Freecom DVB-T Scart
Digital TV & Radio Receiver/Scart
The Kit
The kit I received came with the following: the Scart receiver device; Remote control handheld unit; Infrared sensor "eye"; power adapter (with UK and EU fittings) Antenna and one of the thickest manuals I've seen recently (although I later found that only 30 of the 280-odd pages werre in English - the rest covering other languages).- all very professional looking kit.
Installation
At last - a simple straightforward installation....well, almost. After a very rapid scan through the manual, I plugged the scart in to an available scart socket on the chosen TV, hooked up the aerial (see below), attached the infrared eye and stuck it to the top of the TV, inserted the simple "click-fit" UK plug fittings in the power supply, plugged in, switched on the TV and there it was - the setup screen (just as it promised in the straightfoward and simple manual). I followed the very simple setup steps, fired up the auto channel search and, a minute or two later, had full access to around 60-odd TV and Radio channels. A quick check of the manual and a rearrangement of the order of the TV channels was performed, allowing my most-watched channels to be listed in the order I prefer and gave me the chance to dump a few channels I never watch. Then I sat down and watch something. As simple as that? Yes, pretty much so, with only a couple of minor problems.
Reception, Digital Signals and Aerials
I'm a great one for careful research prior to buying something. By the time I actually part with my cash, I'm pretty certain that what I'm buying (a) will do what I want it to and (b) has been "proven" by others to do that well and reliably. I don't believe manufacturer's marketing hype and I don't start out by being fascinated by a gadget 'cos it's a gadget - it has to be capable of doing exactly what I need it to do, and to keep doing it without problem.. So I researched the Scart device pretty thoroughly before getting one. Only problem I found reported (not frequent reports - just a few) was related to signal reception, which, the various reports made clear, obviously varied, not just throughout the country, but even from neighbouring house to house. I already knew I could in theory get freeview in my area (check out the postcode checker at http://www.freeview.co.uk/home. If you want a much greater depth of detailed information, go to www.ukfree.tv ). I also knew (because I already had a DVB-T USB Digital TV Receiver stick) that I would get a good range of programmes via freeview, but not all those which are available in my area.
So, the results were exactly as expected. The quantity of stations found was exactly what the various Freeview sites had told me to expect in my postocde area. All stations, with a small number of exceptions (see below) performed perfectly. Those which failed to perform satisfactorily were exactly the same ones which had presented difficulties with the DVB-T stick previously.
The problems encountered on these stations were, quite bad pixellation occurring intermittently, audio break-up and, very occasionally, complete loss of picture. These problems only affected stations broadcast on Channel 47 (in my area, Channel 47 broadcasts BBC 1, 2 & 3, BBC News 24 and a few others). And the cause? Almost certainly the fact that, although I am using an outdoor aerial, it is an old analogue-TV aerial. It's widely accepted that that type of aerial does not do a satisfactory job of receiving digital transmissions. I won't know for absolute certainty until I install a correct type of aerial, but it seems highly likely that is the cause (given that the results have been exactly replicated on 2 separate bits of digital TV reception kit). The lesson from all this - you MUST have the correct type of aerial, properly erected and both "aimed" in the correct direction and installed in the correct fashion (ie - some areas require vertical installation; others horizontal) to be sure of reception - and even then there are further things to consider - line-of-sight to the transmitter, distance from the transmitter (yes, you can be too close, although most problems are when the transmitter is too far away); trees, hills and buildings obscuring the signal - the list goes on and on.
I have not yet bothered to try the small antenna stick which is supplied - I don't expect it to work at all in my area - much too remote from the transmitter and my house being surrounded by tall trees.
I'm not going to go into further detail here about aerials, signal transmissions and the like - the subject is covered in admirable detail on the www.ukfree.tv site so, if you have a problem, go there!
A Comment on Freeview Set-top boxes
I thought it worth adding this comment here. On the various digital TV Forums, there are often complaints by users of scart receivers, TV digital sticks and similar kit that the user had bought to replace their Freeview set-top box. They then had found they could not access as many stations as they could with their set-top box. I had originally thought this was probably because set-top boxes had sufficient space inside them to house some signal amplification circuitry. Not so, according to www.ukfree.tv and a couple of other sites - apparently digital signals (unlike analogue signals) cannot be useful amplified at the receiver end. I have to accept that as true (those folk are clearly experts in their field) but there must be something to explain why a set-top box seems to be occasionally better at finding stations than other forms of receiver. I dug deeper, to try to find an explanation. I didn't find that - but I did discover that the quantity of stations found (and displayed correctly) also seemed to vary between differing makes of set-top box - some boxes were frequently reported to perform better than others. And to make matters more complicated, I refer to my own experience using the Freecom DVB-T USB digital TV stick. Using the stick, I found that the quantity of stations which could be found varied depending upon which software TV viewer programme I used - some found maybe only 20 stations; other programmes found up to 61 stations. So - the message of this part of the review is - don't expect the DVB-T Scart to necessarily be "as good as" your existing freeview box at receiving stations - you might be lucky and find it is - or you might not. But I suspect, at the end of the day, the whole matter still comes back to the effectiveness of your aerial.
