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If you're considering or have recently made the move to HDTV, just remember that a big, widescreen plasma, LCD or projector is only the half of it. You'll need a horse to put before that cart. You'll need high definition content for your HDTV, and there's really no better place to get it than Bell ExpressVu, hands down the most complete HD offering currently available in Canada.
Bell ExpressVu's 9200 HD PVR Plus System offers the most comprehensive high definition experience you can currently find in the Great White North (Americans are ahead with the technology); a satellite system package that first matches and then exceeds the offerings of any other provider (via other set-top-box services or local HD airwaves).
The 9200 itself has not one but two high-definition receivers onboard, allowing for at least two different TVs to watch two different channels; traditionally, satellite subscribers have had to either watch the same programming on all TVs in the house or own separate receiver for each TV. The 9200's dual tuners remedies that... somewhat. It needs to hook up directly to your primary HDTV, while the second tuner can be used for picture-in-picture (PiP) so you can watch one show while recoding another, or just flit between the two pictures like a multi-tasking channel surfer extraordinaire.
Alternately, the second tuner can be used to "back feed" into your household coaxial cable where all other TVs in the house can jack in and watch satellite on channel 73 (or whatever channel you ascribed to the feed). Such secondary televisions would all view the same channel and only receive a standard definition signal, mind you - HD degrades over coaxial cable so it's not even and option, while the cost of running HD wiring up stairs and through walls to a second TV would cost more than buying another HD receiver so, again, not an option.
Installation can be done on your own, but it can be a thorny affair depending on your technical aptitude, southern-sky site lines and the height of the roof on which you mount the satellite dish. Fortunately, installation is included with a 2 year subscription or costs just $100 with less commitment - and that's regardless of how long it actually takes for install guy to bolt stuff down, hook stuff up and clear on out like. 
Conveniently, the 9200 comes with a second remote for surfing the back-fed tuner. A UHF remote at that; it uses a radio frequency so doesn't need line-of-site to operate like IR (infra red) remotes do, so that second tuner can be controlled remotely despite walls, stairwells and doors in the way.
Speaking of remotes, the two devices that come bundled with the 9200 (along with all the other requisite cables and accessories) both act as "universal" remotes - in theory, anyway. While each can be programmed to operate your third-party TV set (and other home entertainment devices), both lack both a "source" button and a "sleep timer" button. Thus, if you ever need to change the input from Satellite to DVD player to game console, for example, you'll still need the TV's original remote to do it, or, heaven forbid, you must get off the couch and manually change the input selection on the TV itself. Likewise, if you're one to fall asleep with the TV on, you need the original remote to set the sleep timer thing to shut down after 90 minutes or whatever. Bummer of an oversight; "universal" my bum. Not a big deal, all told, but room for improvement on that one.
Secondly, the 9200 is also a PVR, that wondrous technology that let's you "pause live TV," "Time Shift," and record a single show or entire series with the click of a button -- bone up on the geekspeak by reading TechKnow: PVR, DVR, TiVo Explained, which summarizes with PVR is the future of the couch potato lifestyle incarnate and once you get it, there is no going back, life will never be the same and whatever else you've heard in terms of "God bless TiVo" accolades. S'truth.
Anyway, it can record up to 180 hours of standard-definition digital programming -- ExpressVu doesn't do old-school analog --, or up to 25 hours of high-def programming, with high-def requiring much more storage space on the unit's onboard hard-drive (HD contains much more data, obviously).
That's the hardware, pricey, cream of the crop that it is, but it's just an electronic paperweight until you throw content into the mix, and provide a user-loving method to access that content, and that's where Bell ExpressVu sets itself apart, leads rather than follows.
Next: 9200 HD PVR Plus System: The Method >>>
Reviewed: Dec. 16, 2006
Type: Hardware, LeisureTech
From: Bell ExpresVu
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