Advantages: Reasonable value for money
Disadvantages: Compulsory, and terrifying if you can't afford it !

...TV or not TV…? That is the question .Wether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows, of the tv licensing spies, for not having a licence...or just cough up and be done with it ! I received a reminder today informing me that my TV licence was due, which prompted me to puzzle the positive pros and cons of this seemingly antiquated licensing system, which is after all an unfair tax on the British public, The 2006/2007 colour TV licence costs £10.96 per month - about 36p per day for each household. It is free if you are over 75, half-price if you are registered blind. They must have worked out that half the enjoyment comes from the pictures and half the pleasure comes from the sound ? The annual cost (set by the Government) is currently £131.50. A black and white TV licence is £44. THERE IS NO RADIO LICENSE... Read review

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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

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Advantages: Portable(ish), cheap, good value
Disadvantages: Needs an external aerial, viewing software is buggy

... The Unit - Overview & Appearance Built by probably the best known PC TV tuner producer, the Hauppauge WinTV USB is essentially a glasses-case sized box of magic which allows you to transform your PC or laptop into a TV.. Executed in translucent turquoise plastic, the unit features a 2 foot long USB lead at one end for connection to your computer and a standard coaxial port for connection to an external aerial at the other. On the side of the box are three further ports; two 3.5mm audio jacks for connecting external audio sources and an S-Video port for connecting a video recorder or DVD player or the like. There is also the mandatory red LED to indicate power set into the plastic on the upper face of the unit. Also included in the box is a CD with the WinTV... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Ecellent picture quality & ease of use
Disadvantages: Bit pricy

...Win TV PVR2, okay!! What is it I hear you ask?. Same question I asked myself. I had got some money at Christmas and wanted to buy a piece of external hardware for my computer, that would allow me to transfer my analogue (pre digital) film, from my camcorder, into my computer for editing. Simple task I thought, go to the appropriate area of video editing, and look for something which can do the job and within the budget I had. Well for a start there were various selections of external and internal hardware available which were able to do the job. However, there was only a few at or around the price I had in mind. So after spending about and hour deciding, I lifted the item of my choice and proceeded towards the checkout area. Ah ha!! What is this I see? Walking towards the checkout, I noticed an item on a shelf in a bright... Read review

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Advantages: Space saving, crystal clear picture and cheap.
Disadvantages: Sometimes loses signal in bad weather.

...Having bought my iMac, my printer and various other bits and bobs recently I thought I was in heaven. But something was still missing... What? I have a very fast, sexy computer with all the software I could ever need, movies, music, photos,email and so much more. My little office is comfortable and a haven from others in the flat. Hang on a minute, I don't have a TV. For the first time in my life, I don't have private access to a TV. I have access to the TV in the lounge but I can't decide what I want to watch and can't keep the noise levels down when I really want to take something in. Not good! And then, one day I was having a look at the Apple website and I saw the solution to my problem... EyeTV for Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT). What's that I hear you say. Well hold on a minute and I'll tell you... EyeTV for DTT allows you... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap at only 45p
Disadvantages: contains spoilers

...Whats on tv is a weekly listing guide for television programmes. It is produced by the IPC media group, who make over 80 magazines, a number of TV listing guides (including What's on TV, the TV Times, and Soaplife), Women's magazines, (including Woman, Woman's Own and Woman's Weekly) Men's magazines (including Nuts and Loaded) Various Sports magazines (including SuperBike, Angler's Mail and Golf Monthly) through to the more specialist (European Boatbuilder and VolksWorld - The ultimate guide to the VW Beetle scene from around the world.) IPC itself is owned by Time inc, the publishing division of Time Warner. Now the the magazine itself. It contains 90 pages of information on TV programmes and the Actors, gossip, competitions, television listings and adverts and is published on Tuesdays and costs 45p. The cover usually has... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Easy reading, informative
Disadvantages: More expensive than some others

...With the advent of interactive TV, sky (for example) one would think that TV listings magazines will have had their day. Not so..on the contrary, more and more listings magazines are appearing on our shelves. From my own point of view this is a good thing. I do find it a bit fiddly flicking through the TV listings on sky and then finding the relevant button to find out what the programme is all about, so I still prefer the good old fashioned TV mags ! TV Quick is published by the H Baur Publishing co. and was launched way back in March 1991, they are aiming at a target audience of women under 45 years of age with children, and I think they have got it spot on. Proof indeed when you look at their statistics.......Adult circulation is 1.2 million of which 844,000 are women aged around 40 years. So I fit that demographic perfectly. So... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Picture quality, connectivity, appearance, value for money, HD ready
Disadvantages: Limited PIP options, missing information from instructions

...When I decided that I was going to have my bedroom renovated I made the decision to buy myself a flat screen TV. I wanted something that was not too expensive and at the same time had all the features that I wanted. I did not want a TV that was tacky to look at either. I searched around and found this TV just about to be released. I went for it and have not regretted it once. I have wall mounted the TV using a wall mount purchased from B&Q (a well known DIY chain) this cost me around £40 which was far cheaper than many of the alternatives I could find on the internet. The TV looks awesome on the wall; although the swivel stand that it comes with looks equally good if you did not want to wall mount the TV. The looks of the TV were a major consideration for me when buying this TV, but far from the only one. Functionality... Read review

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Advantages: Turns your PC into a Freeview Personal Video Recorder
Disadvantages: Not all PCs suited to siting in lounge

...I've revisited my review of the Nebula PC TV card, because, true to their word, Nebula haven't sat back and let developments pass them by. Since buying the card, trials of Hi-Definition digital TV have started on terrestrial TV. The format has been available for several months on Sky satellite , but as you can imagine, at a cost. This is the first time that Hi-Definition TV has been made available on Freeview, although the vast majority of set-top boxes couldn't cope with it even if they could tune into it. Currently, it's only being trialled on London's (what a surprise) Crystal Palace transmitter, but this is so powerful ,and the region so densely populated that it represents a huge chunk of the viewing population. Anyway, I'll shut up now and place my actual revision at the end. Back to the plot... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: extremely cheap, HDMI, excellent on DVD & Games, wall mount, lots of functions
Disadvantages: TV channels quality not as good as DVD/Game quality, low contrast ratio

...Bush Idlcd 32 TV 16 HD Price £360 Features are listed at foot of review text We bought this TV because our old 28 inch TV took up too much space. We wanted something that would look modern and wouldn't become the focal point of the living room. We love films and computer games and so we also wanted something that would make our movie nights more of an event. We didn't think we could afford an LCD TV but we went shopping around for one nonetheless with an extremely tight budget. We looked at a few and thought we had found one we liked (a Samsung - apologies I have forgotten the model) until my fiance saw this this fellow. It was modern, it could be wall mounted, and if it was on a stand it didn't take up much room at all. Compared to other TVs in our budget it had 2 stand-out bonuses - 2 Scart sockets and even more... Read review

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