Altech PVR9600

Reliable and easy to use – Easy you use for up to 6 simultaneous recordings. Not without flaws such as the occasional restart. Longevity! Still running after 6 years. Show details

Excellent functionality shamefully undermined by countless bugs – Features excellent and easy to operate. The system is prone to needing regular power cycle reboots that over time become more frequent and take much longer to complete. It appears remarkable that there is no way to access the recordings via a USB interface or if you remove the HDD and connect to a USB SATA interface i found that neither Linux or… Read more

Windows can read the file system so bye bye to a few of the recordings I was hoping to archive. It is a shame that the people who designed this unit did not get the time to iron out all the bugs as this system could have been second to none.

Still getting use from Altech PVR9600T – The GOOD: - This machine still works for us. It has a large HDD for storing recorded shows. The menu is logical (enough). - This was bought back in (about) late 2014 / early 2015 when we decided we got no/little value from Foxtel, and binned that service (saving $110/month). So it is still functioning as per expectations 4 years later, and is now… Read more

well outside of warranty.

- This thing cost about $300 at the time of purchase, and as a triple, allows sufficient multiple channel recordings that we wanted.

- We have not paid for any service repairs, but applied self-help from various forum advice narrations.

- Software updates have been easy to self-install via USB.

The BAD:

- We have weathered the failings, with some stress and self-help.

- The remote needs to be close & dead-straight at the box in order to work. I have ordered a replacement remote (from China) today to improve ease of home use, and hopefully a happier wife (any more robust remote operations).

- The freeze / system failings. This is the biggy. We have experienced about 4x freeze / system failings over our time. Initially we were horrified by this, as the first one occurred 3-4 months after the 1-yr warranty expired. After careful consideration of the forum-offered fixes, the minimal fix only worked on the first freeze episode. We have had to reboot the HDD for the last 3 episodes, wiping all/any recorded shows in the process.

- Once out of warranty, do not be afraid of opening up the box yourself to follow instructions for successful rebooting, as it's the only option to retain your recorded shows.

- You need to accept that if the USB stick-in fix does not work for you, HDD reboot is your go-to option, losing recordings, but getting back use of your PVR box. There are no warning signs to look out for - it is random.

3rd, unit. Now its had it – I was no way out off when it failed the first time..the second time around, I was replaced with an upgraded version, we went to factory in Brisbane...now the 3rd one has died...looks like I may go for some other brand. Easy to use and never really a problem, it stops, and just keeps trying to reload..  Show details

Slightly dodgy history of bugs! – I have read that some other reviewers, that have experienced problems, find they have to reboot the unit to correct an issue. I have found that if the reboot isn't sufficient to rectify the problem then a factory reset is the next option. However, I have discovered it is only a matter of time before the fault returns or a different one altogether… Read more

develops.

As a follow-up to a reviewer's complaint about the effectiveness of the remote control. I have discovered that the unit reacts to the slightest and quickest press of a button. Consequently, if you depress the button for too long, the unit goes in and then out again of the function you have selected and you assume the remote and PVR is not working, when in fact it is, you're just holding your finger too long on the button.

The User Interface, remote control and menu system are clear and simple and the clarity of recordings are exceptional... if the unit hasn't malfunctioned and you've ended-up with nothing. So it would appear from the distributor's support page for this product, that it has had a very chequered life with fixes and there are way too many firmware bugs that have caused malfunctions on a regular basis.

However, I am pleased to report, that I have recently downloaded and installed the latest firmware from NAS Australia and all the intermittent problems of recording appear to be resolved (for the time being at least). So even if your installed firmware version is the latest listed on the download page, it would be worth trying a re-install to see if your problems are resolved too. The method of downloading and installing the firmware is very simple and described on this site: http://nasaustralia.com.au/uec-support/9600-pvr/

It's worth attempting before returning the PVR to NAS Australia in Brisbane, for repairs.

APTECH PVR 9600T - Waste of money – I bought this PVR a few years ago. About 3 months after I bought it it started to freeze. I worked out that if you turn the power off and reboot it every time you use it it will work. This is a frustrating process that takes about 5mins. Finally it has stopped working and will have to be replaced. It had good features when it worked but the… Read more

quality of the unit is rubbish. I specifically bought this product rather than an overseas make as it said it was Australian designed, so I thought I would support Aussie manufacturing - lesson learnt! I should also have taken it back when it first started having problems as it is within your consumer rights even once the warranty period is expired ie it should reasonably last at least a couple of years for the price. I will never buy an Altech product again.

Reboot Problem revisited – Our 9600T has been experiencing boot-up issues every two weeks for the last two months. The wife has cracked the shites each time as the solution to achieve a successful reboot has been the "turn power-off for 48-hrs" technique. This week the wife put the matter in an the ultimatum, and I found this site, and have reviewed the "how to" using… Read more

the machine reboot with USB in back & hard drive disconnected, then re-done with it reconnected. That was today 06 May 17. Will keep fingers crossed this stays effective and durable in the PVR staying operating.

Terrible waste of money – This is our second attempt at this PVR after the first was taken back to Dick Smith within warrantee. The major issue I have with it is that when you press a button on the remote, the unit has a red light but nothing occurs. So we have discovered that you must turn off at the wall and reboot every time you want to change the channel. Sometimes the… Read more

machine does respond to the remote, but is too slow and therefore you press more than once and finally goes too far. It's like a cat and mouse game. I would warn anyone off spending money on this companies products utter rubbish.

It doesn't work anymore – No it doesn't work at all can't watch TV and cannot play prerecorded content. First we lost all abc channels after number of reboots and scans we lost more and more channels. Would certainly not recommend Altech products to anyone. Placed a call to help number we had on file only to !!hear it no longer exists  Show details

How to recover from a reboot bug – It is a great machine for the price but there is a bug that needs to be acknowledged for what it is. Minor inconvenience when compared to the multiple benefits this PVR gives. There is a recovery process that resets the PVR back to factory fresh with a blank HDD, but if you want to keep your recordings and go back and use the PVR the same way… Read more ·  1

as the previous day, then you do need to lift the LID and unplug the internal HDD before doing the factory reset. You also need to plug a USB memory stick into the top rear usb port and leave it there. Time to press the coloured buttons on remote control in sequence left to right and then press the yellow again.

Leave the USB memory plugged in and also plug the internal HDD cable in.

Reboot and all should be as it was. Leave the USB memory in the back port.

Dreadful machines Full of faults – I purchased two of these machines from dse in their dying days.Both machines started giving trouble after i week.Why is this sub standard rubbish being offered for sale.It is only fit for landfill.Other machines I have had for years have given no trouble.Designed in Australia? What a disgrace to Australia.  Show details

Good and Bad – It really is the best and the worst of PVR units. Most of the time its really good. It has may more features than PVRs I have had before. Programming is really easy and quick. It has program pause and is great for skipping over ads. Records 2 channels with no issues and it is very well laid out. 24hour menu jump feature for forward programming of… Read more

you recording schedule. All these feature work very well.

BUT it locks up every few days and you need to unplug it from the mains and wait for a reboot before it continues. Its the only fault I could find, but its a big one. Totally frustrating!!!

DISCONTINUED? NO wonder! Absolute rubbish! – Had issues with the remote; the programme guide; recording for the first 2 months. Kept having to reboot to shut it down or fix the issues. Then, finally after downloading the latest update (WHY should you have to do this???) I thought all was going to be well.WRONG! It keeps missing programme recordings. The non recorded programs remain in the… Read more

Schedule Menu showing up as scheduled for yesterday - or tomorrow! The TV guide still isn't 100% dependable. I have NEVER had issues with my previous PANASONIC recorders so I am throwing this out and will have to fork out for a replacement. BIG waste of money and time.

Poor Quality – I've had this PVR for about a year and while its simple to use its flaws are just too annoying. 1. Do not always record a scheduled program. Program is scheduled, changing to the channel shows the little red R marker, on the unit front display the red LED marker do not light up. Sometimes the non recorded program is still in Schedule menu… Read more

showing up as scheduled for yesterday! A PVR that misses recordings is just a useless box.

2. Using the EPG it sometimes jumps unmotivated back to start (reduced a lot with the 10774 software update).

3. Loses contact with the front display so it shows channel number instead of time when turned off.

4. Remote control often has weird response and ignores commands received (the front display red LED lights up, so command is received) and may sometimes delays execution so a burst of commands are done at one.

5. Sometimes cut recordings short.

This PVR could be great, but the quality and reliability is terrible.

great product with triple tuners – great uniti to operate with great recordings. great interface and compact in construction.1 tb gives pleanty of r ecording space. Leaves other pvrs for dead.. well done altech. also has Brisbane wholesaler for warranty issues..the unit appears reliable and wife loves it.. can honestly recommend this unit to other users.

