had this for a few weeks and i am delighted with it .forget the rest this is the machine to buy ,so simple to set up and use and so quiet compared to a similar box ,from another company that i had to send back ,also the remote is chunky with buttons you can press easily without having to struggle.everything you need is here with no silly extras that you wont use i would recommend this box to everyone. (Posted on 13/12/2009)

A little quirky in looks and an odd shape and would have preferred it to be wider and slimmer, but what a great machine overall.

I was initially attracted by the box and features highlighted and when set up it did all that it said on the box with some pleasing extras as well. The on screen guide is easy to use with clear graphics and the remote it came with is first class with all the essential buttons and big enough and not too cluttered to make it easy to use however as expected and as always it is impossible to programme to work with my B&O TV so cannot mute or adjust the volume via the remote however it automatically works with my Sony DVD player.

I was so impressed with this machine that I bought two machines, one of which I will give to my 85 year old Mother. She has had two previous set top boxes before and her current Freeview box is less sophisticated but more complicated to use and no longer works properly. What is essential about this machine is that it contains two DVB tuners so you can record one channel and watch another programme at the same time. You can even record the second programme you are watching at the same time you are recording the first if you want to.

I am confident my 85 year old mother will be able to use this DTR Z500 because it’s so simple to use.
(Posted on 24/10/2009)

Have only had this for two days, it is my first DTR. Setup done by a young tech-minded friend was quick and simple, no problems, works perfectly with my elderly (five/six years old) analogue CRT widescreen TV. Well designed remote also operates TV. Excellent easy-to-understand user manual is written in plain English. EPG is almost instantaneous from standby, not sure why other users have had problems with this being slow. Perhaps I'm lucky being in a good Freeview cover area. Very quiet in use, all programmed recordings accurate so far, does everything it should. Will update this if any problems should emerge - none as yet. Full marks to Tvonics. (Posted on 17/09/2009)

very happy with it, because it was so easy to use we bought one for my mother in law who is not very technical minded and had never had anything like this before, was able to learn and master all functions in a couple of hours (Posted on 05/08/2009)

Simple plug in and go (Posted on 13/07/2009)

Absolutely delighted with this for its ease of use. We simply plugged it in and it found all the channels. Virtually silent in operation. Very low power consumption on standby and definitely to be preferred to competitors' products for the energy conscious.

Only one problem was connecting to the radio (as provides fantastic ability to record and playback radio programmes). Found the easiest way of doing it was to ignore the optical cable which was incompatible with my Onkyo optical input. Instead, I got a 3.5 mm jack and connected to a 2 phono RCA hifi lead. I got this from eBay. Works a treat. (Posted on 08/06/2009)

great little machine easy to set up i've recommended the dtr-z250 to all my pensioner friends paid £149.99 in comet (Posted on 25/05/2009)

Extremely easy to use. Near silent running. First class on screen programming. Case looks unusual but don't be put off of this product that does eveything it should do. (Posted on 11/04/2009)

I have had several different makes of PVR recently, none of which really suited my needs, they either were too complicated, failed over a couple of weeks or had annoying little oddities. So far this has ticked ever box. It is easy to use, does not offer you loads of options, that you would never use, will record series which is important to me.

Is nice and compact and does not have a silly clock in the front which used to illuminate the whole bedroom when trying to sleep.

A winner in my book! (Posted on 07/03/2009)

Great box except for one major flaw... no audio description! (Posted on 21/02/2009)