While BestBuy is still successful in the US, the UK arm recently announced it would be closing all 11 UK stores after as little as 18 months, as well as ceasing trading on www.bestbuy.co.uk as soon as possible. The company said the stores in the UK simply weren’t profitable.

This weekend (26th and 27th Nov) all stores were closed to prepare for its final closing sale, which will begin in-store and online at 9am on Monday 28th November 2012, and continue until 15th Jan 2012 or until stocks are depleted, whichever is sooner.

According to BestBuy UK’s website, all manufacturers warranties will still be intact, and due to UK Distance Selling laws, anything bought from it’s website will still be eligible for a full refund if the order is cancelled and/or returned up to 7 days after the purchase, providing it hasn’t been used. Their website does state that their Returns Policy will change on Monday 28th so that anything bought in-store cannot be returned.

So this closing sale could be a great opportunity to buy a Freeview HD Box, or even a new Freeview LED or Plasma TV with Freeview HD built in.

Even if you aren’t looking for a present for someone else, why not treat yourself! www.bestbuy.co.uk

ADB i-Can Easy HD Freeview HD Box with BBC iPlayer and TopUpTV capabilities

ADB i-Can Easy HD Freeview HD Box Review

The i-Can Easy HD 2851t Freeview HD Box (made by ADB) seems to be one-of-a-kind – that is a Freeview HD Box with BBC iPlayer and a card slot compatible with TopUpTV (for subscribing to Sky Sports 1 & 2 and ESPN without a satellite dish/subscription). Physically, this sticks out from the crowd when placed with other Freeview boxes – it is white for a start, and can be compared to a small broadband router in size and appearance. You can read more below the price comparison.

ADB i-Can 2851t Stock Finder and Price Comparison

Our price comparison tool automatically checks online and high-street retailers (including Currys, Comet, Argos, Amazon, Dixons, BestBuy, Tesco and more) to help you find the cheapest place to buy the i-Can Freeview HD set top box.

ADB i-Can 2851t Review

Don’t get confused – this box is not a Freeview HD Recorder – it is simply a Freeview HD Receiver, with the added benefits of BBC iPlayer and TopUpTV compatibility. So what does that mean? Let’s brake it down bit by bit.

Freeview HD – a built in Freeview HD tuner means you can watch subscription-free HD channels such as BBC HD, ITV HD and more through your standard television aerial (providing you live in range of a Freeview HD enabled transmitter – which most will be by mid-2011)

BBC iPlayer – by connecting this i-Can box to your home broadband internet connection (sadly no WiFi – only via network cable) you can access the BBC’s award-winning streaming service. Note that any one can access iPlayer on their computer, but watching on your laptop just isn’t the same as watching on your living-room TV. Best of all, other than your broadband (and TV licence of course) there is nothing to pay for this.. it’s completely free.

TopUpTV - this is a pay-service that brings additional channels to your Freeview box. In this case, TopUpTV allows you to watch Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2 and ESPN using this box. You have to pay for these channels, and it’s not all that cheap, but if you can’t have a satellite dish for any reason (or you don’t want to commit to a lengthy Sky subscription – TopUpTV can be as little as 1 month at a time), then this is ideal. You simply by your i-Can box from one of the retailers in the price comparison above, and then call TopUpTV to pay your subscription fees and get your special TopUpTV card.

So the price of this box at just over £100 wouldn’t be all that attractive for a simple Freeview HD box – there are others available on this site for not far off £50 – but pack in the BBC iPlayer and TopUpTV capabilities and you have a very able box, and at good value. Visit one of the retailers’ websites below and read the customer reviews – see how they rate it.

i-Can Easy HD 2851t Freeview HD Box Best Price

Can Sony regain some market share in the PVR market with the HDT500?

Sony have finally come to the party, bringing this rather flash looking SVR-HDT500. In my opinion, Sony devices often look a little clunky and ‘straight laced’ in comparison to other models from the likes of Humax, Philips etc. But this time, Sony have opted for a very clean look – sleek black surfaces that would compliment your HD TV very nicely.

