PVRs: Compare features & prices BT Vision+ review http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/reviews/pvrs/bt-vision-/review/

Like a previous reviewer, this is our first PVR so we have nothing to compare it with. Having both freesat and freeview signals, we were wondering which sort of PVR to opt for. Both had disadvantages. A freesat PVR would have meant fitting a second cable to the satellite dish. A freeview one only offers a few channels to us out in the sticks. The low cost of the BT Vision alternative swung the argument for us and, so far, we have been reasonably impressed.It has been easy enough to use for our purposes. We do not expect to use pay-per-view much, if at all. When we have used the catch-up facility, we have been impressed with the quality. Previously, our attempts at watching iPlayer through the kids' Wii were frustrated with poor picture quality and frequent halts due to bandwidth restrictions.A few times programs have failed to record due to signal problems. However, presumably that would have happened with any other PVR. The option of having the catch up TV in the same box can help minimise problems from that. The fact that it does not increase your broadband usage is an added bonus.Based on our experience, I can recommend it.

The product has worked OK, the problem with the system is that to watch films, catch-up etc you are dependant on your Broadband performance which in my case has not been too good! I have been finding that in the evening the system slows right down so if you are watching a pay film it is always "buffering" for most of the film. BT have made it a little better but not what I expected from the system. This PVR does not receive Freeview HD which is a great shame so I think in November, when my contract is due for renewal, it will be cancelled.

I've recently got a BT Vion box and despite its quirky menu systems has worked without problems, Thus I WOULD have given it 4 or 5 rating.However when the weather is bad (very heavy rain / snow) the tuners do not have sufficient gain and so I lose the signal. I have CD Readers / writers also conncted as well as the TV and during bad weather conditions their tuners work faultlessly. On contacting the technical help line it soon became apparent that they had little or no knowledge of the box. They insist an engineer has to visit and will I will be charged if he finds no problem, as he will because it is an intermittent fault. After much discussion they waived the charge. However they gave no indication of what they would do with an intermittent fault. In summary a very good but quirky menu system, needs improvement BUT just pray you don't have to use technical support they are less than incompetent.BT Homehube is just the opposite with excellent support, Id give that product 5

I cancelled my Sky+HD package as I could no longer justify their £65/month ripoff charges. Sky now guarantee not to raise prices for twelve months, but that hasn't stopped them withdrawing free services such as watching Sky Sports on the move via mobile broadband.The Freeview terrestrial service delivered by the BT Vision box is OK but does not provide real-time HD viewing. I'm not sure whether HD Tuner hardware exists within the box to provide this via a future firmware update. I subscribed to Sky Sports 1&2 for an extra £20/month using a BT Vision viewing card, but again this is not HD. I can't say I've found the user interface difficult to use. It may not be as intuitive as the Sky+ HD box, but I've not encountered any recording problems as yet.The catch-up and on-demand service uses your house broadband connection which needs to be better than 4Mbps for reliable viewing of BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 OD and Channel 5 OD etc. On-demand programmes, including some in HD, are downloaded onto the hard disk and can be viewed as often as you like within a 24Hr period. It's worth noting that your on-demand data is included in the BT Vision package and therefore does not impact on your monthly BT broadband allowance. The BT Vision box requires a wired RJ45 ethernet connection (not Wi-Fi) and if your router is in another room from the BT Vision box, BT will supply you with Powergrid 9020 ethernet adapters to make the connection via your 13A wall sockets. My broadband speed is around 10Mbps, but I frequently experience bouts of data freezing when watching catch-up TV. I'm now on my second set of Powergrid adapters with only a slight improvement. I tried wiring the BT Vision box direct to my Home Hub 3 router, but still get occasional data freezing. The house internal wiring is as short as possible and I don't experience frozen frames on BBC iPlayer when watching on Wi-Fi connected iPod Touch, PCs, Laptops or Netbooks. Despite BT's catch-up TV being unreliable, I'm happy to use the BT Vision box as a PVR for Freeview and Sky Sports 1&2 at a reasonable £24/mth.

I recently switched from Sky+ to BT Vision, largely on cost grounds. As an existing BT customer it made more sense to give this a try than stick with Sky whose prices seem ever on the rise - and the ethics of the company are increasingly becoming muddied.The box runs more quietly than Sky+ and there are more options for how to set up recordings (the "first run only" option could be useful, although it doesn't always work, although this could be due to the settings published by the channel in question over which BT has no control).There's a wide range of "on demand" programming - both paid and free films, TV etc. The "collections" of certain films is a good idea - they're currently showing all except the last Harry Potter for example - but the cost of an individual film is slightly higher than Sky and it would be cheaper to rent or buy a DVD/Blu ray of these collections than watch them all on BT Vision.You also have direct access on your TV to the main On Demand TV catch up services, including BBC iPlayer on Channel 990.After the simplicity of Sky+, BT Vision takes some getting used to and its menus are not helped by the inclusion of redundant options (changes to access to BBC iPlayer caused confusion). Hopefully these will be removed in a future update. (Note that it's not a good idea to perform a manual update when you are about to start watching a show as the process can take up to five minutes and doesn't happen in the background!).My major bugbear with BT Vision's service is the appalling design of its screens, and the lack of an option to increase the font size on screens. Some of the screens - for example, Sony Retro - are, frankly, illegible and to be honest, the whole interface is crying out for someone to threaten them with a challenge under the Disability Discrimination Act. Let's hope the RNID are reading this.Parents should be warned that unlike Sky+, which has a one touch blanket option to remove 'adult channels' from its TV Guide, you apparently have to do this by identifying each channel individually and choosing to exclude it. If I'm right, this is definitely something BT Vision should change as soon as possible.

This is my first PVR so I cannot compare this product. I like the convenience of the twin tuner and as I have a digital TV I can record two channels and watch a third. I like the series record which I use for programmes which are shown over two or three nights. The replay of previous weeks programmes is great. The Vision + features via the internet works well but rely on a good fast internet connection which is not always available.