There was nothing wrong with the item, however it did not have the sat dish screw connector I needed. I would sat it was more on oversight of myself.
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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.
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Great value for money
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The item isn't good remote broke button came off this bought as a gift for Xmas for my mum who doesn't live near me I am unable to return the item so almost £30 loss Avoid buying this item. Doesn't record properly or play back
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Easy to set up and get working, it found all the channels plus radio in less than 2 minutes. Picture quality is most acceptable. The remote has very spongy keys but works. Insyructions are basic though. I got this for the pause facility only but although I can pause, in spite of using a memory stick, it just jumps back to wherever the program is up to. If anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong I would be grateful. The instructions don't even mention the pause facility, and I have tried every button combination on the remote.
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Good
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Very frustrating that keyed inputs very often include multiple digits. This is due to short range and button bounce.
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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?
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