Digital Vision, the design and manufacturer of digital TV products, have released details of the DV-DTR1, a single tuner Digital TV Recorder for Freeview. It is designed to complement your television and make it simple connect to your TV and your aerial, and use the remote to select the programmes you wish to record over the next week. The aim here is to help UK households change to digital TV; at the same time replace their VCR, without having to spend a fortune in the process.
Your programmes, say Digital Vision, are recorded onto compact and convenient USB drives, the worlds favourite recording media. “Just like audio cassettes, video tapes will be phased out, to be replaced by either recordable DVDs or new highly compact, solid state USB “flash” drives.” With no moving parts to wear out, USB flash drives are a convenient way to record your favourite digital TV and Radio shows. When you playback your recordings, they are just as good as live TV and they take up less space than bulky tapes. This unique technology is patent protected (patents pending) and exclusive in today’s market.
If you still have a VCR for recording TV, replacing it with the DV-DTR1 will make it so much easier. Using the constantly updated on-screen 8 day programme guide, just select the programmes you wish to record, and the DV-DTR1 will wake up from standby on the day/time the programme is broadcast to record it for you in full digital quality. Then when you are ready to watch your recordings, use the on-screen recording list to select, and press play. What could be simpler?
There are no less than three USB slots you can use to plug USB drives. This convenient feature lets you incrementally add more storage to the DV-DTR1 while still being able to access your existing recordings. You can also copy recordings from one USB drive to another without needing to use a computer. This feature is very useful for transferring recordings to watch on another DVDTR1 or to a high capacity USB hard drive. It sounds nice and simple. You can also transfer recordings to your computer. That’s the other really great feature of the DV-DTR1. Simply unplug the USB drive and insert it into the USB socket on your computer. You can then either play the recordings back from the USB drive or copy them to your computer hard disk so you can make more room for new recordings on your USB drive. If you have a laptop computer, you could watch your recordings on a train or on a plane. Maybe you just want to watch your recorded programme while other members of the family are using the main TV.
If you’re not quite ready to give up on your video tapes, don’t worry. Simply connect your VCR to the DV-DTR1 and press Play on your VCR. The DV-DTR1 will automatically route the output of your VCR to your TV. You could even record to VHS tape, the digital channel that your DV-DTR1 is currently tuned or the USB recorded programme it is playing back. This feature would let you or another family member watch the recording later on another VCR elsewhere.
In summary, a simple to use, feature packed STB. With user friendly GUI, compact and stylish design. Record and playback digital TV; Copy from one device to another; Schedule recordings from the EPG onto 3 separate devices – the 3 USB ports on its front panel allow a richer user experience with a wide range of functionalities. Prices are expected to be under £70.
A twin tuner version is expected towards the end of the year, which will include a 2.5″ built in hard disk drive, as well as retaining the innovative 3 port USB features of the DV-DTR1. Stay tuned as we bring you hands-on information regarding the the finer details, together with our usual mix of photos and video shortly.
Click the above picture for the Digital Vision Website
This sounds quite a novel way of recording programmes. However there is no mention of what platform the one tuner is, i.e. Freesat/Freeview etc or whether it is capable of recording HD broadcasts. I definately think when they produce a twin tuner version with HDD this will be very useful especially IF it will record HD programmes and thankfully present another viable, much needed bit of competition to the likes of the Sky+ and Humax PVR’s.
Hi Mike,
Its for Freeview (thanks for the heads up) and has been designed as a simple digital set top box adapter for your telly. For some people, it may end up effectively replacing their VCR because it has some simple onboard recording functions.
Mike you make a good point about HD. I beleive the first region to have HD terrestrial broadcasts won’t be until the 2nd of December 2009. From what I gather speaking to those in the set top box/PVR business, most of those who want to be involved early admit (or plan) they won’t have a unit available until at least quarter one 2010.