Tesco slash price of Technika Freeview HD Box

Tesco have reduced the price of their Technika-branded entry level Freeview HD Box, the STBDIS2010, from £100 to just £70. This makes it the cheapest Freeview HD receiver available in the UK. Tesco are also offering Double Clubcard Points on this model right now.

View full product details.

At the same time, Freeview themselves are launching a competition to win 1 of 5 of these Technika Freeview HD receivers. All you have to do is Follow them on Twitter and re-tweet their competition message! You can check the full competition details on the Freeview HD blog.

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!

The Technika Smartbox 8320HD - Freeview HD, twin tuners and hard drive for recording, built in WiFi and BBC iPlayer. What more could you want from one box?

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+HD Recorder

Tesco appear to have gone and done it. Not only have they released a Technika branded model that does more than everyone else’s equivalent Freeview HD recorders, but it is also considerably cheaper, especially bearing in mind the hardware and features that it crams in.

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Best Price

This price comparison tool automatically checks the leading UK stockists of the Smartbox 8320HD on a regular basis to save you trawling the web to find the best price. As this Technika unit is a rebranded unit from FetchTV, it also searches for the FetchTV Smartbox 8320HD also.

Technia Smartbox 8320HD Freeview HD Recorder Review

For some time we have been waiting for the 3View Freeview HD box, boasting not only Freeview+HD but also ‘home media server’ capabilities, but this hasn’t (yet) arrived. In the meantime, Tesco have put their foot on the pedal, moved in to fifth gear and pipped them to the post.

The Smartbox 8320HD is actually manufactured by IP Vision and has been snapped up by Tesco to add to their Technika range which is usually aimed at the budget end of the market. However with this device, they could be stretching their target audience a little further.

The Smartbox 8320HD boasts twin Freeview HD tuners and a 320Gb hard drive, allowing you to record two different Freeview HD (or standard definition channels) at the same time. It also offers HD upscaling, taking those standard definition channels and ‘digitally enhancing’ them to make the most of your HD TV set. You also get the usual Freeview+ features – pause, record and rewind live TV, series link, 8-day on screen EPG (TV guide) etc etc.

In addition, the Smartbox has 2 USB ports, allowing you to transfer recorded programmes from your Smartbox on to your USB pen or removable hard drive to play on your PC at a later date.

Freeview & BBC iPlayer

Where the real interest lies is with the ability to view content from online on-demand and  catchup-TV services such as the BBC’s iPlayer and Sky Player. The Smartbox 8320HD comes with built-in ethernet port and WiFi (unlike other Freeview boxes that have ethernet port as standard but where WiFI requires an optional adapter).

Once you have entered the details of your home network, you can connect to the BBC iPlayer and similar services using the menu system on the Smartbox. This is perhaps the one feature that people have been asking for in a Freeview box for some time.

Content from the FetchTV movies on demand is often not free (movies are priced around the same as you would pay to hire from Blockbusters or similar). However, all of the content on the BBC iPlayer are free.

Sky Player also works in the same way as the BBC iPlayer, the only difference being you have to be a Sky television subscriber (or subscribe to the Sky Player service) to view. This is good if you have Sky in the living room, but don’t have it in the bedrooms for example.

Home Media Server

When you connect the Smartbox 8320HD to your home network (either via ethernet cable or WiFi), it will automatically detect any media files (photos, music, moves etc) and play them on your TV. (This requires Windows Media Player 11 and to enable sharing on each device on the network. This is a simple task to do and instructions are provided).

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Specifications

All in all this is a power-house of a device. Check out these specs:-

• Twin Freeview HD tuners (DVB-T2)
• Upscaling to 1920 x 1080p
• DLNA compliant Media Centre with support for mp3 audio files, MPEG4 video, jpeg, gif, png image files
• 320Gb Hard drive
• Built-in WiFI adapter (802.11n for fastest and greatest reception)
• HDMI output for connection to HD TV
• RF output for loop through of TV signal to television for analogue channels
• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• Dimensions: 20.5 x 5.0 x 20.5 (cm) w x h x d
• Power usage: Standby 0.6w, In use 19w

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Summary

It is fair to say that some of the feedback from early buyers of the model from tesco weren”t all that positive (bugs with softwre etc) but on 21st June FetchTV released a software update that seems to have done the trick.

