Philips HDT8520 review

A difficult birth, but this Pace/Philips Freeview HD PVR is now as able bodied as any

Philips HDT8520
With twin Freeview HD tuners on board, you can watch one channel and record another

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The HDT8520's user interface lacks a little in terms of pixels – it's not hi-res enough on a big screen – though it's a simple to use system. One major complaint we have is that the electronic programme guide is entirely separate from live TV; choose the Guide button on the excellent remote control and the picture and audio cuts out. It's a similar state of affairs when any other menu is called-up.

Philips hdt8520 remote

That lack of integration is a shame, though the EPG's recording functions are as joined-up as you could wish for. Simple taps of the remote's record button record single episodes and install series links (the latter take a few seconds and a 'booking in progress, please wait' message) direct from the EPG, which is quick to respond to button presses from the remote.

Philips hdt8520 epg

If a recording clash occurs, if gives you a choice to delete named programmes, while a HDD library includes icons for individual programmes and folders for programmes that result from a series link. Oddly, recordings are locked, and deleting one means a merry dance on the remote.

When watching recordings it's possible to scan at high speed – up to 128x, in fact, which is a very welcome feature – though there's no option to skip to a particular time of the recording, or in 10-minute chunks.

On the audio side the HDT8520 can't translate Freeview HD's native HE-AAC audio format to Dolby Digital, so surround sound is off the menu – one for the next software update, perhaps – though it does have a plethora of audio outputs.

Jamie Carter

Jamie is a freelance tech, travel and space journalist based in the UK. He’s been writing regularly for Techradar since it was launched in 2008 and also writes regularly for Forbes, The Telegraph, the South China Morning Post, Sky & Telescope and the Sky At Night magazine as well as other Future titles T3, Digital Camera World, All About Space and Space.com. He also edits two of his own websites, TravGear.com and WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com that reflect his obsession with travel gear and solar eclipse travel. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners (Springer, 2015),