Buy Now...

The Government's perceived wisdom (surely an oxymoron) is that analogue TV has had its day and will be replaced by digital broadcasts. This digital switchover is due to begin in 2007. A taster of what is to come can be experienced with the Freeview service which rose, Phoenix-like, from the debacle known as On-Digital and its monkey figurehead. Manufacturers of set-top boxes are already lining up to offer products with varying feature sets in an effort to build up a solid user-base before the enforced change kicks in and all broadcasting becomes digital.

One example of these set-top box offerings is the FRT101 model from Fusion Digital. This matt silver coloured digital free-to-air receiver measures a fairly compact 205 x 194 x 59mm (W x D x H). Various connection options are situated on the back of the unit while the front holds a receiver mode indicator, infrared window and channel cycling buttons. A remote control and power lead are provided but you will have to come up with your own SCART leads for connecting to a television and VCR. Those who have access to a TV/VCR combo will only need a single SCART lead.

See also: Freeview

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Setting up the receiver did not run as smoothly as I would have like. However I must accept some of the blame for this as I initially attempted to use the device without a SCART cable and then failed to read the relevant section of the supplied instructions - memo to myself to RTFM. I naturally expected the red light on the front of the receiver to indicate that the device was turned on - a fairly reasonable assumption as I am sure you will agree - but this was not the case. In this instance the red light meant the unit was in standby mode. When the red light was off, the receiver was turned on which was, to say the least, a little confusing.

Once this issue was resolved, it was a case of working through the various set-up procures. A Welcome screen is supposed to appear automatically when you first attach the receiver to the TV but, perhaps due to my initial fumbling, I had to manually select this option so that the frequencies and channels could be found. When this process was completed with 30 digital channels and 20 radio stations identified, it was simple to flick through the available offerings which were generally of a better picture quality that previously obtained with the same equipment.

The Digifusion FRT101 has a couple of special features that are aimed at enhancing the viewing experience. You can set up the receiver to automatically download and display the latest TV schedule listings. This service forms part of the unit's Multi Guide feature which also contains a TV calendar, favourite channel facility, child lock and personal reminder setting. While useful and informative, there is a slight drawback to the TV listings feature. It will list all digital channels including several that are not available via Freeview.

Rewind TV is another feature. It stores approximately the last 30 seconds of content from whatever channel is currently selected so that it can be replayed. However the limit of 30 seconds marks this down as more of a gimmick that a particularly useful feature. 30 seconds is not really enough time to answer the phone and tell cold-calling nuisances what you really think of them or deal with any other distractions that might occur but it is a step in the right direction.

Despite the problems I encountered initially with this receiver I was impressed with the picture quality, feature list and general ease of use. Pricing, in the region of £69.99, might seem a tad high but it does include the free weekly TV listings and a TV reminder to avoid missing your favourite programmes.

link : http://www.fusiondigitec.com/files/newsite/consumer_prods/uk_available_now/FRT101/frt101rewind.htm