Kogan Twin Tuner HD Digital PVR

THERE IS ANOTHER OPTION – I also had enormous difficulty understanding and navigating through the manual. In my opinion, it was simply crazy. Then I contacted Kogan Help Desk and within a short time, I was emailed a "short" version of specific instructions. That was brilliant and although it is still too early to tell just how good (or not) the PVR is, at least I can… Read more

operate it now. The lesson is, when you buy one of these, contact Kogan and ask for a short and understandable version of the operating instructions.

Here endeth the lesson.

Terrible – I wish I had read these reviews before purchasing. I have owned three PVRs including a cheap one from Aldi, and this one is by far the worst in terms of functionality, reliability and practicality. Its only use is as a very expensive set-top box. We were also going to buy a new Kogan TV, but we have lost all our confidence in this brand.

Leaves a lot to be desired: – This unit has been very poorly programmed with plenty of bugs. The remote control layout could also be better layed out. Not a very user friendly or well planned unit. Needs taking back to the drawing board. .

So User unfriendly I want to throw it against the wall – I guess you get what you pay for. This has got to be the most user un-friendly product I have ever bought. I know it's no Foxtel IQ box or anything, but something that should be so simple takes 4-5 steps to complete. Setting up was difficult due to our aerial, however after a week of tuning, we have finally got all free to air channels except SBS.… Read more

* Setting the time was a nightmare.

* I tried to set up a recording through the EPG last night, and ''Invalid Input kept coming up, therefore preventing me from recording my show.

* Recording a show allows you to watch another program but doesn't seem to give you the option to go into the media and watch previous recordings.

* Recording 2 shows at a time also doesn't give you the option to watch the media either.

* Recording either one or 2 shows doesn't allow you to view the EPG.

* When a recording has finished, it changes to a random channel.

* Channel keeps changing randomly

* Remote control is very unresponsive

* If I could throw it against the wall I would.

Extremely Satisfactory – I received this PVR a few days ago and found it to work very well. On first connecting up and switching on, all I had to do was to confirm my location as Australia and it scanned and installed all channels before I had time to read the instruction manual. Initially there may have been a glitch when the On Screen Display informed me that the… Read more

Hard Drive was full after only a couple of hours recorded. I reformatted the Hard Drive through the menu and never saw this error again.

Very easy to make recordings just by pressing the red record button. pressing the red record button a second time allows the default record duration of two hours to be shortened or extended as required which is a nice simple feature.

Liked the way that recordings can be made and played back from an external USB Drive although this does require a small learning curve when first attempted.

Doesn't record – When setting the machine up to record regular tv shows it sometimes does and sometimes doesn't. I don't know why this is the case when I do the set up the same each time. It will not record any more TV as it now says that it is full however there is only abut 2GB of data recorded. So much for 1 TB! Some things are quite easy to do but others… Read more

such as those mentioned above have me stumped. The manual is no real help as it does not explain what many of the terms mean. I don't see how a new machine can be full when I have only recorded about 50 hours of television and its own counter says that there is 98% capacity of the 1 TB. Where is it??

great after sales service – Had a problem with the recording process and Sean from Kogan sales could not have been more helpful he sent me a complete rundown of the recording process which made things very very understandable thank you for the great after sales service and product is fabulous no problems very happy customer

Complete rubbish – Never again will i buy any Kogan products, yes they are slightly cheaper, but make life a misery living with the products everyday. The recorder cant capture the program name at time of recording, so you end up with a long list of unknown programs, only identified by the TV channel that it was recorded on. In addition, we have had many occasions… Read more

where it started recording on one channel and then changed to another part way through. Its just horrible!

Constant Invalid Input – I have read Kogans directions and replies to similar complaints and these instructions do not work when programming to record shows on same day Very disappointed in this unit and it's lack of real world troubleshooting directions. It is impossible to speak to someone and rectify the problem. This is after the first unit turned up and didn't work from new in the box

Stopped working after 6 months – It was cheap and now I know why. It just wasn't user friendly - for example, it wouldn't list channels properly eg if you wanted Channel 9 for example, you needed to scroll through all the channels or press some obscure number like 046. I say 046 but I can't remember exactly what the number was. There was no way of 'renaming' the channels so… Read more

that they were easy to find. Also, if it was recording a program you couldn't then operate the EPG. Very annoying. Finally after only six months it now doesn't even work at all. It just won't switch on. I had previously owned a Dick Smith PVR - which was really good by comparison to this Kogan PVR, but the remote broke and I couldn't get a replacement or even a universal remote that would work with it. Pity - because although it wasn't brilliant, it was much better than this Kogan device.

