Freeview boxes sub £20 - Can you beat it?

Amba_Gambla

I gave up with my asda one ages ago.... took it back for a refund...

Daveboy_3

I have bought a couple of these freeview boxes lately, and as normal did loads of research on the internet to find the right one. One thing I have discovered is that all freeview boxes (no matter which make) seem to have problems of one kind or another, which may be down to the signal quality in some cases, but I suspect the technology still needs tweeking. It definitely seems to be the cheaper boxes that are most problematic, and the stores that sell them must have a very high rate of returns on these things.

So while I am all for saving money and getting a great deal, it's important to remember that most of the time you get what you pay for, and in the case of freeview boxes buying the cheapest you can find is probably a false economy.

Cheers
David

L.S.D.

veronarona wrote: »

Why don't you go to Digital Spy forums and see if anyone's had the same problem and if there's a fix?

I honestly don't think you'll find such a good PVR for anything like the same price - I reckon you and LSD got yours from a faulty batch, either the box or the remote. Blinking shame.

veronarona

Our friend is chuffed to bits with the one we bought her. It was just ours. We've just bought 2 more (3 in total) of the Argos Digihome boxes & all so far are behaving OK.

saintalan

Soon there will be the first FREEVIEW PLAYBACK machines, bascically, I think, an alliance of manufacturers to a common specification.

Not sure this will mean prices dropping again or a chance to keep them higher for a while;-))

harryhound

Hi experts,

Can you help someone who has not yet tried digital TV and so does not yet understand it? (and who probably needs to spend 100 GBP on a new arial?!)

How much "ordinary" wide screen telly fits onto these hard disks ?

Harry.

JohalaReewi

Crafty_Mum wrote: »

I've got the Asda one - brilliant lilttle box, great remote and a great price. Even got my Mum one!

The problem with Asda is they have more than one brand of Freeview STB, recently it has been Durabrand, Onn, and Pacific. Within brands, there are different versions. For while there were two versions of the Durabrand on sale side by side and the only visable difference was the version number printed on the product label. Not surprisingly, the later version had fixes for bugs in the older version. Before buying a budget Freeview STB, check out the reviews at Digital Spy and make sure you can take it back if it doesn't work.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/terrestrial/reviews/

JohalaReewi

harryhound wrote: »

Hi experts,

Can you help someone who has not yet tried digital TV and so does not yet understand it? (and who probably needs to spend 100 GBP on a new arial?!)

How much "ordinary" wide screen telly fits onto these hard disks ?

Harry.

You might not need a new aerial. I didn't. The existing aerial worked first time. I even have a freeview box running off a portable TV loop aerial.

Normal Freeview STBs don't have a hard disk they are just boxes that can handle the new DTT signals and convert them into use by your TV etc.

The ones that have a hard disk are called PVRs and the amount you can store is related to the size of the hard disk (bigger means more). Check the manufacturers website for PVR specifications. Some channels take up less 'space' than others which will also determine how much you can store on the hard disk.

Don't forget to check the reviews at Digital Spy.

benbranson

Just my 2p worth:

If you're looking for a very good freeview box with hard drive...BT Vision is very good.

You do need to be on BT broadband to get it but if you are (or want to switch), for £90 you get the box, installation, a phone socket near you TV (if needed) and wireless adaptor for each PC that needs it.

Have a look at https://www.bt.com/btvision .

I've had it for a couple of weeks and so far it's very good, series link seems to work well and you can record 2 channels at once!

PAZ

Can't say I've had much luck with Asda gear either. I bought my daughter one of the Durabrand ones which worked fine for a short time then wouldn't turn on (after she'd gone off to Uni miles away of course) - back it went, eventually.

Then I bought a DVD recorder which was rubbish from the start - totally incompatible with any other DVD player and often wouldn't even play it's own recordings. That went back too.

I must say, Asda made no bones about refunds - even at different stores to where it the goods were bought and, in one case, 11 months after it was bought. I don't know whether that's just good customer service or they're too used to returns! Maybe their buyers ought to start looking at quality rather than price.

mikeos

Kundo wrote: »

Yes I bought two last year as well, and mine lock up sometimes.

Not surprising as they're just mini-computers. I've had several, two Sagems, a Thomson, an OnDigital and now a Panasonic. ALL of them without exception occasionally lock-up and need disconnecting from the mains to reset. This is a real pain, only the old OnDigital box admitted the problem and actually had a reset button on the front panel.