Expect this model to be in hot demand – with many Tesco stores you can buy online and choose to collect from your nearest store so they reserve stock for you. Not all stores allow this, but most Tesco Extra stores do. (Goods are usually available to collect the day after purchase). Alternatively, for £7 they will guarantee delivery to you in a specificed 2-hour time slot (operational 7 days a week).

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+ HD Price Comparison

Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+ HD Video Review

This is a video made by an early buyer of the FetchTV system showing just how easy it is to use the Smartbox and view content from online services such as FetchTV, iPlayer etc.

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

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.

Media Player – audio and video playback from USB 2.0 storage

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

Recording to USB storage

Auto-power off power-saving feature

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!

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

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

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.

Screen shot from the Argos iPhone app - does this reveal that the Sagemcom RTI90-320 will be £50 cheaper here than anywhere else?

Ok, so you it’s the Sagemcom RTI90-320 T2 Freeview HD Recorder (Freeview+ HD). Nothing new there, we’ve had the info on this site for some time complete with price comparison to find the cheapest price. However, you might be interested to know that this product doesn’t currently appear on the Argos website and searching using the product code shown on the iPhone app simply says no product found. What’s even more interesting is the price – while it is currently cheapest at Amazon, where the price is £249.99, the iPhone app shows the full price of £249.99 discounted to just £199.99.

The fact that it can only be seen on the new iPhone app suggests that it is an error and it can’t be reserved now, however there’s no reason to suggest that it won’t appear on the website very soon.  Whether that will be the price it will be sold at from Argos remains to be seen, but if it is, it’s a great sign for those people waiting to buy a Freeview+ HD box.

As far as I can see, the Argos iPhone app doesn’t allow you to buy ‘mail order’ only to reserve items to be collected at your local store. I checked the stores locally to me in the Midlands, but there was no stock to be reserved. If you have an iPhone, it would be interesting to see if anyone finds any stock at their local store and if indeed you can reserve one at the attractive price of £199.99.

Download the Argos iPhone app here and let us know if you can reserve the item at your local store.

We are told that this model, sold under the Philips brand, will be made by Pace, who have had huge success with a number of previous Freeview devices and particularly the Sky boxes which really created the market for hard drive recorders. It packs in a 500Gb hard drive, sufficient to store 125 hours of high definition recordings, or many times more standard definition programmes. In line with other Freeview + devices, it has twin Freeview HD (DVB-T2) tuners, meaning you can record two different Freeview HD channels (or 2 different standard definition channels) simultaneously. What’s even better is that you can also playback previously recorded programmes at the same time as recording.

As you will only be able to receive BBC HD and ITV HD at the start, this device will also upscale standard definition channels to high definition to make the most of your HD TV.

All of the usual features of a Freeview recorder are there… 8-day electronic programme guide,  chase-play (start watching a recorded programme before it has even finished recording), pause & rewind live tv, Series Link, accurate recording etc etc.

Currently this model is only advertised in Comet and Amazon at £299, but expect it to become widely available once it has been launched. More stores will be added to the price comparison feature below once it is available to buy.

Philips HDT8520 Freeview+ HD Recorder Price Comparison

Get £10 back for every goal England score during the 2010 World Cup

Currys have launched an incentive to entice those wishing to upgrade their TVs in time for the World Cup in June… by offering cash back for every goal that England score during the tournament.

Curry’s will give back £10 for each and every goal that the England men’s senior football team score in this year’s World Cup tournament in South Africa, excluding penalties and own-goals, to anyone who buys a TV for £599 or more between now and 11th June 2010, at www.currys.co.uk.

