Bush BFSAT01SD Freesat SD Box - first Impressions

[tungst3n]

I bought a Bush BFSAT01SD Freesat SD Box from Argos today and thought it would be useful doing a quick review.

This is my first review including photos so go easy.I have found these forums very useful and thought I could add something useful myself.

I have wanted to try Freesat since its launch, but I really want a HD PVR to replace my Sky+ box in my living room but as there not available I went for the cheaper SD receiver for the bedroom.

After a bit of googling I couldn't see alot of difference with the £70 Goodmans SD box so plumped for the £50 Bush BFSAT01SD.

I read the forums, got out my ladder and had a look at my LNB. I was chuffed to find it had a spare connector and that when I had Sky installed the installer put on a quad lnb.

I reserved the Bush BFSAT01SD along with a 10 metre satellite extension lead for £5.99 (534/2622), picked it up and got home and connected it up.

I booted up the Bush BFSAT01SD and straight away was greeted with a signal strength screen showing 78% strength, clicked ok and the box automatically downloaded an update to version 1.3. The next screen was a channel search and it took approximately 10 minutes to find 81 channels/radio stations/services. I put in my postcode and installation complete.

The Bush BFSAT01SD was comparable to a small freeview box. The power lead is hard-wired in and small at less than 1 metres in length. Its video signal outputed RGB by default and the picture quality was comparable to my SD Sky+ box.

The remote is basic but functional and two AAA bateries was included. It was nice to see a cheap scart lead included as many electrical devices don't include enough to get you started. The EPG was quick, clean and usable, only Freesat compatible channels were shown, no messy encripted channels were present. The EPG was fast when used as was browsing BBC services via the red button. The manuals were clear and precise. The device has two scarts, one TV and one for VCR.

All in all I am happy with my £56 purchase and will be fine as a bedroom set-top box.I will update this post if I do come across any problems.

Please note BBC1 was set to BBC London and ITV was set to Central. Other posts have queried this but to be honest it wont effect me. I think updates from Freesat will sort this overview in the future.

I have attached some images for reference. The TV I connected to was a 26" Philips HD LCD.

To those with little Freesat knowledge I didn't purchase a separate installation for the Satellite dish as I used my SKY digital dish.
It is being used alongside a SKY+ Box and a basic SKY set-top box (FTA Channels only)
Argos staff took the usual details for TV Licensing compliance but didn't hassle me about installation.

 

[Skizm123]

Thanks for your little review. Im thinking of getting this box until the HD pvrs come out, have to get an installer out to run a cable from the dish though.

 

[Quartz]

I too now have a Bush and your thoughts echo mine. I would prefer a better EPG and a way of browsing what's on other channels while continuing to watch the current channel.

 

[nypdblue]

Excellent review & pics 'tungst3n' very informative and helpful , I shall purchase my Bush Freesat tomorrow !

 

[rd100]

can you post some photos of the info bar when you change channel please,

 

[tungst3n]

When you press the info button it comes in two flavours.

First press - Basic now and next, not too intrusive, similar to Sky EPG

Second Press - Intrusive 70% screen with detailed program details.

With both options you can use the arrow buttons to change times and channels whilst watching the same channel.

First impressions are still good. EPG is basic but functional. I will see if I get time tonight to get screen shots of the two different versions. Picture not world beating but ok when watching on a Hdtv. No crashes or problems to report.

One extra irritant is the the power light goes off when the unit is on and shines neon blue when off but I am still impressed.

 

[Duncan_Rowland]

I have the Bush Freesat decoder (BFSAT01SD) connected to an JVC CRT (AV32T5S) and am not happy with the image. Seems like there is a lot of excess colour on the left hand side on some images, no matter how I adjust the set (as below)

Is this a problem with this decoder, or something else? (I do not recollect this problem occuring when I previously had the TV hooked up to Sky)

Thanks, -D.

 

[Ben's Grandad]

I bought the £49 Bush SD the other day and tried it out on an ex-Sky dish up north. I had constant pixellation, stuttering sound and the leftward red shift of colour blocks as others have described. The signal strength was shown as 90% and quality as 100%. (No known local interference). Took it back home to London and tried it on current LCD tv and Sky dish (both signals 100%) and still had problems with stuttering sound and the occasional picture freeze. Worse still was the effect of the misaligned colour on a football match - 44 players if you include the red strip playing alongside the others. Repeatedly set the box to RGB, swapped the SCART lead for a known good one, rebooted, etc, etc - with no improvement. In my untechnical opinion it was outputting composite on both SCARTs. Substituting my old FTA Humax gave me near perfect pictures with no problems. Argos were very cheerful about a refund.

 

[Duncan_Rowland]

FYI: Just to conclude, I've started re-using my sky box again to access the free channel and can confirm the image is far superior to the Bush box. (Also, I now get the channels sadly missing from freesat at the moment, i.e. all of wimbledon red-button channels).
Best -Duncan.

I have the Bush Freesat decoder (BFSAT01SD) connected to an JVC CRT (AV32T5S) and am not happy with the image. Seems like there is a lot of excess colour on the left hand side on some images, no matter how I adjust the set (as below)

Is this a problem with this decoder, or something else? (I do not recollect this problem occuring when I previously had the TV hooked up to Sky)

Thanks, -D.

 

[technowizard]

I have the bush Sd box and my thoughts are so far good. The only really annoying thing is the red colour shift but apart from that it's great