Daewoo DSD9503TFPB - 160GB Freeview Recorder With Twin Tuner & Freeview Playback - Black

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-11-21 rating:
Daewoo DSD9503TFPB - nice but noisy
popped it out of the box, plugged it in where the simple freeview tuner had been switched it on and it instantly found all the channels. Very intuitive to use, clear and concise instructions and controls. Then we noticed the noise of the HDD. The spin up and run noise is initially a little irksome but then you start focusing on it and depending on how the device is positioned it get louder or more irritating. Then the kids start shouting downstairs at 10.00pm because the telly is too loud, something we had not realised we had done just to cover the sound of the HDD. We were going to tolerate it but the wife and I looked at each other last night (we couldnt hear each other) and its going to have to go.

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review by: date: 2008-11-15 rating:
Good value for money
Had it about a week and all works very well. As suggested by another reviewer , i checked the firmware version on set up and it is 3.2. It virtually sets itself up on plugging in and is very straight forward to use.I have made recordings direct from the 7 day programme guide and they all worked perfectly and started and ended when they should."Time shift" recording remains a mystery to me at present. The only odd thing i have noticed is a lack of bass response from the TV speakers when watching TV through the box.Is it the cheap scart lead i am using ?

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review by: date: 2008-10-17 rating:
Well worth the money
You may be puzzled why some people in the review area ' love it ' while others ' hate it '

I am a retired University Lecturer in Computer Science and I repair all my friends Computers so I know exactly how these machines work.

Its all down to the Firmware and many people who hate it I suspect have the older Firmware .

I bought a Daewoo DSD9503TFPB and it has the latest version which is ' 3.2 '

I live in London and have a strong signal from Crystal Palace.

Its a far thinner unit than I was expecting - which allows me to give it enough airspace without having to rearrange all my other machines.

Note a lot of problems can be traced back to units not having enough airspace - the DSD9503TFPB does not have a Fan on the Hard Drive and with the correct airspace it does not need it and it runs cool and very very quiet.

The picture quality is ' Outstanding ' and it was so easy to use that I bought a second one.

Believe me you cant tell if its a recording or a direct Broadcast { its that Good }

The biggest advantage is being able to record a whole Channel { or two } and then delete what you don't want. While playing its possible to speed it up to * 24 times so you can whiz though a lot in a short period of time.


Pro's and Con's

It does have a few quirks -

{ quirk 1 } the remote control is very cramped so its not a R/C that you can use in the dark although you will soon get used to it

{ quirk 2 } With PIP on it cant handle widescreen Auto but switching to nonauto widescreen sorts it out.

{ quirk 3 } if you are recording One Freeview source PIP does not work when in fact there is no reason for PIP not to work.

Good Points

{ 1 } So far the Hard disk is silent { and running very Cool } - it does not spin up until I record or play back something { and even then you cant hear it } and the Recording quality is excellent.{ you could never tell it was a Recording { its equivalent to 15 MB's to 20 MB's per second so very high quality }

To give you a Comparison if you buy a DVD lets say the new WALL-E DVD the average will be around 7 MB's { it may vary between 5 and 10 MB's } so the Daewoo is double the quality of a DVD - no wonder they have such a great picture.

{ 2 } now as far as I am aware only the BBC and Channel Four has this function - its a digital PDC { Programme Delivery Control } so lets say something should start at 8 pm it can detect if the program is running late or early so you never miss anything - also it has a ' offset ' so on the other channels it will start early and end late by a few minuets { unless two program times clash of course }

{ 3 } its possible to move the PIP area ' left-right-top-bottom '

{ 4 } The front panel displays the Channel number its tuned to - very handy when you have as many Freeview sources as I do .

{ 5 } Timer and Record very easy to set - its all just clicking on the EPG so there is no actual times being typed in.

{ 6 } When playing a Recording PIP still works { not all units allow this }

{ 7 } when you are recording two Freeview Channels its possible to play a past recording ' at the same time '

{ 8 } It uses ' Chase play ' - lets say you have set newsnight to be recorded but you arrive back before it ends - While its still being record you can press play and watch the start { but it will still keep on recording the whole program }

{ 9 } A very big Plus point - the Recording store lists recordings by Program name { and time/date } and they are easy to play or delete + it stores the EPG info as well so even if its something you recorded a year ago - there is still the EPG entry to view.

{ 10 } it can accept a larger Hard Drive as it has the software on a chip so bang in a bigger drive and it will format correctly .

Look out for a Seagate® DB35 Series 3 Ultra ATA/100 320GB ST3320820ACE that are specifically made for PVR's so for £50 you will double the capacity.

Be Warned you cant fit a normal Computer hard drive as they are not designed to work with PVR's you will end up with loads of problems - stick to a Seagate® DB35 Series 3 { note only consider doing this ' if you know exactly what you are doing ' + you will invalidate your guarantee so don't try if you are not 100 % confident }

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review by: date: 2008-10-08 rating:
constant reset
I bought this pvr originally when it came out about 18 months ago and for the first 6 months no problem, then it started switching off or restarting in first time mode. I got a replacement from daewoo and 2 weeks before the warranty ran out the hard drive failed.Got another brand new unit from daewoo and after just a couple of months it started turning off during recording if I changed channels or tried to use the bbc i services. Got to the stage in August when it just wouldn't go past blue start screen. Unplugged and left while on holiday and came back to plug it in to find miraculous recovery and fully working unit until a few weeks ago. Have tried several other brands, but decided to come back to daewoo with the brand new black model, installed unit ,plugged in and got no response to remote control, set up using manual controls on box to find audio distorted and crackly. Have now returned this model and have finally succombed to getting sky.


review by: date: 2008-09-23 rating:
Daewoo DSD9503TFPB good but flawed
I purchased this from Amazon , received in June, great price and specs, 2 channel, series recording etc., easy to set up works like a dream up to a point. The point was reached after it was in use for 2 months. The Daewoo did freeze occasionally at first, a small niggle, but recently the freezes have gone into overdrive I'm having to switch off and on more and more often today so far at least 6 times I would love to give this a 5 star review and if it worked properly it would get one. I am contacting Amazon about a replacement and if it works properly I will give a new reviewDaewoo DSD9503TFPB - 160GB Freeview Recorder With Twin Tuner & Freeview Playback - Black

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