Page 1 of Freeview boxes., which one?

Just a quick question, thinking of going freeview, wondering if there are any definite lemons to avoid, or any gems worth a look, thanks guys ;)

I got the new Sagem box and it is very good , paid £59.99 from Woolworths for it but viking are selling it for £79.99 with a free dect phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wayne

I ordered a Pioneer box for about £89, which is arriving tomorrow.

Seemed to get the better reviews. Sony box received a good write up as well but is quite pricey.

I`ll post a mini-review of it when it arrives if I remember.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 25th November 2003, 22:33

We have the Thompson one with 2 scarts, which is fine. This is a good forum for more advice.

I have good experiences of the Sony for around £100.
Worth every penny. Great remote,great styling and the best OSD I`ve seen.
I`ve also seen good results from Pace and Pioneer.
Avoid Sagem,in my opinion.
My brother bought one from Woolies for my mother`s christmas,and I wired it up.
It`s one of the worst I`ve seen and was returned very quickly.

Quote:
Avoid Sagem,in my opinion.
My brother bought one from Woolies for my mother`s christmas,and I wired it up.
It`s one of the worst I`ve seen and was returned very quickly

The important bit in the above is where you say Quote:
in my opinion

Myself and many others have bought this and seem very pleased with it see reviews on digital spy so I can`t understand how you say it is one of the worst you have seen , fair enough it does not have a Big name badge on the front but at almost half the price of a Sony who cares or perhaps you can explain what the Sony can do that the Sagem can`t that justifies the price gap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wayne

This item was edited on Wednesday, 26th November 2003, 17:35

Not sure if you can explain your own opinion; if you could it`d solve a lot of mine and the girlfriend`s arguments!

;)

Nick

We got my parents a Philips Freeview box for their wedding anniversary, cos there`s was no way they would get subscription TV. I set it up, (for what setting up it takes), just plug the leads it, and it auto-tuned.

I was very impressed, the menus were nicely laid out. Sort of see through over the top of the picture, and I found it pretty easy, as you`d expect to use. Didn`t need the manual much.

It is £99, but I wondered whether the difference between them all was the way the software and menus worked maybe?

I can recommend the Philips anyway, but have seen the Sagem ones in the shops, and they look just as good. Guess you need to see them working. But if they`re anything like the Sagem mobiles I`ve had in the past, they`ve been good, with some innovative features.

Mark.

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th November 2003, 00:38

Got my Pioneer box today and I`m pleased to say I can recommend it.

Got it out of the box, plugged necessary leads in. Picture looked a bit s***e. Then set it to RGB, it all becomes nice. Channels change quickly, text services load up reasonably fast. The issue with text was something of interest to me as I`ve read a few reviews of boxes that said it can take up to 25 seconds to load the initial text channel. Thankfully the Pioneer doesn`t appear to have this problem.

To conclude,
[list] [*] Picture is sharp and well defined
[*] Sound is clear. I`ve not really given this area a good testing yet, but it`s certainly as good as the standard analogue terrestrial reception
[*] The box itself looks pretty nice, not that it matters to me too much. It`s compact and has a elongated LED indicator: green for on, orange for initialisation and red for off
[*] Remote isn`t exactly the most ergonomic of things but like most remotes I`ll get used to it in no time.
[*] Menu system is responsive and well laid out [/list]

I can whole heartedly recommend it. By the sounds of it, the Sony box is just as good, but for £20 more I can`t see the logic in spending the extra. Can`t vouch for any other box, but I am going to be happy with this one.

I`ll quickly explain my bad review of the Sagem box.
Firstly,I do think aesthetics are important when something is in full view,and (in my opinion again) the Sagem is an ugly piece of kit.Looks dated and bulky.
Secondly I thought the OSD displays were among the most confusing I`ve seen,and my mother (who is only 56 and quite `with it` !) just got endlessly confused.
Thirdly I thought the remote was poor.It was all too easy for my mother to accidentally switch the box onto it`s `radio` mode,which again confused her.
Thirdly,and this was the deciding factor as all of the above could have been lived with given time,the damn thing would not stay on 16:9.
When flicking through channels I would notice the picture going funny.
Sure enough,when going into set-up it had reverted back to the preset 4:3.
The same happened when the box was put on stand-by.Reverted back to 4:3.
Now I`m willing to concede it was a faulty box,but it wasn`t getting a second chance !
We clubbed together and bought her the Sony,which is nicely styled and just so damned easy to use !
There was no intention to cause offence,but this forum is all about (hopefully) informed opinion.