This is the new Freeview+ PVR from Pace which is currently being branded here by Philips, called the DTR7510. It’s an attractive unit which looks better in the flesh than the squarer looking pictures found online. It’s also smaller than we were expecting, with a width of just 240mm and a depth of 145mm. The front flap feels a tad flimsy and the plastic buttons are a little clicky/clunky in a cheap way – but hey not many people will be using those in any case. The money is much better saved for the addition of a card slot for Pay TV which saves the expense of needing a CAM as well.
Please note ESPN has taken over the encrypted channel 34 from Setanta and is broadcasting without subscription for the time being. Contact TUTV to arrange viewing or for further details.

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The package includes 2x AA batteries for the hefty remote control. OK it’s not the largest remote control we own but its still quite long and heavy, and I fear one handed operation may be out of the window. But it does carry controls for operating not only the PVR but our TV, VCR, DVD and amplifier. The buttons are also laid out such that learning the location of the most used buttons, without having to look down at the remote, or in a darkened room will be easier.

At the back of the unit there are connectors for both SCART (SCART cable provided) and HDMI (HDMI cable not provided), and under the front flap is a USB socket where you can connect a USB drive. USB drives containing your pictures and music can be loaded on and viewed from the PVR to you TV screen. Rumour has it that this unit will store and play Divx movies, although the use of moving video to or from the DTR7510 has been removed from the user manual. We’ll certainly have a play and let you know what it can do in due course.

The installation and set up procedure is quite quick and straight forward. The PVR contains a 160GB hard drive which is good enough for about 90 hours of TV recording. The machine can buffer up 3 hours of TV which you can use to rewind live TV (this is configurable). You can even choose via the menus to disable the hard drive completely, which when we tried had the effect of reducing noise levels from the rather clicky hard drive. 

A quick look at the menus shows options for manually controlling channel search operations; the ability to switch off MHEG interactivity (in case there is an interactive stream being broadcast that is freezing the box); and a chapter skip button that can be configured from 1 minute jumps (useful for skipping through an ad break) to 5 or 10 minute forward skips. The EPG button takes you to ‘Now and Next programme information, but from there you can go into the 7 day EPG view. We would have preferred the guide button to go straight to the 7 day EPG.

A more comprehensive list of features will be added to the Freeview PVR comparison tables at PVR Junction; however our first impressions on the feature set are positive although not in the same league as a Topfield for example. A good mix of features with ‘ease of use’ can be a tricky balance and we’ll be looking for your comments about the DTR7510.

Both Pace and Philips trademarks are on the packaging and the PVR itself, however the two companies are transitioning set-top-box and PVR operations solely back into Pace. We are told the branding of these particular PVRs will revert back to Pace from around September 2009. Support for these machine will continue to be provided by Philips, which has been extended at least to September or until Pace take over.

The Philips DTR7510 is currently available from Argos and Tesco stores for under £150.