Vestel T835 based PVRs first surfaced in November 2009 (Argos models appeared in January 2010), and are substantially different to
all previous models. The box/chassis is much smaller, largely thanks to an external PSU and SATA hard drive. The downside is that connectivity is reduced somewhat with only a single SCART socket. Unlike previous models, the tuners are built into the main PCB and as such there is just a single RF in/out socket on the back, so no need for the loopthrough cable which the old models required.
Also, there is no RS232 socket, but software updates can instead be carried out via the SCART socket by making a suitable adaptor. The software used has the same interface as previous models with full Freeview+ support.
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Available Models
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- Agora AGR-PVR250, AGR-PVR320 & AGR-PVR500
- Bush B250DTRCA, BD320DTRCA & B500DTRCA (Argos)
- Digihome DIGIPVR320SD & DIGIPVR500SD Freeview 320GB & 500GB PVR (Tesco)
- Digihome 500GB SD PVR Set Top Box (Amazon)
- Digihome DIGI320SDPVRCT (Comet)
- Ferguson F20250DTR, F20320DTR & F20500DTR (Comet)
- Hitachi 320HDR10 & 500HDR10 (Comet)
- Hitachi HDR165, HDR255, HDR325 & HDR505 (Argos)
- Logik L5SSTB12 (Currys)
- Luxor DVR840 & LUX-PVR500-690 (Asda)
- Technika T835 250Gb, 320Gb & 500Gb (Tesco)
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Please be wary of third party sellers (e.g. on eBay) claiming to sell brand new T835 boxes. These sellers are being economical with the truth because the only retailers selling these brand new are listed above. Other sellers will be offering what were customer returns at some stage, refurbished at best, faulty at worst.
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| Known Software Builds |
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| Version | Build date | Release Type | Notes |
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| 0.10 | 2009-10-?? ??:??:?? | Factory | | | 1.6 | 2009-12-?? ??:??:?? | Factory / OAD / RS232 | | | 1.9 | 2009-12-?? ??:??:?? | Factory / RS232 | | | 2.2 | 2009-12-29 ??:??:?? | Factory | | | 2.5 | 2010-??-?? ??:??:?? | Factory | | | 2.6 | 2010-??-?? ??:??:?? | Factory | | 3.4  | 2010-08-11 06:03:27 | OAD / RS232 | Fixes failures to record due to not waking up from low power standby and will no longer record repeats if you choose to delete the original recording before the repeat is aired | | 3.5 | 2010-12-08 14:12:00 | Factory | | | 4.1 | 2011-05-10 11:40:12 | Factory / RS232 | | | 4.6 | 2011-12-08 12:24:23 | Factory / OAD | Target Region Descriptor, Recommendations and Trailer Booking support + some major new bugs | | 4.8 | 2012-03-07 07:51:58 | Factory / OAD | Fixes some of the bugs introduced in v4.6 | | 5.2 | 2012-06-19 05:45:44 | OAD / RS232 | Software rolled back to v3.4 state, avoiding the issues introduced in v4.6, with the addition of Target Region Descriptor support and extended programme information on live tv via the info button |
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| Inside the T835 |
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There are at least 3 different versions of the T835 main board, with earlier boxes having boards marked 16MB835N-3
and more recent boards being marked 16MB835N-4. The obvious visual differences are the heatsinks over the STM5100
chip in the centre of the board, differing layout on the lefthand side of the board and the SCART socket sticking
much further out of the backplate on the 16MB835N-4. From a functional point of view the boards are similar and
take the same software.
There are two versions of the 16MB835N-3 board which look identical at first glance: the oldest marked 280409 activates the SCART switching (pin 8) when
waking up to make a recording in standby and annoyingly interrupting anything else you happen to be watching on a
different input on your TV, whereas the more recent one marked 250609 (and also the 16MB835N-4) does not and stays silent while booting up to
record. Unfortunately, all 3 boards "blip" pin 8 when they enter low power standby for any reason.
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16MB835N-3 (250609)
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16MB835N-4 (041109)
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