Alba ALDTR160 160GB

You cant really complain about this machine its not bad for a Freeview box though i wouldnt recomend Freeview i baught my girlfriend one of these because she uses freeview (personally i think Freeview sucks) this is the best box shes had so far and shes had quite a few because there always seems to be problems 1st got to get a digital aerial (cost about £30 or so and about £40 to have it put up if you dont fancy climbing up on your roof) i think for what Freeview offers its just not worth the hastle of instralling a new aerial just to watch a few extra channels. The sound has dropped on all my girlfriends boxes since the switch over its a real pain in the backside every couple of minutes the sound just goes for upto 10 seconds. It used to be a lot worse it would come back a few seconds later out of sync so had to turn over an back again. My advide as good as this box is Freeview is just not upto the job. Get FreeSat

this started off as a good piece of kit for a few months then it started to lock everything so we have to reboot it at least 2 times a week. the recordings are hit and miss some are jumpy, then the next will be last 5 mins missing :( i would not recommend it. would be good if the company that makes it releases a software/patch update to solve it. Definitely not worth the cash i paid :(

ALBA ALDTR160. This was the third similar unit I purchased over three years. The boxes look the same but are from different manufactuers. Hitachi was the other. The features are good and the software has become more sophisticated over the years. However, on this latest ALBA model, the software seems to have pushed the processor too far as it fails to cope at times. The EPG is slow to display and all functions relating top it(moving around, setting a record etc ) seem to drag. The worst problem is that it locks up without warning, probably twice a week, either on its own or when navigating with the remote. My other Hitachi units don't suffer like this, but looking at various reviews, the later ones do. Whoever makes this machine in China (or wherever) needs to know that it is unreliable.

Piece of junk. EPG is slower than a week in jail to respond to keypresses on the remote - takes for ever to scroll through channel list. Hitting the skip button to get past adverts frequently crashes it and the only way out is to switch off and on (and then wait 2 minutes for it to check the hard drive and reboot). Recently when watching recorded programmes it starts skipping and stuttering making the programme completely unwatchable. Don't waste your money - go look for something that works!

SENT IT STRAIGHT BACK

All recordings were jumping everywhere and were completely unwatchable

Maybe not as many functions as some boxes but for a lot of people this fact is a bonus! Simple to operate, the handset is well arranged and the recording (via the EPG, electronic programme guide) is simple, visual and logical - as is playing back the recordings via a well structured library function.

Good value for money

The main problem I've discovered so far is the time delay from pressing buttons on the remote to the box acting on the signal. You really can't live with it. For example, when I try to get channel 45, it takes so long to register the second number, the number 5, that the box has already changed to channel 4. Also i sometimes have to select the same channel 4 or 5 times before it changes. We are attempting to take this machine back.

The Alba ALDTR160 160GB freeview box is not a bad bit of kit one prob it sticks in the middle of somthing then you cant chhange channels or record.

Alba ALDTR160 160GB is a good, very reasonably priced recorder. Easy to operate and provides good quality recordings.