Manhattan T4-R 500GB Freeview Play 4K TV Recorder

Very early days, I only got it a few hours ago. Set up was very straightforward although the HDMI cable wasn't quite long enough to reach the only place I could sensibly put the recorder...luckily I had a longer one to hand. No problem finding all the channels and I've already set up recordings some episodes of which have recorded but I haven't checked the playback yet. Display quality is about the same, if not better than on my current tv box. I find the basic Quick Start Guide helpful and I'm looking forward to learning my way around the recorder. Update: After not quite 24 hours of owning the unit I have had the remote become unresponsive, nothing is blocking the line of fire between it and box, change of batteries made no difference, all cables were secure. Had to turn the unit off at the wall plug. Remote seems ok now but I clearly need to investigate what has gone on. My initial thrilled review has now gone down to 3 stars; hopefully will have no further issues and I'm still excited about my new tv recorder that should save me lots once I lose the popular subscription version on Monday. Update 2: after 1 week there were some new issues that the internet help said was low power, easy fix to unplug for 5 mins then restart...I hope I won't have to be using this work around every week! They clearly are aware of the various issues and are staying on top of posting work arounds online, which is promising. The recorder will be worth four or five stars when the range of common issues are permanently fixed, rather than customers having to do research and apply work arounds. I'm happy with playback of recordings, the auto shut off works fine. I can't sync the HDMI control - it could be because my TV doesn't have the HDMI CEC turned on and no way to turn it on that I can see (which Manhattan say is the reason for not being able to sync the HDMI control); so I'm stuck using two remotes to turn on and turn off TV and recorder...not a major issue but I wish I could confirm that this feature actually works. All in all, I'm happy with my purchase as the main features work fine (recordings, series link, play back, tv guide, etc). Not sure how many more issues I will uncover in the coming weeks so I'm not yet convinced that I should be giving this more than the 3 stars given. Final update 2.5 months in: The box has frozen one other time but it's an easy fix and to be frank the big name tv box i had before used to occasionally also need turning off completely, waiting a few minutes then turning back on. missed one recording but I can't figure out why as it didn't flag a clash as it has done on two other occasions when I've tried to record more than the box can cope with. the two channels are generally quite enough recording power for me. i recently got a message that the box had updated its firmware overnight so I can confirm that this feature works. overall i continue to be pleased with my purchase and would gladly recommend this recorder...now 5 stars because it is no worse in performance than the big name recorder i had before and even better, it will finish paying for itself through stopped subscriptions in just another 2.5 months

Easy to set up and tune in. Remote works very well. Nice and small, but lots of features packed in. Great value for money.

This was easy and quick to install and it updated straightaway as I’d connected its LAN to the Internet, with all the channels then found. It’s designed by a British company going back 30 years and made in China for obvious reasons. They either design the circuitry or work with the main chip providers which is probably why it’s so good compared to the others. The very few HD BBC/CH4 programmes with real Dolby 5.1 sound had lip sync issues, but were fixed within a couple of weeks of my install, a few weeks after its lunch. After a month, so no Amazon return, it’s working well enough for me with live viewing and replay of many recordings. The HD pictures and sound using high end OLED TV and Audio System are great. As all HD channels from the BBC, ITV, CH4,CH5 are on just two multiplexed frequencies I can record two programmes and watch a third. If you’re into the 100’s of SD channels using many frequencies then there could be a conflict so only two channels can be recorded and/or watched at the same time - the T4 can warn you of this in the guide. The user interface is better than most, even the newer streaming boxes, and is very fast. I knocked off one star for now as there are the odd issues, however, there are workarounds mostly and these are being actively resolved with more updates promised to come - in fact the Manhattan support is the best I’ve seen in many decades. They actually like feedback and have already provided fixes,and features customers asks for… … so will, hopefully, update to 5 stars soon.

