Tech: Record shows with Videocon's DDB TV

There was a time when you had only one remote that controlled everything on your TV Thanks to direct to home D2H TV services and digitisation of cable we now need two remote controllers at all times mdash one to surf channels and the other to switch on the TV control volume etc This problem of too many remotes seems to have been solved with Videoconrsquos DDB Digital Direct Broadcast TVs Imagine our relief when we received a 40inch Full HD DDB TV from Videocon VMA40FH17XAH with a D2H set top box built right into it and one remote to control both Herersquos more about itDisplay The new range of DDB TVs from Videocon come with Full HD resolution and promises 95 natural colours thanks to its Liquid Luminous technology We canrsquot validate these claims but we liked the colour reproduction in the 40inch Full HD 1920x1080 TV that we received We also found no missing pixels Its 178degree viewing angle offers comfortable viewing even with light reflections in the roomRating 8 10Connectivity The VMA40FH17XAH comes with four HDMI ports two ports to connect your standard DVD player or STB one MHL port to connect with MHL compatible mobile devices and one HDMI port with Audio Return Channel ARC function The ARC port allows you to get audio out of all sources of TV through your Home Theatre System There are three USB ports mdash two to connect external media storage devices and a third one to connect another external storage device to be used with the builtin PVR for live TV recordings It also has two AV In ports to connect for analogue inputs an IF In port for TV signals via D2H and one RF In port for terrestrial TV connection There are also Video Out and Audio out portsRating 9 10Audio There are two 10W speakers to complement HD movie viewing However if you have a 51 or higher home theatre system with ARC support we recommend using the HDMI ARC port for maximum quality There is a 35inch Auxout for headphones but it lacks 51 audio channel outputsRating 8 10OS and Hardware performance The DDB TV sets run on a Linuxbased operating system also called DDB and hence the nomenclature But this model in particular comes with a builtin personal video recorder PVR that allows you to recordschedule recording of your favourite TV shows The TV set can also play 1080 videos at 30 frames per second However itrsquos bit slow to respond to commands via the remote especially while accessing channel information or using mosaic to browse through the list of channels We also found the user interface of the DDB OS a bit too outdated reminding us of the Windows 95 eraRating 8 10Also Read Samsung launches SUHD curved TV at Rs 31 lakh in IndiaACCESSORIES Videocon offers a table stand and wall mount screws with the TV set The stand though sturdy didnrsquot fit well into its position Besides the manual for the stand seemed incomplete and wasnrsquot too helpful The TV comes with two Component In cables along with a set of two AAA batteries for the remote which was thoughtful Videocon is also offering a threeyear warranty with these TV sets Rating 7 10Also readA smart choice for a 4K TVNOTE Over the next two days we will look at how to convert any LED TV into a Smart TV or PC using iRevo Android boxes and Intel PCs on stick from iBall and PanachePrice Rs 39790Available on All retail and ecommerce portals