I have been waiting for a long time for Now TV and Cable TV to provide the facility to record programmes (as Sky TV do in the UK with Sky+), but there’s still no sign of anything useful.
Step forward the MTV 7000D, which allows you to record programmes from Now TV and Cable TV on to a 500gb hard disk.
I was slightly wary of this device, having been told by a friend that it was difficult to set up. Well, not in my experience, it isn’t. Yes, you have to connect both decoder boxes to the Magic TV box, and then attach the IR transmitters to the front of both boxes, but that was all fairly straightforward. I happen to have an Ethernet cable that was installed by Now TV (but which is no longer needed), so it was also easy to connect it to the Internet (you can use Wi-Fi - if you have a wireless network and purchase a Wi-Fi adapter).
After that there is some basic setup to be done, and it’s ready. Which means that you can put your TV, Cable TV and Now TV remote controls into a drawer and control everything from the Magic TV remote control. You also get an integrated EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), and from there you can record anything on any channel.
The only problem I have had so far was when the machine forgot the date and time and decided it was 1st January 2000, and was unable to find any programme schedules for this date. My first thought was that the Internet connection was down (it wasn’t) and then I found an option to change the date and time. Frustratingly, this forces you to restart the Magic TV box – and then it doesn’t actually change the date. I tried that a few times, always with the same result.
Then I finally realized how it must get the date and time. A few seconds of TVB Jade HD, and all was well again. But what’s the point of the option under “settings” that appears to allow you to change the date and time?
That small frustration apart, it's an excellent device.
We bought Magic TV MTV7000D in September last year and also very happy with it except the picture freezes occassionally and we have to switch it off and on again to fix the problem. Do you have this problem?
Chris
Posted by: Chris | May 23, 2012 at 06:55 PM
I think so, and it still loses the date and time, which is annoying - but easily remedied (as described above), and it makes an annoying buzzing sound. Maybe the next model will actually work properly.
Posted by: Chris | May 23, 2012 at 11:05 PM
I have the MTV7000D and think it's great
I love the streaming function to my iPhone. Works amazingly well
One thing I'm trying to find out how to do, is how to stream recorded content to my computer across the network
I can't find the machine on my network
But I have another video box on my network that sees, and plays from it
I just wish I could connect it to my computer
They keep pumping out beta firmware updates, but never tell you what they are, or what they do
Otherwise, I love it
Posted by: Joel | June 20, 2012 at 09:42 PM