Pure launches Avalon 300R Connect Freeview+ HD set-top box

Pure Digital, best known for its digital radios and music streaming systems, is expanding into the set-top box market.

It is launching the Pure Avalon 300R Connect Freeview+ HD digital TV recorder, available in 500GB and 1TB versions for £300 and £350 respectively.

The box delivers free access to four HD channels from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, plus 50 SD channels. Users can also pause and rewind live TV for up to two hours.

If you go for the 1TB version, you'll be able to record up to 250 hours of high-definition or 600 hours of standard-definiton material.

There are dual Freeview tuners, an 8-day electronic programme guide (EPG) powered by Imagination Technologies' PowerVR graphics, integrated wi-fi, USB slots on the front and back, plus four HDMI inputs round the back allowing you to switch between other connected devices using the Avalon box.

On-demand web services such as BBC iPlayer, YouTube and Pure Connect are available, and video or audio content can be streamed to the Avalon via a network storage device or a uPnP device.

Pure Connect is the new name for the Pure Lounge, which allows you to access a world of live radio, on-demand content (podcasts, listen again programmes and ambient sounds) and thousands of online radio stations.

The Pure Connect service will feature on Contour, Avanti Flow, Sirocco 550, Oasis Flow and Sensia products.

As for audio, the Avalon 300R supports Dolby Digital Plus, providing up to 7.1 channels of audio from supported Freeview, USB or networked content.

In the coming months, Pure will also add additional on-demand capabilities including access to Pure Music, its own music subscription service; compatibility with Pure Stream, so owners can wirelessly stream music from iOS or Android devices to the Avalon; and the ability to record SD programmes to a USB stick for playback on other devices such as a PC or laptop.

The Pure Avalon 300R Connect will be available in the UK from October.

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.