briteView BV-980H / Zinwell ZAT-980H thread - Page 2

Well I took the bait and ordered one from Amazon so I'll find out what it can or can't do. Now I have figure out how to sneak it in under the Mrs.' nose...we already have four DTV PAL DVRs !

I would have gone to Amazon too, but they indicated a delivery time in the "weeks" timeframe. They do tend to inflate their delivery dates, like walmart.com, and I have bought from SS before. I'm not going to be racing toward a review. I want to have a full understanding of the unit. I already downloaded the update.

I reserve comments. But any chance the thread title can be changed to include both the ZAT and BV? Even SS uses both in its product description.

Thanks for the warning. But I'm old, and ...... I would never promote one product over another. I will point out differences however. But enough on that topic.

Not here with TWC. The only channels they let through over clear QAM are the digital OTA locals and poor quality analog basic cable.

Anything worth watching in HD on cable needs a CC or STB so TWC still have you by the groinal area even with this device.

Interested to see what you make of it though. Even with a single tuner this might find a use as a backup recorder just for the local HD channels.

I feel pretty much the same way. My three HD DVR units are labeled CBS, NBC and ABC/Fox. For basic SD cable (TNT, USA, SyFy) I use a Mag 515H (used to be a 2160A). At the 515H's highest bit rate I can hold 100 hours of content.

The 980H shows a FF button, but no "skip" ability. That will be missed. Usablity is something we will have to learn together. Time will tell.

So vs. a DVDR, for $200 you are trading a DVD burner for HD/5.1 recording. If it uses PSIP for scheduling it most probably auto-titles the recordings. A good option for watch-n-delete time-shifters who want to use the quality of their HD displays. I just can't get very excited about a single tuner DVR.

No optical out, no sale for me. Bummer. Not ready to upgrade my receiver yet.

I'm feel I'm adding an HD recorder. If the unit supports DD 5.1 I will be happier. It doesn't spell that out, but it's implied with the "pass through" function of HDMI audio.

I'm a season-long time shifter. I tend to store a few select titles for the summer. With a really big HDD the loss of a DVD burner is not a problem. I have a lot of DVD-RAM disks which do me no good with the Mag 515H.

Should there be a linkage between the "EPG" and recording, it will be a surprise for me. But a welcome surprise.

I think it safe to assume an HD DVR will pass out HD/5.1 through HDMI. Now, will it pass it as source-direct and let the AVR or display do the formatting (i.e. upconversion of 720p to 1080i/p) or will it be like the DTVPal and output a user-selectable fixed resolution.

Me too. There is much more on TV than I have time to watch during a regular season so I tend to collect episodes of the serialized shows so I can watch them in the summer. It's especially handy for new shows that look interesting but get canceled after 4-5 episodes -- I have nothing invested in watching them and can just delete the few saved episodes without having wasted any of my time. This is the reason I value the TiVo's network transfer ability so highly -- I still have the last 2 seasons of 24 and HEROS and season 6 of LOST sitting on my server, waiting to be watched. If you can hang a 1TB USB drive off the 980 you will increase your HD/5.1 recording capacity by 120 hr.

Not sure what kind of TV you have but mine can take a 5.1 source from it's HDMI input and pass it out it's optical audio output.
My AVR also lacks HDMI input but hooked up to my TV it gets true 5.1 when my TV is tuned to a 5.1 channel or a any 5.1 HDMI input is selected, really handy. I have a couple year old Sony W4100 LCD. Not all TVs will pass 5.1 from HDMI inputs, many only output 5.1 when using the TVs tuner so you'll need to check out your specific HDTV.

That might be a Sony feature. My EX700 passes DD5.1 (only). Anyhow, I got the "SS email" that it has shipped. Probably no arrival until Fri or Sat. Things are getting interesting. I am off work Monday this week.

If you give it the "thumbs-up", I'll bite. I'm in dire need of a DVR, having never purchased a Tivo. The HD tuner card method I'm using is pretty clunky.

I also ordered one from Solid Signal( over the weekend ), it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I'll post pics, etc... tomorrow.

Topics merged, topic title changed.

Thank you. Thank you.

The next few days will decide how happy people are with this unit. Buggy? Don't care as long as they are fixed. Having one update already is good & bad. I'm an optimist, so I will give it the "good" spin. I have a lot (err, too much) to compare it with. We, all of us, need to give whoever time to fix the problems or at least document the issues. So far, this is a "coup" for Amazon and SS. No competition from walmart.com yet. If the unit works, expect walmart.com to jump in.

I discovered the Mag 2160A from the DHG-HDD250 thread. I discovered this unit from the Mag 515H thread. Who knows what is next? We live in interesting times.

If you have never had to deal with, an unchanged cable feed might be a shock. Some people want the pretty numbers that a CableCARD gives you. I watch, at max, a dozen stations out of 600+ on my grid. All I need is a MS Word document to keep things under control. And my cable feed is simple too. I have never had a Tivo, Moxi, or Satellite. I have Satellite at work and it's my job to control the station selection. There is a lot of (deserved) feedback that puts some cable feeds in a bad light. But really, if it works don't fix it. Patience is hard, but safer. Please don't base your decisions on my opinion. I'm not perfect and have a limited set of parameters. But I also learn a lot from other posters. Any bad decisions are my own.

