# Anyone buy a Freeview Box Recently For Use With TiVo?



## pmk (Jan 1, 2002)

My current Freeview box (old Philips) is crashing after it changes channel from any BBC channel. Can anyone suggest a cheap Freeview box that is still easily available for use with TiVo? 

Ideally one that does not interrupt when new channels are available and no interactive features that seem to cause all the crashes in the first place. RF not essential but RGB SCART is.

TIA


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

I am using a Bush DFTA11 bought from Tesco and very happy with it on my 2nd Tivo. I bought the box because I wanted a very small box ( I was running out of space in stack).

Because I was happy with it I bought a 2nd one for another TV and the new box has newer hardware and performs much quicker on mpeg and text which is ideal for the TV use although not absolutely nescessary for Tivo use but IMHO a good buy at about £38.


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## shozoku (Oct 6, 2004)

I have an old Pioneer On digital box which has worked without any crashes for a year or so. I would normally recommend one of these which can be bought from ebay very cheap but typically it started to crash regularly the week before christmas.  
After reading many posts on this forum i've decided to try the Sony VTX-D800U whilst its not particularly cheap (£78 Amazon) I hope this will be a reliable and responsive box. Ill be setting it up in the next few days ill leave my first impressions soon.


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## asfafa (Jan 14, 2004)

I can highly recommend the Sony box which I purchased back in November. Since then, it has never had to be re-booted and I have never had any missed recordings on my TiVo.

The only minor complaints that I have is that the sound level of the recordings is quieter than what I was used to compared to a Sky digibox; the only other grumble is that sometimes, on BBC4, the recordings are masked with red screens of text saying that the right channel (or something similar) should be selected.

paul


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## worm (Feb 10, 2005)

we got a Philips DTR500

do not get one of these. 

It seems to 'lose' channels quite regularly, and you need to press a TV/Radio toggle button to switch between TV and Radio stations which TiVo can't do....


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## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

With regards to old on digi boxes that have sudently started crashing.

I have a old Pioneer and a nokia that have both started doing this. Mainly locking up on BBC channels.

I have had a serch and have found this reply to someone else also complaining to the BBC tech dept about this.

Apparently it is due to an update by the BBC around Xmas time.

"The BBC is endeavouring to resolve an issue which affects old
ONDigital set top boxes which lock up when changing from one BBC
channel to another".


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## nathan (Feb 18, 2002)

I've got both our Tivo's running with Thomson DTI-1000 boxes - no crashes, no missed recordings. Highly recommended.


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## sjp (Oct 22, 2001)

if they're still around I would advise AGAINST the Alba red dot-less offering from Argos, my mother has had lots of (tivo less) hassle with this box. i got it expressly 'cos it has no "press red" facility, would have confused the old dear no end.

:up: :up: :up: what worm said about radio stations, make sure whatever you get can access radio stations without the need to press a radio button first. you might not record radio now but better to be future proof than sorry.


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## johala_reewi (Oct 30, 2002)

My OnDigital Pioneer STB has been crashing lots and lots lately and tivo has recorded lots of blackness  Was going to get a £29 Digilogic from Tesco but none of my local Tescos had any, so I popped into Argos and got the Sagem IDT58 for £29.99 in their sale. It is a pretty basic box and is ideal for Tivo. One SCART (RGB out), nice and small, solid picture. No EPG or fancy channel blocking so just the ticket. IR codes already on Tivo database so no problem setting it up. Not sure if it does automatic channel updating (nothing in the instructions) but it has a manual 'rescan' facility. However, if you want TopUp TV as well, there is no slot for the card.


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## mccg (Jun 18, 2002)

Does anyone know if the Oggle box (from Asda & Amazon) works with TiVo?

I'm considering getting one after reading the reviews...
My old Philips onDigital box can't cope with the latest stuff the BBC are sending out and keeps crashing.
I think I can afford £30 to upgrade!

Cheers,
Mike


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## pmk (Jan 1, 2002)

Thanks everyone for suggestions. 

So the Sagem IDT58 (Argos) and Oggle (Amazon) look like good possibilities and I can find places who still sell these.

My main concern is 100% support for reliable IR changing and the box does not decide to find new channels and be stuck on a confirmation screen for 12 hours before I notice.

I too am interested in more details on the Oggle box. Any URLs for reviews and any confirm it works with TiVo?

