Cheap Freeview Boxes discussion

super_woman

Christian_Mc wrote: »

Freesat is a great way to handle the digital switchover - particularly if you live in an area of poor terrestrial signal, like I do.

However, you should note that although the Freesat Card's cost of £20 is advertised as a "one off" payment, it isn't in reality.

Every 3 years Sky upgrade their viewing cards. When this happens, all those customers who are not Sky subscribers will have to buy another viewing card.

Not the end of the world, but something to be aware of!

thanks for this! had no idea!

quantium

Look back to Kilgore's post a few messages back, #29

Getting a box from another supplier seems a good idea, especially if you can install it yourself. Inflation is about to take off, and the one off payment can rise fast. Maplins may be a good place to look. They also supply a "Sat finder" meter. Although you use it only once, it is still cheaper than paying someone to do it for you.

lucylucky

^^Maplins is generally on the high price side of things, not very MSE.

A quick search online will bring up cheaper alternatives.

Although you need a card for some channels many (including the five main terrestrial ones) can be had with no card at all

cala1900

I've been thinking of getting a Freeview set, and i realise there quite a number of price ranges out there. Is there any difference between an entry level GBP20 compared to a GBP50 (video quality perspective)?

epm-84

Has anyone already purchased the "Premier AV TV-1108V-SD Mini Scart Freeview Receiver with USB Memory Card Recording" from Play.com?

It isn't clear how you play back what you've recorded on to the USB. Can it be played back via the Freeview receiver? Does it record it in a format like a .mov which can also be played back on a computer?

Former_MSE_Becca

epm-84 wrote: »

Has anyone already purchased the "Premier AV TV-1108V-SD Mini Scart Freeview Receiver with USB Memory Card Recording" from Play.com?

It isn't clear how you play back what you've recorded on to the USB. Can it be played back via the Freeview receiver? Does it record it in a format like a .mov which can also be played back on a computer?

Hi epm-84, we haven't tested one in MSE Towers, however there's a lot more info and more reviews on Amazon for the receiver:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Premier-TV-1108V-SD-Freeview-Receiver-Recording/dp/B004TWAV3G

Just don't purchase through here, as it's more expensive Hope that helps.

MSE Becca

G6JPG

I notice they've finally got round to pushing AD.

There is an excellent box sold through the RNIB (the blind charity) - well, they don't make it, but are a good source. It speaks everything - channel name, programme name, electronic guides. I'd say worth getting for the visually impaired.

It is rather expensive, though. There is another one I got (from Maplins but should be available elsewhere), about a year ago, for somewhere between 15 and 30 (I thin it was 29.99); I think it's a Goodmans. While it doesn't speak any of the settings, it does do AD - and it also has a beep to tell you when you've pressed buttons, and gives a beep when you change channel, which is different depending on whether you've changed to a channel that currently has AD or not, which IMO is quite useful.

(Oh, AD - and the other extra noises [which come through the TV] - can be turned off!)

BorderCollie_2

I have had a FreeView Scart SD Card Mini-Recorder for several months now, and it has worked quite well, but anyone considering buying one should be aware of the following 'problems'.

(1) It's not like the old VHS Recorders, where you can watch one channel while recording another. You can only record the channel that you are actually watching, and have to stay on that channel for the entire duration of the Programme you wish to record. This is because the unit has only a single Freeview tuner- you have to buy a FreeView Recorder that has "Twin Tuners" in order to watch one channel, whilst recording another.

(2) How long you can record Programmes for, is totally governed by the size of the SD Card which you have to buy separately, and insert in the slot on the Recorder. The bigger the size of the SD Card's memory capacity, the more the Card costs. Currently I use a 4gb SD Card, which gives me approx. 3.5 hours of high quality recording, and only cost £4.50p, but a 16gb or 32gb Card can cost considerably more. Of course, you can use the Card over and over again, by instantly wiping any old recorded Programmes, using the Format facilty built-in to the Recorder.

(3) On my Scart SD Card Recorder, (and I've noticed the same on a friend's identical unit) if you start recording a Programme, and watching it at the same time, you may notice that the 'live' displayed picture on the TV screen, may have a frame lag, which makes the picture 'stop and start'- sort of 'jumpy'. Apparantly this is due to the mini-processor in the Recorder, having difficulty with speed processing the digital signal to both the SD Card, for recording, and with processing the separate 'live' signal output, via the scart socket, to the TV input. However, on replay of the recorded Programme, the quality is just as good as a live FreeView broadcast.

(4) Finally, although the mini Scart Freeview SD Card Recorder may advertise that it is "Teletext Enabled", be warned that this facility may not work on all TV sets- even though the TV set may already have FreeView and/or Analogue Teletext built-in. I've discovered that in many TV sets, especially those over 4 years old, the Teletext output from the Recorder, via the scart socket to the TV set, is not recognised by the software inside the TV set, resulting in it not working!


OLD FREEVIEW RECEIVERS:

Be careful if you purchase an early Freeview Set-Top Receiver, as many of them sold in Charity Shops, and Car Boot Sales, will no longer receive FreeView transmissions.

This is because the frequency that FreeView Channels are broadcast on, and the separation between each transmitted channel, was changed some time ago, but those early FreeView boxes cannot be updated to allow them to scan and store the new channels.

Some early FreeView boxes, WILL scan and store current FreeView channels, but as soon as the box is switched off, will lose all stored channels. These makes include "On-Digital", "Bush", "Philips", "Alba", etc.

Just make sure that if you buy a 2nd hand Freeview box, that it has not been made more that 2 years ago, and you should be ok.

Hope this advice helps,

Border Collie, Dumfries. :T

3guesses

From what I have read, the Technisat HDFV Freeview HD Reciever with USB Recording is a decent Freeiew HD box for around the £40 mark, with the ability to record to (and playback from) a USB mass storage device (USB memory card, USB hard drive, etc). The main drawback of this unit seems to be that all recordings are encrypted (a Freeview HD requirement, I believe) and can only be played back by the box which recorded them (not even another Technisat HDFV box). That probably won't be a problem for most people however, but worth noting all the same.

3g

nroberts

Please be aware that not all areas after Terrestrial digital switchover will be able to get the 50+ channels that are regularly mentioned. My area has switched
and I can receive 17 TV and 13 radio channels. :(This is not due to a lack of signal - this is all that is (or ever will be as far as I can find out) provided!
You can check how many channels you will get after switchover
by putting your postcode into the digitaluk postcode checker.

You may decide if you are going to get the bare minimum as I am that it's worth going for Freesat (admittedly more outlay) to get
more channels.