For the last 5 years I've been using the T2-R and it's served me pretty well apart from the occasional glitch which could always be sorted out by resetting or switching off and on at the plug socket BUT the last few weeks became intolerable having to reset almost every day, i could take No More so ordered my new T4-R 1TB which arrived within a couple of days, easy to set up and all working well very similar to operate as the old T2 with the added bonus of being able to record two different channels at the same time while watching a third plus it has all the catch up and i player stuff and apps, None of which i use because of No wi fi or Internet, don't see the point of unneeded monthly payments , my smart phone does everything i need online. Anyway had a problem first two days with the T4 blinking off and on for a second now and then and thought here we go again BUT turns out that the heavy duty hmdi cable i was using wasn't compatible so swapped it for the cable supplied in box and had no problems since (should have used it in the first place) here's hoping that manhattan have ironed out any other problems since the T2 was on sale, only been using for about 2 weeks now and all's good since connecting the correct hdmi so happy days. UPDATE. Been using now for nearly four months with no problems whatsoever and everything working exactly as it should. Great piece of kit and extremely pleased with it.

Bought this to replace an old Humax recorder. Works well. Easy to fast forward to avoid adverts. You soon get to know how many clicks do to cut out adverts. One click per advert usually. I can record two programs and watch another most times. An odd time it will not record two if watching another and asks to cancel one of the recordings. No idea why. Overall happy with what it will do. I am no technology buff but it does what I need it to do. It is compact. So far I would say value for money. Have had it a while now and seems durable enough.

Having spent several hours browsing products and reading reviews I settled on the Manhattan T4-R 500GB. My time spent was not wasted. Upon receiving the product and opening the box it was immediately clear that this is a quality product. Setup (tuning) was straightforward - being menu driven. Picture quality was noted to be excellent. Standby mode has an option to link through the antenna signal so you can watch TV with the Recorder on standby. The remote can be programmed to control your TV's basic functions which is an additional bonus. Basic recording of two channels at once and playback along with program selection was found to be equally simple and plainly logical. You do not need to have an internet connection to use the box, but to perform a firmware update either wifi or ethernet is necessary (unless you want to perform a firmware update via USB! The box respondy quickly to channel changes and all the menu options you could dream of are available for configuring - if you so desire. If you do want to use the box with the internet then be aware that although there are pre-installed apps (iplayer, youtube, etc) additional APP installation facilities are not provided. There are parental control options to restrict access of selected free-to-air channels. You may have to understand IP addresses to set up the ethernet if your router is not on 192.168.8.x (I'm keeping the tekky stuff simple for this review). WiFi is easy to set up. There is an optional two year guarantee. So - should you buy this item? Well if you want a good quality simple to setup freeview recorder with excellent picture quality and SOME internet accessible apps (freeview play is there too) then yes. Go for it - you will not be disappointed.

It's a neat little unit that's perfect for day to day use of the basic Freeview things and recording TV. There's not too much lag in the interface most of the time, but the up and down arrows seem to behave in the opposite direction to what I'm expecting! Probably more of a me issue though! However, it does have a tendency to get itself in a muddle and reboot occasionally (which can take a while) and the app selection is pretty limited, so it's not a replacement for a smart TV / Fire stick type thing. Another annoyance is that there's no way to delete apps you don't want, so my daughter is constantly sneaking onto it to watch YouTube garbage! I think there are some basic parental controls, but only for the entire TV and not per app level, so not very useful.

If you must buy this sub par TV recorder (Mine had to be returned faulty) then make sure you check out the reliability of the STANDBY mode options as soon as you take delivery. My unit refused to come out of standby mode at indeterminate time periods. This meant scheduled recording didn't happen because unit wouldn't wake up in order to record. When this happened, the T4 would report unrecorded programs being due to power outage!! Also, unit could not be powered up via remote at all. The only way I could get unit to function again was to remove, and then re-insert power cable. Now, here's why you need to be vigilant regarding STANDY options straight away. It took me several weeks to confirm what was actually going on. Initially, I tried changing STANDBY options hoping some combination of settings would work, but ultimately, regardless of settings, the unit failed, but not immediately! Each time I changed a setting I would have to wait an indeterminate amount of time before the unit exhibited fault again. In the end this meant my unit had exceeded the 30day Amazon return period! Having contacted MANHATTAN TV, who were basically useless, and only offered a repair option - providing I pay for the return, I decided to go back to Amazon, who fortunately on this ocassion agreed to my return(As it was only a week or so beyond 30day period) You may not be so lucky however. Finally, should you not be convinced, I would argue that this kind of STANBY BUG, is either a design fault in hardware or software. If it's hardware your'e stumped if you get same model, if it's software it may be solved via firmware update, but either way I urge you to check unit ASAP.

No vale para España, me equivoqué

Very disappointed, looked like an old model, need to buy an adapter to be able to use it