Freeview Tuner Recommendation

[GoodDoc]

I've just bought a new TV so the old TV has been relegated to the spare room. Unfortunately the old TV doesn't have a Freeview tuner so I want to buy an external HD freeview box to connect to it.

I wanted to avoid the cheapest brands as I've heard many less than stellar reviews of them, and I really like the interface and performance of my Panasonic freeview recorder, but I don't need the ability to record. Having searched Amazon it seems none of the big brands seems to do freeview tuners without the recorder, so I'm looking for a recommendation for an HD freeview tuner with HDMI that has a decent interface and costs around the £50 mark.

Any suggestions?

[probedb]

If you don't mind RGB SCART, get on the bay or somewhere else and have a look for a Sony VTX-D800U. The best Freeview tuner I've used and that includes the one on my 2012 Panny plasma TV! It's quick, it works, just no Freeview HD.

[twarde]

Look on ebay for youview boxes. Talk Talk is giving a lot away to their customers at the moment so there are plenty to choose from. I have one of the older boxes and apart from being a bit slow to respond to the remote, its very good. Some have hard discs and newer ones rely on online catch up. Mine works ok for recording and catch up and I don't have Talk Talk broadband.

[VEX]

Anything from Humax is reliable, it is just living with the guide. Although it has improved Sky really do have it licked.

V.

[-Pete-]

We have a couple of Digital Stream DHR820x PVR's which are great, around £80 on eBay.

[russ_a]

Another vote for a YouView box.

[Rick Cutler]

The youview box is a rebranded humax pvr. Cheaper though????

[FlossyThePig]

Rick Cutler said:

The youview box is a rebranded humax pvr. Cheaper though????

Not quite right there. YouView grew out of a BBC project with ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, Talk Talk and Arqiva joining forces to make something much more than a super iPlayer.

Humax made the original box when YouView was launched but Huawei have launched a model recently (DN371T). BT Vision and the Talk Talk equivalent could be a cheap way of getting a YouView box if either is your ISP.