... After a nasty experience with the cheapest I could find (a Mitsubishi that didn't work properly from day one and also interfered with my terrestrial channels and video), I got myself a Daewoo Setpal and haven't looked back.
LOOKS
The Daewoo Setpal is about 3 inches high, 10 inches ... Read review
Advantages: excellent reception, simple set-up, reliability Disadvantages: not gorgeous to look at
...video), I got myself a Daewoo Setpal and haven't looked back.
LOOKS
The Daewoo Setpal is about 3 inches high, 10 inches wide and 7 deep, and comes in a silver coloured plastic-type material. It isn't the most t beautiful or expensive looking piece of equipment, but then no set top boxes are, and it's not so ugly that you have to hide it away either. It's also very light, so if you've no room to sit it alongside ... ...£79.99 to £99.99, and the Daewoo is one of the £99.99 ones. I believe there are even cheaper ones around, but after my experience with the Mitsubishi I'd advise paying full whack rather than saving ten or twenty quid, especially when you consider that this is a one-off payment and your viewing is totally free.
SETTING UP
The Setpal comes with a scart and a traditional cable, and you can use either to connect. ... more
Several months ago I got rid of my Sky family pack subscription after realising I was paying a ridiculous amount of money each month and only watching free-to-view channels anyway. Sky duly banished, off I went to get myself a freeview set top box. After a nasty experience with the cheapest I could find (a Mitsubishi that didn't work properly from day one and also interfered with my terrestrial channels and video), I got myself a Daewoo Setpal and haven't looked back.
LOOKS
The Daewoo Setpal is about 3 inches high, 10 inches wide and 7 deep, and comes in a silver coloured plastic-type material. It isn't the most t beautiful or expensive looking piece of equipment, but then no set top boxes are, and it's not so ugly that you have to hide it away either. It's also very light, so if you've no room to sit it alongside something you can place it on top of your DVD or VCR without covering up the air-holes or putting pressure on the casing.
The accompanying remote control is black, with a very neat size and look, and all buttons are easy to use and read.
PRICE
The set top boxes I looked at ranged in price from £79.99 to £99.99, and the Daewoo is one of the £99.99 ones. I believe there are even cheaper ones around, but after my experience with the Mitsubishi I'd advise paying full whack rather than saving ten or twenty quid, especially when you consider that this is a one-off payment and your viewing is totally free.
SETTING UP
The Setpal comes with a scart and a traditional cable, and you can use either to connect. As my TV only has the one scart and it's connected to my DVD, I used the traditional cable to connect the Setpal to my television, with the aerial that was going into my television now going into my Setpal box.
Once the physical setting up is done, you select the channel on your TV from which you will watch freeview, and then tune in.
Tuning in is simplicity itself with the press of one button. The Setpal does the rest and takes about 5 minutes to do it, at which point you are presented with a list of all available channels on your screen which you choose to accept or reject.
One good thing here is that the Setpal keeps your terrestrial channels at numbers one to five, unlike many televisions these days which order channels according to frequency and you then have to spend an hour rearranging them again with the help (or not, as the case may be) of an often unfathomable manual.
Also, whenever you switch on your Setpal, it automatically searches for new channels or better reception of existing ones, and then asks you if you would like to install them. Again this is a very simple one button process that takes about two minutes.WATCHING FREEVIEW
Turn your TV to the channel you selected for freeview, then use the freeview remote control from that point on.
THE REMOTE
Your remote is the key to freeview TV. As well as using it to change channel, you use it for:
Teletext Switching screen size (i.e. 4:3, widescreen etc.) Information (signal strength, frequency etc.) Interactive services Guide
The guide button is especially useful as it enables you to see at a glance what's on now and next on all channels. From this screen you can then select the channel you want to watch, or you can return to the TV screen and select your channel with the 0-9 buttons or the scroll button.
CHANNELS
So, what do you get for free after spending your £99.99 then?
All terrestrial channels ITV2 BBC THREE BBC FOUR UK History C Beebies Another BBC children's' channel BBC News 24 ITV 24 hour news Sky News Sky Sports News TMF (24 hour music) The Hits (24 hour music) BBC Parliament QVC bid-up tv Community channel UK Bright Ideas ftn All BBC radio channels, including digital Teletext (which is alas very slow and not much use)
I think there are a couple more too but can't remember off hand, and there are new channels being introduced fairly regularly, and anyway this op is about the Daewoo Setpal and not freeview television.
RECEPTION
I am watching freeview via a traditional cable connection and the picture quality is perfect. I have never had trouble with images breaking up or pixellating.
If you connect to your Setpal via scart, reception is supposed to be even better (though frankly I don't see how my current reception could be bettered).
