A superb small room 16" LCD FREEVIEW HDTV from ALBA!!!!!!!!!

Advantages: Small, well built, great picture and sound, HDMI, Freeview and loads other connections.
Disadvantages: NONE, NONE NONE!!!!

...put together. When you turn it onto standby a nice blue light appears on the front just underneath the ALBA logo!! Yes I am a badge snob! The initial setup is a doddle. WHen you turn it on for the first time it asks you your country and language and then if you want to tune. Tuning took a couple of muinutes but it picked up all the freeview channels no problem. Then the surprise came. The picture and sound were fantastic for such a reasonably priced budget make TV. Colour and contrast ratios are really good without any fiddling what so ever and the sound is nice and balanced. It has a full compliment of connections on the back. HDMI, SCART, COMPONENT, LINE OUT, SPDIF/COAX OUT, so really you could connect this to anything. I haven't coz it is in the kitchen, but I am sure upscaled DVD's, Bluray and games consoles will look fantastic...

mickdundee123 16.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Alba Lcdwhdf

Freeview

Advantages: good amount of channels
Disadvantages: need a good aerial

...Freeview is a supplier of Digital TV within the United Kingdom which requires no subscription, and no annual contract History of Freeview Freeview was originally launched on October 2002 at 6am, after it took over the DTT licence to broadcast on the 3 multiplexes which were from the defunct ITV digital service, and ONdigital. As part of a survey, undertaken in 2007, it was revealed that over 36% of the UK were receiving freeview, as a source of their digital TV. In the future, High definition programming is expected to launch on the freeview platform Equipment There are various different set top boxes available, which acts as a freeview receiver. The price of these varies, some as cheap as £10! However, nowadays, freeview offer a new type of set top box, called FREEVIEW PLAYBACK, which enables you to pause, rewind...

RyanC92 14.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Freeview

  Freeview - Jump Before You're Pushed

Advantages: Just one up-front cost. No subs. Extra channels. Proper widescreen output
Disadvantages: Needs a good aerial. A limited list of subscription channels muddies the waters somewhat.

...existed before, even via an aerial, and OnDigital, later ITV Digital (and then OnDigital again*) were the first to try this. Their offering was a mixture of free-to-air (e.g. BBC and ITV channels) and subscription channels, like Sky One. There were even a handful of pay-TV movie channels, although compared to Sky's Box Office, with the same movie starting every 30 minutes on a clutch of channels, this facility was definitely the poor relation. *They changed it back to OnDigital once the receivers were called in to save the 'good names' of Carlton and Granada. Good name?! Anyway, the fact that OnDigital folded in a spectacular manner is well documented. I guess Freeview could be called 'son of On', but with a few major changes. One, there were less channels, which gave the launch of Freeview a boost in picture quality allowing...

BNibbles 03.11.2003 (23.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of Freeview

Alba STB 8 Freeview

Advantages: good picture, very cheap
Disadvantages: signal metre unreliable, cant scroll through channels without changing channel

...I bought this freeview set top box because my old one went bust and just wanted any cheap one to replace it. My old one was unresponsive and would do its own thing when it wanted to. I paid 19.97 for this from Tesco's. Bargain. It comes with remote (inc batteries) and also a normal analogue wire. You have to provide your own scart cable though. It has very detailed instructions for every little thing. One feature i like is the fact that you can change the theme (ie, the colours). My TV aerial is of very bad quality at the moment and ive noticed that sometimes the signal metre can suggest that there is good signal but the channels still wont work. However, the channels that do work at very clear. Another thing, you can't scroll through channels without changing the actual channel. So you can't see whats on another channel unless you...

dude_dal 15.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of Alba STB 8

Alba STB8 Set Top Box (for Freeview)

Advantages: Inconspicuous and Easy to Use
Disadvantages: None

...Increasingly new TV?s are entering the market as Freeview ready, the internal electronics of the set eliminating the need for a separate box of tricks. However where that is not the case either with a new TV set or indeed with existing older models which you may have in the home a digital set top box will be required to receive freeview digital TV. Digital set top boxes (digital terrestrial receivers) have been getting progressively smaller and neater. For Freeview we have replaced our older larger clunky Sagem model with an Alba STB8 which comparatively takes up far less space, can easily be placed behind or beside the TV that it serves, and is much lighter in weight. The package includes the receiver itself which measures (a sleek) 21cm (width) x 14cm (depth) x3.5cm (height), remote control plus batteries, rf cable, and two...

wanlan 20.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Alba STB 8

Freeview - The clue is in the name!