The HDT500 boasts a 500Gb hard drive, with enough space for 300 hours of standard definition recordings, or 125 hours of high definition recordings. This should be more than enough for even the TV addict/enthusiast.

The review continues below the price comparison…

Sony SVR-HDT500 Freeview+ HD Box Price Comparison & Stock Check

Sony HDT500 Freeview+ Receiver Review and Specifications

The HDT500 is disappointing in that it has no show-stoppers – there is nothing that makes you think ‘wow!’. But what it does, it will no doubt do very well. Sony customers are loyal, and loyal for the reason that they know Sony devices are reliable and work well.

In summary, the HDT500 has the following:-

• Twin Freeview HD tuners (for simultaneous recording/watching)
• Picture in Picture (watch one channel as a mini-screen in the corner while watching the football!)
• 8 day electronic programme guide
• 2 x USB ports (for connecting a memory stick or similar to play music/videos)
• Bravia Sync – control all of your Sony Bravia devices from just the one controller, no need for 4 or 5)
• Series Link
• HDMI port (to connect to your HDTV) with HD upscaling for Freeview SD channels.

Sony SVR-HDT500 Best Price & UK Stockists

Our price comparison tool does the hard work for you – it automatically visits the sites of trusted UK stockists such as Amazon, Currys, Dixons, Comet, BestBuy, John Lewis and more, to find the cheapest price for the Sony SVR-HDT500 Freeview+ HD Box.

Sony KDL32EX403U Freeview HD TV with BBC iPlayer for under £350 with cash back

Is this on your wish list this Christmas? A Sony 32″ Full HD TV with Freeview HD and integrated BBC iPlayer, YouTube, LoveFilm and more internet content, all for under £350 after cash back.

Sony’s Christmas sales incentive is to reward cash back to the tune of VAT – you may think that’s equal to 17.5% but it’s not, it’s actually just under 15% off, but still not to be ignored. In the past, when Sony and other manufacturers have run similar promotions, they have only been valid on the very top of the range models which are out of most people’s budget even with the discount. So it is nice to see this time that the offer is applicable to a huge range of Sony products, including this 32″ Freeview HD TV.

This Sony KDL-32EX403U is one of the Bravia Internet Video TVs with integrated Freeview HD tuner. So, from the start it has a Freeview HD  - which is being frantically rolled out across the UK as we speak  and is currently available in more than 50% of the homes (use the Freeview HD coverage checker to check when it is available in your area).

On top of Freeview HD, this TV has Bravia Internet Video – essentially giving access to internet catch-up TV directly in your living room (or bedroom for that matter). Simply connect this TV to your internet router (via an ethernet cable, or the optional WiFi adapter which costs around £60) and you can use the highly acclaimed BBC iPlayer, as well as Demand Five, YouTube, LoveFilm and more. These catchup services such as iPlayer and Demand Five commonly offer instant playback of the last 7 days content (TV and radio) from that channel. Demand Five actually makes content from the last 30 days available at any one time. YouTube is straight forward and LoveFilm has an archive of over 1,000 movies which can be streamed to your TV over the internet (a subscription to LoveFilm is required for that part).

Overall this is a top notich TV of Sony quality with some fantastic features.

Free 5-year warranty from John Lewis

While price is commonly the biggest single  influence when choosing where to buy a TV from, it is worth considering ‘extras’. John Lewis and Marks and Spencer both offer a free 5 year warranty on all televisions. And contrary to what you may think,  prices are competitive, especially in the case of John Lewis. In the case of this TV, John Lewis is the same price as the next cheapest retailer, but offers the 5 year warranty free of charge.

How to get the cash back

The only small ‘catch’ to this is that you must pay the full amount upfront, and then submit a claim form and receipt to Sony who will reimburse the VAT element. The offer ends on Christmas Eve, 24th December, and you must submit the claim form and your receipt to Sony no more than 28 days after purchase. Sony will then send a cheque, or make a BACS payment, within 28 days of receiving your claim.

