As we know gone are the days, when we could just watch TV using your DTH STB. Now we can think of our STB as just a DVD Player where we can Pause, Rewind, and even Record programmes too. And one such example of this, which we call a DVR STB is digital TV Recorder. Well, here I share my detailed review of Digital TV Recorder from Airtel, the second advanced DVR to have been launched in India, after using it for almost 70 days.
Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Purchase/Installation:
I ordered it via Airtel digital TV Helpline@12150 on afternoon of 28th April and they said any installation would be done by 30th April. But upon requesting to do it earlier,they agreed. I got my installation done on 29th night at 9 PM. As it was night my account was not activated,as the office was closed and Airtel server had some problems and Channels did not come. All channels came only on the next day, i.e. 30th at 11 Am. So, I was a bit sad with the activation part.
I’m getting 100% Signal Quality in all Channels and 80% Signal Strength.
Hardware:
STB
The digital TV Recorder STB is simply marvellous in looks, though is a bit bulky. It has a Piano Black finish, with clear cut edges and with all major functional buttons on the top part of the STB, thus causing no crowding to the Front Panel. In the Front Panel, there are 4 LEDs – One indicating Power/Signal, another Red one indicating Remote Control activity, the other which is Yellow indicating b-mails(Alert messages) and the fourth Red one indicating Recording activity. The Power LED glows Green when STB is ON, Red when Standby and Orange when there is No Signal. To the extreme left of the Panel is a cute and small Airtel Logo and in the Right part is the View Card Slot and a USB Port covered by a Flap. And just below the extreme edge of the Front Panel is a Red LED line which glows in downward direction, when the STB is ON and further adds to the beauty of the STB.
Now coming to the Back Panel. At the Back there are the following connectors: Power in, Composite Video/RCA, RF Out, Component/YPbPr Video, HDMI – fixed at 576p, Analog Audio, Digital Audio/SPDIF-Coaxial, USB, Telephone in, Ethernet Port and 2 Antennae/LNB in Ports along with a Antennae Out Port.
There is also a fan, which doesn’t spin though.
Remote
Now comes the Remote. It’s really classy and rectangular with rounded edges with symmetrically arranged square cut buttons ,each nicely placed. It is the sister of the Normal digitalTV remote with 7 more Buttons for accessing various DVR Functionalities. And it’s a Universal Remote too; just pair it with your TV Remote and forget the TV Remote unless you need any adjustment changes in your TV.
Software:
The Software is excellent too with a Glassy Red/Black Interface. The interface particularly look awesome in LCDs. The mini-Guide is very symmetrical and Transparent which offers you various details along with Genre wise navigation of channels. Also, the Menus and subMenus are very easy to access and offer detailed info. It was a bit slow when I got it with Release No. 256 but recently the Software has been updated with to Release 257 and now Navigation is pretty fast. The iTV Graphics are really capturing. But loading of iTV menus is quite late though.
Channel Navigation:
Well, channel change is quite slow and takes almost 3-3.25 seconds to change a channel. However, after recent update, it has improved to around 2.5 seconds. But there is Genre wise selection, which really speeds up channel navigation.
Recording Features:
- 160 GB inbuilt HardDisk with upto 100 hours of Recording, though actually, it may go upto 110 hours.
- Multiple options of viewing and recording :
Watch one programme while you record another
Record two programmes while you watch one of them
Record two programmes while you watch a third previously recorded programme - Pause upto max. of 100+ hours, depends on disk space
- Rewind paused content
- For First time in India, Schedule programmes to Record automatically even if the TV is switched off, using Mobile or Internet
- Record from anywhere – use your cell phone or Internet to browse for programmes and schedule recordings
- Record all the episodes of a programme automatically (Series recording)
- Schedule recordings for a specific time interval (Time-based recording)
Mobile Recording On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Recorder Settings On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Other Major Features:
- Enhanced Definition Video and DTS Audio
- View HD Channels in nearHD clarity via HDMI/Component
- 7 Days Full EPG(Electronic Programme Guide)
- Programme Search – only DTH to offer this feature. Search by Name of programme, Date/Time or by Synopsis
- Power Resume
- Widgets
- Genre/Rating for every Programme
- Universal Remote with Low Battery Indicator
- Radio channels with Screensaver
iTV Service on Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Basics/Consistency of Signal:
Well, the STB takes around a minute to boot up. But one nice thing is, within 4-5 seconds of Boot, you can use the mini-Guide for most channels and in around 20-25 seconds, you can view the Full 7 days EPG for all Channels. Also, the STB is of so good quality that it gets lukewarm if you use it for 4-5 hours and warms up slightly if used for 5+ hours. If in Standby, it hardly gets warm even if in use for 10-12 hours continuously. And it has never given me any Hangup, Reboot problems or unnecessary Error Messages. Not encountered any Picture Freeze,Pixellation in any channel so far. But initially when I got it, I had signal loss for 15 – 20 minutes during Heavy Rains and even Heavy cloud covers but after getting Release 257, I hardly loose Signals for 2-3 minutes, and that too, only during very heavy
rains.
Picture/Audio Quality:
Picture Quality is absolutely sharp and crispy, and flawless. It’s superb in most of the channels but a bit low ZEE Trendz, and a very few Regional channels. Comparatively, the pic. quality is next only to BIG TV, by a little difference. Picture Quality is quite uniform across channels. Audio is truly excellent and crystal clear in each and every channel. Also, the Sound is very uniform across TV Channels but somewhat less uniform in a few Radio channels.
Topper On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Setmax On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Colors On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Aajtak On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
MTV On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Nat Geo On Airtel digitalTV Recorder
Every detail of the picture is clearly identifiable and every dialogue is clearly audible, unless there is any problem from Broadcaster’s end.
Logo Placement:
Airtel Logo is semi transparent and apt in size. But main thing is it is very nicely placed across channels, in the bottom extreme right corner in some channels, somewhere in top right, somewhere in top left, somewhere slight shifted to left at the bottom right – simply perfectly tailor made so that hardly any content is invisible ! I really love the love placement.
At the end, I have only one line to say : If you are interested in a DVR, and want to experience True Digital Picture/Audio, you can securely go for Airtel’s digitalTV Recorder.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Thanks. One query though. What happens after 180 GB is full. Can some recorded programs be copied somewhere or have to be erased?
How is the quality of sound, picture and monthly package cost compared to Big TV HD DVR.
sir ple ase he lp me
sir i have a pe n drive & e xte rnal HDD is it posible to get the backUP of Re corde d vide os in Air Te l Digital Tv USB port