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Technika STBHDIS2010 Freeview HD Set-top-box

June 30, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Tesco's entry-level Freeview HD Box does exactly what it is designed to do - receive Freeview HD channels - and is priced at just £100 to compete with the Bush DVB680

Technika STBDIS2010 Freeview HD Set Top Box Summary

Alongside the Smartbox 83200HD, Tesco have launched this budget Freeview HD set top box – the Technika STBHDIS2010. Available for just £100, both instore and available to reserve online, it is surely aimed to rival the entry-level Bush DVB680 which is now available for £99.99.

Best Price: Technika STBHDIS2010 Freeview HD Box



Technika STBHDIS2010 Freeview HD Receiver Review

While you shouldn’t judge a product by its name, I hope Tesco have put more effort in to creating a reliable, easy to use Freeview box than they have with the name – it hardly rolls off the tongue and scores 0 out of 5 for creativity.  STB – set top box, HD – high def, IS – well, maybe internet services, internet streaming – who knows, 2010 – the year it was launched. Put them all together and you get STBHDIS2010 – whoever at tesco looked at that and thought – “I know, that’ll be a great model name” should be thinking of getting a new job very soon.

That aside, you can’t really call this box anything but no-frills. It doesn’t have any of he features of the IceCrypt or the Technika Smartbox 8320HD, but it should do a good job of what most people buy it for – receiving BBC and ITV HD via Freeview HD.

It doesn’t have a built in hard drive so will not record programmes, but it does have a 7 day Electronic Programme Guide, 2 scart sockets, 1 HDMI socket (although no HDMI cable is included in the box) and is simple to set up.

This model is probably aimed to be in your kitchen or bedroom and for £100 you can’t go wrong.

Technika STBHDIS2010 Price Comparison

Our price comparison tool regularly checks stocks and finds the best price to buy this Technika STBHDIS2010 Freeview HD Box. However, as it is only sold in Tesco, it will always be the best price to pay!


Filed Under: Freeview HD Receiver, Technika, by Manufacturer, £50 - £100 Tagged With: ,

IceCrypt T2200 Freeview HD Receiver & Media Player

June 6, 2010 By admin 3 Comments

Hands-on review with the IceCrypt T2200 Freeview HD box

IceCrypt T2200 Freeview HD Box & Media Player: small, quick operation and you get a lot for your money

The kind people at Icecrypt gave me one of their brand new Freeview HD boxes on loan for a few weeks. This hands on review is a result of using the box as my primary viewing device, so you’ll hopefully get a good idea of how I found it and the good and bad features.

Summary: A worthy contender to knock the current most popular unit, the Humax HD-Fox T2, off its perch. Intuitive menus, quick, responsive operation, and with the soon-to-be-added recording feature, has some nice add-on features to boot.

Like: small form factor, slick operation, excellent menus and EPG, USB media support, competitively priced, ethernet port for future use and TopUp TV compatible.

Could be better: slow to turn on, easier playback of multiple media files, slightly plasticky feel to remote.

Price: expect to pay around £150, use our Price Comparison to find the cheapest price.

Best Price: Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD Receiver & Media Player


Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD Receiver Review

Icecrypt T2200 Packaging and contents

This review device was sent to me by Icecrypt in dummy packaging, so it would be wrong to comment on the packaging and what will be included in the retail box. It’s a strange decision because even the dummy packaging looked good to me. Inside the box was the unit itself, a remote control (complete with batteries) and an HDMI cable. There were no instructions, however I am told these are currently being revised and will be included in future shipments.

Physically, the very first thing that caught our attention was just how compact this unit is. Much smaller than a Sky box or Freeview recorder, it is however still slightly larger than some of the standard definition Freeview boxes that are available.

The Icecrypt T2200 compared to a Pace Twin Freeview Recorder and a Nintendo Wii

Sockets & Connections

  • Twin scart sockets
  • HDMI output to connect to HD TV
  • RJ45 ethernet port (not currently used)
  • S/PDIF digital audio output for connection to home theatre system
  • USB for playback of music and video files, and future potential to record to USB hard drives.