Minor Grumps
Nothing is ever perfect! And there are some things about the Scart which - to me - were "minor grumps". Some might find these things more of a concern, but they really didn't bother me. These included:
Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) - the device does provide a VERY basic programme guide. - really only displaying the title and timing of the current programme and the next one. Not really much use, to be honest. [AMENDMENT - I have now found that the EPG is slightly better than I thought. Press the EPG button then, when in the EPG screen, press the right-arrow button, which gives a slightly greater extent of information on upcoming programmes - still not great, but better than I first thought].
Teletext - Although there is a teletext button on the remote, I found no teletext on any channel. There is a report on the Forum that teletext does not work on the UK version. My experience suggests that may be true.
Manual Tuning - There is a "manual tuning" mode but it is of limited functionality. In reality, it is not a proper "manual mode", rather it is an automatic station search, but the user can restrict the search to each individual channel. That has some uses (particularly if you are within range of two transmitters and can then try to fine-tune to your preferred transmitter). But true manual mode should surely give the ability to directly input programme frequencies. All that said, that's really most unlikely to be of interest to 99% of users of this product.
Remote Control - really trivial grump here! I found the infrared remote to be extremely good - much better than I expected (some of the remotes used in other Freecom products are very poor). In particular, I liked the "red button" which accessed an "all stations preview screen" where you could flick back and forward between around 20 stations, all showing on screen simultaneously - full marks for that one. And the trivial grump? Although the remote brings my TV out of standby and fires up the Scart, when closing down, it shuts off the Scart, but does not return the TV to standby. Were it not for that, I could dump my original TV remote entirely. As I say, very trivial, admittedly.
Summary
I was impressed and pleased. The Scart did everything I expected it to do and did it well. With the simplest of installation routines, you should have no difficulty whatsoever - provided - you have an effective signal reception. Configuring and tuning in the TV was child's play and took less than a couple of minutes. I was particularly pleased with the remote control, after some recent less-than-delighted experiences with other remotes. Bear in mind you do need a spare scart socket on your TV and an available mains socket nearby. But, if you want teletext or if you must have a quality Electronic Programme Guide, then you need to look elsewhere. Otherwise, I can certainly recommend the Scart.
The Techie from Sneckie
Sunday 20 May 2007.
Installation History
Freecom DVB-T USB Digital-only Stick
Received the following: USB stick; Antenna & stand; female to female co-ax adapter; USB to USB female cable; CD; Quick-install guide; Remote control
Installation Procedure (Windows XP)
1) Set XP Restore point
2) Inserted CD & checked CD manual - noted recommended system requirements
exceed pc I plan to install on
3) Connected USB stick to on-board port (with antenna attached & using
USB extension cable)
4) Found New Hardware wizard installed "USB Freecom Digital TV Receiver",
automatically using drivers from CD.
5) Installed Total Media software
6) Set Firewall permissions
7) Rebooted
8) Freecom Digital TV Receiver showing in Device Manager (Sound video &
games controller) - driver DTV 4/4/06 Version 2.0.1.8
9) Autoscanned & found 6 channels
10) Would only play BBC1, with severe dropouts and eventual picture freeze
11) Tried re-scan & found same 6 channels with antenna set higher. Noticed
that moving the antenna cable during TV viewing produced intermittent break
up of sound/picture - suspect antenna may be ineffective or cable may be damaged?
12) Re-scanned again, with existing TV external aerial - no channels found
and Total Media hung (and would not end with Task Manager) at end of autoscan.
Rebooted.
13) Holding and pointing antenna towards transmitter while rescanning - found
41 channels but could play some only intermittently, others not at all.
14) Tried uninstall/reinstall with hybrid digital/analog option and using
USB PCI port (rather than motherboard USB port) - hung repeatedly.
15) Full uninstall/reinstall, using motherboard USB 2 socket and "Digital
Only" driver - noted that "Hybrid TV RC(A)" icon (relates to
analogue driver) remained active in XP clock toolbar (despite having been
uninstalled - suggests remains in startup folder). Now finds 30 channels (holding
antenna pointing very specifically towards local transmitter and with antenna
cable wrapped around hand).
16) Explored Total Media prog - very useful - see review below.
17) Later date - connected proper external aerial (correctly aligned with
transmitter although not the recommended aerial type for digital reception).
- full access to approx 60 TV and Radio channels, although some channels still
suffer reception dropout and freezing. Suspect aerial type may be unsuitable.
18) Later date - installed update to Total Media 3.4 - now perfect reception
on all 61 channels except BBC1 and BBC2 no longer found.
AMENDMENT - 1 June 2007 - Suddenly, for no apparent reason, BBC1 & 2 now run perfectly. This concides with precisely the same improvement with my USB DVB-T stick, which indicates that the transmitter signal strength has improved.