100 units available includes Bonus Wifi N Adaptor RRP $29.95 Check the video demo here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGqm6VdHMk
big +'s Well written manuals, Simple Set up, Quality remote(4xAAA), Easy to navigate GUI & EPG, USB Copy, Variable Ad Skip,Automatic timeshift, MHEG5 chipset support, Edit recordings, Resume playback, Record to external device, News Feeds & Weather updates VIA INCLUDED WIFI, Playlist, 1080P support, 16:9/10, Vivid Colour reproduction.
The 4000 in non freeview version and has variable ad skip, sticky fast forward rewind & fast forward in minutes via the 1-9 keypad. Also can copy off via USB on the 4000
I think the MHEG-5 thing is the Freeview compatible EPG (Electronic Program Guide), which is only available on Freeview boxes as far as I know.
I think you're far better off with a Topfield or Beyonwiz, which have a good reputation. Just don't get the Topfield 7000 or 7100, though the 7100HDPlus is OK, as is the 7160 and 7170. The 7000 and the original 7100 were dodgy versions hacked together by the previous Aussie distributor that had lots of problems, though this has now been sorted for the 7100HD Plus and up.
If you go to IceTV they have combo deals that include their reputable EPG/remote recording through the net and seem reasonable.
There is a lot more information in a previous deal from the same guys;
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/47957
This deal confirms that it is definitely not Freeview, but used the over the air EPG. The 4000 can, however, be flashed with the 3700 firmware to make it Freeview compatible if you want. The only advantage of Freeview that I know of is live EPG, for instance when a show starts late and finishes late the PVR will also continue recording until it finishes. The downside is no block time shifting (30 secs at a time etc), which means you get all the ads, though you can fast forward manually. You also can't copy the files onto your PC using Freeview as the files are encrytped.
There is also another video review of the device here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiTV3k4wgdc
See also some mixed reviews on these links;
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1619852
(See the first few posts of this for bad reviews. Someone also states on this one that 3D only works at 1080i on HDMI 1.3 that these have)
http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=95076&st=0
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=6209…
(Has some information about minor hacking)
Very good deal! I grabbed one for $299 + shipping (without wifi dongle) and I think its one of the easiest & friendliest PVR's I have played with … love the keypad time jump (1 = 1 minute jump … up to 9 = 9 minute jump) - plus you still have a dedicated -10sec replay button & a +30sec jump button!
Good reviews & overviews can be found here:
http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=95076
So $259 shipped with dongle is a no-brainer really!
Question from an original TiVo-owner: Does this device (or any others around this price point) allow a Season Pass? I.e. something that says when the program with name X is showing in channel Y, then record it?
Some of the older basic PVRs that I have seen only allow setting a recurring time-based recording (e.g. record Wednesday 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm on channel 10). That's not ideal though as programs change time, skip weeks, go on or off air between seasons, have extended episodes, etc. Hence the desire for a set-and-forget season pass functionality, I really wouldn't like to give that up.
Would be nice to have a more up-to-date digital PVR though, ideally with 2 or more tuners and a large hard disk (1TB or more).
I think if you flashed this with Magic 3700 firmware it would do exactly that (by making it a Freeview compatible box), but at the cost of loss of 30 second skipping and copying of programs off the drive to your PC etc (they will be encrypted on that firmware). The Freeview EPG is synchronised with the real program times even when they are late, because that is a ploy by the commercial channels (who are Freeview) to frustrate people who use PVRs and skip the ads, which Freeview boxes cannot do easily. So you avoid some frustration (missing the end of shows), but get other frustration in return (ads)…
I am sure you could pick up a Topfield for not much more than this and you can load it with TAP (Topfield Application Programs) that allow some of these features, or at the very least allow you to set custom/longer recording times. I think you can also get this functionality using an IceTV subscription (plus remote recording triggering/management through the net).
can someone advise whether it can play video stored on other PC hard disk wirelessly.