    • Setting up the IceCrypt T2200

    The very first time I turned on our T2200, I was presented with a sleek menu interface – minimalistic with no text, and with a very web-esque feel to it with large, clear icons. Using the remote, you are able to scroll left and right, with the appropriate labels appearing when you hover over one of the icons.

    As with all TV devices, the first thing to be done was to setup the channels. Going in to the setup screen allows you to start a manual or automatic scan, where you can choose to select either DVB-T (standard definition Freeview) or DVB-T2 (Freeview HD) tuners. Alternatively, choosing the automatic search scans for channels on both. Our search took around 5 minutes, and found the full compliment of Freeview channels (both television and radio).

    Usability

    The basic operation of the unit is very simple, with power on/off and channel up/down buttons on the unit itself, with the remaining functions controlled by the remote. Turning the unit on takes a seemingly long time – between 15-20 seconds, during which time ‘boot’ is displayed on the LCD. I don’t even consider myself to be impatient, but it did feel like a long time and became frustrating when you are trying to turn the TV on quickly to catch the end of the news for example. Once it is on, operation is speedy, with channel changes happening almost as soon as the buttons are pressed, menu screens loading in a flash and paging through the EPG is a breeze.

    Both HD channels (BBC and ITV) worked very well – a clear improvement on the standard definition Freeview channels, which I thought were already very good. In my personal opinion, I don’t watch enough television to warrant paying for a Sky subscription just to get HD for a couple of channels. However, now that it is available free of charge over the Freeview network, especially with the World Cup in HD on BBC and ITV this summer, I would definitely go out and buy a Freeview HD box just for that.

    Information bar showing the current program and description as well as signal strength and more.

    The electronic programme guide on the T2200 is very easy on the eye, and conveniently jumps to the channel you are currently viewing when you load it up. Icecrypt have obviously put a lot of effort in to making this user friendly, with the green and yellow buttons used to skip back and forward a day at a time, and the << and >> buttons used to page up and down through the channels. Using the directional arrows on the control you can navigate your way through the programmes, and hovering over a programme brings the details up at the bottom of the screen.

    If you don’t want to use the full EPG, there is also the ‘now and next’ on screen display which takes up a small band at the bottom so you can still watch TV while scanning whats on next. Again you can use the directional arrows to scroll through and the ‘information’ button brings up the full description. Whichever way you prefer, between the now and next and the EPG, the T2200 will not disappoint.

    The unit has a small display on the front, which is used to show the channel number. When you turn the unit off, it does briefly show the time on the display, but this disappears after just a few seconds, presumably to save power. It is possible that this can be changed in the settings somewhere, but if you can, I couldn’t find it.

    As the Freeview channel lineup has radio stations starting at channel 700 onwards, Icecrypt have decided to separate TV and radio channels – i.e. there is a TV mode that allows you to access TV channels, and a Radio mode that only allows access to radio stations. You use a dedicated button on the top right of the remote control to swap between modes. This seems like a strange function to include, as there are no obvious benefits to having this. The only thing it does do is enforce extra button presses when you want to change from TV to radio.

    Media Player – audio and video playback from USB 2.0 storage

    Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD Box

    The USB port is nicely hidden behind the plastic cap on the front of the machine, making it very accessible.

    On the front of the device, hidden behind a flexible access-flap is a USB port whic can be used to play recorded media and photos. As a photo album, it doesn’t do a lot – yes it displays photos, but doesn’t have a slideshow facility, so you would have to go to a lot of effort to skip through from photo to photo. For example, if you had a folder of photos on your USB stick, once one photo is on the screen, you can’t even press left or right to scroll through photos. You have to press the exit button, to get back to the folder, then select the next file and press ok. It works for showing one or two photos, but you would expect more in this area. You can also play music and video clips from a USB storage device, but you cannot currently record to it.
    After playing a little more with the T2200, you can select multiple files by effectively ‘tagging’ them from a folder view before choosing to play, but you still need to manually press the next button on the controller to make it move from one image to the next. I am sure this is something that could be improved with an OTA update.

    Recording to USB storage

    I am reliably informed by Icecrypt that an over-the-air upgrade is planned for June/July 2010 which will enable you to record to an attached USB stick (either USB memory stick or a larger USB hard drive).