Sony KDL-32EX403U Best Price Comparison

Please bear in mind these prices are before the cash back. The cash back amount is dependent on the price you pay for the TV. John Lewis have a useful Sony VAT cashback calculator that tells you the final amount you will pay.



Our price comparison tool checks prices on a daily basis to find the cheapest and best price to buy the Sony KDL-32EX403U from leading UK stockists either online or on the high-street.

Toshiba 37" 37RV753B Full HD Freeview HD TV - just £249.99 at Amazon

Did you miss it? We did!

All this week, Amazon are running a ‘Black Friday Deals Week‘ where they are selling millions of pounds worth of goods at stupidly low prices. Normally we wouldn’t post about generic sales, however this one caught our eye.

Today, this Toshiba 37″ Full HD 1080p LCD TV with integrated Freeview HD tuner (hence the post) went for just £249.99 (normal selling price of £349.99 – which still isn’t bad!). Now there is a catch… these deals only have a limited quantity available, so this has now run-out.

This promotion is running all week, and items are ‘released’ at various times throughout the day, so it is worth checking out to see if there are any Freeview HD boxes on sale this week.

Visit Amazon’s Black Friday Deals Page

Now, just for good measure (and for a comparison of just how good this deal was) here is our price comparison for this TV:-

The Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Receiver is a little light on features, but for a bedroom or kitchen it's perfect and will sell by the dozen at under £70.

Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Box Summary

The Metronic Zapbox T2 is a straightforward Freeview HD receiver – no bells or whistles, no frills. It quite simply is a Freeview HD receiver, without other features such as internet connectivity or media playing that the other, more expensive models can perform. Currently available for under £65, this is sure to be a big seller this Christmas.

Metronic Zapbox T2 HD Freeview Receiver Best Price Comparison

Our price comparison system monitors cheapest prices on a daily basis to ensure you get the best deal from leading UK stockists including Amazon, Currys, Dixons, Best Buy, John Lewis, Argos, Comet and more. If you cannot find this unit in stock, you can find more Low Prices here.

Metronic Zapbox T2 HD Freeview Features & Specifications

Physically the Zapbox looks like many other standard definition Freeview boxes – a black plastic outer, with a basic, red-on-black LCD display on the front showing the channel number you are viewing.

On the reverse, there are both scart and HDMI sockets, so even if Freeview HD isn’t in your area yet, you can still  use this box to receive standard definition Freeview and Freeview HD after it is enabled without having to buy new hardware. There are also RF in and RF out sockets, allowing you to loop-through the television signal to your TV.

Besides the standard Freeview HD tuner, considering it is a budget box, there are some nice features to this Zapbox HD receiver. Small touches such as a favourite channel list, the ability to re-order channels and a parental lock facility to prevent children from accessing the less-desirable channels on Freeview are welcome additions to this box which will find its way in to many thousand bedrooms across the UK.

Overall this appears to be a fantastic value way to get on the Freeview HD bandwagon. It may not have the features of the Humax or the Smartbox, but at under £65, this is a perfect box for the bedroom, kitchen or even living room.

Metronic Zapbox DVB-T2 Freeview HD Box User Guide & Instruction Manual

If you would like to see more about this box before buying, you can download the User Manual here:-

Metronic Zapbox Freeview HD T2 User Manual & Instruction Guide

Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Box Price Comparison

Goodmans GDB300HD Freeview HD Receiver - the first Freeview HD set top box under £50

The Goodmans GDB300HD is an entry-level Freeview HD set top box. It’s fair to say that it will never compete with the likes of the Humax HD receivers in terms of functionality or build-quality, and neither does it claim to. However what it lacks in these areas, it more than makes up for in value.

At the time of writing, Comet are selling this model for under £50 – that makes it the first sub-£50 Freeview HD receiver that we are aware of.

