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Author Topic: I may need a new FreeView box.  (Read 1620 times)

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Turk

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I may need a new FreeView box.
« on: 09 March 2009, 01:36:32 »
My current box is about 3 years old and seems to have glitches on some channels, usually TMF and 4Music, along with a few others.
If I move the box, it settles down. This may be the scart leads, but boxes are so cheap these days, buying new leads won't be far of the price of a new unit.

I was wondering if they have improved over the last few years, and if so, are any units better than others or are the boxes on sale these days pretty much the same as my original FreeView box ?
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tmx

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #1 on: 09 March 2009, 01:40:12 »
Avoid AstraTEC boxes the TV in the bedroom had one of these i replaced it 4x in the end comet made me swap for a different make (Grundig) :y
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Mr Skrunts

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #2 on: 09 March 2009, 01:40:40 »
They probably even do them with hard drive recording these days.
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Mr Skrunts

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #3 on: 09 March 2009, 01:43:05 »
http://www.richersounds.com/productlist.php?cda=productlist&sgroup=FREEVIEW

Few options here, just seen one with 160gb hard drive and then theres the fresat option, if you have a sky dish on the wall might be worth considering.  :y
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Martin_1962

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #4 on: 09 March 2009, 07:58:21 »
Humax 9200T or similar

or Topfield 5800
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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #5 on: 09 March 2009, 08:34:10 »
The newer ones (cheap freeview boxes I'm talking about) seem to be less reliable than my old almost bombproof Nokias that I have scattered around the house.  Problem with the old boxes is they are just to damn slow.
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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #6 on: 09 March 2009, 08:34:51 »
Quote
Humax 9200T or similar

or Topfield 5800
Or do it properly, and get a Media Center
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Martin_1962

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #7 on: 09 March 2009, 11:06:08 »
Quote
The newer ones (cheap freeview boxes I'm talking about) seem to be less reliable than my old almost bombproof Nokias that I have scattered around the house.  Problem with the old boxes is they are just to damn slow.


Most are cheap shit that is why, the Nokias are very clunky and slow, also can lock up but do see to be reliable but definately 1st generation, as were all the Ondodgy boxes, the first generation Sony IDTVs (like the one I sold Albatros) were almost a second generation but not quite, quicker than the Ondodgy boxes, better quality but still not fast. The same tuner escaped into the very rare VTX500 Sony Ondodgy box but it wouldn't run the Ondodgy software properly, but was the best performing of the Ondodgy boxes.

The next real generation would be the first PVRs and Freeview boxes such as the Pace DTVA, Pace Twin and Humax 8000 these were quicker and had more features, support for encryption was either non-existant or switches off, definately more robust to interfearance and a lot more power.

The new TV I suppose is 4th generation.

Very quick text, hop around BBC Text reading all the news in a few minutes, caches everything. Also even more resilient than the older tuners.

However along with the decent IDTVs, the PVRs and a small number of decent standalone boxes (eg TVonics) most of what is left is real crap, these £15 £20 boxes are pretty bad, they do work but don't expect miracles, nor a long life.

With PC are Nebula still the recommended brand?

BTW With Freesat nothing can touch the Humax HDR at present.
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Andy B

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #8 on: 09 March 2009, 11:28:40 »
Quote
......
BTW With Freesat nothing can touch the Humax HDR at present.

We have a Humax Freeview+ PVR 9300T. It couldn't be easier to use :y. My only gripe is that it's noisey ie the hard drive spinning.  :(
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TheBoy

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #9 on: 09 March 2009, 12:09:50 »
Quote
Quote
The newer ones (cheap freeview boxes I'm talking about) seem to be less reliable than my old almost bombproof Nokias that I have scattered around the house.  Problem with the old boxes is they are just to damn slow.


Most are cheap shit that is why, the Nokias are very clunky and slow, also can lock up but do see to be reliable but definately 1st generation, as were all the Ondodgy boxes, the first generation Sony IDTVs (like the one I sold Albatros) were almost a second generation but not quite, quicker than the Ondodgy boxes, better quality but still not fast. The same tuner escaped into the very rare VTX500 Sony Ondodgy box but it wouldn't run the Ondodgy software properly, but was the best performing of the Ondodgy boxes.