    Auto-power off power-saving feature

    In keeping with the lower standby power claim, there is also an Auto power down feature that turns the device off when it has been inactive (i.e. no channel changes etc) for 3 consecutive hours. This is great for people like me who regularly fall asleep with the TV on. However, to take full advantage, you would have to have a TV that did the same, or at least had a sleep timer, otherwise the Freeview HD box would turn off, but the TV would remain on.
    Sleep timers and alarms

    You can configure the T2200 with multiple event timers to suit your exact requirements.

    If you are more organised about going to sleep, there is a sleep timer which allows you to programme the device to turn off at a set time between 0 and 120 minutes in advance, in 10 minute increments. Working in reverse, the unit has an excellent timer feature that allows you to use your box as an alarm clock. Via the remote control, you can configure numerous different timers to work concurrently, each with different settings. Within each timer event, you have the ability to choose to turn on the box to and specific TV or radio station, how frequently the event occurs and at what time (with options for a one-off, each weekday, weekends, weekly or plain and simple every day). As you can configure as many timers as you like, it gives great flexibility. You could therefore set it to turn on the radio Monday-Friday at a certain time, and then turn on the TV each Saturday at a completely different time. The only area where I can see room for improvement would be to set the volume at turn-on – as it stands, it seems to start with the volume at the same level as it was the last time it was on. So you could have had the volume quite low when going to bed, but then it may not be loud enough to wake you up in the morning! The only other slight concern is that the TV I tested it with did not have a wake-up facility, and therefore this feature was completed wasted! Some TVs now have an auto-on function when it detects an active input (i.e. from the Freeview HD box turning on) but mine unfortunately doesn’t!

    Multiple Favourites List

    The T2200 allows multiple favourites lists for everyone in the household!!

    While many people often comment about the favourites lists on many models, it has never been a feature that would be a deal-breaker for me. However, if you are someone who likes a favourite list, Icecrypt have added this too. You can actually have as many favourites lists as you like, with the ability to rename each one – perhaps one for each person in the house. When adding channels to your favourites list, you can use the up and down arrows to manually select channels from the list, or you can simply type in the channel number – great when one of your favourites is Sky Sports News on channel 83!

    When a favourites list is active, scrolling through channels only selects channels from your list, so no longer do you have to watch endless shopping channels or ‘specilist interest’ channels. This is just one area where Icecrypt have invested a lot of effort to ensure usability is spot-on.

    Common Interface (CI) Slots & TopUp TV

    A feature which started appearing on even the first Freeview boxes was the ability to add a TopupTV Cam (conditional access module). While the services offered by TopUp TV haven’t exactly set the world on fire, a ruling by Offcom in early 2010 means that soon we should be able to get Sky Sports 1 and 2 also via TopUp TV. Currently you can get ESPN for £9.99 per month, which shows some Premiership football, and there are some early suggestions that you will be able to get Sky Sports 1 and 2 as well as ESPN for around £20 per month. Whether or not this will include Sky Sports 1 HD isnt clear (unlikely I would suggest), however, it is a good start. So if this appeals to you, make sure your next Freeview HD Box has a CI slot. Also, if you are buying the Icecrypt, if you buy from Turbosat (available through the Amazon marketplace) you will get the ESPN CAM (the card bit) free of charge and your first month free too. (Normally £9.99 for the CAM).

    Ethernet port for Internet connectivity

    Included on this model, as with most of the other Freeview HD boxes, is an RJ45 (ethernet) port for connection to your home router and internet. While there is no functionality to make use of this connection as yet, I would anticipate this could allow access to the like of BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, Sky Player etc,

    Icecrypt T2200 Price Comparison


    Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD Box  Photo Gallery

    Filed Under: Freeview HD Receiver, Icecrypt, £150 - £199 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box

    May 23, 2010 By admin 3 Comments



    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box

    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box - made by Pace, this is sure to be a popular model to rival the Humax



    Best Price: Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box


    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Receiver Review

    Earlier in the year, electronics manufacturer Pace said that it’s profits were set to soar this year with HD take-up likely to increase dramatically in time for the World Cup. Sure enough, they have released this Philips-branded DTR5520 Freview HD receiver.