Advantages: Lots of choice, up to date TV guide & text services.
Disadvantages: Have to buy a box of course!

...When a friend of mine decided to upgrade to Sky + with HD I inherited his Freeview box for free. It was around £29.99 brand new about 3-4 years ago from Tesco. Freeview is very simple to set up, you just connect it to your TV by a scart lead & then plug your TV aerial in to the back of the box. You can then do a scan and it will pick up all channels in your area. If you do not have the best signal you can use a signal booster or a signal amplifier to enhance your signal but please note that this will not work if you are not in a Freeview receiving area. I will not bore you with channel lists etc, if you want to see what channels are available as well as see if your postcode is a Freeview enabled area then please visit www.freeview.co.uk The website is very informative and I have used the Freeview box in 4 or 5 seperate locations...

katyeverett 23.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Freeview

  Freeview - The TV Service Of The Future.

Advantages: More Choice, Better Quality, Radio & Interactive Services
Disadvantages: Only covers 74% of the UK

...and in October of next year Whitehaven will have completed its DSO. However, its not all that scary. Digital Television is not about confusing buttons, dialogues and hefty remotes; in fact there is no need to be scared - Digital Television can truly be as simple, if not simpler than your current analogue television. For a one of payment, usually from as little as £30 you can purchase a Freeview receiver which will connect to your current TV as long as it has a scart socket and a good analogue reception. Freeview can currently be received by an estimated 74% percent of UK homes and this figure is the maximum capacity which can be achieved until DSO is complete in 2012 when the government estimates that 98.5% of UK homes should be able to receive Freeview. The best way to determine whether or not you should be able to receive Freeview...

Ross-Murray 27.10.2006 (03.03.2007) · Read review
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Review of Freeview

Freeview

Advantages: Free TV Guide, Exellent Picture Quality, No Subscription
Disadvantages: Needs a digital aerial (£20-£30)

...I have recently bought a freeveiw reveiver and am amazed with the quality of the picture and features included with it. First off all, you get Interactive TV without have to pay a single subscription fee. The interactive feature is very useful as you can check, for example: What is on TV (now, next or later on) The results of your football or rugby team. The news and weather The lottery numbers, and much more. Also, with Freeview, every channel has the capability of subtitles for the hearing impaired and a descrition of the program that you are watching at the moment. When I first used my Freeveiw set I was amazed that I was able to achieve high quality digital pictures from a small box which can be set up in under two minutes. Before I had my Freeview recivever I had to bear with a regular reception which was not...

ryan_kerr10 18.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of Freeview

Long time Freeview

Advantages: Anamorphic Widescreen, no fee, good range of devices, not proprietry, good colour performance, 7 Day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG).
Disadvantages: Poor bit rates and resolution on some channels, often need new aerials

...Freeview is the brand name for the non subscription part of Digital Terrestrial TV, also known as DTTV or DVB-T. It is a consortium lead by the BBC with the transmitters owner, and Sky TV. It is broadcast from around 100 transmitters and currently covers around 80% of the population. I have upped the official figures as they are very pessimistic, I know if quite a few people who can receive Freeview but are rejected by the postcode checker. Good points ----------------- Anamorphic Widescreen, no fee, good range of devices, not proprietry, good colour performance, 7 Day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). Bad points --------------- May need upgraded aerial or cable, suspect to interferance, poor bitrates being used due to cramming in too many channels, poor resolution of certain channels, mixed transmission modes. Some...

MartinImber 14.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Freeview

Alba STB2 Freeview Box

Advantages: Ease of Use
Disadvantages: Not so many added extras as with the more expensive models

...Bought this from Amazon £34.99. I already own a more expensive Sony model and comparing them both I prefer the ALBA. It is easier to set up. The STB1 took 40 minutes to set up after reading the instruction book through rather than diving into the product and figuring things out. It was easy to set up. Just plugged it into the tv and off it went. It did take around 15 minutes to tune in the channels but I thought it was extremely easy to use for a non technical person like myself who cannot even use my DVD Player! The box is really slim and fits really neat on top of my DVD player. It looks really neat and was not bulky as I expected being a cheaper model. It took the children around 2 minutes to find the CBBC channel and E4 which has been viewed daily. All the channels are of extremely good quality and of the same quality as...

irvinesrule 12.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of Alba STB2