Freeview
 

Can anyone suggest a box that is reliable has anyone had a freeview box that has gone wrong.
Been into Tescos tonight and they are only £49.99.

So makes and models that people have would be appreciated.

Re: Freeview
 

yeah.. same request from me too.. preferably a cheap one that has digital audio output too

Re: Freeview
 

I have a sagem box from woolworths (£59.99 ) Never had a problem with it yet. And I'm only using a set top ariel.

I even take it to work so that i have a couple more channels to watch when i'm not busy.

At the same time I bought a bush (£49.99 ) box for the mother in law for christmas - it was really dire.

Neither have digital or even phono outputs - sorry :(

Re: Freeview
 

So Sagem is worth going for ignore the Bush, anyone tried PACE or Philips

Re: Freeview
 

I have an early Grundig, been in about a year, no problems. I bought my son a newer Grundig GDT2000 model in September, failed 2 weeks ago, replaced it, 2nd one failed this week. Another trip to Dixons at the weekend !

Re: Freeview
 

I bought the new Pace FTVA DT210F (around £70 - £80) and have been very happy with it. It has optical digital audio out.

Re: Freeview
 

I have a Pioneer, excellent stuff!

Pace boxes are pretty good too, as are goodmans.

Re: Freeview
 

Been using the Grundig 1500 now for 6 months and not had one problem. Never crashed and blows the ntl stbs away with everything :)


Ps you can get it for £49.99 dixons or currys,


http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/stor...uct&sku=565302

Re: Freeview
 

I bought the new Sony one (£110) really good menu system and looks great too

Re: Freeview
 

cheers, that's the best deal i've seen so far.. i'll check that one out

Re: Freeview
 

Bought a daewoo box from Tescos today set up was easy no freezing or pixelaation on BBCi it is brilliant. Its being used on one of the other TVs so will keep you updated.

And its built in the UK or so it says on the Box

Re: Freeview
 

I remember reading somewhere that you can get a "freeview" card for sky boxes - can someone confirm this ?

Re: Freeview
 

whats the model number?

does it have digital audio out?

Re: Freeview
 

Yes you can - contact Sky, it costs £15 I think.

But if you don't have sky your better off getting subscription to a level of service with free box and install and then dropping it down to the minimum service for 12 months then getting the card as this saves the install and box costs up front.

Re: Freeview
 

link no digital oupt except scart

Did i mention the EPG works

Re: Freeview
 

i use the Thompson DTI 1000 about £60-£70. Was using the hauppage 2000 what a pile of poo.

Re: Freeview
 

For info link to freeview postcode checker, if your in Middleton, Rochdale, Oldham or surrounding area and need a new aerial to receive it.Drop me a pm will reccommend someone

Re: Freeview
 

:(

Re: Freeview
 

Parents have the Panasonic box, got it from John Lewis. They are pleased with it.

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/set-top-box/tuct20/index.htm

I think, not much in the way of outputs, just a single scart. The 30 has phono outs though.

Freeview
 

Sales are close to topping the 2.5 million mark, with an average 100,000 a week sold link here and here

Re: Freeview
 

There are many boxes listed here:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/freeview_rx.htm

Re: Freeview
 

What is the idea behind freeview?

Re: Freeview
 

Re: Freeview
 

You can but you wont get any channels worth having. To get ITV, FOUR And Five you will need another Solus card for about £35. You will not get ITV2, UK History, Sky Travel, The Hits, TMF, FTN, UK Bright Ideas, Sky Sports News, Sky News on the Sky 'Free to View service' Just a whole host of cracking shopping channels!!

Re: Freeview
 

You get free channels??

The basic idea is to convert the uk from analogue to digital broadcasting in a governement provided initative, and of course give the viewer more choice and services.

Re: Freeview
 

So do you think QVC, Bidup.tv, Pricedrop.tv, FTN, UK Bright Ideas, TVG Travel Shop and Sky Travel are worth having then? :eek:

I think not. They are all crap in their own special way. Other than that, the other channels are not too bad on the Freeview package, but it could be better!

