Home > Consumer Reviews > Hauppauge DEC1000-t Digital Terrestrial TV Receiver

I have been using the DEC-1000T for several months now. It is one of the smallest boxes currently available for FREEVIEW, about the size of a personnel CD player. The unit is supplied with a small "power brick" mains adapter and a special SCART cable (The DEC-1000T uses a 9-Pin D-type connector for it's output). An RF output is also provided, but beware: There is NO loop-through for analog signals (The handbook wrongly states there is).

On initial power-up, the unit conducts an automatic search for digital multiplexes but these is no facility to manually edit the stored list. If, like me you are between two transmitters, the weaker one is added to the list and can not be removed. the only option is to plug and unplug the aerial at the correct moment during the channel scan, avoiding the unwanted transmitters.

Picture quality is very good using RGB output and still good on composite. Sound quality is fine, but there are no phono connectors for connection to a HIFI system. The RF modulator provides an alternative output, but is only really suitable to feed a small screen TV.

The DEC-1000T features an Electronic Program Guide which displays the current program and what is coming up next. In addition, the digital text facility provides more program information and news etc (and interactive features).

Overall I would rate the DEC-1000T as good value, it's certainly small and provides both good video and sound. It's over the air software update facility in theory will allow new features to be added and problems to be resolved should they occur.

Well the fiver saved (from buying a decent Nokia box or such like) was never worth it for the absolute nightmare this box is to setup. Im a techy by nature, program computers for a living and have vast experience with Sky boxes etc so it wasnt like I didnt know what i was doing. The bottom line (so far as I can see) is that this box only puts out 1 signal from the digi box. That is once you plug the out from Digi box into TV \ Video there is only 1 RF signal, normal channels 1-5 Analogue simply are not there (apart from on the digi channel), hence you can not watch Digi (or BBC1 for that fact) and record any other channel. F***** usless. I have ended up getting around this with a signal splitter \ booster with which I split the signal pre entry to the digi box so a normal RF goes into the video (so can get 1-5 normal on TV \ Video) then Digi channels run through the scart. Of course the fiver saved was then 15 spent on cables and a splitter to make the box do what it should in the first place.
Not to mention the number of hours spent setting the dam thing up..
I wouldnt touch another Hauppauge produce in my life and can only worthheartedly reccomend you look else where for a decent terrestrial TV receiver.. My 2pence.. hope saves someone the hassles I've had..

I bought this 12 months ago because of its compact size and price. I take it on caravan holidays to use with a portable TV and plug it in to the Status aerial which was fitted to my caravan roof by the manufacturer.
It has been easy to set up and the quality of the picture everywhere I visited this year was excellent(except in very poor weather conditions when there was some interference).
I am delighted with this freeview box and I am about to buy another one for my Father to use in his van.

I would definitely recommend it to others.

I've had one of these for 2 months and it sucks for the following reasons:
1. It's slow and unresponsive - change channel and wait for about 5 seconds while it thinks about doing it.

2. It's flaky - it locks up often and you need to pull the power cable out to reset it.

3. Poor interface and on screen display. Development mistakes have made it into production box - flickering graphics, inconsistent double buffered graphics.

4. EPG is almost useless.

I just got fed up and bought a panasonic TU-CT20 and, by comparison, it's fantastic. So my advice, shop around but whatever you do, steer clear of this box - there are better ones out there, often cheaper.

I got this box because it seemed small and cheap to boot. I now have it and am pleased with it :-) The unit is very small and easy hidden away unlike other set top boxes which are like VCR's! Connection is very very simple, my house hasnt got a new aerial or anything special, yet the unit functions flawlessly!!!
Literally plug the unit in and its auto tunes and within seconds you are watching a crystal clear picture and sound of BBC1! The other channels are easy found, the unit is very simple to use.

I would recomend this unit.