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

I bought this unit as a last-ditch attempt to use Freeview. I live in a block of flats with a shared aerial and poor reception, and getting decent digital reception seemed impossible.

A Grundig box I tried failed to even recognise ITV and Channel 4, and a Nokia box could sometimes display the channels but always with block-y video and poppy, squelchy audio.

This Sony box, on the other hand, is able to show all channels with crystal clarity. It seems to have found the weakest of signals, manages to use it and refuses to let it go. Awesome!

In addition, it is quick, easy to use and pretty elegant.

To sum up, if you live in an area with good reception, this might be worth the "Sony premium" for its ease of use and good looks. If you live in an area with poor reception, my advice is very simple - don't waste your money on anything else.

Having tried a number of set-top boxes, and been plagued with poor recption, inconsistent data handling, and numerous box "crashes", this has been a complete joy.

Easy to set up, great picture, easy navigation, and no crashing whatsoever, and it's by far the best looking unit as well.

Have just bought another one as an early Christmas present.

I bought this freeview box after a bit of careful research. I can honestly say I am very impressed. Yes you can get a freeview box for £30 - but I think in this game you get what you pay for.

It works so much better than my previous Pace box (which was more expensive (in it's time).

It works with weaker signals - I have a loft aerial - my pace box had a few issues with this - a lot of blocking - struggled on some of the channels - Sony is perfect.

I have installed a second aerial point in my house - and thought of using the old Pace box - this was unwatchable. I thought I would try the Sony - No Problems at all - Pefect Picture - hence I think another order is coming amazons way.

In Summary

For - Picture - Excellent, Sound - amazing - especially if you connect the optical to an surround receiver. Remote - Excellent - volume and power works perfectly for my Panasonic TV.

Against - Nothing (unless you count not having a Top Up TV slot (in my opinion - a little bit against the freeview idea - as I am sure if you really want to pay £7 a month - you could look for some of the cable \ satellite packages)

I bought this one after reading reviews. Sure it is the most expensive but worth it. It is lightning quick and has the full 7 day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide). The quality of the box, picture and sound are awesome and work even when I had rubbish Channel 5 reception before. Get this rather than a cheap one and you'll never look back

This box is superb. Easy to set up, smooth operation and well worth the money. Cheaper set top boxes are not worth buying. I had a digi-fusion box and a;though it worked ok it was nowhere near the same quality of sound, picture and build as the Sony. Cannot reccomend this unit highly enough