Technology, Gadgets, IT, Games

The TVonics DTR-Z500 is a digital-terrestrial Personal Video Recorder (PVR) – basically a Sky+ or V+ box for recording free-to-air digital TV; also imaginateively known as Freeview+

It has several advantages over Sky+ and V+, since they both require a subscription to their services. According to TVonics, Sky+ installation costs up to £150, and there’s a minimum subscription of £16 per month. However, the Z500 works off terrestrial digital TV (not cable or satellite), which is free to receive and watch. The Z500 costs just under £200, so is instantly cheaper on paper, if you use it for more than a couple of months.

As for features, there’s another big difference – the Z500 has a 500GB hard drive for recording TV to, which works out to 250 hours of digital TV. This is massive in comparison to Sky+, which can only offer 40 hours. Other features are equally impressive – the Z500 can record two channels whilst watching a recording (or record one, and watch/record a second), pause and rewind live TV, and schedule recordings using the in-built Electronic Programming Guide (EPG)… Read more

We all love those lazy Saturdays ambling round the retail parks looking at the latest flat screen tvs…

However as yet another big name looks set to pull out of the Plasma Display Panel TV market, has the consumer finally spoken….??

The powers that be at Philips Consumer Electronics have thrown in the towel and called time on their range of plasma display panel (PDP) televisions with CEO, Rudy Provoost indicating they will be pursing the more lucrative LCD market moving forward. Read more

The LP40-TDR1 is the latest in the Humax range of HDTVs boasting a sleek new design, with integrated twin tuner digital television recorder and a massive 160GB hard disk drive.

Features include live pause and instant rewind; the ability to watch a channel or record at the same time as recording another programme as well as an 8-day Electronic Programme Guide. Read more