Options
Sagem ITD602 vs. Goodmans GDB3
dabotsonline
Posts: 228 Forum Member
✭
Hi, I'm looking for a cheap (£50-£60) Freeview box, with two scart sockets. We currently have a Goodmans GDB2 box for the main telly, but the new box is for my new portable TV in my bedroom. In the part of Leicester where I live, the digital signal is sometimes weak, and the GDB2 sometimes fails to tune into several channels. Therefore, I was looking for a box not only with improved features and picture quality, but also reception quality. I immediately disregarded the £50 Lodos DVB-T3 box because it is based upon our existing GDB2, and besides, my local Sainsburys has no stock and is not anticipating any more in.
I am now trying to decide whether to go for the Sagem ITD602 or the Goodmans GDB3, both available for £60. I have heard positive reviews on both, but which is better (especially for signal)?
Or can anyone suggest a better box available for around £60? (it must have two scart sockets). I understand the GDB4 is available for £70 from Richer Sounds, but am I right in saying that it is basically a smaller version of the GDB3, and also graded stock?
Thanks,
Nick
P.S. My local Woolies and Asda are out of the Sagem, and do not anticipate getting any more in for a while, so I plan to get the Sagem from Amazon or the GDB3 from Richer.
I am now trying to decide whether to go for the Sagem ITD602 or the Goodmans GDB3, both available for £60. I have heard positive reviews on both, but which is better (especially for signal)?
Or can anyone suggest a better box available for around £60? (it must have two scart sockets). I understand the GDB4 is available for £70 from Richer Sounds, but am I right in saying that it is basically a smaller version of the GDB3, and also graded stock?
Thanks,
Nick
P.S. My local Woolies and Asda are out of the Sagem, and do not anticipate getting any more in for a while, so I plan to get the Sagem from Amazon or the GDB3 from Richer.
0
Comments
the goodmans gdb3 is infact a gdb2 in a different case. i had a sagem before it died on me but its a great box and i would have liked to get another but they were out of stock.
Have you considered a setpal from tesco?
Dan
How long did you have it before it broke?
Thanks for your suggestions and replies guys, it's much appreciated.
4 weeks exactly but i personally think the problem was down to an intermittant signal
Dan
Among the thousands of boxes made there are bound to be faulty ones. I would have certainly got another but there weren't any left.
*thinks of the pace dtva tuner/power supply*
Still a cracking box but let down by a bad batch.
Nothing is perfect.
The sony you have could just fail at any minute now, but that doesnt mean that its a bad box, does it? all it means is that you could have got the bad one from a batch.
Dan
You get what you pay for.
with sony you pay for the name, nothing else, the new 800 being a prime example, whats it got that makes it stand out from the competition? well it says "sony" thats about all i can think of, does that make it worth more than the £70 BETTER SPEC'D PACE, £60 more is a lot of money, almost double the price for less features. Makes sense to me.... :rolleyes:
Everything Sony that i have had, has been nothing but trouble, had a J70 mobile phone, kept crashing and breaking up signal wise, not good, then theres always my sony diskman, again "shockproof", oh it was shockproof alright, never skipped but always turned off...... theres quality for you.
And i know of various sony hifi systems in which the cd player has packed in.
Not Good.
Dan
It still amazes me that people are willing to pay for things that are inferior just because they have Sony wrtten on them. Don't be conned into thinking they have better engineers working for them, you are paying a premium for a brand.
Jim
Only trying to help. But what's the point?
Bye.
Well said. I havn't been impressed with Sony stuff over the last few years, and would never pay extra for to get the brand name again.
Gdb
i OWN virtually all stbs, with the exception of a couple, i have used the Sony at work, its not all that spectacular, i set it up and its not bad but i dont think its worth the money, i mean whats the connectivity like, not bad but having the digital and analogue in one socket, i didnt like that.
Lets put it this way then, i wouldnt spend my hard earned cash on the sony. Its not worth the extra if you ask me, dont get me wrong, im not saying that its a bad box but its not worth the money, as i said before you are paying for the brand name, as with most sony products.
also your post about trying to help, how? you have given no helpful advice whatsoever in this thread, you have recommended a box that is almost double what the original posted was intending to spend.
if you like the sony, then fair enough, i dont and thats that.
You were a little unfair with the "Have S**t STBs then." quote, the boxes available today are very good, i only know of one really bad box and that would be the cheap bush, when you look at the features, reviews, price of the new pace, and even the design, it really does put the sony to shame.
Dan
If you are happy with a STB that doesn't even control the TV's volume, then good luck to you.
The Sony is the classiest box on the market.
Sleek on-screen menus, fast channel change and text, controls TV master volume and NEVER crashes, unlike dan's widely recommended Sagem, which he then decides doesn't work.
If you want to save a few quid buy a lesser box, than the Sony but don't pretend that they are as good. I wonder how many people ended up with Sagems on dan's advice?
Or Panasonic TUCT20s come to that?
leo
Also, i never said the Sony box was rubbish. Its just not value for money. I do think that nowadays, people are starting to see this with Sony products). I mean, its not as if they are made in the UK is it, they're made where the rest of the cheap goods are also made.
Jim
Lots of sony eqpt. is made in the Uk but if johnnyp
had been in the factories where they are made and seen the skips full of production errors and some of the workforce he would think twice before he made a statement that contains sony and quality .
My father has a sony davs 800 home cinema dvd system he paid around £650 for and he is forever moaning about dvd`s that I lend to him will not play or skip freeze etc yet all play fine in my £60 player , he has learned the hard way that just because it cost a lot it doesn`t mean it is the best you can buy.
P.s I also own the sagem box and for what it cost and what it does it has got to be one of the best value boxes on the market ( it may be big and plastic but I don`t want to take it down the pub to show my mates just watch tv through it ), you keep your shiny and I`ll keep my £50 difference .
On all other boxes, including the Sagem, you have to set the TV volume high and then alter the audio signal coming from the box.
Fine until analogue TV is accidentally selcted, and sound comes blaring out of the TV at full volume.
This fact alone meant that it was only Pioneer or Sony for me.
£50 + £15 (which i bought for other reasons anyway) = a lot less than the Sony
Anyway - can the Sony digibox only change the volume on Sony TV's? If so - thats of limited use to most people anyway.
Jim
The Sony controls the main TV volume on virtually all TVs, as does the Pioneer.
This was the main reason I bought it, I was sick of the two-remote scenario and my wife hates universal remotes.
Anyway - the point here is that you have a freeview box and you are happy with it and thats all thats important. Back on topic though, the original posted wanted to spend about £60, so i can't recommend the sony, but can recommend the Sagem.
Jim