For most people, this model will be ideal. It’s a Freeview HD Receiver, not a Freeview+HD Recorder, so doesn’t have any of the pause, rewind & record live television features that you get with a recording device. But what it does do is add High Definition Freeview channels to your HD ready TV.

At this price, we wouldn’t be surprised to find people who were looking for a standard definition Freeview box for a bedroom or kitchen, to make this their first Freeview HD purchase, even if Freeview HD isn’t available in their area until next year.

Goodmans GDB300HD Freeview HD Receiver Best Price

Our price comparison engine automatically checks prices from leading stockists such as Comet, Amazon, Tesco, Dixons, Currys on a daily basis to ensure you can buy this model at the best possible price.

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+ HD Recorder

Don’t be mistaken by the very similar name to Humax’s other HD receiver, the HD-Fox T2 , the Humax HDR-Fox T2 (note the R in HDR) builds on the success of arguably the most reliable and solidly built Freeview HD Receiver, adding a hard drive recorder in their first Freeview+HD device.

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Cheapest Price & Stock Check:

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+HD Features & Review

The first point to note about this device is that it is a Freeview HD Recorder, not just a receiver. It has twin Freeview HD tuners built in, allowing you to watch one Freeview HD channel and record another Freeview HD channel at the same time (both tuners also receive standard definition Freeview channels so you could watch an HD channel and record an SD channel at the same time, or vice versa).

300 Hours recording capacity

The built in hard drive is 500Gb, giving enough storage for up to 300 hours of standard definition recordings or 125 hours of HD recordings. They always say size is everything and it seems people are becoming obsessed with the capacity of the hard drive  -300 hours is equivalent to 12.5 days of continuous television. Who could ever want to keep that much TV? Lets face it, with most programs, if you haven’t watched it in 12 days then you will have missed the latest episode. This aside, it is useful if you are going away for a couple of weeks and couldn’t bare the thought of missing 2 weeks worth of Coronation Street and Homes Under the Hammer.

Series Link and Recommended Recording

As a Freeview+ certified device, it does all the usual things including pause, rewind and record live TV, series link and has an 8-day electronic on-screen program guide. It will also recommend what programs you may like to watch/record based on the programmes you have already recorded. How intelligent this feature is is yet to be seen, but it can’t be any worse than some of the suggestions other people make as to what I should watch.

Home Media Player, Internet TV and Radio

Apart from the obvious ability to view and record Freeview HD channels (currently BBC HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD), perhaps some of the fanciest features of this device are in the ‘media player’ department. Long gone are the days when a Freeview Recorder simply plays and records TV programmes. This device can also play music either from a USB hard drive or via your home network. Now strangely this device doesn’t offer WiFi compatibility, but it does have an ethernet port on the reverse of the box. When connected, it can retrieve and play media content (mp3, jpeg, xvid files) from your computer and play them through your television. Needless to say, the Humax is fully DLNA compliant (the new standard for home media sharing).

The second part to this is the internet catchup / BBC iPlayer functionality. At launch, this is not accessible on the HDR-Fox T2, however Humax plan to release it via  a free-of-charge OTA (Over the Air) update. When it is released, it is expected to add SkyPlayer, BBC iPlayer and other content, possibly to include LoveFilm etc.

Overall Summary

Humax was a little late in bringing this to the market – other manufacturers have been selling similar devices since June or July this year. However, judging by the customer comments so far, Humax have got this absolutely right – with the best (internet connectivity) still to come. Menus are great, responsive programme guide and quality you would expect from Humax. Stock is limited right now, and as this device just won the What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision 5 star award in October 2010, if you see stock, buy one while you can!

Humax HDR-Fox T2 rear panel specifications

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+HD Recorder Best Price:

Our price comparison tool checks all the major online and high street retailers for stock and cheapest price on a daily basis. We will add more stores in to this comparison as stock becomes more freely available.

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!