Digilogic Freeview

I've just bought this yesterday just in time for Christmas. There's usually so little on over Christmas, on the terrestrial channels I thought I would treat myself to a few extra channels. We don't have a big Christmas at my house usually, and as there are so few of us we always end up in front of the tele.

This was a bargain at £29.99 from Tesco, the only cheaper one was an Alba digibox at £24.99, but with that one you need to but ...
...complete and ready to roll. I was really pleased to get it as I have been after one for ages, but I watch so little tele, generally speaking it wasn't worth the £100 they used to be a couple of years ago.

It has opened up a whole new spectrum of tele watching for me and there are several programmes I have been wanting to watch that have been barred to me previously. I find it so annoying, when they advertise programmes on BBC2, as ... more

I've just bought this yesterday just in time for Christmas. There's usually so little on over Christmas, on the terrestrial channels I thought I would treat myself to a few extra channels. We don't have a big Christmas at my house usually, and as there are so few of us we always end up in front of the tele.

This was a bargain at £29.99 from Tesco, the only cheaper one was an Alba digibox at £24.99, but with that one you need to but a scart lead (4.99) where as with mine it's all complete and ready to roll. I was really pleased to get it as I have been after one for ages, but I watch so little tele, generally speaking it wasn't worth the £100 they used to be a couple of years ago.

It has opened up a whole new spectrum of tele watching for me and there are several programmes I have been wanting to watch that have been barred to me previously. I find it so annoying, when they advertise programmes on BBC2, as to what's on next only to realise on closer inspection the programmes are on bloomin' BBC3 or BBC4, well angry no more because I'm in the Freeview gang now !

'Freeview' is the cheapskates alternative to having a Sky package you get up to 30 TV free channels and then a whole bunch of radio channels including the ones you can only usually get on DAB, BBC7 for one which is something I listen to regularly.

The box itself is about 6" x12" and is a metallic silver, and is actually a metal box unusually so, as they generally made of plastic, quite large for a digibox this one but I bought it in preference to the Alba because I thought the build quality looked superior, and it would take a bit of wear and tear.

Features include;

Fully interactive, the red button that gives you access to all the extra information and choice of viewing you get with Freeview.

Two scart sockets. One for the tele and one for a video

Auto set up and search for new channels

Electronic programme guide (won't need to buy the TV times this Xmas)

Digital teletext where applicable (subtitles)

Scart lead supplied (they are about £5 to buy. You will need an extra one to plug in your video)

Works with existing TV, even an old banger like mine (you need a scart socket in the back though)

Easy to set up- sets itself up at the touch of a button unless you're a twit like me who spent half an hour wondering why it wouldn't tune in only to discover I hadn't plugged the ariel in.

No contract. Once you have bought it it's all FREEEEEEE !

Yes I am pretty pleased with it the channel reception is EXCELLENT, I couldn't have asked for more for my 30 quid, the interface is clear on screen and you can have subtitles which I have never had before if you are a bit hard of hearing .

There is only one rather curious feature that I was not expecting to get, and I am not sure if it me who hasn't set it up properly or there is something wrong with it. When I use the handset, the remote control, to use some of the features, the up and down buttons which usually scan up and down on a normal remote, also works the TV settings as well, i.e the brightness and the colour saturation (left and right buttons). It seems like the TV and the digibox are on the same frequency. I have got quite an old tele which may account for this but it is a bit of a conundrum. When I use the channel list (the electronic programme guide) to see what is on and scan down the list the picture on the set gets darker and darker, until you can't see it. This is not very satisfactory and I may have to take it back and swap it for another model, maybe the Alba, one, which does not have this annoying anomaly. At the moment I have to point the remote at the ceiling if I want to change channel, in that way it only works the digibox and not the tele. This is a bit daft but it works, but I feel a bit cheated if I am going to have to point the remote at strategic points around the room just to get it to work. I find also if I stand on my head, point the remote at the mirror behind the sofa and bounce the signal off the plant stand across the room back to the box that also works, but not always convenient.

I borrowed an old 'Pace' Freeview box for a while before it packed up and did not experience the same problems, so I do not understand why this one should be any different. I would also say the handset is of an inferior build quality to the 'Pace' box I used and the buttons can be a bit 'sticky'. There also seems to be more operations required to perform the basic tasks of accessing the channel guides and then switching back to watch the programme. This may not seem like a big problem but could be aggravating over a period of time, having to press two buttons when one will do.

I also think this set would be better suited to a widescreen tele because there are only two settings for the screen shape. You can have wide screen on a normal tele, but of course you loose the top and the bottom of the picture, but at least you can have the whole picture which is something I am not used to, as many programmes are made in the widescreen format these days. Or you can compress the widescreen to normal view, which looks horrible everything looks tall and thin, in the same way, every thing looks pulled out sideways when you try and put a normal picture into widescreen. Something I had not realised when I bought it but I think it would definitely work its best on a widescreen tele, but ho, hum I will make do as it was only 30 quid, and like I said it's a very good picture.

It's the type of thing that everyone is going to have to get at some point because, when they turn off the analogue signal in a few years all you're going to get is a little white spot in the middle of your screen, and I guess prices are going to continue to fall but I'm not sure they will come down much below £20-£25 so if you are waiting for that to happen, I'd say what are you waiting for join the Freeview gang now.

There is one point before you go out and spend yer hard earned wages on one of these little beauties, CHECK you can get Freeview in your area. If you go to the freeview website you can enter your postcode and it will tell you if you have coverage in your area. Not all of us can get reception and you need to know before you buy, or you will also be watching a little white spot in the middle of your screen. Take me for example I'm a right lucky so and so, because according to the website which is where you go to check if you get reception or not, I do not get Freeview in my area. I was very deflated to receive this news, un-thwarted I proceeded to borrow a digibox off someone, just to see, I refused to believe I couldn't have it, and what do you know, there it was in all its glory, nearly 80 channels including the radio stations and stuff WHOPPIIEEEE ! so don't give up without trying it!

There is also another important point; this box does not have the capacity to be upgraded to get the pay as you view channels, which include Discovery, which is a very popular channel or Uk gold, which is another popular channel, usually standards on the sky packages. So some of my 80 channels are not available to me nor will they be with this box, even though I can get them. To upgrade to pay as you view you need a box that will take a card of some sort and you pay £7.50 a month or something. I don't watch that much tele so I don't care but bear it in mind before you buy.

I have to say I am very happy with mine even though I may have to take it back because of the remote control problem, I think that may not occur with a new tele. If anyone has had this problem can you tell me what you did about it ? I don't really want to loose it now I've got it, I'm sure there's a simple solution.

 

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