Advantages: Lots of extra channels at a good price, small neat box
Disadvantages: Unable to adjust volume using the remote control, unable to switch between analogue and digital signal without resetting and some of the details go off the bottom of the screen

...So, how can you get up to 50 digital television and radio stations without having to pay each month for cable or satellite? The answer is to buy a Digital Terrestrial Receiver (or digibox as I call it) for under £100 and watch the free-to-view stations (as heavily advertised recently on BBC). When I bought a lovely Sony 32 inch widescreen television, it really showed up the poor quality signal we get in our area. I was also getting bored with the choices of channels 1-4 and an extremely grainy channel 5, but didn’t want to pay a monthly fee for cable or satellite, as I was unlikely to make the most of my money being an internet addict. I therefore decided to buy a digital terrestrial receiver suitable for using with my TV aerial. There are a number on the market including Panasonic, Pace and Thomson, but in the end I bought... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Many more channels, improved picture, no subscription,dish etc, good looking
Disadvantages: Poorly designed remote control

...difference in sound was a slight drop in volume on digital channels. The remote control is not particularly pretty and is initially confusing. It is made for use with Thomson's DVD players and TVs, so many of the buttons are redundant. I used to have a Pace digital receiver which allowed you to control the volume using the remote control. The Thomson remote has a volume control button. When you press it, a light flashes on the front of the box, indicating that it is receiving an infrared signal, but annoyingly nothing happens. A small point, but it does mean you have got to have two remote controls in use all the time, which was not the case with the Pace box. There are two channel lists. One contains all the channels. The other is your Favourites List, which you can customise by adding the channels you like and omitting those dreadful... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Looks good, Top Up TV compatible, VERY easy to set up!
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

...the Freeview website to make sure we could receive a signal (www.freeview.co.uk). You just enter your postcode and it'll tell you if you can get a signal or not. According to the site, we might need to upgrade our aerial to receive a digital signal. This cued further dithering until my parents bought a new TV with Freeview, had the same reception message on the website, but got a good signal regardless. I scoured the web and read a few reviews on Ciao to get an idea of which box we might want. I'd heard about the Thomson one and had seen the Top Up TV ads on the TV. I wasn't sure it would be worth it, so we went into Comet one morning to have a proper look. My husband has a 'See It, Buy It' approach to shopping, whereas I tend to ponder. Before I knew it, he'd harrangued a Sales Person and was heading off to the checkout, the Thomson DTI2300... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Access to an extra 30+ free TV Channels
Disadvantages: My receiver has gone wrong, likely to need digital aerial

...I have read a few excellent reviews on the Thompson DT1000 digital receiver which have covered the product in praise and glory. My experience has been slightly different, so I thought there may be some value in making my contribution. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FREEVIEW SERVICE/ DIGITAL TV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You may already have access to digital TV or have seen adverts for it on your normal analogue service. For those not yet aware, Freeview is a digital TV service which gives you access, free of charge, to over 30 TV channels and radio stations. The most popular channels are BBC3, BBC4, ITV2 - extra football, CBBC - childrens channel for over 5s, CBeebies - childrens channel for under 5s.Other channels available include ones for auctions, travel, gardening, radio, history and cooking. The service offers teletext... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Stylish silver finnish,good picture,flicker free
Disadvantages: poor sound quality,bulky remote

...After looking for a 42"plazma tv we decided to opt for the thomson 42wb02s and what an excellent choice ,picture quality is good for a plazma and holds it own against the competition(don't be dis-illusioned picture quality of all plazma tvs are inferior compared to conventional crt tvs due to them being in there infancy take this into account )From my experience i found it struggled defining dark colours eg:shadows and night shots but only noticable when close up ,apart from that the picture is good, The display panel comes with built in speakers which seemed to tinny for my liking and doesnt do the tv justice but if you want the hole cinema experience a surround system is a must . when setting up the tv i found it extremely easy to do with help from the on screen menus and help facility I was inpressed... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: I beleive they are still the best at what they do.
Disadvantages: Can be expensive