2nd Altec which has disappointed – We purchased this unit after the previous model stopped working. The quality of this unit was even worse than the previous model. Channels had to be re-scanned at least weekly as the EPG regularly showed "unavailable" for all the channels. After a few more months, all the channels dropped out and despite many attempts at automatic and manual… Read more

rescanning, the unit kept reporting "no channels found". Using the same input cable, the TV had no trouble finding the channels.

We've learnt our lesson & won't be purchasing any more Altec products .

Great tuner if it wasn't for the crappy remote – As with the other reviews, the remote is unresponsive. You press several times and the unit will pick up one or two of those. I exchanged it for another one and Bing Lee gave me a used unit. Also had the same problem. It worked well initially but it will deteriorate.

Unresponsive remote – After about a month started experiencing this problem. Annoying and intermittent, it is definitely a software error and needs to be corrected if they wish to keep selling this product. Also the media management needs to be improved. On the other side the triple tuner is great. Also like the recording management with series and display

Disappointed – I bought this PVR player about 6 months ago. We currently have a Topfield dual channel recorder which was getting full and wanted another hard drive recorder. When checking for reviews the Altech had some good reviews. It also had triple tuner which was a feature we were looking for. I purchased it on line and picked it up from a local Dick Smith.… Read more

Initially, we set it up and set to record some programs which it double recorded. We wanted to get a dongle for it but were unable to find one and when we looked for the internet site |(which had been available prior to buying the recorder) it was not available. Which continued being the case for sometime. I think it has been taken over by an overseas company. The remote control is appalling!!! often non responsive and is often difficult to tell if you have pressed it hard enough and then suddenly it jumps back / forward two (or more) steps.

Otherwise it records well. We have added padding - 20 minutes - to recording times but the recorder always starts at the time the EPG says the program starts i.e. at 20 minutes into the recording which I think is good.

If they can replace the remote control and stop the double recording of programs it would be a great recorder.

terrible response to remote commands – actually doesn't seem it's a remote controller problem, pressing channel up or down buttons on the unit itself also results in an extremely slow response. Appears to be a memory or processor related problem, deteriorates with time. I'm going to either call Altech trying to resolve or return the unit to Dick Smith, despite the very attractive price

What a beaut unit! – Accidentally tripped across a Tricky Dickie online special of these for (at the time - Nov '15) $162.80.... I was only looking for a printer cartridge but got suckered in by the price. The 53 button remote looked a bit daunting to start with but after an evening of playing with it and thumbing through the extensive 52 page User Manual we came… Read more

to a reasonable mutual understanding of how I wanted it to work which happily coincided with its preferences.

There is an upgrade to that Manual available at http://cdn.altechuec.tv/PVR9600/PVR9600_addendum_manual.pdf which I found when checking to confirm I had the latest software version loaded from the Manufacturers Website. This contains important information about additional features.

The only concerns I have are a bit of conflict issues between the LG TV's remote and the unit, particularly with the volume, and a slightly reduced definition and red bias when viewing TV through the PVR.

But overall, in terms of value for money this device punches so well above its weight that I'd like to add another ½star to the above.

Piece of Junk! – Had for less than four weeks, now does not work at all. Cannot get Altec UEC to answer their phones, so do not recommend this unit at all! Purchased from Dick Smith, including extra 2 year warranty. My goodness, did not even last one month, let alone a year before it completely failed!!

Great Value And Features But Crap Remote Control Response – We tried the PVR, it had great design, the triple tuner works well, the picture and sound quality are good. The ease of use isn't as good as a topfield but has more features than a topfield. However, the communication between the remote and unit is haphazard, I had to press the remote several times to get a response for fast forward say and even… Read more

though you could see the base unit accept the signal via the red light coming up, it wouldn't do anything and when it did it would give anywhere from 2 to 128 speed. When hitting play several times after fast forwarding ads it would go way into the programme. The remote was almost unusable. Even when pressing shutdown, so I could take it back to Dick Smiths, it took 4 goes. Either poor software or slow processor?

Reception Reduction – Overall the PVR has worked well however after paying $150.00 to an Antenna Company I have learnt that the PVR is reducing my reception by between 25% & 30% so when trying to call Altech, I learned that they are from the 30th October 2015 ceasing their operations in Australia and have engaged NAS Australia as agent. Hopefully I will not have trouble in replacing or repairing the PVR.

