British TV device specialist Manhattan TV has unveiled a new 4K TV recorder designed for the U.K.’s Freesat 4K TV satellite streaming service. The S4-R Freesat 4K TV Recorder is Manhattan’s fourth-get Freesat device, and looks set to have all the features you’d hope for from a brand with such extensive Freesat experience.

For starters, the S4-R can access more than 100 subscription-free Freesat TV and radio channels – 35 of which carry HD-resolution video. If your satellite set up has a wideband LNB of the sort that’s standard with Sky Q satellite dishes, the S4-R can record up to four channels simultaneously. Otherwise the Manhattan’s new box of tricks can record two channels at once.

The Manhattan S4-R enables digital recording of up to 1200 hours of Freesat content, and as many as four channels at once.

Photo: Manhattan

As with all of its TV devices, including models targeted at the U.K.’s Freely and Freeview platforms, Manhattan’s S4-R is designed to add more simplicity and functionality to the free TV world, making it easier for U.K. TV viewers to potentially ditch their subscription-based platform and streaming services. In the S4-R’s case, its recording capabilities essentially give you the potential to watch Freesat according to your own schedule, rather than being bound by the service’s linear channel schedules.

The initial version of the S4-R will carry 500GB of recording space, which equates to around 300 hours of recording space. Manhattan will subsequently be launching versions of the S4-R, though, with 1TB and 2TB of internal storage – enough to hold 600 or 1,200 hours of recorded video respectively. The S4-R also lets you pause live TV for as much as two hours, or rewind live video to catch anything you might have missed.

The S4-R uses one of Manhattan’s proprietary interfaces, meaning everything is available from one well-organised onscreen space, with searching possible across all the available live TV channels, as well as more than 60,000 hours of on-demand apps including the BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, Channel 5 and more besides. It’s with the streamed services that the S4-R supports that its 4K talents come into play, given that Freesat doesn’t actually broadcast any 4K channels.

Alex Arbab-Zadeh, COO for Manhattan says: "We know how much people value the simple, subscription-free control and intuitive experience of our T4-R Freeview recorder. Our audience has been actively asking for that same experience on Freesat, and we’re thrilled to deliver the S4-R as the answer. It not only brings our proprietary user interface to satellite viewing, but it also drastically elevates the recording capability by supporting up to four simultaneous shows, compared to the previous two-channel limit. The S4-R is the perfect subscription TV replacement for Brits seeking more power, more choice, and an end to high monthly fees.”

The S4-R 500GB is available in the U.K. now for £219.99, while the S4-R 1TB will be available in May for £249.99 and the 2TB edition will be available in June for £279.99.

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