Some of the links I put up earlier indicate (from Magic themselves) that it can't play AVI or MKV, but can play H.264 - don't know if that's over a network as I have read nothing like that in any specs, but I'm pretty sure it can play that off a USB device. Apparently the hardware may be capable, but they say the firmware is unlikely to ever support AVI/MKV.
If you want playing over the net I know that Topfield and Beyonwiz do that, but I can't remember off the top of my head if they do AVI/MKV. I know that the popcorn hour box on OzBargain at the moment (http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/54928) does play MKV and does play it over the network, as my brother does that with rips of his Blu-rays on his much earlier Popcorn Hour. I think the Popcorn Hour box can also have a TV tuner added in. You may also want to think of getting an HTPC and run something like XBMC.
This unit can run freeview or non freeview firmware. So it's very flexible if you want to try the freeview EPG with series link just load the file here http://magictv.com/au/support.html if it's not what your after then you can just load the non freeview firmware back on the device
no, no, no! If you load the freeview firmware and wish to return to non-freeview you have to return the unit to the factory.
Being a 'recent' model, I guess it does playback at faster speeds i.e. 1.5x, 2x, 4x, etc., perhaps even half and quarter speeds.
Can anyone advise when playing at the lower faster-than-normal (1.5x, 2x) speeds that is still has audio? Not many players support that feature. The better players even implement pitch correction.
The youtube video I posted earlier shows audio still going at up to 2.0x. Seemed like a pretty smooth transition to slow down from that too. Watch it yourself…
Does this unit come with a fan? How noisy is it? Any chance of one without a HD (if it doesn't have a fan)? I really don't need 1tb and I have more usb hds than I care you poke a salesperson at. ;)
Most of these boxes are designed to be quiet…
Keyword there being "most". :) I already bought one from someone else and had to send it back. I could hear it from 4-5m away. Not a good thing in the quiet moments of the night.
I really don't want to go through that again. It's a pain (despite the fact that the return process was very easy and smooth).
Often it could be the hard drive that causes noise. Samsung used to have a rep for making the quietest hard drives, which is why they were used in a few brands of these boxes. There were also some models by Western Digital etc that were designed for HTPC use, but which were slightly slower than other drives of the same capacity, but they were pretty hard to come by after market.
If a box like this has a fan, the smaller the fan often the louder it is. On PC's designed to be quiet, they have a 12cm (or even 20cm) fan vs. 8cm on others, because the smaller fans have to spin faster to achieve the same cooling.
Often it could be the hard drive that causes noise. Samsung used to have a rep for making the quietest hard drives, which is why they were used in a few brands of these boxes.
And why my desktop has them. :)
I built that sucker to be so quiet I sometimes wind up leaving it on for days before I realise it is still on (or I sit down to use it and hit the power button, thereby turning it off).
Silence/Quiet from these devices is important to me.
On PC's designed to be quiet, they have a 12cm (or even 20cm) fan vs. 8cm on others,
Yup. Same here. 12cm on the cpu, psu and 2 of the case.
Now all I want is a silent dual-tuner. This almost hits the bill. I worry about the HD now, is all. Grumble.
No cooling fan required on the Magic. There are ventilation grills side and back of the unit and pretty much the only sound you will hear when totally quiet is the HDD spinning.
Will it function without a HD?
You could use a flash drive or a newer solid state drive, but they aren't made for repeated wiping and replacing, which is a typical use on a PVR - you record shows, you wipe shows, you record over them again. See my comment above about quieter drives - you might want to google to see what has a reputation for quietness these days, but you would probably be voiding your warranty and spending extra money ($100-150?) to get what you want.
Or… you could just turn the sound up a bit more… ;)
Yes MagicTv supports direct recording via USB to flash drive and external HDD's formatted in FAT32
The units come pre-built with 1TB inside so no chance of taking out the HDD unfortunately
It's Freeview branded, so no ad-skipping, no recording transfers, etc. Which Freeview standard does it meet?