Freeview box prices....any advice?

BOBS

daveyjp wrote: »

Be careful going cheap - they may not be too good.

We have a cheap Bush TV in the bedroom with in built freeview and a Sony TV in the lounge - both on different aerials. Sony on the original house aerial and cables - 30 years old, Bush on a brand new aerial and proper coax, both aerials are in the loft.

Sony is excellent - changes channels no problem, programme guide is quick to respond, red button teletext no problem. The Bush TV is terrible, takes seconds to change, freezes when changing channels, doesn't load teletext.

To check if it was the aerials I swapped the TVs over, but the Bush is still as bad and the Sony excellent which suggests it's the processing capability of the digital tuners.

We have a sony too and definitely a much superior digibox.

evenasus

I can definitely recommend the SONY VTX-D800U. We had one for a number of years before we opted for satellite TV.
It never failed or crashed once, unlike the Nokia & a Philips that we had in other rooms.

There are always some for sale on Ebay.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=SONY%20VTX-D800U&rt=nc&Type=Freeview%2520Boxes&_dmpt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&_fln=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

The SONY VTX-D800U also has the best EPG of all the Freeview boxes. It's looks like SKY EPG

rapido

. .

macman

OP said in their first post 'I rarely watch TV', therefore a Humax PVR would seem over the top for their requirements. I would have thought that in this case the cheaper the better, and so a Tesco or Argos bog-standard box (if nothing on Freecycle) will do the job until their CRT eventually expires.
The OP can always upgrade later as the initial investment would be no more than £10-£15.

Premier_2

evenasus wrote: »

I can definitely recommend the SONY VTX-D800U. We had one for a number of years before we opted for satellite TV.
It never failed or crashed once, unlike the Nokia & a Philips that we had in other rooms.

There are always some for sale on Ebay.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=SONY%20VTX-D800U&rt=nc&Type=Freeview%2520Boxes&_dmpt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&_fln=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

The SONY VTX-D800U also has the best EPG of all the Freeview boxes. It's looks like SKY EPG

Would have to agree.

If your reception is at all suspect, these were definitely the best.

But they are not cheap. They used to sell for about £80- £100 new (and even more when Sony stopped producing them - they were selling for in excess of £120 at one time in unused condition)

Looking on the bay, they still appear to fetch about £40 even for a well used example. My only advice would be to check they have the latest software update as I don't think it'll be broadcast again.


Remember the old adage:

If you buy cheap, you'll buy twice

and that certainly proved the case when I was buying freeview boxes.