    Visually, this model is up there with the best, a shiny black unit with a very low profile and rounded corners. Unlike the Philips HDT8520, this unit does not record, and will not playback of media files (pictures, music, videos) stored on a USB stick or portable hard drive. However, take nothing away, it is priced competitively and available from a host of major UK stockists.

    One feature that is still sometimes absent in cheaper entry-level models, but is included with the DTR5520 is is favourites. Especially with Freeview, where there is an abundance of channels that the majority rarely watch, so this allows you to create a favourites list of only the channels that you are interested in. With favourites activated, you can skip through channels without having to browse through all of the shopping channels (unless of course that’s what you are looking for!). This can also be useful as a parental tool to hide the adult-type channels from the eyes of younger audiences. Alternatively, you can have as many as 4 different TV favourite lists, and 4 radio-favourites. So in theory, you could have a favourites list for each member of the house according to their own viewing  preferences.

    On the power consumption front, this unit consume less than 1 watt while in standy and less than 6 when in full use. The manual states that based on 4 hours full use and 20 hours standby each day, this equates to 15 KWh per year.

    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box Specification

    • Single Freeview HD (DVB-T2) Tuner
    • Includes HDMI and Co-axial cable
    • Remote Control and 2 x AAA batteries included
    • 8-day EPG and now & next on-screen displays
    • Up to 4 TV favourites lists and 4 Radio favourites lists
    • Parental control – child lock feature
    • Sockets
      • 1 x TV aerial in
      • 1 x Aerial out (RF loop through to TV)
      • 1 x HDMI output
      • 1 x RJ45 ethernet port
      • 1 x USB 2.0
      • 1 x Scart
      • 2 x analogue audio out (left/right)
      • 1 x coaxial digital audio out (for use with Dolby Digital surround sound systems)
    • Upscaling of standard definition Freeview channels to high definition of 1080p at 50Hz
    • Digital audio output sockets as well as analogue left/right audio outputs.
    • ‘Auto-eco’ mode – turns your Freeview HD receiver off automatically after 3 hours inactive
    • Power use: under 1 watt in Standby, 6 watts when in use.
    • Dimensions: Width 290mm x Depth 160mm x Height 37mm

    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box User Guide & Manual

    If you would like to find out more about this device before you buy, the Quick Start and full User Guide are available to download from the Philips website.

    Philips DTR5520 Quick Start Guide

    Philips DTR5520 full User Manual


    Philips DTR5520 Freeview HD Box Stockists and Price Comparison


    Filed Under: Freeview HD Receiver, Pace, Philips, £150 - £199 Tagged With: , , ,

    Grundig GUD300HD DVB-T2 Freeview HD Box

    May 23, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment


    Grundig GUD300HD DVB-T2 Freeview HD Box

    Grundig GUD300HD DVB-T2 Freeview HD Box

    Grundig and Goodmans have both launched similarly sounding and similarly looking Freeview HD boxes – which are in fact the same models only with a slightly different apppearance.

    The finer details are a little sketchy right now, despite it being available to buy at Amazon and a host of other mail-order retailers (see the price comparison below for the cheapest price).

    The device has two scart sockets, an HDMI socket required to link to your HD TV and an ethernet port which should be used to enable internet services like BBC’s iPlayer when it is made available on Freeview HD boxes later in the year. There is also a USB port for updating the firmware, although there is no indication whether this will allow playback of media files such as pictures, music or video files from removable USB storage.

    As you would expect, the GUD300HD has an 8-day EPG and boasts the common ability to upscale standard definition Freeview signals in to high definition when used with a HD TV and HDMI cable. As with other devices, don’t expect these upscaled images to compare to the true HD channels provided by BBC and ITV.

    Grundig GUD300HD Freeview HD box Price Comparison

    Our price comparison tool regularly checks prices automatically so to help you find the cheapest price.



    Filed Under: Freeview HD Receiver, Grundig, £101 - £150

    Bush DVB680 Black Freeview HD Box

    April 4, 2010 By admin 1 Comment


    Bush DVB680 Freeview HD Box

    Bush's first entrant to the Freeview HD market undercuts the comparable model from Humax by some £70 - almost half price.


    Bush’s first entrant to the Freeview HD market undercuts the comparable model from Humax by some £70 – almost half price. However, with such a low price tag, don’t expect to the get bells and whistles and upgrade capabilities of devices like the Humax.