Alltech PVR: The best engineered machine ever – This has to be the best ever PVR which does everything you ever dreamt of and then some - must have been designed by a woman ;) It's got so many functions that you need to go to their website to seem them all but rest assured, you'll not be sorry. And it's eminently affordable too. And Aussie design to boot.

Sophisticated PVR with very few issues – I decided to buy an Altech PVR9600 because it was on special for $199 (marked down from $299 while on sale) and I was attracted by the triple dual tuners and program booking. General Use I found the unit very easy to set-up with clear instructions in the manual (though the version f that included was clearly a photocopied and stapled copy… Read more

of the colour manual I'd looked at in the shop). It has no0 less than three USB ports and an Ethernet port as well. I connected everything up and when switched on it found my broadband and updated itself! The TV and Radio channels were all correctly scanned, with stength/clarity seldom under 90%.

When setting up channels you can block (requiring a pin number to access) and disable (so that it doesn't appear on the EPG) them. You can also set a channel as a favourite though you can't delete, renumber or move a channels from the the order shown. The unit has a 1 TB internal drive to record shows and you can also attach external drives via the USB ports, and these can be FAT32, NTFS or EXTFS formatted. You can read and play media from those external drives. You can also move recordings from the internal drive to an external one (regardless of format), but not the reverse. Both TV and Radio are saved in MPEG transport stream format with a .TS extension.

I found the PVR extremely easy to use after using simpler and single tuner PVRs. With the triple dual tuners you can record/watch up to three channels at once and/or also watch recorded shows/media on internal and external drives. Instead of juggling recording/watching shows, I could watch a channel while recording two others! In fact most times it was difficult to know if it was recording without deliberately checking that. Putting the PVR in Standby mode only seems to cut off a feed to the TV.

The flip side of that is that you can ONLY book shows, not record TV manually. You can do this three ways: by recording the current show (and you can watch a currently recorded show if you want); via the info/TV guide displays; and via a search function. The first two bring up the usual grid of channels and programs and you can select a program to record once, or as a series. The last allows tou to do a text search of the TV listings - you then select one of the results and get a list of channels/episodes to book.

The TV guide is an 8 day EPG and I've found that tagging shows as a series works best via search. You can however set up extra time to record both before and after a show, from 1 to 40 minutes, so you can allow for early and late shows.

Playback of recordings/media is easy to use. You can pause/fast forward/rewind as usual, and skip forward and back a user defined (from 5 seconds to 10 minutes) time. You can stop replaying and go back to that later (it gives you a choice of restarting at that point or from the start). In most cases recording also record Closed Captions, another plus.

There is an APPS function but it is only partially developed at this time. Pressing this on the remote gives you two options: web browser and NASA TV (internet streaming). I love NASA TV, but there's only one channel on this at the moment. The browser doesn't work yet, but clearly there's more to come. The number area of the remote is modelled after a mobile phone (so you might enter letters by multiple pressings) and a MAIL key as well. Maybe we'll see links to TV Catchup sites sometime.

The remote is well laid out and most functions are just a single button away.

Issues

When I initially tested this it failed to record episodes of Father Brown and Gotham, and even listed an error on Father Brown. Both episodes missed were final ones of a series. So far neither problem has been repeated, though it could be an issue to do with final episodes. If so, a work-around would be to manually record those. This isn't a deal breaking issue for me.

A drawback of the booking system is that it only works when the EPG is up to date and matches what's broadcast. For example, last Sunday afternoon, ABC listed an episode of Parkinson, but what was showing was an episode of New Tricks! I think though that this is an issue for the broadcasters, not the PVR.

Support

I've contacted support by email (about the issue above) and had a reply on the same day. They suggested a factory reset and rescheduling series. I did that and have not had the issue reoccur.

Excellent – This TV tuner has 3 tuners and it can record 6 programs at a time across 3 channels. It also has series recording like the Foxtel IQ box. Easy to use menu. Easy software update via the internet. It also has an apps section which only has one app at the moment. Hopefully they will an Netflix. Update: Its that good I went and bought another one.

