Bill Smallwood wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 16:08
- Is there an obvious next step towards newer technology, functionality, or refinement from the T4?
- What advantages and or disadvantages do the obvious upgrade path offer?
The only current model in production is the V2 and there have been no announcements of any succeeding PVRs as of yet.
The V2 is a bit of a departure from the T and U series. It uses a chipset that is more like those that are used in mobile phones, and while the interface and the essential PVR aspects all look the same, the underlying capabilities are quite a bit different.
The V2 is a lot more powerful than the T4, and can play full 4K HDR videos, and output them as 4K HDR.
It can also run Kodi as a plugin, which is generally considered to be an app that runs on more flashy media devices.
The biggest difference though, is that the V2 is sold as more of a budget PVR than the T4. It doesn't have any space to install an internal harddisk, but you can plug a harddisk in externall via USB. It does have a MicroSD slot that you can populate and use as a harddisk, but space will be a bit more limited.
The V2 also only comes with dual onboard tuners, but can be expanded to 4 tuners by using an external dual USB tuner dongle (currently limited in stock).
The V2 lacks a HDMI input, and only has a basic 7 segment display for a front panel as opposed to the T4's OLED screen.
It is a much simpler unit that does away with some of the extras that are less frequently used in the interest of keeping costs down.
The V2 can run different firmware than what is available from Beyonwiz, but it is developed overseas for a primarily European market, so some of our local enhacements are missing. You get some bleeding edge features, but have to put up with a few rough edges as a result.
Something V4 more akin to the T4/U4 would probably be a welcome addition to the product line, but nothing like that has been hinted at, and I'm not even sure if the currently available PVR chipsets would even support all those features any more.