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Sagem DTR94500S HD Freesat+ DVR

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By Nigel Whitfield (via reghardware.co.uk)

This time last year, there was only one Freesat recorder available, from Humax. Now there are several, of which the Sagem DTR94500S HD is one of the latest.

Sagem’s DTR94500S HD: the front panel doesn’t exude quality

It’s a slim unit, around the size of three external hard drive enclosures put side to side – a size that’s partly achieved at the cost of having an external power supply. There’s a USB port on the front, but it’s unused.

Round the back there are two Scarts, HDMI, co-ax digital audio, analogue audio, component-video, Ethernet and satellite connectors. Inside is a 500GB hard drive.

Setup is simple and straightforward, assuming your dish is aligned. Enter your postcode, select output resolution, screen size and an optional PIN code, and that’s pretty much it – the tuning is completely automatic.

As with any two-tuner DVR, you need two feeds to make the most of it, but while some other boxes – notably the Humax Foxsat HDR – will work with just one feed, the Sagem doesn’t. It didn’t even realise during setup that one input was left unconnected, and simply reported failed recordings later. So, a dual LNB setup is mandatory here. There’s no Unicable support either. In fairness, this is still very rare, but it would nevertheless be good to see.

The remote, like the unit itself, feels a little plasticky and, frankly, we weren’t impressed with the position of all the buttons. There are several that don’t do anything at all, which may well confuse some users.

More contrast on the UI, please

In normal operation, you’ll see the channel number on the bog-standard display. When you go into the menus or the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), or a recording starts, it tells you as best as it can in seven segments. You may also hear something – ours had a definite buzz.

The on-screen info box at the bottom of the picture has a wide range of icons to indicate HD programming, the type of audio, and so on, in orange-on-grey. Some of the icons don’t seem that clear, and the while the colour scheme’s not too bad, it could do with more contrast.

Freesat lays down some rules for presenting the EPG, but there’s a fair bit of latitude within those. Like other boxes, the Sagem insists on displaying the Genre screen when you enter the guide, and there’s no option to turn it off. More annoyingly, you can’t change genre, so you have to exit, and then go back into the guide. We felt, too, that the colour scheme and layout of the guide isn’t as clear as on, say, the Panasonic DMR-S850 Freesat recorder.

Not the clearest of EPGs

Irksomely, you also have to press Exit to return to live TV if you want to go from the EPG to the list of recordings, or in the opposite direction – you can’t just hit the appropriate button and bounce between them.

Scheduling a recording is straightforward – just press Record in the guide, and then confirm if you want to do a one-off, or a series recording. But the Sagem is the first Freesat product we’ve seen that didn’t offer to record the HD version of a programme if one was available, so you’ll either have to scan the listings for BBC HD, or look at the programme’s info to see if it says “Also in HD”.

Highlight a recording to get a preview

Otherwise, the system behaves well when you schedule recordings. If there’s a clash, a very clear explanation of your choice of actions appears, with options that can include recording a repeat of a programme, rescheduling one of the other clashing recordings, if possible, or simply not recording.

If you’re recording two things at the same time and try to change channel, a similar box outlines your options, including offering to stop and re-schedule a running recording if necessary, or watching the recordings from the start, though it doesn’t offer a restricted list of alternative channels to watch. The options are some of the most comprehensive we’ve seen, and certainly help usability.

Recorded programmes can be organised into folders – only one level deep, though – and a preview runs when you highlight one, so you can find the right episode easily. There are also configurable skip buttons, so you can jump forward very easily when the adverts come on, or skip back when your other half’s been talking distractingly at you.

The recording-clash options are comprehensive

The main menu is a strip of icons down the left side of the screen – scroll to highlight an icon, and further options appear. It’s easy to use, and there are helpful options, like restricting access to the Adult genre on the EPG by PIN, or to programmes that are rated as unsuitable for children.

But there’s little to tempt the dedicated satellite tinkerer – this really is a unit designed for Freesat and not much else. You can tune in other channels on the Astra satellite cluster by entering all their details manually, but that’s it – no support for other satellites or Diseq is provided.

The main menu appears as a strip on the left

When you do add non-Freesat channels, they’re allocated a number. However, you can’t enter that number to go to the channel, you need to scroll through the list, or use P+/P- to reach it. Nor can you do an instant recording of such channels, or, as far as we can see, set the name of a timed recording from them.

Another concern was some occasional graphical glitches in the library list, which may point to firmware issues.

With the USB port not yet functional, the only other connectivity option is Ethernet, and that too is not yet used, though an update to enable BBC iPlayer should be along shortly, as the service is rolled out to more devices.

Verdict

Sagem’s Freesat recorder does the job, and the large hard disk means that there’s plenty of space for HD recordings. But the case, remote and front panel display don’t exude quality, and we felt the EPG isn’t as well laid out as some other Freesat boxes. The lack of automatic prompts to record HD versions of SD shows is also an annoying omission, as is a digital optical output.

A slimline digital TV recorder for Freesat, with disk space for up to 250 hours of recordings.

Suggested Price: £299 (£249 for the 250GB version)

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