Good Freeview box ?

Raymond Lin · 20 Sep 2006 at 01:23

Ok, our's dead, frankly, it was crap. Need a new one, so whats good ? Good signal, good interface...etc.

What do you have?

Cybermyk · 20 Sep 2006 at 01:29

I use a Thompson, I got the eldest a generic £25 one though and it's probably as good really.

malolo · 20 Sep 2006 at 01:46

I've got a Sony VTX-D800U, not sure if you can still get it because I think it's been discontinued but I've never had any problems with it. It was pricey in comparison to what you can get others for though.

Raymond Lin · 20 Sep 2006 at 02:01

malolo said:
I've got a Sony VTX-D800U, not sure if you can still get it because I think it's been discontinued but I've never had any problems with it. It was pricey in comparison to what you can get others for though.

That's the one i was looking for, my sister has that in her flat and its about £80 IIR. Googled it now and nowhere seems to stock it.

Raikiri · 20 Sep 2006 at 02:21

I use a Philips DTR-1500, had it for ages now and seems pretty reliable. Menus are a little slow but the picture is good and theres very little interference.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/con...&proxybuster=ZSEKDUDNBPK4TJ0RMRCSHQNHKFSESI5P I think this is its current replacement although there have been a few generations since I got mine

Tesla · 20 Sep 2006 at 08:27

Tesco Digilogic box- £30.

Boxes are manufactured by Matsui over in Turkey.
Software is written in Bristol, UK.

Therefore, the software is excellent, very fast and works very well.

The best box I have used is the Sony mentioned above but they are tricky to find now and not everyone can justify spending almost £100 on one.

The other alternative would be to go for Freesat.

Von Luck · 20 Sep 2006 at 08:41

malolo said:
I've got a Sony VTX-D800U, not sure if you can still get it because I think it's been discontinued but I've never had any problems with it. It was pricey in comparison to what you can get others for though.

Same one I've got - great stb but as mentioned, was £80 which is a bit steep.

MeatLoaf · 20 Sep 2006 at 23:39

Ive got a digifusion one with an 80GB HDD in it. An excellent unit. Cant fault it at all

Ugley_Matt · 21 Sep 2006 at 00:10

The daddy was the sony but for some unkown reason Sony have pulled it dispite it being recognised as being the best box by far.

www.avforums.com has a freeview section that might help

Pigeon_Killer · 21 Sep 2006 at 01:04

I've got the Wharfedale DV832B which only costs £29.99 now. It's quite small, it looks a lot nicer than most freeview boxes and the interface is very easy to use. The only thing it doesn't have is the ability to rearrange the channel listings.

fozzybear · 21 Sep 2006 at 09:34

I'd get the Durabrand one from Asda. I forget the model number but its the one that you can stand upright.

For £23.97 its an absolute bargain and has 7 day EPG, favourites etc. It has crashed a few times on me but not as much as a previous Sagem box(s) i'd had.

edit//

Saying that, i may have to exchange my current box over the weekend. It has a strange habit that, when left unplugged overnight, it loses all its channels in the morning and i have to rescan.

Raider · 21 Sep 2006 at 09:47

Sony VTX-D800U is absolutely superb. The best freeview box out there.

Great interface, fast response, nice picture quality. Also seems to handle lower signal strengths better than cheaper boxes.

Get one 2nd hand if you have to! I've played with a fair few sub-£50 boxes and none of them come close, despite being made my well known people (Panasonic, Philips etc..)

agw_01 · 22 Sep 2006 at 20:10

Tesla said:
The best box I have used is the Sony mentioned above but they are tricky to find now and not everyone can justify spending almost £100 on one.

My Dad has one.

Before that he had a cheapo Thomson one. He suffered terrible signal corruption with the Thomson.. picture breakup and corruption all the time.

He's had no such problems with the Sony.

tim_enchanter · 23 Sep 2006 at 00:45

Well I saw the title and thought I would recommend the unit I use just incase nobody has, it's a Sony VTX-D800U

I had decided this evening to get another one, must say I'm not happy to hear it's not being made anymore. What's that about then eh!

andi · 23 Sep 2006 at 03:06

I bought a Philips 200/05 from Asda for thirty odd quid the other day, bit more than the generic ones, but does come with a Scart lead supplied. Seems great, not had any problems so far, menus are nice and quick, and the picture quality is top notch.

Have seen some reports of it crashing, but so far, so good.

errata · 25 Sep 2006 at 17:37

netgem iplayer+ is fast, well specified, decent picture & audio too.

If you like to play you can use it to access email and the web
by modem and (with a suitable adapter) your broadband.

Gets good reviews which is nice1

Roll · 30 Sep 2006 at 12:57

I can recommend the Panasonic TU-CT41 as a reasonable box, I had one for a while as a stop gap before we got NTL cable. Like most freeview boxes its not perfect but it did the job for me quite nicely.

I've seen them at bargain prices just recently so if you shop around a bit you should be able to pick one up for less than £50.

UncleBob · 30 Sep 2006 at 21:19

I've got the Sony VTX-D800U, and it is superb. It doesn't look like a cheap and nasty piece of tat either, which is a bonus.

My dad went through 3 cheapo boxes which only seemed to last a couple of months or so, then he got the Sony and was amazed at the difference - even with bog standard scart leads...

[DOD]Asprilla · 1 Oct 2006 at 00:25

UncleBob said:
Sony VTX-D800U

Dog's danglies.

Ugley_Matt · 1 Oct 2006 at 12:29

And so damn frustrating that Sony dont make em anymore, complete madness