Teknikal HD Freeview Set Top Box Receiver Plus Recorder for Digital TV Channels Tuner HDMI / Scart Outputs USB Memory Slot DVB-T Digi Box 4 Switchover

Rejuvenated an old tv and reasonable price to make it worthwhile. Simple to install.

I got this to use with an old TV that whilst it has freeview, its very early generation and things like the EPG often doesn't populate properly, it doesn't record etc. This device was easy to set up, it quickly tuned in every possible station so it is very sensitive. The picture is excellent and the unit sensitive enough not to get any break up or blocks on any channel. The picture on HD channels is superb. The EPG is better than the TV's own one as it populated fully and quickly but annoyingly it changes the channel as you scroll through them which slows it down, it should only change when you select a channel. Also very annoying on the EPG is there is no page down/ page up buttons so scrolling to up and down can take forever. I have partially fixed this by using the feature to renumber all the channels I would ever watch to low numbers so they are all at the start of the EPG, much better. The remote buttons work OK for me but you do have to remember to point it directly at the box and not the TV as is instinctive. Also the button layout is a bit random, its not intuitive at all so you have to keep looking at it to see what your doing. I have some spare learning remotes around so I might try programming one of those, they may improve range too. Initial test of recording showed it really doesn't like cheap USB sticks. So I got a fast 128gb one, its one of those tiny stubby ones and clocks 45mb/s write and 128mb/s read. You would hardly notice its in there in the front. Some said you could only use up to 32gb but my 128gb works fine too. Some have said you can't delete recordings, when you first press the USB button, you can scroll sideways on the top menu to the disk manager, there you can format your USB stick, delete, rename files etc. I wanted such a big stick so I could store movies from other sources to play when nothing on to watch. I have tested the recording functions. I have had no problem recording and playing back SD channels. However HD channel recordings are unwatchable due to break up and blocks. Testing the recorded file on a PC I can see the issue was at the time of recording, this box simply doesn't have the horsepower under the hood to correctly encode and record an HD signal in real time. Further confirmed by putting a very high HD movie file on the stick, the box played it beautifully so decoding/playback is not an issue. So if your happy to record and watch the SD version of channels, this box is fine, but don't buy if you want HD recording. For the cheap price, and there is limited choice in such boxes these days, it does mostly what I need.

Good product

Had this set top box for 6 days and it has failed. During setup, couldn't get out of factory test screen. Box wouldn't react to remote, but eventually managed to get it installed. However it switched off programme and started scrolling through stored programmes. Managed to restore programmes, for it to happen again. Now box doesn't switch on or off with remote, red power light is permanently on and programmes can be viewed on TV and we have to switch the box off by switching power off at the socket. But still each time the box is switched on, the factory test card appears and has to be got rid of by using the exit button on the remote. Tried to apply for a refund via Amazon, but told I have to give seller 2 days to reply. What happens if seller is not cooperative, do I get my refund, WHO KNOWS.

Basic function of receiving Freeview channels works fine. However, functions such as programme guide are so sluggish and clunky that it is quicker just to flick through channels, which is a enough of a drawback that we're going to replace it.

I'm not sure I understand what other reviewers are complaining about. OK so it's really basic and perhaps not the most user-friendly item in the world but for the price it's excellent. The fact that you have to use a usb stick to record I think is perfectly acceptable for box at this price - especially when you can pick these up so cheaply. It also means after recording you can plug the stick into your laptop or other device and play your recording there. The set up couldn't have been easier - plug in sockets and aerial, set language and off it went. All channels installed without any problems. The remote worked fine - although I don't think there's much range with it - and the batteries for that were included. I had a go at recording a program onto my usb stick and that worked perfectly. All I really wanted was a Freeview box for an old TV - that would have cost about £20 anyway. The fact that I can record programs is an added bonus. The last time I bought a Freeview recorder I paid £200+ for it. This unit might not be in quite the same league as that but £20 what's not to like?

I unpacked it, plugged in my aerial and got 70+ channels. But strangely not the same set (e.g. no Talking Pictures on 81) as I get with my freeview TV in another room. Not sure why. Just for clarity you can record onto a USB drive as well as a stick and I use the box to display on an old HDMI monitor, so it is NOT plugged into a TV. If you use a monitor then the sound will come out of the monitor speakers. I connected some speakers to my monitor headphone out socket to get a better sound which works fine. There is even disk manager for managing USB content on your stick/drive so it is possible to organize the content, rename and delete files. Recordings are stored under the PVR directory on your stick/drive. You can schedule a record off the EPG by pressing the green button but it does not look like it can record a series as well as one-off program. Yes the interface is not as good as say a SKY box but what do you expect for twenty quid?

I chose this freeview box as it had more stars than other ones on Amazon and it was a good price, less than £25. Easy to set up. Picture quality is excellent, the information that appears on the tv screen is very clear. The remote control though is not easy to use, the numerical buttons are very small and close together. It has to be pointed directly to the receiver to work, waving it around in a nonchalant manner in the general direction won't do. Parts of the instructions are not very clear and the screenshots are very dark and unreadable. The instructions talk about the media centre and youtube, these features are grayed out on my set, I don't see how they can work as there is no facility to connect to a modem. I'm glad it uses a USB stick ( up to 32 Gb ) as all my previous freeview boxes have failed due to a hard drive fault. An external hard drive can be plugged in, up to 1 Tb. There seems to be no facility for deleting recordings, I have to put the USB stick into a computer to do this. So, 4 stars for the money seems like good value.