TIA


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Since making my suggestion of the Bush box several other options have been given but I note that all have what may be minor reservations/complaints. Once again I can only say that my choice has worked 100% with Tivo. I also had the option of taking it back to Tescos and getting my money back. Not such a simple option with other suppliers. Just a thought.


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## tdenson (Oct 3, 2002)

pmk said:


> Thanks everyone for suggestions.
> 
> So the Sagem IDT58 (Argos) and Oggle (Amazon) look like good possibilities and I can find places who still sell these.
> 
> ...


I've got the Argos Sagem and it's never missed a beat in 3 months.


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## pmk (Jan 1, 2002)

>I've got the Argos Sagem and it's never missed a beat in 3 months. 

Is it the 58 model? Does it interrupt when it finds new channels? Is it working fine at the moment (i.e. does not crash after changing channels to or from any BBC)

TIA


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## browellm (Oct 21, 2003)

pmk said:


> >I've got the Argos Sagem and it's never missed a beat in 3 months.
> 
> Is it the 58 model? Does it interrupt when it finds new channels? Is it working fine at the moment (i.e. does not crash after changing channels to or from any BBC)
> 
> TIA


I've got this box too, but not on the Tivo. It's in the kids' play room - seems very robust. Had it for some time now.

It does interrupt when there is a service change, but is that often enough to be an issue?

I've never experienced a channel change crash with it yet.


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## tdenson (Oct 3, 2002)

pmk said:


> >
> Is it the 58 model? Does it interrupt when it finds new channels? Is it working fine at the moment (i.e. does not crash after changing channels to or from any BBC)
> 
> TIA


ITD58G - £29.99 in Argos.

Haven't noticed any problems like that.


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## =CM= (Feb 22, 2005)

After my old Nokia begun to hang due to the Beeb's messing with mheg, I coughed up 40 quid in the local Sainsbury's for a Philips DTR200 to feed the Tivo. Code 20053 for the IR blaster. Occasional misfirings for ITV4 (32 -> 3 -> ITV1 for some reason) but this is very rare and hard to repro. The box does a nice picture with quick channel changes.

However the real annoyance is that the box likes to scan for s/w updates! Middle of a 2am(?) recording of UFO - oh those 60s fashions - up pops a "want to scan for updates" box OK CANCEL. Obviously mein Tivo did not send a Cancel so it recorded a status bar for the s/w update check followed by a drop back to BBC1, the mux where the box seeks any new code.

No sign in the manual for a way to stop this.. Maybe a fake timed recording at the correct time? Goes to show that these boxes really need a way to be told they're under the control of a non-human, no matter how human the Tivo seems to be at times.


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## pmk (Jan 1, 2002)

Are there any boxes still available where you can turn off interactive features (or have none in the first place) and turn off any automatic tuning and updates?

If I was looking for a 2nd hand one what should I be looking out for to meet above criteria?

TIA


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## =CM= (Feb 22, 2005)

pmk said:


> Are there any boxes still available where you can turn off interactive features (or have none in the first place) and turn off any automatic tuning and updates?


The Daewoo SetPals (and possibly all SetPals?) have an engineering menu where most if not all of the above can be disabled. They also have a power-on channel setting designed for racking where a box would be dedicated to one channel - for feeding hotel systems etc. See more on the Daewoo on http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-134645.html
where the need for a general "shut up and change channel as I command thee!" for Tivo is discussed 

However these boxes are not being maintained. Well-built, clever s/w, and since Daewoo gave up they now are ad banner free (had ad banners in the guide).

We should really collect info on engineering menus if boxes have them. The Daewoo's is reached by status select text text select.


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## ndunlavey (Jun 4, 2002)

I think that would be a good idea.


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## Podwin (Nov 5, 2002)

I may buy the Sagem ITD68 from Argos tomorrow http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5320345.htm

From reading this thread Sagem seems OK.

Has anyone got any experience of this model?

Please shout if it's the wrong thing to use with Tivo!

Cheers!


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## pmk (Jan 1, 2002)

The main thing that puts me off Sagem is when there is a channel lineup change the box displays a message waiting for you to press OK on the remote and no tv is output.

I am not sure if this happens with this box if it doesn't or if it can be switched off please post if you know as I am still looking for a box myself but they are either unreliable or display prompts instead of just adding/updating the channels in the background.

My Philips box always seems to crash after recording off BBC News 24 very annoying as Click and Talking Movies is on that channel. I usually just delete these from the To Do list and record the simulatcast off BBC1. 

