes from BBC channels) - which means that if you are planning on watching the World Cup in HD, these are the only channels you will need - for free! Well, after paying for the box it is free.
2) If you are used to Sky then you will miss quite a few of your favourite channels - Sky News, Sky Sports etc.
3) The plan is that a larger number of HD channels will be made available over the next two years (to coincide with the digital rollout). In my opinion, the two HD channels available at the moment are excellent so any further ones will be a bonus.
4) Ony the two HD channels offer 5.1 surround sound at present.
Now after testing the recording function and the HD content (as well as the 'normal' content) I can find only one fault with this - the thing is really noisy when in Standby mode and I find myself unplugging it from the mains after each use. Apart from that this is a great product and has got me eagerly awaiting the day I can switch Sky off for good.
Edit: The noise on standby only seems to happen for about ten minutes after pressing the power off button, and for some reason at about 8.00 in the morning. So patience is the word here.....
Who said nothing in life is free? May 27, 2010
A.M.Boughey (Rochester, MN)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
As a replacement for an aged Sky receiver, this was an ideal (if not that cheap) way to get a lot of free entertainment through an existing satellite dish.
The HD channels (here viewed at 720p) are beautiful, the sound is excellent, and set up out of the box, even for a beginner was a breeze.
That being said, the initial set up only really uses half of this machines true potential, and is not much more than a viewing portal without ALL the necessary connections.
Those people expecting a TiVo type setup will need to have both connections from their satellite to utilize the recording functions, for streaming internet the higher end functions will require the addition of a broadband connection to view the BBCiPlayer for example, but if you are fed up with regular satellite monthly fees, this is great.
The 250GB hard drive means quick and easy recording (if you have everything connected).
My existing SKY subscription has yet to run out, and with the exception of a half dozen or so channels like UK Gold which seems Sky exclusive, there is enough to keep most people happy. There is also a radio station function.
4 stars overall, I knocked off one star as it will require some house rewiring for a lot of people expecting to be able to just plug in and go, but as a pay once, and everything is free thereafter it is certainly worth looking at.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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