Re: Freeview
 

There are new channels coming. Disneys will be the first due around jan 4th I think. Its going to be called Daytime. Then channel four have announced another channel called More4

Oh and TCM have a licence for FREEview too but have announced nothing as yet

Re: Freeview
 

Brought a Thomson box from ARGOS for a family member,has two Scarts,audio output(phono)programme guide makes NTL version look very poor,picture great ,sound great,interactive(BBCi etc)great,had a software download as soon as box was tuned in,cost £89-99,worth a look.

Re: Freeview
 

You need to look at the freeview site you do get ITV2 you need to look at the link here are mine



TransmitterLCNChannel NameWinter Hill


1BBC ONEYES2BBC TWOYES3ITV 1YES4Channel 4YES5fiveYES6ITV 2YES7BBC THREEYES9TeletextYES10BBC FOURYES11Sky TravelYES12UK HistoryYES16QVCYES17TV Travel ShopYES18The HitsYES19UK Bright IdeasYES20f tnYES21TMFYES23bid-up.tvYES

30CBBCYES31CBeebiesYES




40BBC News 24YES41ITV News ChannelYES42Sky NewsYES43Sky Sports NewsYES45BBC PARLIAMENTYES46Community ChannelYES




50Four TextYES51BBCiYES52ntl iYES

70BBC Radio 1YES711Xtra BBCYES72BBC Radio 2YES73BBC Radio 3YES74BBC Radio 4YES75Radio 5 LiveYES76BBC Five Live Sports ExtraYES77BBC 6 MusicYES78BBC 7YES79BBC Asian NetworkYES80BBC World ServiceYES81KissYES82Kerrang!YES83Smash Hits!YES84Jazz FMYES85OnewordYES

Re: Freeview
 

No, the OP meant you would not get ITV2 on a Satellite STB with a Free-to-View card.

Re: Freeview
 

My mistake on that but the terrestial looks good. Did i mention the epg works and has the correct programmes on it

Re: Freeview
 

Yes terrestrial Freeview is very good (considering it is free) - its interactive content put NTL's to shame :(

Re: Freeview
 

I think its a real alternative you might get a bit of blocky pics dependant on weather.

But with NTL its the same when the power levels drop or increase in the local cabinets due to heat or cold

Re: Freeview
 

It's a shame you don't get any channels worth having :/

Re: Freeview
 

anyone got freeview for xmas only took me two minutes to set up

Re: Freeview
 

I bought my other half Freeview for Xmas, a Sagem box for £59.99 from Woolies (no Audio outs BTW just Scart), at first we thought it was s**t as we could only get the BBC channels and the music channels. Then we bought a signal booster and we think we can now get everything except channel 5. Does anyone have the full list of channels we should have, and is is even possible to get ch5???

Re: Freeview
 

I like QVC (NOT)

I think its amazing that they can talk about a bread knife for 2 hours without stopping :D :p

Re: Freeview
 

I have the very same box - got ALL the freeview channels with a crap old indoor tv ariel.... But then I am only about 4km from the local transimitter - in fact I can see it out of my window. :)

Did you check your postcode 1st?
Have you got a nice ariel?

If you go to www.freeview.co.uk you will find a list of channels you should be able to get.

And yes - I get ch.5

Re: Freeview
 

I must admit - I watch the computer (Home office - small office) stuff on qvc.

I'm also surprised by the programming on sky travel.

Re: Freeview
 

This postcode checker will also tell you which channels you can receive (after processing your postcode click on more details):
http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html

For a list of aerials that have been benchmarked for use with Freeview try here:
http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/benchmarking.html

Re: Freeview
 

Cheers for the advice. I've done the postcode check and it says we should get all the channels, in fact with the booster we do get them all, except channel 5. Also, ITV and ITV2 are quite jumpy and pixellated. Our aerial is a communal one on a block of 12 flats but it's fairly new and in good condition, and our standard terrestrial reception is excellent. Any suggestions, do you think it would help to nail an individual aerial to the side of our flat or should we try an indoor one (with the booster)?

