Not finding what you're looking for? Save channel master cm 7400 dvr to get e-mail alerts and updates on your eBay Feed. Channel Master CM-7400 User Manual: Software Update. The Channel Master TV device will look. Also See for Channel Master CM. The Channel Master HDTV DVR with no subscription fees works with OTA. Channel Master TV CM 7400 HD DVR with no. Download Current Software Update. Channel Master gets points for its clear.

ChannelMaster is considered as one of the most reputable antenna and broadcast television hardware manufacturers in the world. Established in 1949, ChannelMaster recently moved from being solely an antenna hardware and accessory manufacturer to providing specialized set-top tuner boxes and personal recorders for over-the-air digital TV and the growing Pay TV cordcutting movement. Its newest product launched into that market is the DVR+ Now this is not ChannelMaster’s first attempt at an OTA DVR as the DVR+ is a follow-up to two predecessors: the popular but completely unsupported CM7000PAL (great device, but not even one SW update provided) and the largely unsuccessful CM7400 (short-lived and rumoured to overhear, plagued with software bugs and tuner issues to the point that some OTA retailers actually pulled it from shelves and sold old CM7000PALs again). All connection ports are in the back and you can see that the Ethernet port was the final limit on its thickness.

With this compact form factor, some things had to go and that includes the older output ports such as component and composite, leaving only a HDMI port out. The entire unit is a flat powdercoat black and the ChannelMaster logo is tastefully embossed on the top surface.

The unit blends in easily to any high-end home theatre setup and is compact/lightweight enough to be placed anywhere your heart desires. This cool looking unit is definitely a far cry from the ostentatiously over-branded clock-boxes some Pay TV services are forcing on their customers. The initial guide population requires some patience. If you are not using the internet connection, you can speed up PSIP acquisition for the OTA TV signals by running through all the channels manually with the remote “channel up/down” buttons. If you are using an internet connection, the Rovi guide can take up to 24 hours for the guide to fully populate (2 weeks of info, channel logos). We found that in Canadian areas near the US border, it was faster to plug in a local US ZIP code at first, causing the US network info to load quickly and then change the location to the Canadian postal code which then loaded the Canadian stations. While some maligned the DVR+ for its lack of features “out-of-the-box”, we found that the add-on capability is the actually quite advantageous.

ChannelMaster has taken an interesting approach here in that they offer a base model that is still appealing to most OTA users and any customization can be done as add-ons by the customer; when they choose and for only the features they deem necessary. Want to go WiFi? If you don’t, well you aren’t burdened with this option in the price of the base unit. The hard drive is the same option, the built-in storage is a paltry 2hours of HD recording, good enough for a show and pausing live TV. Adding a 1 TB external hard drive is fairly economical these days (available from ChannelMaster but can be found even cheaper on certain online sites or during sales) and instantly adds 150 HD recording hours. If you want more, well then the option is all yours.

All to say the add-on versatility appears to save DVR+ owners quite a bit of cash in the end as it gives them ability to shop around to get the best price for their optional hardware. Remote The remote control is basic and easy-to-use.

There are no fancy features or backlighting (except for the TV or DVR power button when a command is pressed). Unfortunately it seems the ergonomics of the remote actually took a step backwards from the curvy remotes of the CM7400 and CM7000PAL devices. Despite this boxy simplicity, the layout is quite user-friendly though; it’s also lightweight and is fairly good on battery consumption. Braun Series 5 8985cc Manual.

Crosman Air Pistol Repair Parts. The super-thin remote is powered by two CR2032 batteries (coin-cell type, included), which were chosen as they are probably the only ones that fit in there. Battery life is fair, but we recommend stocking a few extra as the size is somewhat uncommon in household applications when compared to AA or AAA. As there are no buttons on the DVR+, once the batteries do go, you're working blind. Menus and Navigation The main menu is easily accessible and fairly with only four main options that pop up discretely on the side of the screen and are easy to scroll through. There is a dedicated page that relays signal strength information of the current channel to help with tuning.

There are also options to re-perform channel scans to add new channels and a manual channel addition options. We also it found it noteworthy that in Preferences the “transparency” customization option for the menu screens was a nice touch. Highlights of the menu screens are shown below. The DVR+ guide and GUI is easily one of the best we’ve seen for an OTA set-top box.

The guide comes in two versions, a base setup that does not require an internet connection and an upgraded version powered by online guide data company Rovi. What’s awesome about the DVR+ is that both versions are absolutely free, something that the DVR+‘s competitors seemed to miss the boat on as they charge monthly or yearly fees for their premium guides (something that appears odd considering most of the data is free online anyways, i.e. hellloooo there zap2it.com). The guide does not interrupt your TV viewing experience as it is overlaid over the main image, with options on transparency level. Text is of a decent size and channels are clearly marked, the guide is easy to navigate using the page up/down buttons and the coloured buttons.

Channels can be edited (removed from the list, handy for getting rid of SD subchannels of HD feeds) but not renamed. The guide flows well and there is almost no lag in the navigation. Browsing can also be done one a channel-by-channel basis by using the Info button and scrolling the up-down channel buttons one at a time. Given the flakiness of the CM7400 tuner, we decided to really put the DVR+ tuner to the test so we split the incoming signal to another TV with two identical coax cables. We then slowly de-tuned our antenna on our weakest station see who would be first to give out. As the signal got worse, the TV (2009 purchase date) tuner gave out completely while the DVR+ was still able to resolve the sound and bring in a picture despite some macro-blocking.