I pay for Pandora, but didn't buy their stock today. It's playing right now on my Sony BR. Great quality, but not for everyone. I have made and lost money with Sirius over the years too. Life can be fun.

Actually, when I first posted the SS page link, it only had the Zinwell name and model number (that I copied exactly as it was listed into the original thread title I started) attributed to it.

Must've been somewhere in-between the time I posted it and you first noticed it that they changed it. I would assume by his following post that hdtvfan2005 saw it as it was originally.

I understand. Things change quickly.

I just noticed that, like my Sony's, there is no RF pass-through. As luck would have it, the amplified Mag 515H's output should allow a splitter without dropping the cable line too low. If not, I suggest the Radio Shack 1-to-4 splitter. I have several.

I currently use a Channel Master CM-7000PAL DVR in my bedroom system. After almost a year of problem free use, I desired an OTA DVR for my living room system( mainly for the lack of EPG features on my Panny TV ). With the brite-View BV-980H/Zinwell ZAT-980H being $150 cheaper than the Channel Master CM-7000PAL, I figured I'd give it a try.

First off, it reminds me of a typical CECB in both size, shape & weight, but the build quality is decent enough for what it does. The front display has a red led on while recording. Next to the recording led is the power led( blue when on, bright red when off ) & the power button. It runs fairly quiet when on & off. I set it up in my bedroom system for a quick test. It pulled in all the channels my TV & Channel Master CM-7000PAL can. Boot up time from off is between 20 to 30 seconds. The EPG takes between 10 to 15 seconds to load. Detailed program description info can be viewed while using the EPG, but not while viewing a channel. All in all, it works as advertised, but I didn't notice a warranty card in the box, nor any online warranty registration @ briteView.com . Since the warranty seal was already broken, I popped the hood to take a look & pics. I'll test it out more tomorrow after I get it installed in my living room system( I need to pick up a HDMI cable & a UPS ).






Box bottom


Box top




Manual, batteries, remote, wall wart power supply & composite A/V cables. An HDMI cable would've been nice.


Top


Bottom


Left side


Right side




Heat sink & case vents, no fan cooling.








Tuner


Internal hard drive.

You are the man. When you get time, I only have one question: are the LED indicators really bright? That seems to be the trend. Your excellent pictures seem to show a battery and perhaps two crystals. I wonder if the battery is for power failure, and the crystals are for clock accuracy. Perhaps, did you notice any user adjustable controls?

Mine should arrive tomorrow. This will be interesting! You are OTA and I am non-Comcast cable.

Very nice pix.

I'm strictly OTA (plus iTunes and Blockbuster). Yes, those pics are nice.






Frak! Another opportunity missed..

Apparently not. (Following was email response to same question.)

"We do not recommend user to replace the HDD to one with lager capacity. Not only doing that will cause instability of system, but also make the warranty invalid.
Sincerely,
brit-View Customer Service"

I find the red to be bright, but the blue looks normal( dimmer ).
No user adjustable controls, other than the initial settings in the menu( noted in the manual ).

You missed nothing since Pandora has dropped below its IPO price. You saved money. The stock market is like Vegas without the free drinks.

Can you take closup pics of the board identifying who provides the hardware (Broadcom, Sigma, Motorola, etc...) and a couple pics of the EPG and recording list?

How in the heck did the warranty seal become broken between the factory and your front door????

Thanks-great job.

Since this thing is so new I wonder if something wasn't changed after the sticker was put on overseas (say in the US) and a new sticker wasn't put on? Of course a heat gun or blow dryer can also work to remove those pesky stickers
I would think as long as a replacement drive took the same or less power than the original you might be OK upsizing the internal but not if some of the programming was kept on the HDD.
Personally I'd like to upgrade the internal HDD if possible, just one less thing to go wrong vs a USB external. Also do we know if something is recorded to an external HDD can that HDD be read on a standard PC? that would be nice for archiving if it wasn't a proprietary format, it would also be nice for owners of more than one 980. Say record in one room but play it back in another.

On their website, brite-View's specs indicate the formatting of the HDD is NTFS, FAT16/32.

As to reading the external HDD on a PC, they state:
"You will not have to worry about losing the show when you remove the external hard drive from the brite-View HD DVR. You can plug in the hard drive to your computer and watch it."

I think 8Gb for a 60 minute HD title will need NTFS. That implies that stored titles are single files and playback stops at a title. I'll let you know tomorrow. I have a WD 1Tb USB drive. One of many unanswered questions.

For replacing the internal drive, a 1Tb drive (same make - WD10TPVT) would draw a little less power, be 2db louder, and a little higher. That assumes the on-board software will let you do it. To be determined.

Set it up for Clear Qam only....ran a channel scan and it showed 250+ chs !! Yes, I know most of them are "Phantom chs." I'm running a test recording right now to see the PQ. Sure was a lot different set-up than my DTV PAL DVRs but no big deal. So far so good. Don't know if the EPG works or not on cable yet but I can get it from my PAL DVR OTA. (TVGOS ) Happy camper so far....
EDIT...If I ran an OTA scan would the box dump all my saved QAM info ?