...Again I will start this review by saying that I am employed by TUI UK the company who own Thomson holidays. I was originally employed by the Thomson Travel Group, the company was the taken over and has now evolved to become part of the world of TUI, the largest tourism company in the world (so I am told). The actual idea behind the world of TUI concept is actually very good. They aim to be present at every stage in the customer holiday from where they book, who they fly with, where they stay and every other step in the package holiday process. Therefore the plan is you book your holiday in Lunn Poly, you fly with Britannia airways (soon to become Thomson airways) and they you stay in one of the many hotel chains which the company operates. It has actually got to the point where no matter where you go you can't escape the TUI... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: lots more tv channels
Disadvantages: lots more tv channels

...for the foreseeable future, he suddently spotted a very dinky little Thomson DTI550 digital tv receiver lurking between it's big brothers and said "I suppose I could buy this one and you could use it with the tv upstairs". As I spend much of my life in my turret escaping from his abysmal choice of viewing and occupy myself with reading and listening to talking books, I didn't know if I would actually want any extra tv programmes, but it was a cute little box in a nice shiny silver colour, very unobtrusive and portable so it could easily be moved from room to room if we had unexpected tv loving guests, so I allowed myself to accept his generous offer. The Thomson was the cheapest one there, priced at £49.99 (and the prettiest, I might add) and so off went hubby in search of an elusive salesman to make this our own. Many, many minutes later he... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Solid Performance, Low Price
Disadvantages: Remote Could Be Better Designed

...Thomson was one of the first to market a set-top box in the UK. The newer DTI 1000 thankfully abandons the blocky look of most such boxes in fact, it really does look like it would be comfortable sitting on a TV set. This is partly due to the use of an external wall wart type power pack. Of course, this set-top box is by far the easiest to access here financially at only £80 (and shopping around should see an even lower price). As such, you wouldn't expect much, but in fact you get all the things necessary for decent standard definition (although not high definition) digital viewing. Video output is provided by an RCA composite video socket, a weird proprietary S-Video socket, or SCART. This last supports RGB, S-Video and composite so it will suit most TVs. On the audio side, a pair of RCA sockets provide stereo sound and a coaxial... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lots of Choice, lots to do
Disadvantages: Not many free child places.

...We decided that we wanted a summer holiday abroad this year and picked up a Thomson Brochure. Thomson are a well known holiday operator and have been operating for as long as I can remember. Since they opened a Lunn Poly near us we have been picking up their brochures instead of the usual JMC ones. Thomson offer a variety of holidays such as Superfamily, Gold, Platinum, summer sun, a la carte, small and friendly, faraway shores, Greece, turkey, cruise, alfresco, Florida, freestyle, weddings in paradise, beach club. The Superfamily one interested me as it was all geared at a family holiday. They choose so many hotels with families being in mind and often these hotels or apartments are where families only can go or for couples only. They also own Skytours so when you get to your destination you will find the Thomson staff grouped... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent itinery, well organised tours
Disadvantages: Poor service and facilities onboard

...The Thomson Calypso is the latest addition to Thomson's cruise fleet. It is the smallest Thomson ship, and is an 'adults only' ship. It has everything you would expect from a cruise ship: restaurant, informal dining, shops, a beauty salon, bars, a gym, sundeck, and pool. At over £100 per night Thomson cruises are not especially cheap, and the brochure promises personal service and plush facilities. Having previously cruised with Thomson on Celebration, I must admit to being sceptical when I read the numerous poor reviews of Calypso on various websites. Having now cruised aboard Calypso I am forced to admit that previous reviewers were absolutely right. Thomson promise a more personal style of service aboard the 'intimate' Calypso. The atmosphere amongst guests was certainly pleasant, but a relatively low ratio of staff to guests... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful