Freeview STB - PVR or Sony VTX-D800U

Help!

Though it might seem mad I'm thinking about upgrading my current Freeview box (Philips DT500) to a Sony VTX-D800U... mainly due to the signal strength in our area not really being up to scratch, and I've heard the Sony's are pretty good and making the signal go further... plus, my LCD TV is Sony and in some wierd twisted logic I think it will make the picture even better (I've had problems with a 'strobe' like effect between blacks and whites on my current set-up)

The final thing is that I hear Sony are good at releasing Firmware updates, and the EPG is a proper 7-Day full one, rather than the Now/Next option on my current Philips...

The thing is... do I splash out on this - or would someone recommend a PVR instead? Spending out on a Freeview box which only has slightly more enhanced features to my current one makes me feel a little bit like I'm wasting my dough... *sigh*

Cheers

SquidMan

[Maff et1]

I've got one of the Sony's. Picture quality is excellent and the box in general is very good (mine never crashed once).

I've now got a Topfield 5800 PVR and having the ability to just record stuff you might like is great.

However whilst the sony might manage a poor signal better than others (my topfield actully seems very slight better than the sony did), don't assume it will make any real difference to your reception quality. If that's your main problem you'd be better off looking at mast head amps / new arials. Stick your postcode into wolfbane and see if it recommends a mast head amp: http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

Hi Maff

Thanks for the info, that's very helpful

I was wondering - with your Sony's EPG, does it work in a very similar way to SKY's? I only ask as my currrent one (Philips DTR500) has the annoying set up where you can only see what's on NOW and NEXT... and even if you go into the 7 Day section of the EPG, it can only display two programmes at the same time, and you can't simply scroll to the right to go forward in time... but you have to set a different slider to go forward *sigh* this is another reason I'm thinking about switching boxes... unless the Sony is exactly the same?!

Cheers

SquidMan

[Maff et1]

The Sony's EPG is a grid, channels down the side, time across the top. You simply move up/down/left/right to scroll through the channels and times.

It's a while since I've used it so I can't remember exactly but it's about 6 channels and 5 hrs onscreen at once.

The colour scheme is gray and yellow, it looks rather good actually, better than my replacement Topfield.