What top up tv freeview box?

daveccc · 3 Jun 2006 at 18:05

hello im after a new freeview box that supports top up tv.

Had a quick look but not sure whats to go for. Anyone know of any good boxes to pick up??

cheers

Voy06 · 3 Jun 2006 at 18:12

daveccc said:
hello im after a new freeview box that supports top up tv.

Had a quick look but not sure whats to go for. Anyone know of any good boxes to pick up??

cheers

My parents have this one, Philips DTR2520. As far as I know they have never had any probs with it and seems easy to use. I think it's in the region of £40-£60.

Smithy · 3 Jun 2006 at 18:38

i never understood why people would want to get one of these; for the same price you can get a Sky Digital Box & Dish (without subscribing) which gets you all the same channels as the freeview does, with the possibility of purchasing more channels should you need to. Your also basicaly guarenteed a good reception with a dish, whereas with freeview your lucky to get all the channels.

csmager · 3 Jun 2006 at 18:46

Smithy said:
i never understood why people would want to get one of these; for the same price you can get a Sky Digital Box & Dish (without subscribing) which gets you all the same channels as the freeview does, with the possibility of purchasing more channels should you need to. Your also basicaly guarenteed a good reception with a dish, whereas with freeview your lucky to get all the channels.

With the added advantage that Sky Sports are far better than Eurosport and Sky Movies give far more choice than TCM. And channels aren't limited to 12 hr slots on Sky.

TopUpTV really is a rip off for what it is.

daveccc · 3 Jun 2006 at 19:48

its only for my room , dont wont sky, just easy box, only doin it so can get real time r so can watch bit of fishin on sat morn whilst hanging on hangover

Tesla · 3 Jun 2006 at 20:16

The cheapest package on Sky is £15 per month.

Currently the first 3 months are £3.53 per month.

They provide free equipment and installation.

So in a 12month period you are looking at: £145.59

TopUp TV offer less channels which are on less of the day.

They charge £7.99 per month plus a connection fee of £20.

A TUTV compatible box is say £70.

Total of about £185 in a 12 month period.

Sky is a much more competitive option when viewed this way. You can of course cancel Sky anytime after 12months.

Smithy · 3 Jun 2006 at 20:18

yeah well ive got a freeview box in my room also. One word - Crap. It really doesnt matter what box you get, all that differs in style with each box is the interface, its the reception and/ or aerial that you need to worry about. In my area for instance the digital reception on standard tv ariels sucks big time, so im severely limited to the amount of channels i recieve. Freeview is a waste of space and money if you ask me, we even upgraded our aerial but to no avail, so we ended up spending about £100 on aerials and Freeview box for not many more decent channels.

Even if you do manage to get a good reception the channels still suck. ABC1 is just about the only channel that i watch on freeview, mostly its just standard terrestrial stuff with the possibility off the odd E4 every now and then. Not recommended IMHO.

Tesla · 3 Jun 2006 at 20:23

I disagree Smithy, I would be suprised if you could not get a good Freeview signal in almost all of the UK now.

Also, Freeview boxes differ masively.

Smithy · 3 Jun 2006 at 20:24

Want to come to my house and test that theory?

Tesla · 3 Jun 2006 at 20:27

Smithy said:
Want to come to my house and test that theory?

Email me your postcode and I will do it from here.

daveccc · 3 Jun 2006 at 22:14

akready have freeview , works fine tbh and were not even in a strong signal area.

carpmaster · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:41

Smithy said:
yeah well ive got a freeview box in my room also. One word - Crap. Freeview is a waste of space and money if you ask me, we even upgraded our aerial but to no avail, so we ended up spending about £100 on aerials and Freeview box for not many more decent channels.

So you spent £100 on a Freeview box and an aerial upgrade? So assuming you spent £30 on the Freeview box this means you spent the princely sum of £70 on your aerial. No wonder you've got problems with reception. You probably got a boy who knew nothing and used a contract aerial which cost less than £1. When will people learn that the cheapest quote is the cheapest quote for a reason.

FrankJH · 5 Jun 2006 at 19:31

I have never had a problem with freeview - yes some of the hardware I have used is terrible - but the actual channels are reasonable (when compared to BBC and ITV, which are as free as freeview)

Get a decent box and a decent aerial and you are sorted.... no more bills at all

Jez · 5 Jun 2006 at 19:51

Tesla said:
I disagree Smithy, I would be suprised if you could not get a good Freeview signal in almost all of the UK now.