Further tests showed that the tuner was very robust in bringing in and holding weak stations even in bad weather. ChannelMaster also pointed out that the tuner is future-proofed as its firmware is upgradable via software update if need be. Sniff-Sniff why do you have to be so sensitive? The DVR+ (bottom) held on to even the weakest signals with visegrip-like tenacity, showing limited macroblocking while the TV tuner (above) threw in the towel at that point. The only drawback we found was that as with all tuners of high sensitivity, the DVR+ tuner was more susceptible to multipath and co-channel interference than usual. We recommend not going too crazy on the antenna signal amplification as you are better off providing the DVR+ a clean, but weak signal (don't worry it'll pick it up) rather than a stronger, boosted signal with more noise. Recording Capabilities Recording capabilities are fairly limited out-of-the-box with the unit only able to pause live TV for 15 minutes and record about 2 hours of HD programming.

Once you add external storage, the DVR+ really comes to life with its full dual tuner recording capabilities (save two shows at the same time). You can also not only pause live TV but you can now go back in time to an earlier point in the program even if you haven’t hit Record (and provided you haven’t changed the channel). The DVR recordings can be scheduled multiple ways. The easiest way is selecting a future program via the guide, and then either choosing to make it a one-time event or to record all occurrences of that name. Other ways include through the Search menu, setting up a manual recording (channel + start/stop time) or through the extended DVR menu selections from the main screen.

General options to start the recording earlier or end later are only available through the extended DVR menu, while more basic options are available in the first two. Manual recording is the only way to go if guide info is not available for whatever reason. Playback of the recording can be paused, fast forwarded or rewound at different speeds up to 64X and there is the convenient skip fwd / skip back buttons as well. A great feature of the DVR+ is these buttons are customizable and you can vary how far they skip ahead or back (below). Not all DVRs have this capability and it’s pretty convenient as someone who watches a lot of sports will most likely want different settings to make on-the-fly replays that someone who is primarily interested in skipping commercial breaks. As mentioned above, the DVR+ has only minimal storage and recording capacity out-of-the-box, this provides about 2 hours of HD recording (6 SD) and the ability to pause live TV for a max of 15 minutes. Storage is accomplished via a USB 2.0 or 3.0 external hard drive; the drive however must be more than 80 Gigs in size or else the unit will assume it’s a USB key that is attached and look for SW updates rather than format the drive for use as DVR storage.

Space is essentially unlimited as the DVR+ can handle drives in its two USB ports and works with even the largest 4TB drives (although the DVR screen GUI slows down considerably once you cross the 1000 title threshold). Due to the overheating issues rumoured and reported with Channel Master’s previous DVR devices, we decided to do a stress test on the DVR+ under full operation in an enclosed environment. The CM7000PAL was reported to run hot due to its internal hard disk drive always spinning (even in standby mode) which generated unnecessary power consumption and heat, leading many to blame premature failure of the internal components on this. The short-lived successor CM7400 was apparently even worse, although not unsafe it was rumoured to run hot enough to cause software glitches and premature failures. The experiment was done by enclosing the DVR+ and the attached external hard drive “under the dome” and running it for about 7 hours while recording two programs and displaying another program already recorded. At intervals, we took the temperature of the top of the DVR+ unit using a laser thermometer and as a reference also took the temperature of the hard disk drive (HDD) as well. This scenario is definitely a worst-case type of application: poor ventilation of the unit and pretty much the most taxing functionality on the CPU and motherboard.

Using the DVR+ in a TV unit or stand would most likely be a better environment than this. Currently the DVR+ is only available for sale from ChannelMaster USA via the online store. There is no talk of any Canadian retailers picking it up for distribution north of the border at this time. The unit as tested currently retails for $250 US with shipping to Canada putting it slightly over $300 US. The pricetag is comparable to other DVRs but the one positive is that there are no monthly, yearly or lifetime fees to pay which in the long run will make the DVR+ quite economical.

ChannelMaster seems to have hit the right chord with people in the market for free TV by not charging any fees after the initial purchase; other competitors can charge up to $50 a year for so-called “premium” guide info. Subscriptions to any streaming apps on the DVR+ would be extra of course. Who am I and what am I doing on the internet? Well, I'm an Average Joe, just like you (hopefully).

I like reviewing consumer products based on their merits with respect to the general public. Products should make a consumer's life better, and I always want to make sure consumers get a good deal. You won't hear any geek speak or techo-babble from me - just straight forward reviews on the product with a focus on the end user. After all, manufacturers and their products should cater to us, not the other way around! As reported in my Dollarama review, I just didn't have confidence in dollar / discount stores for products where safety can be easily tampered with (food, hygene, electrical). Nothing personal against these businesses, it just seems fairly obvious that they do not have the infrastucture or inventory control needed to effectively track and monitor the quality and source of the incoming stock. I think the following scandal with counterfeit Colgate toothpaste tubes in the US is proof enough: 'Colgate-labelled toothpaste sold in discount stores in the US has been found to contain a toxic chemical.

The firm that makes the toothpaste was quick to distance itself from these products, calling them counterfeits.'