Still get a dodgy channel change (probably once a week) and it does still crash more often than I like but I think it no better than anything else on the market at the moment unless someone knows something we don't.


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## bubieyehyeh (Aug 24, 2005)

asfafa said:


> The only minor complaints that I have is that the sound level of the recordings is quieter than what I was used to compared to a Sky digibox; the only other grumble is that sometimes, on BBC4, the recordings are masked with red screens of text saying that the right channel (or something similar) should be selected.
> paul


That's because of a bug in the sony box, it should only happen for programs at the start of BBC4 evening run around 7pm.

I'd recommend the Netgem iPlayer box, since you can turn off the Mheg completely on that, and is very reliable.


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## pmk (Jan 1, 2002)

bubieyehyeh said:


> I'd recommend the Netgem iPlayer box, since you can turn of the Mheg completely on that, and is very reliable.


Do you know of anywhere that still sells it at a reasonable price?

TIA


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## simon (Oct 7, 2002)

I can recommend the Bush DFTA11 - I went into argos for the 27.99 Sagem, but instead they gave me the Bush box. 

It was installed about a week ago, and has never missed a beat (using IR code 20030 )

HTH

Simon


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## Podwin (Nov 5, 2002)

I setup the Sagem 68 this evening and so far so good.

I was a bit let down by the cheap plastic construction, but I guess its what's inside that counts, and on that score it seems to be working very well.

I am using the Freeview 2of2 code 20037 and it hasn't failed yet, on double digit codes, 3 codes etc.

The first step I guess is the next 24 hours.

I'll try it for a week before I buy a top up TV card for it and will let you know how it goes.


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## bubieyehyeh (Aug 24, 2005)

The last one I bought was the BT badged one from the BT online store.


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## woody (Jan 26, 2002)

tdenson said:


> I've got the Argos Sagem and it's never missed a beat in 3 months.


I've just ordered one of these from argos, delivery on saturday, due to my existing box has died.

What code do you use with the sagem IDT58 ?

thanks

chris


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## Podwin (Nov 5, 2002)

Podwin said:


> I setup the Sagem 68 this evening and so far so good.
> 
> I was a bit let down by the cheap plastic construction, but I guess its what's inside that counts, and on that score it seems to be working very well.
> 
> ...


Just dropped by to say I'm really pleased with the Sagem. Works a treat


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## woody (Jan 26, 2002)

got my sagen 58 setup, but tivo won't turn it on if it gets switched off due to power cuts etc, I'm using the 20037 code under sagem, is this correct?


chris


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## Podwin (Nov 5, 2002)

woody said:


> got my sagen 58 setup, but tivo won't turn it on if it gets switched off due to power cuts etc, I'm using the 20037 code under sagem, is this correct?
> 
> chris


not sure if that's correct, but I'm using one of the codes under Freeview as mentioned earlier.


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## woody (Jan 26, 2002)

thanks, I might try that one.


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## woody (Jan 26, 2002)

the code 20037 under freeview 2 of 2 is the same as the one under sagem. Still won't tun the box on. Guess I'll just have to live with this.


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## Paul_J (Jan 9, 2001)

Hi

I have just bought a Dion Eco 2 Scart Digital Tv Receiver and I can't find the IR codes for it. It is the cheap one avilable form tesco and I want to use it to test the new EPG. Has anyone got this model working yet?


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

You might want to ask this over in the Tivoland forum. I don't know what their plans are for updating the IR code database but it would seem a logical step at some point as we move towards DSO everywhere.


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## molesworth (Jul 9, 2002)

Paul_J said:


> Hi
> 
> I have just bought a Dion Eco 2 Scart Digital Tv Receiver and I can't find the IR codes for it. It is the cheap one avilable form tesco and I want to use it to test the new EPG. Has anyone got this model working yet?


Check over in this other thread - http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=469966

I bought the single scart version, which is probably very similar, and found that "Eurovox 20069" works happily with it. Haven't had any glitches or mis-recordings in the few weeks I've had it...


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## Paul_J (Jan 9, 2001)

I have tried this code and it works great. Need to avoid the preceding zeros as this takes the box into an interactive screen and then locks up the box until you manually change chanelsb.


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## Fred Smith (Oct 5, 2002)

Just bought a Tesco £30 HD box last night STBHDV2010 (Vestel version) not for TiVo use but it uses the same IR codes as my SEG (Vestel clone) Freeview box so could be used with a TiVo provided you turn the auto standby off. IR code is under Freeview.


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