I find myself looking at the Homecast HT8000 PVR, a High Definition twin tuner recorder based on ATI's Xilleon chip-set and wondering - what has this got that the others haven't?

What will make people rush out and buy it instead of a Beyonwiz or Topfield, or even a standard DVD recorder?

Read on to find out...

So here's the long list of features the HT8000 claims to have: High Definition Digital TV Recorder, Record 2 HD channels simultaneously, Pause and Rewind Live TV, 320GB HDD, Picture in Picture, Outputs via HDMI, Component, S-Video and CVBS Simultaneously, Connect external hard drives & memory sticks via USB 2.0 inputs x 2, LAN 100Mbit Ethernet port provided for future applications, Main switch for full power shut down, 7 Day Electronic Program Guide, Integrated Photo Slide Show viewer, Download & Play MP3s on your TV blah blah blah. Nothing new here is there, in fact you could put that list on just about any reasonable PVR on the market today - except perhaps the Main switch for full power shut down - that one struck me as a little unusual as a feature as I'll explain later.

So what really is its edge?
Price. It's cheaper than the others in the twin HD tuner market. You should be able to pick one up for less than $699 which looks very inviting as not everyone wants to fork out nearly $1000 for a twin tuner HD PVR, especially these days with the increasing prices on petrol, food and home loan interest rate rises.  But just because it's cheaper than the rest doesn't have to mean its not up to the task. So lets put it through it's paces -read on to find out what it's like to set one up.

Setting up the HT8000
Connecting the HT8000 to your home theater is a non-event, in fact along with the standard composite, component and s-video cables, they even supply a HDMI cable AND an IR extender, something I've never seen from Topfield or Beyonwiz. I'd usually be looking to steal the HDMI cable off the DVD player or arguing the price down for one at the local HI-FI shop by now, and because it comes with an IR extender, you can install in a location that's hidden from view and then run the IR extender out to intercept the remote control signals. You can tell the guys at Homecast have thought about this and they want the experience to be good right from the start.

Powering on the unit with the toggle switch at the back and I soon realized why they supply an IR extender and a main switch for full power down - IT'S NOISY. I thought to myself - surely they wouldn't need a fan to keep it cool, but they do. Maybe that Xilleon chip-set gets hot, which might explain why ATI had trouble selling it? If I was prepared to put up with fan noise I would have just built a MythTV box out of a cheap PC. I can't believe they need a fan, but I now fully appreciate how useful the IR extender is as you can hide the PVR in a cupboard out of the way as well as muffling the fan noise a bit. Oh well - on with configuration.

On power up you're presented with a quick start wizard to configure your time zone, antenna settings and scan for channels - effortless really. The menu system centres around a colourful base bar that cycles through the various options and presents them in a vertical menu like what you'd see on a modern GUI operating system. They look great compared to the bland coloured offerings from Topfield and Beyonwiz, but that's where the winning streak ends. The sub-menus rely heavily on icons and coloured button presses to navigate, it can't all be done with the arrow and OK keys. The icons look fine on a 100cm LCD panel, but on a 50cm composite Telly they all look the same which seems a shame considering the demographic that will be attracted by the price of this unit will probably be looking to get cheap HD and a recorder without going to all the expense of buying a new widescreen TV. The real shame will be that those punters without HD Flat panels won't be able to appreciate the stunning picture quality. The Homecast delivers a great HD picture via HDMI, which is the best way to use picture in picture, it's also supported via Component, but again the punters using a composite connection will miss out.

Using the HT8000
The claim of a 7 Day EPG is right as it will receive that information from channels that choose to broadcast it. If they don't there is no IceTv to fall back onto...yet. So setting timers by EPG is pretty easy as long as the broadcasters data is in the EPG. If it's not, you have to set it up manually in the timers menu. Recording works and you can even record two channels at once. Playback is just as easy and they have a great little jump feature where you can press a number on the remote control and it will just jump to that percentage in the file i.e. 1 jumps to 10%, 2 jumps to 20% etc...You can also use the arrow keys to do smaller jumps to skip the commercials. The ability to bookmark is great - something that the Beyonwiz didn't include in their early firmware revisions to the disgust of many early adopters. Editing of files took a little getting used to after being familiar with Topfield and Beyonwiz methods, the HT8000 actually applies the edit to a new file and keeps the original intact so that if you mess it up, you can go back to the original. This works fine until you don't have enough disk space to complete the edit, which is usually the reason for editing the files as you want to remove the beginning and ends of shows that were padding so free up the disk space!

External media can be connected via USB - yes that's true, but BE WARNED if the media you use is formatted with anything other than FAT32, it will wipe it and reformat it without even warning you. The sad part about this is that an earlier version of firmware for a similar model in Germany had the same bug, which was fixed in later versions and I don't understand how they can make the same mistake in the Australian firmware for this model. You are supposed to be able to copy to and from the USB media, but I was never able to get this to work. I did get the PC connection via USB working and was really impressed with how fast it transfers. The HT8000 not only has master USB ports, but also a slave port. This turns the unit into a kind of USB mass storage device when in standby mode, allowing a connected PC with the correct driver and software to access all the files on the hard drive.  Unfortunately the fan doesn't stop when in standby

What's missing?
The ethernet port is a good network plug protector for the moment and doesn't do anything else. I've also read that the Germans can't use their ethernet ports either so there is no telling when that will happen. Without a functioning network connection, IceTv and Remote timer setting are not possible. Perhaps they could adopt the crude USB IceTv update method Topfield applied to the 7000, but I doubt it. The non-functioning ethernet port is probably not a show stopper for most people, which may explain why Homecast haven't rushed to enable it in any of the firmware releases. There are plenty of bugs and wish-list items listed on this wiki and you can read all the neat tips and tricks on the Australian Forum, there is the usual product information available from the distributor who have a great set of "how to" guides to get you started.

Should I buy one?
If you aren't interested in spending more than $699 on a HD Twin Tuner PVR that can almost do everything the rest can, then it's worth considering. If you want the best of the best that has a functioning ethernet port and services that run on it like IceTv, streaming and file transfer over the network then this isn't the PVR for you - well not yet anyway, but it might be if Homecast enable the network port and add those features - stay tuned.