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Philips HDT8520 500GB PVR Freeview HD Digital Terrestrial Recorder | 
| Brand: Philips
Category: CE
List Price: £299.00
Buy New: £219.00
as of 4/9/2010 19:14 PDT details
You Save: £80.00 (27%)
New (11) from £219.00
Seller: powerdirect
Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 855
Media: Electronics
Fragile: No
Batteries: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 6.4
Dimensions (in): 14.1 x 11.3 x 3.9
MPN: HDT8520
Model: HDT8520
EAN: 8712581527457
Release Date: April 15, 2010
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Philips HDT8520 is a complete Freeview HD viewing and recording solution. It lets you watch, pause, rewind and record Freeview HD channels such as BBC HD and ITV HD and standard Freeview channels, which it upscales to full 1080p HD resolutions via HDMI connectivity to your TV. Plus there are with no monthly subscription fees and you won't need a dish.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 38
 Philips HDT8520 September 3, 2010
zrerz
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Read all the reviews prior to buying this philips Freeview HD recorder but I thought I'd give it a go regardless, big mistake!
If the tv channels are marked + one hour, the philips records the same show twice, claiming the recordings has been rescheduled, very annoying!
Plus, unlike other freeview devices I've used, which get software updates over the air, this one needs you to watch the philips website for updates, then to unzip the file, place it on a USB drive, and transfer it over to the philips?
I've since sold it on to a secondhand dealer, and I'll wait for another brand, hopefully Humax, as I've used it's freesat recorders before, and they work superbly, to bring out a freeview HD recorder, I'll buy that instantly.
So for all other buyers, beware, this philips was a waste of money!
A poke in the eye with a sharp stick gives more viewing pleasure August 26, 2010
Mr. G. A. Peel (UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is quite honestly the worst audio-visual product I've ever owned.
I was so disgusted with it I even took the trouble to write to Philips direct,
but they haven't had the courtesy to respond to me.
I know life is too short, so here's the briefest of summaries of its shortcomings:
THE PROGRAMME GUIDE IS PANTS - can't select a channel from the guide itself, and to make matters worse, the guide provides no channel numbers so once you've found a programme you want to watch you have to drop out of the guide, and if you don't have that particular channel's number committed to memory you then have to call up the channel list to find out the channel number, making the average time to change channels somewhere in the region of 30 seconds, once you've mastered it.
THE RECORDING IS HIT AND MISS - I don't watch lots of TV but there are certain series I really like. Thanks to the lack of reliability of the "series" recording facility I now watch a whole lot less TV.
THE MANAGEMENT OF RECORDINGS IS RUBBISH - series are handily arranged into folders but you can't delete a whole folder - you have to unlock each and every recording one at a time and then delete it individually. The responsiveness of the unit makes this chore much more difficult, as the box sometimes pauses for several seconds before deciding to respond to a key press on the remote control.
PHILIPS HAVE NOT DELIVERED THE PROMISED FIRMWARE UPDATES - in fact, if you follow their link for firmware updates they just fob you off on to another company's website which offers no help whatsoever.
IN SUMMARY - really, a poke in the eye would give you far more viewing pleasure. This awful product has changed our viewing habits for the worse - we no longer watch TV through the recorder, and have therefore lost the ability to pause live TV, and we now no longer have any expectation of the unit actually recording anything we ask it to, even if we ask really nicely. This product has made me determined to never buy any Philips product every again. 'Nuff said?
 Very disappointing August 14, 2010
Mel - London
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Great idea, a Freeview box with a built in 500gb hard drive, which gives you subsciption free access to HD channels. Well, great idea if it worked, and I suspect in some areas that already have their digital transmitters powered up, prospective buyers might have more luck. Firstly, because I am in an area with slightly hit and miss reception, the auto tune had trouble locking onto and storing certain channels. However, having successfully managed to tune and store most of the channels, I was amazed at the clarity of the pictures. They are simply stunning, and a great deal better than the HD pictures I currently get with my cable providers HD box. The upscaling of non HD to 1080p is also very impressive. So, no problem with picture quality, apart from when the signal drops out and the picture breaks up, but that isn't the fault of this unit. My biggest complaint is the timer/hard drive facility, which has so far failed to record many of the programs I have scheduled. Using series link, you would expect to have each daily or weekly edition of a show recorded. Unfortunately, the HDT8520 seems to have a mind of it's own, recording repeats of the same show, and even repeats of repeats. It even managed to miss some new episodes altogether. I have no idea what the cause is, but as many have suggested, this product may well have been rushed onto the market without being fully tested. So, this is a lot of money to spend on a product that seems to be less than reliable. As a simple free to view HD box it works fine, but a lot of people are going to be buying for the massive 500gb hard drive. I would strongly suggest buying a simple freeview HD box, and linking it to an DVD recorder with a built in hard drive and upscaling ability. It may not be as attractive as this neat unit, but it will almost certainly give identical quality, and be a lot more reliable. I'm disappointed and suprised that a major retailer like Philips would put their name on such a poor product. Lets hope the model that follows this is better though out and thoroughly tested before it is launched.
flawed August 12, 2010
N. Hobbs (Bristol, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
First off the good bits. Its a great looking machine, has all you need in the box, easy to setup, BBC1 HD looks amazing, virtually silent in use.
The downside is it is badly let down in its operation.
You can't use the EPG to choose a programme to watch, only for setting the timer.
When in the EPG all sound is muted & no picture is visible.
You can only use arrows to scroll one line at a time in EPG. You can't move a page at a time & if you get to the bottom it doesn't roll over to the top you have to laboriously click up a million times.
If you select a program to record that is on a HD & normal channel it will usually record both not the one you select.
You have to press stop button twice to stop! First press prompts you to make sure thats what you want
No facility to set timers manually
When you switch the unit on my Samsung TV does not switch inputs automatically, you have to manually choose.
Sometimes locks up
Sometimes picture has green cast with vertical lines, both these cured by turning off & back on
The top illumination light comes on for no reason when the machine is switched off.
A software upgrade is promised for August/September which may address some of these issues.
Can't believe this has been released with such a rubbish method of operation, come on Philips, expect much better from you!
Very disappointed - Should have read reviews first August 11, 2010
Hill Walker (Birmingham UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Philips HDT8520 500GB PVR Freeview HD Digital Terrestrial Recorder
Ordered the above which was delivered at 7.15pm last night. All connected up and switched on by 7.45pm, didn't work, stuck in standby with "Philips" displayed on screen. Box should have gone direct to welcome screen when switched on. By the time I gave up getting it to work properly the Philips helpline was closed. Phoned back this morning, Technician told me to reset the box by holding the standby button for a few seconds, made no difference. He said the box is faulty and you should return it to Amazon. He added they had had a few of these with this fault and most had been supplied by Amazon. Could this be why they are at the discount price I wonder?
Would have awarded no stars if I could have.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 38
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