Freesat Freeview Euro Tv Sky The best kit, The best programmes
Technika Smartbox 8320HD
November 2010
Want to see more?
Visit Wotsat.com for daily news, reviews and updates from the world of digital TV, or join our forums.
n www.fetchtv.co.uk n 0844 3711011 n £200
Technika Smartbox 8320HD The Opposition 3view 3VHD n Twin-tuner HD Freeview PVR with bigger HDD, streaming and web browsing but poor VoD, no USB archive, and 50 per cent more
BT Vision+ n Twin-tuner Freeview PVR with good VoD but SD, subscription only, small HDD, and no streaming or USB archiving
A 320GB twin-tuner Freeview+ HD PVR, video on demand and multimedia streaming in one box for £200? A bargain Don’t let the Tesco Technika branding or the plastic looks fool you; this is a fully fledged high-definition Freeview box that can hold its head up high next to any ‘big’ brand. To call the SmartBox 8320HD an HD Freeview receiver sells it short. Part of IP Vision’s hybrid ‘Fetch TV’ range, its attractions stretch beyond simple digital terrestrial TV reception to twin-tuner PVR recording, remote recording, multimedia playback, video on demand, internetstreamed catch-up TV, LAN-streamed media and recording exporting – all for just £200.
Appearance and connectivity
Interface
This functionality is crammed into a black plastic box,
just 200x200x45mm and minimalist in design. There’s nothing to the front panel except a power light behind the acrylic plastic and a USB socket, but it looks good beneath modern TVs. In contrast, the back is teeming with connectors – aerial in and out, HDMI output, stereo analogue audio, optical digital audio, Ethernet LAN connection, USB socket, and 12V power socket. A proprietary DIN socket provides the video and audio signals to a Scart plug via an adapter cable (supplied). The remote now has been changed from the 8000’s for a more straightforward design – a little cheap in its feel but sensibly laid out (except for the Mute key buried in the middle) and easy to use.
The EPG makes colourful use of channel logos and can be used to schedule recordings. Fetch TV VoD appears at the top as a separate channel
Recordings and Fetch TV VoD offerings are listed in the same sortable menu with synopses. Standard-def recordings can be exported via USB
The Fetch TV menus are markedly different from those for Freeview, which can take some getting used to. A new interface is expected shortly
Test freeview HD little flat. What’s more, access to recordings on the hard drive and on external storage is handled entirely separately, through the main menu or with a couple of dedicated keys on the handset. It all seems a bit cobbled together, though a new interface is imminent.
PVR and multimedia
Setup Channel-searching takes about three minutes, which is a little long. Ethernet produces the best results (in speed and reliability) for the internet. Wi-Fi is inevitably slower (important for streaming) and requires entering your WEP security number with the remote – a real struggle! Setting up a Fetch TV account, both from a PC and the receiver, and registering for BBC iPlayer and Sky Player takes an age but you only have to do it once.
Basic use For TV use, a single favourites list can be created and like a Sky Digibox, the 8320HD lets you flick through the channels on the information bar while still tuned to the original – a PIP image is shown of the ‘other’ channel. The EPG displays a grid of programmes for six channels over two hours but can be changed from 30 minutes to four hours, or to a channel listing. You can schedule recordings with one press of a button, or go online to set the recorder remotely. Heading the EPG page is the Fetch TV access, but when you select this the whole stage changes; the design and approach of the programme selection is entirely different. What’s more, the (different again) Sky Player and BBC iPlayer (both streamable only) lurk in here as though they are just two more Fetch TV options. The attempt to pretend all are one happy family falls a Optical S/PDIF digital audio output
HDMI output
The 8320HD’s hard drive allows live TV to be paused or recorded to Freeview+ standards. Reception is buffered, so pausing is instantaneous and rewind is available. You can watch one channel while recording another, or record two while watching a recording or an internet stream. You can watch a recording before it’s finished and resume playback from where you left it. Fast-forward and rewind speeds go up to 100x (even 600x for buffered material) and perform useful forward/backward jumps of a few seconds and 15 or 60 minutes. You can copy recordings from the 320GB HDD to USB storage for viewing on a PC (if unprotected) or on the 8320HD. Photos, MP3 music and other video files can be played back from USB storage or elsewhere on the local network. Though we got an UPnP NAS drive to connect, we failed to gain access to file sharing on another PC. Fetch TV downloads are simple to perform. The library isn’t huge and, though some content is free, it’s 99p for a TV show or £5 for an HD film. Downloads are accessed alongside the broadcast recordings. It can take over an hour to download a film but you can start to watch it straight away. Most downloads are available for seven days and, once started, must be watched within 24 hours.
Performance Broadcast and recorded pictures and sound are of excellent quality, particularly those in HD. SD via the pseudo-Scart is less impressive but adequate. The sound from Fetch TV downloads is also excellent, but pictures can be a little bit bland and low contrast, though that may often be down to the source material. However, during the test there were too many occasions when the box froze or lost sound when watching downloads, recordings and streamed material. We hope future software releases will remedy this n Geoff Bains
Verdict The 8320HD is an exciting, multi-talented machine. It may be too much for casual users, but for enthusiasts it offers a wealth of opportunities. There are occasional playback problems with some material, and the varying approaches to different applications is a tad confusing but this is a great home media centre and one hell of a bargain.
USB
12V power input
Features Freeview+: Yes Freeview HD: Yes Hard disc size: 320GB Card reader: No MHEG-5: Yes EPG support: 7-day On-demand channels: Via internet Teletext: Yes Multimedia formats: MPEG, WMV, MOV and AVI, MP3, FLAC, Wav, WMA, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF Operating system support: Yes UHF modulator tuning: None Software upgrade: OTA, USB HD outputs: HDMI SD outputs: Mini-DIN (composite, S-video, RGB) Audio out: Stereo analogue audio, SP/DIF optical digital audio Data ports: 2 x USB 2.0, Ethernet
Ratings PLUS
n Multi-talented with Freeview,
PVR, internet streaming and VoD, recordings export n Bargain price
Minus
n Confusing integration n Some playback glitches n VoD choice needs
improvement
Build Setup Searching Performance Features Value
Aerial input and loopthrough
Stereo analogue audio output
Proprietary SD analogue video and audio output
Ethernet connection
hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh
87%