    Bush DVB680 Freeview HD Box Cheapest Price




    Bush DVB680 Freeview HD Box Review

    Bush have launched this DVB680 HD Freeview box with an RRP price of £149.99, however it seems the price has come down even before it was released. The Bush brand is perhaps more commonly known for entry-level electronics and at first sight this appears to fit the bill. Not quite as visually appealing as the Humax Fox-HD T2, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a standard definition Freeview box. However, many people will argue that as long as the box does its job and outputs high definition pictures from the Freeview platform, looks are irrelevant – and to a point, we are inclined to agree.

    This model comes with both scart and HDMI outputs, however why you would want to use the scart is a mystery as you would lose the benefit of HD. Maybe Bush are thinking that in time, all of the older standard definition Freeview boxes will be phased out, and even people without HD ready TVs will buy these set top boxes to use for the standard definition channels. Interestingly, neither scart or HDMI leads are included, so make sure to buy a cable at the same time.

    Fairly standard is the 7 day electronic programme guide, subtitles and ‘now and next’ programme information. However, less standard is the inclusion of an network/ethernet port. There are no details as to why this has been included at present, however it could be used in future to allow internet connectivity and BBC iPlayer functionality as you can now get on the Freesat boxes.

    Finally, it’s nice to see that manufacturers are considering the cost of leaving electrical items in standby mode. This unit uses 12 watts of power when being used, and under 2 watts in standby.

    Bush DVB680 HD Freeview Box Specification

    • Freeview HD receiver (not recorder)
    • Single Freeview HD (DVB-T2) tuner
    • 7 day EPG & ‘Now and next’ programme information
    • Scart and HDMI sokcets (leads not included)
    • Upscaling to 1080p
    • Network/ethernet port
    • 12 watts power in use, 2 watts in standby mode.
    • Dimensions: Height 40mm, Width 170mm, Depth 295mm
    • Weight 0.9kg

    Bush DVB680 Freeview HD Box Price Comparison




    Filed Under: Bush, FeaturedContent, Freeview HD Receiver, £50 - £100 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview HD Receiver

    February 15, 2010 By admin 3 Comments


    Humax HD-Fox T2 HD Digital Terrestrial Television Receiver

    Humax HD-Fox T2 HD Digital Terrestrial Television Receiver


    Humax have done it – they have released the first Freeview HD set-top box in the UK. This is the first device to enable you to watch subscription-free High Definition content from the BBC and ITV – so long as you can receive Freeview HD over a standard TV aerial (use the coverage checker here).

    Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview Set-top-box Best Price




    Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview HD Box review

    The much-anticipated device is a definite improvement on the previous Freeview boxes from Humax in the looks department. The all-black unit has a semi-reflective front panel with centrally located circular control and will look great underneath your HD TV. The dimensions are similar to a conventional Sky+ box or digital TV receiver – 28cm wide, 4.5cm high and 20cm deep.

    As the first device on the market, there is no real surprise that this is a Freeview HD Receiver – not recorder. So at present, there is no way of recording HD content to be played at a later date (these devices are expected in the summer of 2010 from Humax and a whole host of other manufacturers).

    That aside, it seems Humax have certainly done their homework and listened to feedback based on customer experience of their previous Freeview boxes.

    Humax HD-Fox T2 Specifications

    • Tuner: 1 x DVB-T2 Freeview HD (UK) Terrestrial
    • Receive BBC HD and ITV HD as well as any other upcoming HD channels and all existing radio and TV  standard definition Freeview channels
    • 8-day on screen Electronic Programme Guide
    • Dolby Digital + Audio output
    • HDMI output (required to output signal to HD TV)
    • Auto-detect new TV channels – no need to retune
    • Uses less than 1 Watt power during standby
    • Compatible resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 576i
    • USB port to allow playback of externally stored content on external USB hard drive or other USB storage device.

    Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview HD Price Comparison

    This price comparison regularly checks the price of this Humax Freeview HD box at trusted UK stockists to find you the best price to buy online.



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    Filed Under: FeaturedContent, Freeview HD Receiver, Humax, £150 - £199 Tagged With: , , , ,