Comments on: Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+HD Recorder

By: simon

simon — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:08:26 +0000

hmmm, this is the second review of this machine where Ive read you need to give out credit card details to enable some supposedly free features! How do they get away with this kind of con?
I was interested when I first read the spec but not so sure now!
maybe just wait & see if there will be something better in a few months as I cant get HD or freeviewHD+ yet anyway.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:21:26 +0000

Hi Gordon… firstly, what do you want to ‘send’ upstairs… just normal ‘live’ tv, or content that you have recorded on the Smartbox?

If it is just ‘live’ TV.. it may be easier, and cheaper, to simply buy another Freeview or Freeview HD set top box for the upstairs TV.

By: Gordon Campbell

Gordon Campbell — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:41:02 +0000

Looking to see of someone can help.

First of all I am a electrical dinosaur.

And am ready to buy a similar or this box above.

This box because of the write up and comments.

My help question :-[ I have a second TV upstairs for football can anyone recommend a device to send contents of downstairs TV to upstairs TV.

Thanking you in advance G Campbell

By: Angus M

Angus M — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:35:20 +0000

Hi,
Just bought the Smartbox8320HD and it’s not bad however, it does freeze and I have to switch off and after 30secs re-connect. My signal strength is moderate to good and I able to work the box in wireless mode as I have good coverage here. At times in Fetch TV it takes ages to select a programme but it does it eventually—is there any logical reason for these “gliches”? Why can’t you go back to “Live Tv” after you have selected a programme to download?
Thanks, Angus M

By: Valerie Munro

Valerie Munro — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:28:55 +0000

We have bought a Technika Smartbox 8320HD Freeview+HD Recorder, and now find that it has decided to switch channels. I am watching BBC1, and when Ironside starts on ITV3, (not destined to be recorded) and I cannot get the unit to go back to BBC 1. It also does this when recording, I thought the unit had twin tuners to avoid this happening.

Can anyone throw some light on how to remedy this?

By: Llam

Llam — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:40:54 +0000

Connected to a TV via a DVI /HDMI scoket and emailed Tesco as no sound. No reply but the solution is to also connect box audio from red/white output to what ever the Tv input is, 3.5mm plug in my case. My question is how do I get iPlayer as there are no instructions and I would just delete Fetch TV if i knew how to (annoying always being top on the Guide), I only connect to web for updates (working OK) and iPlayer (how?). Otherwise seems good.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:24:16 +0000

I have just purchased one of these, or rather I should say I use to have one of these.
The specification looks perfect until you open the packaging and then realize, to use the Iplayer you have to hand over your credit card, DOB, address and your first born.
i.e. This is NOT really an iPlayer box, but a Fetch TV box. You can’t help but get the feeling you’ve just been conned!

Which s a pity, if they had implemented a proper set up feature so you could hook up directly to iPlayer, Five/ITV, Utube etc. Then it would have got an 8/10 from me (not 10/10 as it’s an ugly bit of kit).

So unless you feel Fetch TV will be around for the life of the unit (ok its not well built so say 12 months) don’t buy it – well maybe from Tesco’s as they are awfully nice about taking things back

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:39:26 +0000

Bought one of these about a month ago and was rather dissapointed as it didnt record series link all the time ! kept rebooting ! froze ! remote responded with the box but didnt actually do anything ! so i took it back and tesco exchanged it (fair enough)
the new one does simular but is a little better ! just trying to connect with media player with no joy !
remote is so light and could do with some substance ! would be a great bit of kit if only i could rely on it working and it did exactly what it says on the tin

neil

By: admin

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 10:14:32 +0000

William…. where in the UK are you, and which channels have you been trying?

By: william

william — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:07:52 +0000

I purchased one of these last week and I must say that I am very disappointed with the HD quality of pictures. I have a resonably new Series 5 Samsung TV which is ’1080 Full HD, but the pictures are less clear using this box than the normal digital reception. I have double checked all the connections…I was expecting a very clear and crisp HD picture, but sadly it is less clear! Any help or advice would be apreciated. All other features seem to work fine.

Thanks