Budget is limited to an Exchange for a disappointing Goodmans PVR, when I eventually get to town to return it as it seems to have a pretty weak tuner for C5 and 5US etc, and can't rewind live unless you pause beforehand.


First question about the DTI6300, is can it rewind live TV?

Next would be why you'd recommend it and why you wouldn't

Yes it can rewind live TV.

I would recommend it, although there are a few outstanding minor bug, they are being fixed.

The Thomson has a 14 Day EPG with series link and a search facility.
There is due to be an update out sometime soon that will provide Freeview+ should you want it.
The Thomson gets regular updates and is supported by Top Up TV.

A word of caution though, to receive the 14 day EPG you do need to be able to receive Channel 5, otherwise you will end up with the bog standard 8 day Freeview EPG.

You do have the option of Top Up TV Anytime, Setanta and/or PictureBox should you ever want them

Thanks Iron Eagle, sorry but What is the difference between Freeview Playback, and Freeview+ ?

Freeview Playback has been rebranded as Freeview+...tis one in the same

So what is the difference between Freeview"+" and what the Thomson box does?

Freeview+ has an "accurate" recording feature which allows for changes in programming schedules.
Freeview+ EPG is available on the fly.
Freeview+ has an 8 day EPG

The TUTV recordings allow for padding at beginning and end of recordings.
The TUTV EPG is downloaded at 11:30am every day.
The TUTV EPG has a 14 day EPG

Thanks for all the help Iron Eagle, I'm off to try my luck at Asda, returning the Goodmans PVR, hopefully I can exchange it for the Thomson as this is the 3rd dodgey Goodmans missing recordings etc.

Having formated the disk a couple of weeks back in an attempt to solve some of its errors I cannot get a 14 day EPG despite leaving it on permanently. On Saturday night I set it to record the football on both BBC1 and ITV and got an error message saying it would not be able to update its EPG if I continued with the recordings. That seems as if the EPG is attempting to update at 11:30pm.

Are you sure it said the EPG?...and not Anytime programming?
Am 100% certain the EPG is still downloaded at 11:30am

What software version are you on?

Pretty certain it made reference to the EPG (and program link as well). The software version is 2.99 - wondering whether to revert to the earlier software and let it update itself again (assuming it works) - as you may recall I never had (and now do not) a 14 day EPG or program link until the 2.99 update.

I went to the local asda today to buy a thomson dti 6300.Turns out bthey were out of stock but the assistant told me that they recieve loads of these boxes back as faulty.Kind of put me off a bit but the box looked better than any others of the same price range..

Can someone please confirm that these boxes can be used just as a normal freeview receiver without a TUTV subscription. Thanks, Dave

Yes they can - with full PVR functionality as well. Most are sold with a free trial to the TUTV pay service and/or Setanta so you can try it without commitment if you like.

I got one from Tesco - had it about 6 months - drove the wife potty with all the missed recordings, freezing etc

So it ended up going back...

Was a good piece of kit when it was working right though...

Yes.


Why not: They've been on the market since February 2007 and are still buggy as hell.

Why: Nice box, passable UI.

The Why not far outweighs the Why.

TuTV have added a lot of minor bells and whistles but still failed to fix the showstoppers.

I personally wouldn't recommend these boxes as mine recently died less than 8 months after purchase (fatal red flashing light a la Xbox 360). During that time it needed hard rebooted no end of times; at least two or three times a week.

Annoyingly the only reason for buying it at all was my ancient OnDigital box (which is still working flawlessly) didn't support Setanta.

Summary: cheap but not so cheerful.

Why?
~~~
Mainly for the TUTV 14 day epg, which is saved to hard drive so you don't have to wait, gives very good coverage, and probably has the best series-links, and search.

Haven't tried Freeview+, which apparently became optional with the temporarily withdrawn TUTV software upgrade, but Humax and Topfield users seem to complain that there is a shortage of series links, inaccuracies, or things missing. Even Sky+ reports missing links quite often, which doesn't happen with TUTV

Functions, Menus, screens, and remote handset are excellent

Pretty reliable in spite of poor reception from time to time

Software problems are fairly insignificant and TUTV is trying

Digifusion FVRT 100/200, which uses TUTV epg, is no longer supported and lacks series link and search

Great value

Why not?
~~~~~
If you just want 14 day epg with once/daily/weekly recording facility, Digifusion copes better with weak signal, deletes recordings instantly, has skip, and software very reliable

Thomson needs a better signal than most

Slow deletion of recordings, 12 secs per hour

Software needs development

we ended up binning our thomson here, my bro went a few days without it then I managed to source a humax 9150T from Argos for £120.

Bin your thomsons. their rubbish.
his hdd died mere weeks after the 6 month RTB policy expired.