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- Ferguson FDT2000
- diablo944's review
Have a picture of Ferguson FDT2000 Freeview Box?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Robert.
| Features | 5.7/10   |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 7.3/10 |
| Value for Money | 6/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 6/10 |
| Overall Rating | 6.2/10 |
By diablo944
on 5th Jun 2007
| Time DVB Owned | Over 1 Year |
|---|---|
| Features | 4/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 |
| Value for money | 5/10 |
| Overall value | 2/10 |
 diablo944's recommendation | |
Nice and simple, after a shaky start it settled down to be an OK performer until recent update ruined it.
Latest update as of May 2007 forces machine to unceremoniously shut down at 3am. Not an issue if you are watching TV at the time, but if it is providing freeview for recording, it all goes belly up at 3 am.
worse is if you don't turn it on before next recording is due, the PVR sends the signal to turn over, but the freeview only picks up the last digit of the code and records the wrong channel as a result.
I had trouble with the FDT2000 initially (as stated in a previous review), but it settled down to be a good performer, that was until the latest update and the hassles of the new Electronic Program Guide download. The box shuts down at 3am to download the EPG. You have no choice in the matter unless you are up and watching freeview at 3 am as the option 'press a button within 30 seconds or box will shut down' is useless if you are recording a freeview channel while in bed. If you have any sort of PVR/DVR linked to this box, it is now effectively useless. If you do manage to keep it on by overriding it as you are watching at 3am, it will only shut down using the same procedure the following morning around dinnertime. Support from Ferguson was to enter setup, go to guide and reinstate older preference for EPG. this cannot be done as the 'guide' part of the menu has been disabled since it automatically updated and began this 3am shutdown procedure. Tivo type users, AVOID THIS NOW USELESS BOX LIKE THE PLAGUE. were it not for the 3am issue, I would have no issues with it. The fact this auto shutdown was sneaked in under the radar after so long working well, only to now be ruined by the update only serves to show how bad an auto update scenario can be. The fact it powers down automatically then doesn't auto power up just rubs salt in the wounds.
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diablo944
on 1st Jul 2007