Being around the £30 mark, we weren’t expecting anything exciting when unboxing the Philips DTR220. That’s why we were particularly impressed to see that Philips has managed to produced an excellent set top box, at least in terms of appearance, at a budget price. The unit is very small, stylish and sturdy.

As is becoming the norm, setup was quite simple with only a couple of SCART jacks and of course the aerial. We clocked the auto tuning process in at around 4 minutes which is quite acceptable, but more importantly the unit picked up every channel it had to offer through the Freeview network.

The software side was well thought out, with a splash screen appearing when the unit is turned on (as opposed to a blank screen from other units while they power up) and a nice, animated icon on display for the radio channels. We noticed that on occasion, the on screen display would become garbled and unusable. This made navigation through menus impossible and required a reset of the unit.

Overall the unit is very impressive in terms of aesthetics, and has average to above average performance in general use. We were concerned with the display corruption which would occur infrequently - perhaps once or twice a day. For this we give the Philips DTR220 a four star rating.

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The VTX-D800U by Sony is another Freeview box stepping into up market territory at £80 to £100. This unit is not so easy to find in 2008 but if you can’t find one in stores, check out some online shops such as Amazon. We got a new unit off eBay. The box itself is quite stylish as is to be expected from a brand name like Sony, with a good solid build quality. Unlike most set top boxes, this unit is built to stand upright with the assistance of a clip-on stand included in the box. For those with little HIFI real-estate, it’s possible to lay the unit sideways which doesn’t affect functionality.

The back of the unit is straightforward, with two SCART plugs and aerial in/out jacks. The included manual is sufficient to guide novice users during installation which takes no more than 3-5 minutes if you have the right cords at hand. Sony’s Auto Tune menu made channel detection an easy process, and we discovered it was possible to hide specific channels and unhide them at a later date. This is quite a useful feature because it allows you to knock out all the junk channels for general use but bring them back if necessary without having to re-tune.

During use, changing channels and menu navigation was particularly snappy. We have noticed that some boxes tend to be sluggish in response to navigation input via the remote control. The VTX-D800U is no slouch and can easily keep up with hyperactive Television addicts such as those at Digitalswitchoverreview.com. A valuable inclusion we found was “Smartlink” compatibility. If your VCR or digital video recorder is Smartlink enabled, the set top box can automatically communicate with and instruct it to record specific programmes. This is a great feature for those that don’t like to muck about with multiple remote controls and units when attempting to record a Television show. Simply select the programme you want to record through the set top box menu, and it takes care of the rest. Speaking of multiple remotes, the included remote control can be configured to operate with most common television sets. The instruction manual includes a long list of codes that can be used to link the remote with your television set. If you don’t already have a universal remote control, this can simplify the operation of your equipment as you won’t need to use so many remote controls to accomplish a simple task.

Overall, the Sony VTX-D800U is a very good set top box, with a feature set and decent instruction manual designed to make life easier on its users. Picture quality was very good with no breakups or glitches. The unit was responsive with logical menus and performed well in our tests. Although a little pricey, this unit is worth every cent. If you are new to Digital TV or currently own an underperforming unit, the VTX-D800U would be a great choice for you. For those on a tighter budget, perhaps a second hand model would be a good choice.

We have given the VTX-D800U a 5-star rating for its feature set and responsiveness.

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Freeview is known for its cheap one-time-fee set top box. Digitalswitchoverreview recently got a hold of a Freeview unit and took it for a test run.

Before purchasing the unit, we checked out Freeview’s availability checker located at http://www.freeview.co.uk/availability/. This service is provided by Freeview to potential buyers and allows you to check how the digital reception is in your area. Unfortunately the website told us we may not have any reception, however, upon contacting a nearby Freeview user we discovered that reception was indeed acceptable. This may be an internal issue with the Freeview availability checker which may have slightly out of date information on reception. If your area is reported to have no signal, you may want to ask a neighbor whether or not Freeview works for them.

After purchasing the unit, set up was simple for a HIFI unit and the box itself blends well with existing Television hardware. Although not of an extremely high grade build, the Freeview box is solid and build quality was not of concern. We already had a digital-ready antenna which made setup fairly simple. The Freeview box can connect to a television through an aerial cord however a SCART connection yields significantly better image quality and is worth using if your Television supports it. The automatic channel installer did exactly that and there were no issues picking up all of the free channels on offer. Some have reported needing to re-run the “add channel” option to pick up some channels which may be necessary if reception is particularly poor in your area.

The free channel offering included the obligatory selection of junk channels, however Freeview boasts some big names such as BBC 3, 4, News 24 and the kids channels. There is also Sky News, Sky Sports, ITV News, ITV2, ITV3 and apparently new channels are being added to this list almost monthly at no cost. Overall the quality channels far outweigh the small selection of filler channels that serve only to slow down a session of channel surfing. There are several radio channels available which may appeal to those who often use their television for background noise. A great feature, especially for a one time payment device, is the EPG (Electronic programme guide) which is essentially a digitized and interactive version of a paper Television channel guide. This makes it possible to check out what’s on and even set yourself reminders straight from the unit itself. This was an impressive inclusion considering the budget price of the Freeview box.

Overall the Freeview set top box is aimed at those on a budget but offers excellent value for money with a growing selection of popular channels and even some interactive gadgets such as the EPG. We would recommend this unit to anyone wanting to test out Digital TV even as a stepping stone to a more expensive system for serious Television users looking for an even larger set of channels. Things to keep in mind are whether or not you will have reception issues (although this is something to consider with all set top boxes), check to see if your Television supports a SCART connection for better video quality and also keep in mind that Freeview offers a basic installation guide (http://www.freeview.co.uk/installation) with no real technical support as far as we could see. If you are less technically inclined, online support groups such as http://www.digitalswitchoverforum.com may be able to address any concerns you have about hardware installation, a common hurdle for those new to Digital TV.

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