Please note here that if you have a very old or poor quality aerial, it may not be able to receive digital signals, in which case you'd need to get a new aerial. Having said that, my own aerial is about 10 years old and as I've said, I get perfect reception.
OVERALL
I can't think of any reason not to have freeview television. Even if you hardly ever watch it, you'll surely get your money's worth over the years considering you've paid less than a hundred quid.
And if you are getting freeview, then the Daewoo Setpal is a reliable receiver that is simplicity itself to set up and use.
Advantages: Comeing down in price Disadvantages: None
I bought this a while ago to access more TV stations. I am very happy with it carries out it primary function superbly. Its very easy to use and the picture quality is so much better than the conventional analogue system. It looks ok, its not the most expensive looking electrical equipment to look. It packaged in a plastic silver paint coated casing. The product is light weight and does not that up to much space its dimensions are 3” in height 10” ... ...via the remote control. This is I well thought out design as the buttons are easy to read and easy to press. The controller is light weight and is coloured black. The remote control is also responsible for controlling
Teletext or interactive services
Changing screen size (4:3, widescreen)
Accessing information (signal strength, frequency etc.)
Ect
The channel that are available to you through this digital receiver are,
All five terrestrial ...
ilu02192 20.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Daewoo SetPal
Advantages: Easy to install Disadvantages: none so far
...friend told me about the Daewoo Setpal and assured me this would rectify the problem.
However we are in an area that is not supposed to be able to recieve freeview, but after seeing this box in Tesco's for £59.99, we took a gamble. Once installed to my amazment we recieved all available channels and the picture was great.
I must admit that for some reason the music channels tend to freeze.
I have done nothing extra ie. new coax cable or arial ... ...problems will be recitified.
I had tried my brothers ex ITV Digital box but that picked up nothing
The box is quite small and fits comfortably on top of the cable box under the TV, the remote is nicely shaped and clearly marked. When installing, the box sets the channels up for you and a nice touch it stores them as normal BBC 1 chanell 1 BBC 2 Channell 2 etc.
I would reccomend this to anybody and at £ 59.99 you cant really go wrong it is covered ...
icmupps 17.12.2003 (18.12.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Daewoo SetPal
Advantages: One touch setup. Press the button and wait! £52 at Sainsbury's. Small (Size). User-friendly display Disadvantages: Slow changing channels.
...---
When the Daewoo DS608P box arrived on the shop floor I rushed over to check what it was. looking at the demo model, it looked very fashionable and would go with my silver VCR and TV. It was only £52, and If I didnt like it, I could take it back. Great! Setup was easy. Plug this into that, and then press a button for 6 seconds. within minutes, the system had fully setup, had welcomed me, and was showing BBC1 in a clear digital reception. Im a ... ...me to my halls. After plugging it into my other tv, and with pressing the button on the back, it automatically tuned into the network and was ready to watch, once again, in less than a few minutes. One of the most easy to use systems! The TV Guide is very extensive, showing many chanels at once, however a downfall over sky is how far it shows into the future, as it only shows Now and Next. It also has a good inidication of what transmitter you're ...
pmht 06.01.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Daewoo SetPal
Advantages: 25 extra channels free Disadvantages: None
I myself have a Daewoo Setpal and also a BT version. When you look at them on screen are exactly the same apart from a Daewoo Label on screen and the box.
I have terrible picture quality in my area and I do not receive channel 5 either (Via Terrestrial). However, after purchasing the BT box and the Daewoo box I have had perfect reception of all of the main 5 terrestrial channels and now have around 25 more.
I also found it extremely easy to install ... ...took two button presses to tune it in. After installation I had a read of the UHF install and that seemed almost as easy.
I dissagree on looks though. As I believe it looks good. Maybe not as good looking as the Sony version. However, its not as pricey either!!
Definitely a good buy!! ...
CarloDamiani 14.11.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Daewoo SetPal
Advantages: cheap access to many more channels Disadvantages: none that I know of
I have been using a setpal now for around a year, and am well pleased with it. Initially I could not get many channels on it, but soon found out that I needed an aerial upgrade. The new aerial cost me about thirty pounds, and once installed, it opened up a fairly long list of channels which I could receive without any subscription cost.
Set up is easy, mostly carried out automatically by the unit, and once set up, a nice clear easy to use remote ... ...some of which are not of interest to me, but find several others very good, I have become a great fan of ITV 3, which repeats many old programs which I loved at the time, and are old enough not to remember whodunnit etc.History Channel provides many fascinating historic documentaries, and several others offera good choice of light entertainment, and a big plus for me is the ability to get channel 5, which I could not get on the terrestial TV.
The ...
johnboycoastie 26.06.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Daewoo SetPal
