Freeview Boxes

[BRUN]

anyone recommend a good freeview box or are they all pretty similar

 

[mcoppen]

They are all pretty much of a muchness. What you mostly pay for is how long you want it to last. I went through 2 cheap £29.99 ones in 4 months, then settled for a sony VTX-D800U that had 5 stars in what hi fi sound and vision for £79.99 from amazon. Money well spent, is still going strong, and the in screen menu is much better than the cheaper ones i had. We also sold this one at work, and we have yet to have one back in the year we have sold them. Enough said really.

 

[Adams_16v]

the sony is good iv read!

tesco sell a goodmans model online! I know goodmans isnt the best make but its got good reviews by a lot of folk, has 7 day program guide, reminders, etc!

Its only £37 with free p&p. ill post up if its any good when it comes if you want?

at the mo iv borrowed a hauppauge one from work! apparently im not even in the signal area but its spot on!

 

[danny1]

got the sony vtx-d800 its great

 

[JJ!]

sony one is the best!

 

[Pete]

I bought a sony VTX-d800 for our company barge, considering the environment it's in, I'm surprised we've not had it back for repair/replacement yet. Nice and simple to use.

 

[Fozzie]

Got 2 x Sony VTX-d800 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs and they are by far the best,
You get what you pay for so just go straight for this one!

 

[Day]

I have a £99 (cheap in 2003) Goodmans bread bin model.
Has never missed a beat despite being constructed of wood and abs plastic

 

[182_blue]

if you want to use top up tv make sure you get one with a card slot

 

[Rich-D]

For God's sake don't get the Phillips one, I had two of their brand new DTR-320's and they were both fcuked!

Read reviews here >>> http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/terrestrial/reviews/

 

[BRUN]

thanks !

 

[® Andy]

I've got one of Argos' cheapest ... Sagem. Fine until you turn the subtitles on ... at which point it starts crashing At first I thought it was a dodgy power supply and so I got a replacement ... but it's not any better. Can't be arsed to change it tho' ...

 

[iPap]

I have the Sagem one in my car and it works fine even on the move...

 

[BRUN]

sounds to me like these cheap boxes aint worth the money

anyone used a Daewoo one as the mrs has been lookin at one of those

 

[msa197]

Why not get SKY throught your computer for only £7.95 one off payment.

 

[McBunny]

Why not get SKY throught your computer for only £7.95 one off payment.

carry on

 

[msa197]

carry on

GOOGLE sky and follow its listed there on the right hand collum!

 

[warine_warrior]

yer, and all the channels it shows on the preview page are on freeview anyway.

 

[Munson]

Got the £99 Sony model here too and it's superb - great RGB image quality and fast reacting menus unlike NTLs cable service. Cancelled my NTL cable stuff as I wasnt really watching it and technically it sucked balls. Freeview wees on Sky from a great height when it comes to image quality, which was surely 95% the reason digital was ever sold to us all those yeays back?

For someone like me who doesnt watch a great deal of TV and doesnt want the movie channels etc. freeview is the ideal solution - hated knowing I was paying for a TV service that I watched maybe 5 hours a week tops.

 

[M1TCH]

ive got the sony one too, one in my room and the rents have one in the lounge. its sooooo much easier to use than other peoples ive used, and pics up more channels ive found than mates just down the road on different boxes

 

[Toypop]

My mums cheapy £40 freeview box pwns our Telewest cable TV and my brothers Sky digital on picture quality.

 

[Munson]

My mums cheapy £40 freeview box pwns our Telewest cable TV and my brothers Sky digital on picture quality.

Yeppers I'm not sure that most Sky users, and to a lesser extent cable users, realise just how toilet their image quality is. My freeview picture in RGB is about as close to DVD quality as you could hope - certainly couldnt expect better until HDTV takes a hold.

Certainly, every Sky image I ever saw while I was an NTL user made me feel ill - NTL owned Sky - freeview owns NTL

 

[Adams_16v]

well after a week nearly i can recommend the goodmans one!

very fast, good menu's has 7 day program listings, reminders, etc!

top stuff for £37 inc postage! more than enough for what i need really!

depends if u want to spend as little as poss, or £100!

 

[BRUN]

i dont want to spend £100 unless its needed

but, as this is a present for the mrs i dont want one thats gonna bugger up and give me grief

IMO the Sony is more than likely over priced, but, i know its probably very good!

 

[BRUN]

Anyone got a Philips one ?

 

[Adams_16v]

get teh goodmans mate, honestly its v good for the money! iv tried 3 now and its the best by far! and I usually buy decent branded stuff! I just didnt want to fork out £100 just to get freeview when iv got better things to spend my money on!

It also gets the best reception out of the others iv tried!

cant go wrong for £37inc post!

 

[martynh]

Is it possible to watch freeview using a sky box if I cancel my subscription or do i need to purchase a freeview box?

 

[geordiepaul]

Is it possible to watch freeview using a sky box if I cancel my subscription or do i need to purchase a freeview box?

If you cancel your subscription you still get the free channels though your sky box and not through your normal arial.

 

[martynh]

If you cancel your subscription you still get the free channels though your sky box and not through your normal arial.

Sweet thats what I thought!

 

[BRUN]

from all the reviews ive read i think im either going to get the cheap pacific one from ASDA as it seems to be a good reliable box, or go all out and get the Sony

the ones that are £40-£70 dont seem very reliable, and this is a present for the mrs so it needs to be

 

[Adams_16v]

get the goodmans trust me lol!!

 

[BRUN]

which model have you got mate, and ive read some bad reviews about em, not as many as most though

 

[Adams_16v]

really? i read all good reviews when i was looking!

its the gdb6 one

 

[Rich-D]

My mums cheapy £40 freeview box pwns our Telewest cable TV and my brothers Sky digital on picture quality.

Make & model?

 

[Rich-D]

Anyone got a Philips one ?

See my post on the 1st page...

 

[Rich-D]

Is it possible to watch freeview using a sky box if I cancel my subscription or do i need to purchase a freeview box?

You can get free-to-view on your Sky box with a special card, a one off payment of £20 to Sky for a new card and that's it.

 

[MK3COL]

Anyone got a Philips one ?

Yup DTR-1500 and is VERY good. Quality amazing, didnt need a booster which I did with my old box and the on screen menu pisses on my mums Thomson which cost more!

Think mine was about £40 or £50 from Costco. Looks cool too!

 

[Munson]

I went for the Sony for two reasons only.

1/ I had read that the cheap ones often make a buzzing sound (from the actual unit)

2/ I found the Sony to be the best looking by a long way

 

[ReNWiLL]

NEVER EVER BUY THE PHILLIPS !!!

Seriously, I worked for a internet based electrical supplier. Out of all the returns the Phillips outweighed the next worse brand for return of faulty goods buy 12/1, no Joke. I spent 130 on a humax. Has a built in 80gb hdd recorder and auto updates it's firmware automatically bargain.

Regards,

Bill.

 

[stu182]

You can get free-to-view on your Sky box with a special card, a one off payment of £20 to Sky for a new card and that's it.

Know I'm late joining this discussion, but anyone know if I can do the same on my NTL box?! Have had a look on their website, and while some of the channel packages are ok, they all say I need to keep the phone line at a tenner a month. And I'm p*ssed off paying 120 squid a year for something I don't need.

And I'm well aware that NTL are utter sh*te before everyone points this out to me!