Freecom DVB-T USB Stick review
Bad points:1) The supplied external DVB-T 'antennal' has a strong magnet. In principle a good idea but do not bundle it too close to a notebook or floppy disk.
2) The programmable recorder function uses a propriety MPEG-2 audio/video stream format which seems to be impossible to open in any package other than the bundled TV-viewer.
3) Due to the poorly designed application interface, it is necessary to read the user manual to use the less obvious features, however this is also poorly written, it reads as if English was not the native language of the authors or it was badly translated from another language.
4) Microsoft Windows XP, will not run under 95,98 or Machintosh.
Freeview Issues:
1) There is no access to the interactive services ("Press the Red Button now") in the UK, there is a red button but this is associated with recording functionality. It only supports the European Teletext (not compatible with UK teletext).
2) The channels are initially sequenced as detected, ignoring the Freeview channel numbers (irritating if you are familiar with the Freeview channels). Channels can be reorganised by dragging and dropping them within the set up interface, however you cannot change their numbers or the fact that TV channels start at 1 to x then the radio channels start at x+1.
3) The signal information refresh option is very energy intensive, disabling this feature triples a standard laptop batteries energy supply!
4) Not all channels broadcast aspect ratio, it can be manually selected. This can be annoying when you move from one which can to one which can't, when the software automatically centres and resizes the window, so all your careful adjustments are lost.
5) The pre-recording, real time recording and time shifting functions are memory intensive, requiring approximately 1 gigabyte per hour, this is what we expect from very high quality digital video and there are no quality or resolution settings.
Software Issues:
1) The viewing application is a reasonably featured collection of interfaces, if lacking in refinement, sadly not enough consideration went into how the software would be used or the overall impact of all these interacting screens. Some elements look as if programmed as quickly as possible, in visual basic for Windows 3.11!
2) The on screen remote control interface would have been better if it were integrated into the video display window, all the separate elements of the application can get in the way of other applications and each other.
3) There is a help menu item which results in an error message asking you to refer to the manual on the instillation CD, again, lack of refinement.
4) The software supplied has reasonable EPG support but it opens in a dedicated window, I would like this (or a summary version of it) to have been integrated into the main viewing interface.
5) There is no way to ‘hide' the title bar at the top of the viewing window, irritating if the window is very small.
6) The multi-channel preview feature is a bit slow, you cannot control how or which channels it cycles through (ie it shows 5 seconds from each of the first 9 channels), it only cycles through the first 9 channels (you must press channel up/down to see the next/previous 9 channels).
7) The electronic program guide can be used to setup prerecording, by double clicking the program titles, but there is nothing within the interface to indicate the existence of this functionality.
8) When selecting which channels the program schedule is to display from the electronic program guide, the channel being viewed is also changed. I would like this to be an option. More importantly, the guide is very simplistic with regard to searching or customisation options.
Hardware Issues:
1) After the DVB-stick is initially configured, its USB port cannot be changed without reinstalling its drivers, the software just can't detect its receiver if plugged into a different port.
2) The supplied aerial is adequate, however I am 10km from the Crystal Palace transmitter. That said I receive 19 TV and 18 radio channels using the aerial provided, but I can get 35 TV and 27 radio channels using a good quality analog indoor aerial.
3) The remote control provided has a maximum operational range of 3 metres, providing that it is targeted directly to the logo of the DVB-stick, (due to the diameter of its receiving port) otherwise its effective range in roughly 3 feet.
4) The remote control is rudimentary and very temperamental. It reacts poorly, the receiver does not reliably respond to the key presses and the receiver window must be the subject of "focus " to receive the remote controller input (I just use my PDA as a remote).
5) No subtitles for deaf or hard of hearing viewers or audio captioning for the visually-impaired, both services are supported by a number of programmes. (Sometimes one or both aids are encapsulated within programme content).
Previous Page (2/4)
Added: April 3rd 2006
Product reviewed: Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
Reviewer: Michael Hart
Score: 8/10
Page: 3/4