Airtel Digital TV Recorder

The market for Digital set top boxes is becoming highly competitive, almost reaching the point where rates are not the whim and fancy of the manufacturer. One of those manufacturers is Airtel, and they are a dedicated lot when it comes to innovation and its respective marketing. Airtel's Digital TV Recorder ads are all over the tubes this cricket season, the one with Kareena and her sweet sounding monologue. The product is brand new and has some exclusive features, the obvious one being recording TV from a remote location, with your mobile. We installed one for review purposes, so lets check it out.

Design and Features
The actual STB is large, it has the breadth of a common DVD player, and its thickness is comparable to a Blu-ray player. The color is black and the body is glossy, which makes it prone to scratches. The facade is bare, with rounded side edges making it look quite neat and futuristic. Only a power indicator LED resides on the left end; neighboring that is the Airtel logo, and thats it. The buttons for control are located on the top panel, albeit near the front edge. The right end opens out like a flap to expose the slot for the Data View card.

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A few of the important specs and features are:

• HDMI port for video output (576p fixed)
• Component video out
• Stores upto 100 hours of recording
• Option to search for any television show up to 7 days in advance using the remote
• Option to search for any television show for 2 days on mobile
• Facility to pause live television programming for upto 45 minutes
• Offers ease of search with search options of program name, show details and/or date/time, using the remote
• Provides program information instantly, including description, length and rating on the mobile
• Option to give fixed time based commands to record show
• Digital SPDIF audio out
• 2 USB inputs.
• Dimensions: 355 x 233 x 59 mm
• Weight: 2.7 Kg
• Satellite signal input frequency range: 950-2150 Mhz
• Input Impedance: 75 Ohm
• Ethernet Port in: Yes (RJ-45)