EXCLUSIVE: 3View's Freeview HD/internet 500GB PVR on sale in March for £299
Wow, what an amazing day it's been. This morning we started off with Sky's announcement on 3D TV, then its new 1TB Sky+ HD box, and now we've just had an exclusive briefing on the first Freeview HD set-top box to enter our test rooms.
It's from a relatively new British start-up company, 3View, and is due to go on sale in March for £299. It will initially be sold online, but 3View hopes to strike deals with the likes of Tesco and Best Buy too.
But what's clever about this particular set-top box is that it's far more than just a Freeview HD receiver. It has a built-in 500GB hard drive for recording, has wired (via Ethernet) or wireless (via USB dongle) internet access, comes loaded with apps for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and has twin Freeview HD tuners.
The white version shown here is a prototype, but we hope to get our hands on a finished production model in the next few weeks.
Media storage and web access
"This is really a home network device," explains 3View managing director John Donovan. "It connects to the web, and you can use the PVR as a media storage device for video, photos, music and so on. We wanted to develop a set-top box that blends the internet and free-to-air HD TV."
3View uses Linux operating software, a Sigma 8654 chipset, dual Sony Freeview HD DVB-T2 tuners and a specially developed circuit board.
There's a bespoke eight-day EPG which allows you to do the usual pause/rewind live TV, record episode/series stuff, and the company has added some nice touches to make recording and managing the content on the hard drive simpler.
For instance, the search function has predictive text so it's easier to track down particular programmes you've recorded, you can set it to record programmes automatically in HD or SD, and select high, medium or low bitrate recording for internet TV channels.
Apps for Twitter and Facebook
And you know how annoying it is when your hard drive fills up and it stops working? Well 3View has a solution for that too: you can choose how long you want to keep recordings: forever, a number of weeks or just a few days. Nifty.
For web access, the Opera 10 browser is built in and there are widgets for Facebook and Twitter, plus a simple link to YouTube. 3View hopes to add the BBC iPlayer in due course, and there are even plans to link up with the Gracenote database.
Connectivity includes HDMI, Scart, Ethernet, USB 2.0 and a digital coaxial output, and the box is DLNA and UPnP compliant.
There's full support for 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 HD content, it will play MPEG 1, 2 and 4 H264 video files, handles Windows Media and even has Z-Wave compatibility for home automation control.
The spec is impressive, but Donovan admits the prototype still needs a bit more tweaking. "We need to tune the picture quality on the Sony HD tuners to make sure it's the best we can get, and make sure the box will get good reception from a wide range of rooftop aerials."
Production is due to start next month. As soon as we get a fully working sample, we'll let you know how we get on.
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Comments
Apparantly there's a backlog of products going through the Freeview accreditation process (and you can't go on sale until your product has it).
Any more news on this device ? All seems rather quiet since mid Feb
according to their FB page it's been pushed back until late April � early May
Spoke to John Donovan, MD of 3View this morning. He's on holiday, so we'll get a full update when he's back next week.
We're hoping to get our fully-fledged review sample shortly. I'll check.
any more news on a possible release date - or the HD accreditation?
As I said in my earlier comment, 3View is submitting the box to the DTG for Freeview HD accreditation in the next 2-3 weeks, so it will have to meet all the specs required. And BTW, it does handle internet TV as I've seen it do so.
Could someone explain what LeifGR's comment about it "not being fully DTG Freeview+HD accredited, as it will not have the full gamut of MHEG-related functionality that the spec demands" actually means. Would be surprised if they were releasing a freeview HD box that wasn't in line with current thinking...
LeifGR
We understand from 3View that the box will be submitted for full Freeview+ HD accreditation with the DTG in the next 2-3 weeks. Just to re-iterate, what we saw yesterday was a prototype, not the finished product.
Lots of good points. Need to be aware, though, that it will not be fully DTG Freeview+HD accredited, as it will not have the full gamut of MHEG-related functionality that the spec demands (e.g. text and the "red button" functionality). For some people this will be an issue, for others not. There are also suggestions it will not be able to do IPTV and that it may not have Accurate Recording.
will it play MKV files?
This exactly what I have been waiting for. The specs look good. The proof will be in the eating and as always, the first edition will likely have bugs, but someone has to find them. Let's hope they do their bug fixing before they release it.
DrooL! [O_O]
yes and me
Been thinking of ditching my SKY+ for a decent PVR. But now I'll hold fire until I see the reviews of this. If this is as good as it sounds then it's a steal for �299. Since Freeview HD doesn't make it to my neck of the woods until 2011 they've got a year to iron out any glitches. Exciting times.