While these competitions are usually riddled with small print, disclaimers and ‘get-out’clauses, this one seems very straight forward and simple to make your claim. All you have to do is register your purchase online within 3 days of buying your TV. Then once the tournament has finished,  send your registration certificate (that is printed when you registered online), along with your proof of purchase by the 7th August. Curry’s will then send you a cheque for the number of goals scored by England x £10 – simples!

You would think that Currys would be promoting Freeview HD TVs considering the tournament will be broadcast on BBC HD and ITV HD on the subscription-free Freeview HD platform (as well as Sky HD and Freesat), but this promotion applies to any TV over £599. This therefore also could be fantastic for people looking to get Freesat HD, or those who have Sky now and are thinking of upgrading to Sky HD but don’t yet have an HD Ready TV.

So, here’s the interesting part – how many goals are England likely to score during the World Cup? Well, this depends on how long they last before being knocked out. To start with, let’s be optimistic and look at past World Cup statistics for the highest scoring teams. Since 1930, the lowest number of goals scored by the top-scoring team was 12, scored by Italy in 1934. To the other extreme, the highest was Hungary with 27 goals in 1954. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that would be a refund of £270 in the above scenario, making your £600 TV cost just £330.

So what about England? Since 1982, the lowest number of goals scored was 6, and the highest 8. So chances of getting £270 cash back is looking slim. In fact, when England last won the tournament in 1966 they scored 11 goals. However, with this year’s Group Stage opponents being Algeria, Slovenia and the USA, perhaps we should be scoring more than this, but statistically you would expect somewhere between £50-£100 refund.

Sagemcom RTI90-320 and RTI90-500 Summary

In comparison to the older standard definition devices from Sagem, these two models are certainly miles ahead when it comes to appearance. Sleek, shiny and remarkably compact, the RTI90′s will take pride of place alongside your TV.

Both models have identical specifications apart from the hard drive capacity, with the RTI90-320 sporting a 320Gb hard drive capable of storing up to 160 hours of high definition programmes, and the RTI90-500 unsurprisingly boasting a larger 500Gb hard drive, with a maximum storage of 250 hours .

Besides the standard features you would expect to find on a twin tuner Freeview+ HD recorder (pause, record & rewind live TV, Series Link, record two programs at the same time etc), Sagemcom have tried to go one step further. The library of recorded programmes can be conveniently organised in to folders – perhaps giving each person in the house their own personal library avoiding the ‘accidental’ deletion that is one of the most common causes of domestic arguments these days.

Then there is the inclusion of an ethernet port for internet connectivity. While there is no detailed use for this at present, you would hope it is planned to add ‘widget’ capabilities for Twitter, Facebook etc in the not too distant future. It will be interesting to see how long it will take manufacturers like Sagemcom to realise that not everyone’s internet router is right next to the TV. While WiFi is an option on some planned Freeview HD devices, it would be nice to see this as a standard feature to save having to invest in powerline type ethernet adaptors.

The 320Gb model is expected at the end of April / early May, followed shortly after at the end of May by the 500Gb model. In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview provided by Sagemcom themselves.

Sagemcom RTI90 Freeview HD Recorder Specifications

• FREEVIEW+ HD recorder
• Twin DVB-T2 Freeview HD tuners
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive – 160 hours (RTI90-320) or 500GB Hard Disk Drive – 250 hours (RTI90-500)
• 1 HDMI out socket
• video upscaling up to 1080p
• 1 SCART socket
• 1 USB and 1 Ethernet port
• Dolby Digital Plus
• Compact glossy black casing
• Dimensions 26cm wide, 16cm deep, 4.8cm tall.
• 8 day electronic programme guide (EPG)
• Series Link for simple recording of entire series of programmes

Sagemcom RTI90-320 Price Comparison

Our price comparison tool checks prices at leading UK stockists every day to find you the cheapest place to buy. (The prices below are for the RTI90-320 – look a bit further down for the RTI90-500.)

Sagemcom RTI90-500 Price Comparison