Hate it! – I find it impossible to record a show. Almost always shows invalid input. Manual is the worst ever. Regret buying it. Should have listened to all the bad reviews and bought a brand name. Main issue is it is so hard to use. No issues purchasing or receiving product. Will never buy another Kogan product based on how bad this one is to operate. I… Read more

have repeatedly missed shows I wanted to record because I could not get it to work and spent money renting them instead.

Utterly useless and counter-intuitive – I have read and re read the instruction book. It is far from clear and counter intuitive. It has a huge amount of storage which is just as well because you can not erase a program after you have watched it. The remote control is too small with bad and unclear labels. The remote will only work within 1/2 meter of the recorder so you will get… Read more

excercise at least.

This is the first and last Kogan product I will buy. I would recommend spending the extra few dollars and get a reliable brand.

Terribly unreliable product – Absolutely agree, took ages to understand the "system". Its time when these people write instructions that they take some unknown off the street to follow them. Ridiculous is what comes to mind.

User manual is useless – Took me forever to find out how to play back a recorded show. When a show is recording, EPG and Menu functions don't work. Cannot find a way to see what shows I have scheduled for future recording. Maybe some one knows the answers.

Load of rubbish – I bought this Top box for $149 plus etra warranty took th the price around $200. What a waste of money, so hard to use, does not switch off after time input. Not user friendly at all. Just bought a Humax $277, fantastic, everything is so easy. I am really disappointed with this product Kogan and I wonder how you can sell something like this. Wasted my money big time!

Great product for price – I bought a Kogan PVR and it is great value for money. It does everything I need and does it well. It replaced a LG recorder that had failed and frankly (even though it does not have all the features of the LG) I think the Kogan is as good overall - for less than half the price. It is easy to set up and to work through the menus. I did not… Read more

even need to download the manual as it is fairly intuitive as to the menu options. The EPG makes it reasonably easy to select the programs for recording. The quality of playback is very good. The remote is very easy to use and has all the key functions at hand.

Although I was a little wary at buying it at first I am very pleased I did. Easy set up and ease of use. Good quality and excellent value. Would be good if it came with a DVD Player

Kogan pvr twin tuner 500 gb – Received my kogan pvr today took it out of the box and noticed the case was bent out of shape and looked second hand or refurbished also noticed it was light as a feather cheap nasty box straight out of china tried setting box up and the remote also started to control my tv for example when I clicked the volume button it would turn my tv off and… Read more

the channel scroll button would change av settings on my television my advice to anyone who is wanting to purchase one save your money and spend a extra $100 and buy a top field or humx from a store cheap ugly and not what I expected for $199 + $20 shipping

Cheap nasty box straight out of china , remote May control your tv as we'll , wouldn't even pay $50 for this product

User Manual - Needs to be improved – The PVR is quite good once you have worked out the functions that are not described in the User Manual which you have to download from the Kogan website. There are no details about: Advance Recording; Instant Recording; Playing a Recording; Deleting a Recording; Viewing Pre-Recordings; Deleting Pre-Recordings. These are basic functions of a PVR… Read more ·  6

and should be included in the User Manual. A copy is available. PVR is good value for money Poor User Manual on the essential functions

Great for recording – It is great to be able to record 2 channels at once if there are shows you want to see on more than one channel. This often happens in prime time viewing. Now I don't miss any of my shows that I Iike. Easy to use once you download the instruction book. Extra storage via USB. Not expensive, easy enough to use.

Good cheap option – So I'm no expert - this is the first thing I've had that recorded tv since a VCR player - but this does a great job for the price. I like that you can put USB storage on it rather than be limited. I found it tricky to set up but I think I'd find the same with other similar products. Price. Ability to use external storage  Show 2 replies