Also, Freeview boxes differ masively.

My parents house cannot get either analogue (other than really really bad reception) and certainly not digital. They live in lower shiplake near henley on thames. Back before sky they had an aerial bloke come round, he put up a huge aerial on the chimney (at least 7-8 foot pole above chimney) and only managed very rough ITV and CH4, and patchy BBC which kept fading out.

Had to take the aerial down and didnt charge

Tesla · 5 Jun 2006 at 23:54

Jez said:
My parents house cannot get either analogue (other than really really bad reception) and certainly not digital. They live in lower shiplake near henley on thames. Back before sky they had an aerial bloke come round, he put up a huge aerial on the chimney (at least 7-8 foot pole above chimney) and only managed very rough ITV and CH4, and patchy BBC which kept fading out.

Had to take the aerial down and didnt charge

It's odd as there is an analgoue transmitter in henley on thames.

Also, I am quite confident that crystal palace digital would be receivable.

Maybe its the local landscape which is a problem?

Smithy · 6 Jun 2006 at 00:07

carpmaster said:
So you spent £100 on a Freeview box and an aerial upgrade? So assuming you spent £30 on the Freeview box this means you spent the princely sum of £70 on your aerial. No wonder you've got problems with reception. You probably got a boy who knew nothing and used a contract aerial which cost less than £1. When will people learn that the cheapest quote is the cheapest quote for a reason.

WTF are you on about? Who said anything about quotes? We bought and installed the aerial ourselves. So yes, the aerial did cost £70 and not the £1 which you so foolishly assumed.

Tesla · 6 Jun 2006 at 01:17

Smithy said:
WTF are you on about? Who said anything about quotes? We bought and installed the aerial ourselves. So yes, the aerial did cost £70 and not the £1 which you so foolishly assumed.

No offence but if you knew what you were doing I very much doubt you would have spent £70 on an aerial and also it would have worked.

I would like to backup my above comment by saying that your post about all Freeview boxes being equal proves lack of technical knowledge in TV transmissions, something required to get the best possible signal you can.

Sounds like your in a weaker area so need the best you can get too. Where abouts are you?

carpmaster · 6 Jun 2006 at 09:58

Smithy said:
WTF are you on about? Who said anything about quotes? We bought and installed the aerial ourselves. So yes, the aerial did cost £70 and not the £1 which you so foolishly assumed.

LOL so you bought and put the aerial up yourself, and now your blaming the lack of reception on Freeview? What aerial did you buy then?

Smithy · 6 Jun 2006 at 19:29

carpmaster said:
LOL so you bought and put the aerial up yourself, and now your blaming the lack of reception on Freeview? What aerial did you buy then?

Nope, when i say WE put up the aerial, not technicaly true. My parents mate runs a TV shop (who is coincidently nicknamed the carpetmonster

), he advised us which aerial to buy and assisted in its installation. As for which specific aerial it is i have no idea, and have absolutely no motivation to go and find out

@Tesla, we are in the east of Essex, near Colchester (CO7). But that seems to not make a difference, as it seems my mate who lives down the road from me (literaly), cant get a good reception either, yet when i take my freeview box to another mates house about 1/4 mile away i can tune it into all the channels. :confused:

carpmaster · 6 Jun 2006 at 21:18

Smithy said:
We bought and installed the aerial ourselves. So yes, the aerial did cost £70 and not the £1 which you so foolishly assumed.

Smithy said:
Nope, when i say WE put up the aerial, not technicaly true. My parents mate runs a TV shop - he advised us which aerial to buy and assisted in its installation. As for which specific aerial it is i have no idea.

So you didn't buy it and install it yourselves then?

The TV shop man charged you £70 and left you with rubbish reception? Now we are seeing what the problem is here.

You really need to get a professional out to take a look and measure the actual off air signal available. Your "friend" from the TV shop who charged you £70 probably meant well but has probably used a contract aerial of the wrong group, and not sited or aligned it correctly.

I've only taken issue with your post because you seem to be blaming Freeview for your lack of good quality reception. It's more likely the fact that you have tried to do things on the cheap and ended up with poor reception as a direct result.