This web-site is all about the NorthQ 7000/7100 DVD Player/Harddrive Recorder!
I have tried to collect as accurate information as I can about this player,
but as you all know, it is very easy to make mistakes
. If you find anything that you suspect is
not correct, please contact me so I
can correct it!
So what is a NorthQ 7000/7100? Basically, this is what it can do:
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It has a DVD player that can play DVD-Video, SVCD, VCD, CVD, CDDA (ordinary audio CD's), MP3 (on CD or DVD), Kodak Picture CD's (JPEG images on CD or DVD) and MPEG video-files (on CD or DVD). |
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It can read the following types of media: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-R, CD-RW and of course regular pressed CD/DVD's. It does not read DVD-RAM. |
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It has a hard-disk (the 7000 model includes a hard-disk, you have to buy a hard-disk yourself to the 7100 model). This can be used to record TV to from its internal tuner. It can also record to the hard-disk from external (composite or S-Video) sources. |
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The hard-disk can also be used to store media files (MP3, JPEG images, MPEG video-files) copied from CD and DVD. |
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Timeslip function, which means that you can pause live TV! If you watch something on TV and get interrupted, you just press "PAUSE" on the NorthQ remote control. The NorthQ then starts to record whatever is on TV to the hard-disk. When you get back from the interruption, you press "PLAY" and the NorthQ starts to play back the show from where you left off. At the same time it continues to record from TV so you don't miss anything. |
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Timer-recording to hard-disk. You can setup the NorthQ 7000/7100 to record TV to hard-disk on specified times, just like with a VHS-recorder. |
Sounds nice, so what does it cost? I bought mine here in Sweden for about 3500 SEK (about 390 EUR). But then I had to get a hard-disk, so I bought a 120GB Samsung 5400 RPM disk for about 900 SEK (100 EUR). So I spent a total of 4400 SEK (490 EUR) for my NorthQ 7100 in the beginning of October 2003.
When it comes to the DVD part of the NortQ, I have found out the following so far:
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It has a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC-3) decoder. |
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It does not have a built-in DTS decoder. So the only way of getting DTS sound from the NorthQ is to connect it via the coaxial or optical digital output to an external DTS-decoder. |
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It can downmix Dolby Digital 5.1 sound to 2 channel stereo that can be listened to via the analog audio outputs on the back of the player. |
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It cannot downmix DTS sound to 2 channel stereo. |
So, how do I like my NorthQ so far? Well, it has its good moments and some bad ones! On the problems page I have listed the bugs and problems that I have found so far. At the moment (after the v1.10 update) I hope that the player is more useful, as they have implemented some really good new features, for example sorting and naming of TV-channels. I'll use it for a while and will get back on how I like it.
One thing that is really nice is that the folks at NorthQ seems to listen to the users and try to implement features that people want to have.
When it comes to the picture and sound quality, I don't know what to say. Personally I think that it is alright, but others might not think so. However, I have noticed that the picture may be a little bit better on my TV than the picture coming from the NorthQ TV tuner.