Re: Freeview
 

Ahh you mean the computer expert that attempted to format a cdr instaead of a cdrw !!!! :rofl:

Re: Freeview
 

No I don't.

Re: Freeview
 

Have you checked your signal strength and quality using the box?

I'm not sure a communal one would be up to it - it depends how the signal is distributed.

You could try an indoor one - like I said mine works perfectly with an indoor one - but I'm really close to the transmitter so I don't know how much luck you'd get using one.

Re: Freeview
 

Many communal systems are being updated, might be worth asking the question if it is updated. Otherwise separate aerial

Re: Freeview
 

my wife won a freeview box , we checked the freeview area itsaid we cant get the channel so we were not really bothered as we have good old ntl anyway. the box arrived on mon we pluged it in it took about 3 mins to set itself up and works fine so they must be loosein money by givein out duff info loosin sales on the freeview boxes

Re: Freeview
 

We've got a Daewoo box, and that works fine. If you get one of the boxes with Setpal (Daewoo, Triax, Labgear), then you should let it do an over the air update before you pass judgement on it. The latest build of the firmware is great, and it works well, however most boxes are shipped with an earlier one, and there are a few bugs. The only downside is that it only has one scart output. One nice feature is that you can hide channels you don't want, so you can remove all of the shopping channels from your list.

Also, lookout for the new Daewoo video machine. They are bringing out the first machine with a builtin freeview receiver. From all of the reviews I've seen, it looks quite good.

Re: Freeview
 

Well got the pace one for my hubby last xmas, and after they changed the ariel and put on a booster, we now get pretty much all the different channels including channel 5 which was impossible apart from through ntl's digi box. And apart from the odd break in service, it's been an alternative for the bedroom tv since then! and so tiny! the remote is the same size as the box! and the leads are really thick but as I said as a free to veiw it's reasonable. :naughty:

Re: Freeview
 

agree with you on Daewoo boxes they are good

Re: Freeview
 

the freeview box my wife won was a ECHOSTAR T-101 FTA digital terrestrial receiver
so far seems to be working fine great as it never cost us anything bonus for the kids bedroom tho :D

Re: Freeview
 

the daewoo got updated with firmware over the airwaves and has more features really impressed link

Re: Freeview
 

I'm having problems picking up the ITV channels on Freeview (Guildford area) is anyone else experiencing this?

They have worked fine in the past but since last week I can't get them at all.

Re: Freeview
 

i have a netgem i-player www.netgem.com . expensive but very nice. has spdif and line outputs, 2 scarts and a good old rf loopthru. oh, and a telephone line and usb port (for what purpose i will never understand) and a butt-ugly wireless keybord. i live 15km from sutton coldfield transmitter apparently, i can get BBC and channel5 and sky news muxes on 65% signal strength from the communal aerial system. cant get itv and channel 4 and most of the radio stations though even with an aerial booster :(. ah well. cant complain about the bbc picture quality its a top notch box ;)

Re: Freeview
 

Got a Sagem box from Amazon (£50) setup is really quick and easy plus I can get all the channels where I am (Stoke). Only thing is it picks up 2 lots of bbc 1 and 2 (one lots have bad signal, the others have 96%) but you can remove channels from the list.

Re: Freeview
 

Has the extended EPG launched yet? The last time I looked you could only get 1 day at a time. They planned to launch the extended EPG in Jan 04...

Re: Freeview
 

I've still got the itv digital box and it works fine for what rubbish you get with freeview there must be 10 radio channels, and the make matters worse you will soon be able to top up for a fee, so not so freeview look here http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds13376.html

Re: Freeview
 

Yes, but TopUpTV has nothing to do with Freeview - so Freeview is still free!

Re: Freeview
 

If you haven't found them already - details here:
http://www.topup.tv/

Re: Freeview
 

I bought an Echostar T-101 from Tesco for £59.95. Was so cheap I couldn't resist.

