Manhattan T2-R 500 GB Freeview HD Recorder - Black

Product Information

The other irritation is the lip sync. This varies enormously, particularly so when recording a number of HD recordings, whilst watching another HD recording. Every now and then the picture seems to run as if in fast forward for a second or two while it catches up with itself, then the lip sync will be OK for a minute or two before drifting off again. It is much better if I watch a recording while not recording anything else, and SD recordings also seem less afflicted.

Your T2•R will update automatically overnight whilst in standby, as long as you haven't disabled automatic updates in the System Settings menu Since the T2-R doesn’t support streaming apps, you might wonder what the Ethernet and USB ports are for. For some reason, the “Get Started” manual ignores these ports, but an added leaflet explains that they’re used to update the box’ software. There used to be an over-the-air Freeview updating service called “The Engineering Channel”, but it was shut down this year – so having another way to update the T2-R software is good. When RF Loop Through in Standby was enabled in the System section of Settings, disturbances in the output could be observed for a few minutes after entering standby. Cadbury Gifts Clarks Complete Unity Yoga Converse Crampton & Moore Outlet Crocs Currys Currys ClearanceAt this price you don't get luxuries like app control; use the electronic programme guide (EPG) to select channels for viewing or recording instead. This can also 'remind' you when a programme is due to start and supports series-linking. If there's a schedule clash, you're invited to set recordings on the offending channel individually as It's really strange that you cannot watch a third while recording two. I think Manhattan have made a bad mistake seeing as most other PVR's have this function. Though this was thought fixed in 1.03, a further issue was discovered whereby seemingly randomly, channels or scheduled recordings could be removed during the Automatic Service Update in standby. This could happen in locations receiving signals from multiple transmitters with signal variations. I've just bought a Manhattan T2-R PVR and I'm really impressed with it. I couldn't see any posts about it on here, so thought I'd pass on my initial thoughts. The T2•R can also be manually set to a resolution in the Picture & Sound section of the Settings menu. This could cause an issue if you set a resolution (e.g. 1080p), then move the T2•R to another TV that doesn't support that resolution.

Split recordings are now listed in their folder from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom. These are almost always movies in two parts, so the first part will be shown first followed by the second part. After discussion with Arqiva (who manage the UK’s broadcast infrastructure), we implemented improved behaviour on our latest T3-R model. This behaviour has now replaced the Automatic Service Update on the T2-R: One thing to remember about Freeview recordings, is that the recording is as good as your reception. So if the reception goes bad – for example if you move your aerial, or during a bad thunderstorm – you’ll find out later that you have a stuttering, garbled recording.An issue that could cause the box to freeze and become unresponsive during the initialisation of the Hard Drive after boot. Press the GUIDE button on your remote control. This displays the TV Guide, making it easy to tell when you find the right input. Fixed an issue that could cause the audio to go out of sync in live pause mode after using fast forward or rewind.

That’s a bit of a shame, since people who have older TVs – ones that don’t have Freeview built-in – are exactly the right audience for this box, so having to buy another adapter is a bit of a hassle. Finding what to watch and record on over 70 channels is effortless with the beautiful 8-day TV Guide. Handy, because Freeview has 95% of the nation's favourite TV to enjoy! Moved ‘Edit Protected Channels’ and ‘Show/Hide Protected Channels’ into their own ‘Protected Channels’ sub-menu of the Channels menu.In addition to Smart Retune, Full Retune can now be chosen from the Tuning section of Settings. The Full Retune completely removes the existing channel database and is necessary when the T2-R is moved to a new region (e.g. when moving home). Fixed an issue when using the T2-R with a Pioneer VSX-920-K AV receiver that caused the audio to be lost.

Picture quality is good. It claims to upscale SD programmes, I'm not sure that the picture on the SD recordings or live channels is as quite as good as when I watch them directly on my Panasonic TV, but then they are SD and not HD. The HD programmes and recordings are excellent. I thought that the SD ones just looked very, very slightly less sharp than they did on previous boxes, but without a side by side comparison it is difficult to make any meaningful comparison.

How to Update

The 500GB hard drive holds up to 300 hours of recordings, smartly organised into categories and series Connect to a rooftop aerial to enjoy Freeview content, and by Ethernet cable for on demand services. High quality HDMI connection gives a high definition picture transfer, and enjoy Dolby Digital Plus sound. It also features an optical port for high quality sound output. A 1.2m HDMI cable is included in the box.