Humax PVR-9200T: Freeview doubled

Sometimes it sucks being an early adopter. Sure, you look cool by having something before anyone else, but give it a year and something miles better is bound to come out at a cheaper price. Take the Humax PVR-8000T for example -- we bought this Freeview hard drive recorder when they were just a novelty, and now it looks old hat thanks to the new PVR-9200T.

The jump in numbers between the two models suggests an incremental update. It should really be called the PVR-16000T because it's twice as good. The 80GB hard drive has been upped to 160GB and the single Freeview tuner has been doubled to two. What does that mean? Well, you can make two recordings at the same time, and you now have enough space for over 100 hours of recording.

As the Freeview tuner is integrated into the box, recordings are completely indistinguishable from the original broadcast, plus you can make reservations straight from the electronic programme guide. Just in case you missed our raft of recent Freeview PVR reviews and you haven't got Sky+, let us remind you that one of these devices is as important to your AV setup as a DVD player. It'll revolutionise the way you watch TV.

All this new technology doesn't come cheap -- the PVR-9200T is available now for around £250. It'll go head-to-head next week with our review of the new Sagem PVR 7280T -- the follow-up to the 6280T has an 80GB hard drive and twin tuner. Not quite as good for the power user as the Humax, then, but the Sagem also has a TopUp TV slot and costs £180. We'll let you know whether value or capacity wins out with full reviews of both products soon. -GC

Update: a full review of the Humax PVR-9200T is now live here.

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