Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony VTX-D800U Freeview Digital TV Set Top Box

Like Mr. Griffiths I also bought one several years ago and it was under £100.

My Wife and I recently decided to splash out and upgrade our Bedroom Tv. We invested (from Amazon) in a new Funai combi Tv with Dvd and VHS included. It was all getting much to messy with all those separates. We also used to have a One-to-One sender/receiver, which, according to weather conditions, sent a digital Freeview signal up to the Bedroom from the main Tv downstairs. It was getting farcial as various drawers had to be opened, the Bedroom door had to be at a certain angle, and so on so that the picture could be watched without interference. Our digital handset telephones also had a bearing on the picture and sound quality as there was very loud interference when they were in use. As I said this was subject to external weather conditions. Very all iffy and certainly not necessary in this day and age.

At the time of getting our new Sony VTX-D800U Freeview box there was about 102 customer reviews with an adverage score of 4.1/2 stars. Very high percentage we thought. They were not wrong and this, for us, was the deciding factor. Customer reviews do not lie, certainly not that many independant reviews anyway. We could have gone with a cheaper model but plumped for the £78 Sony. We are not disappointed.

This machine does it all. It was so easy to set up. Brings in a brilliant sound and picture quality.. now all from one of those flat One-to-One Tv ariels that we installed behind the Tv as we have no main ariel Tv sockets in the Bedroom. We now get brillient Freeview channels in high qaulity mode and NO interference any more. I swear that this box somehow actually improves reception... almost like a Tv ariel booster does. With the new flat Tv top ariel the reception was... well so so at bast. However after installing the new Sony box the difference in signal strengh was simply remarkable. Our picture is now clear and precise. 1000% improvement and I do not lie!!

So to conclude. Yes we were influenced by Customer reviews which we read and digested. In our case the faith we held by these reviews proved to be justified. My recommendation therefore is if you want a basic Freeview box without the top-up Tv card thingie, we highly, HIGHLY, recommend this Sony VTX-D800U Freeview Digital TV Set Top Box for the little bit of extra outlay dosh required. One of the best buys we ever undertook.

I wanted to know whether this DB will have a subscription card or not

I've never felt moved to review a product before, but this one has genuinely exceeded my expectations. Both picture and sound quality are a marked improvement on the Samsung cable box I have used up to now. Channel changing and the programme guide are pretty much instantaneous. Quibbles? Well, the scart sockets are close together which can make it a tight squeeze with some cables - my Monster cables fitted with a bit of encouragement - and of course it has just the one tuner and no Top-Up TV. But if you just want excellent quality in a basic set-top box I can't think why this one wouldn't fit the bill.

I'm not normally one for giving items the full five stars, however with the Sony VTX-D800U, I have yet to find a single fault with it.

Set-up is terribly easy. Just plug in a couple of cables into the back of the box and turn it on. It instantly tunes itself and in no time at all you have access to all the latest freeview channels and digital radio stations.

One must be careful when buying this Sony VTX-D800U that your VCR or DVD recorder has smartlink for recording freeview channels. It has other names such as Megalogic, NexTView, T-V Link, Easylink, AV.Link, CinemaLink, or Q-Link so please check this before you buy it. If it does not, then it could be a right hassle to record freeview channels although you will still be able to tape the channels you recieved before via an analogue signal.
If you do intend to use the smartlink facility, you must buy another 'Scart to Scart' cable for connecting your freeview box to the VCR / DVD recorder which at about £15, it doesn't come cheap for just a cable considering that this freeview box costs about £80.

Well, I'll shut up now. I know I haven't mentioned everything about this freeview box although I feel these have been mentioned in other reviews and wouldn't want to babble on about something you may already know. On the whole, this is a brilliant piece of kit and lives up to Sony's high-standards.