The next real generation would be the first PVRs and Freeview boxes such as the Pace DTVA, Pace Twin and Humax 8000 these were quicker and had more features, support for encryption was either non-existant or switches off, definately more robust to interfearance and a lot more power.

The new TV I suppose is 4th generation.

Very quick text, hop around BBC Text reading all the news in a few minutes, caches everything. Also even more resilient than the older tuners.

However along with the decent IDTVs, the PVRs and a small number of decent standalone boxes (eg TVonics) most of what is left is real crap, these £15 £20 boxes are pretty bad, they do work but don't expect miracles, nor a long life.

With PC are Nebula still the recommended brand?

BTW With Freesat nothing can touch the Humax HDR at present.
Yup, having a Media Center though, I have little need to upgrade the Nokias, as they rarely get used. In fairness, the Nokias are quick enough to switch on and channel flick, but forget any interactive stuff!

It would take an awful lot to tempt me to give up the Media Center - 1Tb of disk space, and probably the world's best upscaler - you have to look twice to see the difference between freeview BBC 1 SD and freesat BBC HD (there is a difference side by side, or checking one after the other, but its not particularly noticable).  But I know when I do want freesat HD, I just need to plug a card in :).  And the whole thing is quieter than my previous Pioneer HDD/DVD recorder (Analogue one)
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TheBoy

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #10 on: 09 March 2009, 12:12:58 »
Added to that, whilst I would concede that the XP MCE needed someone in the house with PC experience, Vista MC is much more robust.

Windows 7, which I am typing on right now watching the Top Gear channel, as its whats on my desktop, seems to be equally robust, at the media center point (the OS itself could do with 1 or 2 fixes, but it is beta).
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Martin_1962

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #11 on: 09 March 2009, 12:21:04 »
Quote
Quote
......
BTW With Freesat nothing can touch the Humax HDR at present.

We have a Humax Freeview+ PVR 9300T. It couldn't be easier to use :y. My only gripe is that it's noisey ie the hard drive spinning.  :(


The HDR you can just hear the HDD, Pace Twin uses a lap top drive and is very quiet
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Martin_1962

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #12 on: 09 March 2009, 12:24:30 »
Upscaled SD does look good but not as good as HD.

Is your TV 720P, 1080I or 1080P?

BTW some BBC HD is upscaled SD, and a lot is HDV sourced.

My TV is native 1080P and I use 1:1 pixel mapping on all 1080 sources, but I sometimes get a strange effect on 1080I - I might have a play on the settings on the TV, not sure if it is a I->P artifact or a motion clean up artifact.
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TheBoy

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #13 on: 09 March 2009, 12:41:50 »
Quote
Upscaled SD does look good but not as good as HD.

Is your TV 720P, 1080I or 1080P?

BTW some BBC HD is upscaled SD, and a lot is HDV sourced.

My TV is native 1080P and I use 1:1 pixel mapping on all 1080 sources, but I sometimes get a strange effect on 1080I - I might have a play on the settings on the TV, not sure if it is a I->P artifact or a motion clean up artifact.
TV 1080P, Media Center set to 1920x1080.


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TheBoy

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Re: I may need a new FreeView box.
« Reply #14 on: 09 March 2009, 12:50:28 »
Quote
Quote
Quote
......
BTW With Freesat nothing can touch the Humax HDR at present.

We have a Humax Freeview+ PVR 9300T. It couldn't be easier to use :y. My only gripe is that it's noisey ie the hard drive spinning.  :(


The HDR you can just hear the HDD, Pace Twin uses a lap top drive and is very quiet
Noise wise, I use Samsunf F1 Spinpoint drive - very quiet.  I use AnyDVD to control DVD drive speed, as we know they are really noisy otherwise. AnyDVD has the advantage of making it multiregion as well :)
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