It works rather well :)

P.S. To access hidden Manual Tuning Menu, press Menu, Scroll to Tune & Press OK, then type carefully 17052002. Shows signal strength for each multiplex. Use left & right arrows to change frequency. You can also rescan particular UHF frequencies for channels on a multiplex. Found this at DS.

Re: Freeview
 

Safeway up here are doing a Freeview box for £49.99. I'll stick to my ex On-Digital box though :)

Re: Freeview
 

Heh me too, just got one off my friend who was about to bin it... said i might try to 'hack' it, as otherwise he would have wanted it himself... It's pretty good but took a while to remove all the channels you cant get any more... The interactive text is a nice feature... Now i got NTL downstairs and Freeview in my room WOOT!

Re: Freeview
 

Umm... this may have been asked, but im too sleepy and unwell to bother looking past page 2:

Do you get the same channels no matter what box you buy?

Cause I want freeview, but all I watch on ntl atm is Sky1, Paramount Comedy, and UKGold. Do these channels come with?

Also, if all channels are the same on the boxes, whats the point of getting a £100 one over, say a £40 one?

Re: Freeview
 

You will not get Sky1, Paramount or UKGold on Freeview - see http://www.freeview.co.uk/ for a full list of channels available.

The difference between boxes is only down to how fast interactive is (if they support it), how sensitive they are to a weak signal, the number and type of video connections supported and how much you are willing to pay for a brand name.

Re: Freeview
 

Damn.

Ok, anyone know of any ways I can get UKGold, Sky1, and Paramount Comedy (sky1 is not essential, but I really want UKGold).

I'm not keen on paying a monthly fee for it.

Re: Freeview
 

There aren't any other ways as far as I know.

Re: Freeview
 

All three are pay channels, so you have to pay for or steal them.

Re: Freeview
 

Can't remember exactly what channels are available, but you could try top up TV, they start at the end of th month, BUT there is a charge of about 8/month. Oh and you won't be able to get a STB that supports it until June (unless you buy an old ITVdig box :) ) HTH.

Re: Freeview
 

I use a Grundig Widescreen IDTV to pick up "Freeview".

Had it since around the time of old "ITV Digital". Works fine, although ITV1 & ITVNews sometimes have a bit of a pixellation problem (which doesn't bother me, as I don't like either anyway).

dellwear - TopUp TV? Is that why E4 has appeared? What else do you get?

Re: Freeview
 

http://www.topuptv.co.uk/

E4, UK Gold, Discovery Channel, UK Style, Bloomberg, Discovery Home and Leisure, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network and Boomerang - £7.99 per month, plus a £20 connection fee (£10 if you sign-up online).

Requires an old ITV/On-Digital box (as you need a card slot) - although they plan on bringing out CAMs for IDTVs soon, & presumably will do something to let Freeview boxes take a card.

Also "requires you are able to receive Channel 5" - so I guess it uses the same MUX as Five does.

Hmm. Interesting idea. Wonder if it will take off...

Re: Freeview
 

I have two Dewoo Setpal Freeview boxes and I use them both on an indoor aerial. Reception is perfect and I ger regular software downloads. £80 from Argos.

Re: Freeview
 

Grundig 1500. Had it for over a year now and never given me a problem. Sound,picture blow the NTL stb's to hell. Plus two scarts ;)

You can sometimes get these for £49 on the currys and Dixons website :)

No music channels on my Freeview box
 

Just bought a Sagem IDTV60 box - everything with it is great and the picture quality is excellent. However i'm not receiving the Music Channels (hits and TMF). It's weird because all the others are perfect and I stay pretty close to the transmitter, and my sister and gym (both nearby) have freeview and they've got music channels.

Phoned Sagem (they're useless) and there is nothing on the Freeview site to help. According to other sites I should be getting these channels.

Any useful suggestion would be greatly appreciated.


Apologies if i've went over any old ground.