Great Example of a well thought out product – I recently upgraded my ancient SD PVR to this Altech model and could not be happier. It is a great product and is also well supported by Altech. Suggestions for improvements from customers have even made their way into the product. I have never seen another company so readily look to impress their customer base. To the PVR, it has three tuners,… Read more ·  2

giving the ability to record 6 programs(stream dependent) and watch something too, series tag (to record all instances of the show), before and after padding (so you can handle those unusual start/end times), time shift, customisable skipping (like 30 seconds forward, 10 seconds back), 8 day EPG (which is completely available as soon as you turn on), a well weighted extensive remote control and heaps more.

The only problem so far is that i set the padding to start 5 minutes earlier and then later changed to two minutes and it did two recordings of the same program starting at the padded time and previously set time. After a restart, it seems to have sorted itself out. A few buggy things in the firmware, but the updates happen often to fix issues that come up.

Best money I have ever spent on tech.

Seems like a good one so far – I'm going to tell you I like this product so lets start with the downsides. I bought it at Bing Lee on special for $200 with a few bugs in the firmware, however the latest firmware update seems to have fixed those bugs. Other downsides are that programing recordings can only be done through the EPG, either as a single recording or as a 'series… Read more ·  1

recording', and front and rear padding can only be done on an 'all recordings' basis. If you want to record 'SBS News' each evening you set a series recording and you'll record it, but you'll also record the morning and night editions. And if you trust SBS to be on time but don't trust the commercial channels, the SBS recording is padded with whatever default you thought appropriate for the commercial channels. So recordings cannot be customised.

It doesn't have a real standby mode. Standby just cuts the feed to the television, but keeps chewing up about the same power as it does when operating - not enough to put you in the poor house but enough to irritate your green friends if they find out. I guess this is a function of the continuous monitoring of the EPG to facilitate series recording, and the nice point is the picture appears instantly when switched out of 'standby'.

None of the fast forward speeds include sound so you can't go through recordings quickly.

There is no provision for placing bookmarks in recordings.

Recordings, once deleted, are gone and can't be recalled.

It has been reliable except for one occasion when the contents of the EPG disappeared and nothing got recorded. That malfunction was cleared by turning off and on which brings up the last grumble, that it's very slow to start from turned right off.

So what's good?

The remote is nicely set out and tactile with just a little care needed to avoid double signals being sent. There is one button to call up a list of recorded programs, one button to call up a list programs it is going to record, and a third button to call up a list of series recordings, an arrangement which is convenient and works well.

Recorded programs are stored in folders for each program if more than one version of that program has been recorded, ie all 'SBS News' are in the 'SBS News' folder which reduces screen clutter and facilitates the deletion of the excess recordings mentioned earlier - just delete the folder occasionally.

The Menu, called up by a nice big blue button on the remote, is clear and easy to navigate. I particularly like the 'Search' function which allows you to type in three letters and it lists all the programs either recorded or in the EPG with those letters consecutively in the title. If there are two many programs displayed keep typing the next letters and it will filter down the list.

The EPG is reasonably clear and easy to navigate and use to set recordings.

Playback is also well organised. The 'Recordings' button calls up the list of recordings, unpack the folder if there is more than one recording with a particular name, press OK and the program starts playing at the end of the padding, ie at the EPG start time (unless the program is still being recorded in which case it starts at the start of the recording). If the program started early you then need to rewind to the actual start time. I find it is convenient and works well.

Navigation during playback is easy with jump forward an jump back buttons which can be programed with your preferred jump intervals. I've been using 1 minute forward and 15 seconds back. Fast forward goes up to 64x and you can slow it down as you approach your target with the fast back button which decreases the fast forward speed by one increment per press. There is also a seek function activated by pressing the green button which allows you to move backward and forward (monitored on the progress bar) by pressing the left or right buttons. It works but I need more practice before I could call it easy or convenient, it's a bit hit and miss at my skill level.

At the end of playback it defaults to the list of recordings so it's easy to delete the just watched recording. If not deleted the resume function allows you to resume watching at the last watched point in the recording.

The list of recordings shows the 'watched' status of recordings so if you're keeping a series it's easy to see which are watched and which are not.

And of course three tuners allowing six programs to be recorded. The menus, progress bars, and other displays generated by the machine are clear and pleasant.

All told I find it a nice capable easy to use machine. The drawbacks are minor and in some case mitigated by other features of the machine. You can download the manual from the UEC website if you want more detail and some pictures to show how it works. Why didn't I give it five stars - maybe I should have but maybe by grumbling a bit they will bring out a firmware update to make it perfect.