Cheap freeview box

I want to spend about £30-£40 on a freeview box for my parents but I know some cheap freeview boxes are awful and some are fine.

Can anybody recomend a basic but stable box? I would rather avoid Dixons if possible because giving them money makes me feel highly guilty.

 

I'd like to add my own question to this. The thing I really hate about digital television is the pops, cracks and occasional 'Max Headrooming'. Is this because my digibox is sh*t or do they all do this and it's a question of inadequate reception in my area?

Cheers
Steve

 

I've got a dirt cheap ferguson model that doesn't auoto update but I've never had the problems 7V describes. Maybe it is a signal strength issue.

 

Philips based freeview boxes have a Pulse Killer chip in them which elemimates these pops. I've had a Philips box for two years and I am very happy with it but apparantly newer Philips boxes have a horrible GUI on them.

ASDA do a Goodmans GD3 clone for £30 which made by a highly regarded Turkish company called Vesta so I might get one of them.

7V for reference what STB do you have?

Bob Ferguson units are highly regarded but I think they are bit too pricey but they will have reliable Thomspon chipsets in them.

My parents currently have a Mistibishi but its a pile of crap, it constantly cuts out and then refuses to boot for days. I took it to a million pieces and discovered its actually a DVD player cut in in harf. Even the control PCB has has labels open/close play and stop on it

It also has the usual MX MPEG2 decoder chips found on supermarket DVD players.

 

Is an STB a Freeview Digibox? If so, I can't remember. It's a cheapie (about £40) and I'll let you know when I get back to England on Jan 2nd.

The best thing about it is that it channels my DVD, TV and video through my hi-fi.

Cheers
Steve

 

that will be 'Vestel'.

highly regarded? hmmmmm.

 

Vestal thats it, they are highly regarded at a price point. A lot of freeview boxes such as Mica's simply don't work.

Although my parents current Mitsibishi freeview is actually a Vestal and that is a pile of crap.

 

Just spend the extra £30 and get a Sony unit. They don't lock up, are easy to use and really do have better picture quality than the cheap tat that's about. Yes, it'll cost slightly more, but that's only the cost of a cheapy interconnect cable.

 

£40 is already well out of my league though, those Sony boxes are £90 and there is no way I can afford that.

If they were in the sale for say £60 it would be a different matter but those boxes cost a small fortune.

 

i picked up a cheap box from currys the other week.olny £27,it aint got all the bells and whistle that my old grundig box had,but so far ive had no problems with signal drop our lock ups

 

I got a bit more christmas money than I thought I so am going to buy the Pansonic ST41 from Richersounds. The reason being is it should be stable, if its not they wll let me return it, my parents also have a Panasonic TV so one remote control can be used for the TV and freeview box.

The only problem its £50, £70 in Argos.

 

Can recommend the panasonic. Got one from Richers a while back, the philips got from the initially was terrible and locked up all the time. Still get the occasional glitch with the panny but much better (and we're in a difficult reception area).

However dont get me started on the problems with freeview (or most digital tv). I find the artifacts quite annoying, but hey ho. At least i can watch as many repeat episodes of 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps as i want now. Value for money or what.

 

In the end I went past woolies and bought a Philips DTR200. I have heared good reviews about it unlike the DTR320. It seems to be working a treat so far but the second it crashes it is going back.

My experience with freeview box has told me if there is even a slight hint of a problem on day one by day 7 it won't work at all.