DigiCrystal SDT-9000PVR

Good – An excellent product with simplicity of use and good graphics. Superior functionality to others that I have tried so far. Great value for money. Easy to use and good graphics. great improvement in TV reception. Great for recording to hard drive. Slight fault developed after 2 years. I have to power off and back to bring up recording panel.

Excellent – Mine lasted 5 years intill the Hard drive interface failed. I would buy a new one if these were still available. Compared to other units of equivelent price around today these were fantastic. Easy to use Can configure time manually Record and play at the same time Decent remote. Eazy to read EPG Good remote Locks up occasionaly, requires reboot. Every 3 months or so

Good – Because of the dull display I returned & exchanged the unit in the first week (excellent support), the first units display was not only very dull but the segments had varying levels of brightness depending in what digit was displayed. For instance "1" was brighter than "8". The second units display was still very dull but the brightness was… Read more

uniform. Despite these minor issues I would have no hesitation in buying another SDT-9000PVR & would (& have) recommend them to others. With technology being what it is now I see that anything bought now will probably be discarded in around two to five years so I don't consider that high definition is needed just yet! Good reception & a very compact size. Reasonable price compared to the alternatives (Retail outlets or DVD-R/RW, Etc.) The build quality seems to be quite good (I'm a perfectionist) & having used the device for several months there have been no problems whatsoever. There is little or no heat generated by the PVR & the remote control once understood is intuitive & easily used in low light (unlike many others). The menus & help screen are in excellent English unlike the manual. The documentation is absolutely atrocious, poor English & many features & options not covered at all. Having read forums I now understand the unit far better. The manual is so badly written it is almost comical to read. Setting a timer function has the annoying function of retaining the “date” of the last event (even if it was two weeks back), this makes it difficult when you know the current day but NOT the date! It’s a pity that the timed DOES NOT default to the present day/date (after all you can’t record from an already passed date)?

The display is extremely dull even when viewed in a totally dark room. Maybe an option (port or connection) to transfer data to another device would have been useful but considering the difficulty with this procedure & converting the data it probably wouldn't be used by most owners.

OK – Good unit and and made the picture much sharper Relatively easy to set up. No SBS

Excellent – The best thing I've bought in ages! I was thinking of a new VCR when my old one died, but this is MUCH better option, especially if you have a DVD recorder. Low cost, good features, easy to use once you are used to it. used in conjunction with a DVD recorder, to save what you really want to keep! nothing really, perhaps the manual could be a bit better? But overall pretty good

Excellent – I have had a SD Digicrystal 9000PVR since 18/3/05, (got it through ebay on 14/3 and it has been fantastic!!! :) Love it, love it, love it!!!.... So much so I purchased another 2 recently (one for my mum and another for me). (http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQsassZnewedgeauction... I found to be a very reliable seller). Forget the VCR's now.... I… Read more

won't be using them to record TV programs ever again.

With the Timer....it doesn't seem to make any difference if you put it on standby or not.

Set the timer as normal and activate it 'yes' THEN EXIT OUT and EXIT again and then confirm with OK. I have tested it several times this way with the standby on or not it still records as it's set up to do.

What's sooo good about it, if the power goes out you don't loose your timer settings or clock (unlike a VCR), as it will automatically set the time, when the power comes back on and the timer will record as it's set to do (unless, of course, it's due to record while the power is out).

The Digicrystal PVR's are great!! Pretty simple to use, quick and easy recording & playback. Don't have to bother with dvd's or VHS tapes to record from the TV and get SD digital quality TV recording & playback. It has a display on the front of the unit, so you don't have to turn the TV on to record.

Nothing major. I found the manual to be a bit incorrect at times, mainly when it came to setting the timer, but I figured it out (see below) and haven't had any probs since.

Good – It's excellent value for money and I use it everyday. It can record up to 12 times including same time everyday, or only five days per week. Good for recording The Simpsons and Seinfeld. It's a STB that allows to me record tv programs in digital. I had a combined STB/DVD/VCR, but the VCR couldn't record at digital quality. Very cheap compared… Read more

to brand name units. STB and hard drives are simple technology so it doesn't matter that it isn't a name brand.

It sometimes lists the name of the show that has been recorded. This is good for finding my favorate program.

It doesn't need to be set to 'stand-by' for the timer to work I had to return my first one because it stopped recording. But they returned a new one to me within a week.

The remote is small and basic looking. Not like my big Sony remote 'power station'. The remote signal is a bit weak sometimes. I need to point it straight at the unit.

Good – I am very happy with this box. I have it connected to my VCR then to the TV via composite (RCA) plugs from the Scart plug supplied. So VCR has to be set to AV1 but this has the benefit of being able to record on tape what is coming from the box. I also have a DVD and Xbox connected to the TV via a Dick Smith black box. The recording to hard drive… Read more

is a little more involved but is still pretty straight forward. The time-shifting is fantastic. Though have not worked out how to pause hard drive live recording to cut out the ads - anyone know? For the price (and a little patience) this is great value for money, just hope it lasts awhile. Easy to setup, records well,picture quality is fantastic, except for 10 which hasn't started in Albury yet (should be in the next three weeks). Bought mine on ebay for just over $200 on a Friday and was delivered on Monday. Simply won't go back to 'normal' TV again. The ability to adjust screen sizes is great. The manual is very poorly written and could do with better explanations for volume control and recording. Remote needs to have proper buttons for recording.

Bad – Read reviews and found that it a good box and bought on EBay for $243 delivered. Set up was a breeze. Connect the Antenna to RF-IN. Connect the SCART to RCA (Video, Left AUdito and Right Audio) to the TV Press menu and and reset to factory settings Scan the channels and that's it. The most annoying / irritating part is once you… Read more

press PVR button (red button) it displays the menu on the top left of the screen if you are recording, playing back or playing while recording (this feature is what allows to Pause live TV etc..) then the menu stays on occupying the screen so you are loosing screen and this is irrating and spoils the experience of watching a program.

Beside that it is easy to setup and works!!!. A lot of them available in ebay. Very cheap Digital Set-top-box Plus PVR funcationality with 80G hard disk to record the digital programs. The PVR funcationality is not that easy to use. The most annoying part is when you use PVR the PVR Menu always displays on the left top and bottom of the screen , Can't switch it off

OK – Can't beat the price. Some SD digital boxes sell for the same as one of these (but then you're paying too much for the box). Digital tuner is good. Better than the Wintel one I had earlier. A good idea for a replacement to a VCR but not executed brilliantly. It's cheap - what do you expect? Perhaps a firmware upgrade will fixes some errors but the… Read more

remote control should be replaced with one with dedicated buttons for recording and playback. It's digital so the picture and sound quality are good. You can record programs to a digital medium (hard disk) so quality is maintained. Once the hard disk is full you need to delete files.

The remote control lacks dedicated buttons for the PVR function. The silly thing continues to record shows after they have been removed from the timer program and interupts viewing if a timer program has been set.