If theres any reason to buy the Bell ExpressVu 5100 satellite system, its because its the only (fully supported) PVR in Canada right now. Sure, you could import a TiVO or a ReplayTV, but you would have to hack it up to make the guide work, and I’m not sure what would happen if you actually did. The terribly convenient feature list alone is enough to make me want the 5100 over the ReplayTV 4000. And by that, I of course mean that I can take it out of the box and have everything work by plugging it in. This a constant problem I face living in Canada, but I don’t really feel like moving.

I’m assuming the 5100 works much like every other PVR out there. It automatically records each channel as you are watching it, allowing you to rewind your current channel in case you missed something, or pause it for that all important washroom break. Recording a channel in this manner only gives you a one hour buffer, meaning, you can only rewind one hour, assuming you’ve been watching the same channel for an hour. I should note that as soon as you change channels, you lose your one hour buffer and start over again on the new channel. This is good for most shows you would watch on regular TV, but not so good for TMN or PPVs. For those, you’ll need to remember to record in advance by pressing record when the show starts, or setting a timer, which is as easy as going through the guide and pressing a button. Basically, all the recoding options are about as basic as you would hope for. One touch record for any show, current or future.

The guide that comes with the Bell receivers has its issues. Theres no going back in time. As soon as its 8:00pm, you can’t see what was on at 7:30 that you missed. Normally, this isn’t a big deal, but sometimes shows don’t start until 8:15pm, and the guides grid layout is always full time slots. This means that the entry for the show that starts at 8:15pm, fills the entire 8:00pm to 8:30pm time slot, but says in the title that it starts at 8:15pm. The problem with this, is if you change to that channel at 8:05pm and wonder what your watching, you can’t tell because the current time slot is the 8:15pm show. Granted, this doesn’t happen very often. Another issue with the guide that I had was the way you couldn’t go into the future, find something you want to watch, and press a button to change to that channel. It always brings up a menu of options, one of which is NOT “Tune to this channel immediately”. I was used to this behavior on the Rogers system, and miss it on Bell. Also a great feature is being able to browse channels while watching your show. A transparent window pops up at the bottom letting your cycle through the channels one by one without really interrupting the current channel.

Some people have complained about the noise of the 5100′s hard drive. I don’t know why these people always watch TV on mute, but I certainly can’t hear mine over the noise of my surround sound speakers. Its also possible that I’ve learned to ignore hard drive noise, since I’ve at least one drive rattling away in the same room as me for about 10 years now. At least they put a quiet fan on it, that would drive people nuts. (Again, I have about 8 fans blasting away on my main computer. Just means the volume gets turned up higher.)

The 5100′s remote, which is almost the same as the other receivers, is a dual mode remote. It has an IR interface on the front like a normal remote, but also has an RF transmitter built in. This means you can split the out put signal from the unit to several TV’s in your house, and bring the remote with you. The range isn’t bad on a set of fresh batteries, but it seems to go down hill quickly when the batteries start to wear out. I can normally go through 2 apartment walls (with lots of computer equipment in the middle) for a distance of about 30′. I’ve pondered jacking the external antennae on the unit into the line out that goes into my bedroom, but I don’t want to know what happens when someone else uses their remote.

Every so often, Bell will push a new software image to the 5100′s ROM. The latest image has added Caller-ID (if your subscribed) and alphanumeric searches in the guide. The Caller-ID is there because Bell requires the unit be plugged into a phone line at all times. This is their outgoing communications medium since satellite signals are one way tickets. The fact that they can add functionality like that with very little trouble is great, but also a little frightening. I just don’t like people playing with my stuff.

I can honestly say that the Bell ExpressVu 5100 PVR is hands down the best PVR available in Canada at this time. (In case you missed it, its the only one.) It has some small quirks, but I can live with them. Maybe they will even be fixed in future versions.

Feature list:

• S-Video and Optical connections.
• IR and RF remote all in one.
• All your standard hookups for entertainment systems.
• Parental lock-outs.
• The dish has dual LNBF’s so you can purchase another receiver if you wish.
• Alphanumeric search within the guide.
• Some interactive TV stuff that I haven’t bothered with yet.
• One hour “history” of current channel.
• Up to 30 hours (depending on show) of recordings.