TomTom ONE XL Great Britain With UK Mapping & Safety Cameras
Customer Review: Very good indeed
I recently bought a Binatone Carrera and it was absolute total rubbish (see my review here at Amazon). I returned it and bought the ONE XL. What a world of difference. Best route first try every time, instantly recalculates if you decide to go a different way, easy to use menus, good to look at.

I would have given it 5 stars but for the fact that it doesn’t know where I live. I live on a small island between canal and river, and not only does it not recognise my post code or address, but the island is shown on its map as having no roads. Indeed, the bridge onto the island is not even shown! Surprising really, as the residences here have been here for at least 6 or 7 years. I await news from TomTom about this.

Customer Review: Amazing technology
What a life saver driving straight to locations instead of spending hours poring over the maps! Unfortunately mine has only lasted 13 weeks before a fault has developed with the touch screen flashing on & off. Has anyone out there successfully returned anything to Amazon?

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The RC-278 DVD/VHS player/recorder is a complete system that combines a DVD player/recorder and a HiFi Stereo VHS player/recorder. The RC-278 is compatible with several formats, so you can build up a true home TV programme and film collection. In DVD record mode, the RC-278 works with DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW and DVD-RAM formats. The 3D sound will add more realism to your films. Its 5 compression modes give you up to 11 hours of digital video. The VHS player has 2 recording speeds and includes the andldquo;Jet Driveandrdquo; fast-forward and rewind functions. The RC-278 DVD/VHS player/recorder also allows you to copy from DVD and VHS cassette and vice-versa, as well as simultaneous DVD play and VHS record. The RC-278 DVD/VHS player/recorder is a stellar home audio/video system that gives you numerous recording possibilities for your entertainment.
Amazon Price: ?137.20
Used Price: ?118.99
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Odys 10.2″ Flip down kitchen with digital DVB Tuner. The unit receives ITV2, BBC3, Film 4 as well as digital radio stations. Integrated DVD/CD/MP3 Player with built-In AM/FM Radio and stereo speakers. A/V Input. Fully Rotational Screen. Remote Control.
Customer Review: Odys Flipdown Digital TV (Freeview)
We have this mounted under our Kitchen cabinets and overall it’s not bad. It receives Freeview broadcasts well and the picture quality is OK for this type of TV. The only thing I would criticise on the picture front is that it can be rather dark with some analogue sources (SKY re-modulated to UHF, for example) - adjusting to compensate would make Digital broadcasts way too bright. Also, please bear in mind that there is no Teletext available. The sound is surprisingly good for such a small unit, although Stereo’s always going to be a bit limited from such a small box. The control menu structure is not particularly well laid-out and nor is the remote control, but the fact that the latter is magnetic is certainly a cool idea. The unit has three separate aerial inputs for Digital TV, Analogue TV and Radio and you will need to provide separate cables for all three if you wish to use all of them (you would need the Analogue TV input if you re-modulate SKY broadcasts through your aerial distribution system, for example) - this is a bit of a pain, to be honest. The ability to swivel the display horizontally is useful, however.
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Customer Review: DVB-T stick
This is obviously a common DVB-T stick, made by the same plant out of China/Taiwan [as so much hardware is single-sourced] then branded by particular [western] companies who mostly do the end-customer support and marketing for their specific regions. For instance, the MSI stick has an MSI box, and an MSI support number. The interface for USB DVB-T technically must be similar, as there are several options, from the other reviews, of software to use, in place of the included. I bought a stick from www.digittrade.de. One reviewer who gave a low rating to his version, noted the lack of cooling vents, while my edition had a large vent on one side — For the moment, let me look at a big picture; looking, as a comparison, at most of the Bluetooth USB sticks which are sold, where the value is in the 78 megabyte licensed software. Several of these 10? BT sticks are, I suspect, ‘grey’. That is, they may not have current/licensed software, or the software included is an unlicensed copy. Or require illegally hacked software, opened to allow for non-licensed sticks - In comparison, USB DVB-T sticks, which practically seem to be all the same, ‘under the hood’. A lot of value is in the licensed software; the hardware alone, being very cheap to produce, and the plastic housing customized to the marketing/support company’s wishes. The 35? DVB stick probably being manufactured for a cost around 2? — to which I say, ‘cut it open!’ This is an inexpensive stick. If it has already been purchased, and overheats, it’s very simple to pry the case open and modify it, within a few minutes, and be watching Tele again. Problems with the pre-packed TV Jukebox software (v3.0c): The installer forcibly attempts to install a patch for Windows XP (KB822603), although the specific patch is no good for a XPSP2 or W2K3 (any non-XP) system. This means the installer for the TV Jukebox software quits, and the software does not work. Crackers! The software’s DirectX detection routine does not follow Microsoft/Industry ‘Best Practices’: Running the TV Jukebox software on an XP machine, as a non-Administrator, the software quits with a ‘DirectX Not Installed’ error. A problem for those of us who choose to follow one of the first Best Practice methods: running as (Restricted) Users - blocking viruses, etc. from self-installing or corrupting our OS. Thankfully, it appears, other software options are available, which I will SOON be checking out!
Customer Review: Quite disappointing…
Installation is no problem, and I didn’t even bother trying the supplied internal aerial, as it seems that nobody has any luck with any of those. I picked up plenty of channels on my regular TV aerial. My problem is stuttering. When watching the TV you get jumping - if recording, then it’s on-screen corruption at the point where the jumping occurs. Bad signal? Well, possibly, but it’s reporting around 70-75% signal strength, and a friend’s MSI Sky Mega doesn’t have the problem, although it does get really HOT. Any this may be the problem with the ATMT stick (it’s actually a DigiO2 device, by the looks of it). I noticed that when first used, there’s hardly any stuttering, but it progressively gets worse, as the stick gets hotter and hotter. The MSI stick has little vents, but the ATMT stick seems to be completely sealed, and I just wonder whether it’s just getting too hot - I might try and test this theory further by trying to keep the stick cool somehow. Initial indications show that the supplied TV software (TV Jukebox) is ok, but interestingly, the drivers for the MSI device from their website, include PVR software that works with the ATMT stick, and potentially seems to be of a higher quality - it may be worth giving both a go. I had hoped that I could use this stick as a make-shift PVR when on holiday, and the like, on my laptop - a lowly Dell Centrino 1.3Mhz. CPU utilisation doesn’t seem to be a problem, and the MSI seems to function just fine - if I could just persuade my mate to do a swap, I’d be sorted. Customer support (or at least responses) from ATMT are pretty good, although no Vista support for the forseeable future, I’d be tempted to buy something else though. I know I keep going on about it, but the MSI device just worked, and so I’m returning the ATMT, and will try and find one of those instead.
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With a Twin Freeview tuner and the 80GB HDD you will never miss aprogram with the SVRS500.
Customer Review: Love it…
Many negative reviews below, BUT (fingers crossed) I’ve had mine up and running a week now and - well, yes, it’s a bit slow, and no, it’s not completely silent, but I still LOVE it. No messing with DVDs, you can see exactly how much room you have on the hard drive, I can pause and rewind TV whenever, and you can be recording 2 programmes at once while watching something else you recorded all at the same time (where else can you get that?)! Channel 5 reception not fantastic but also never was with my last freeview box, so it’s not really bothering me. I may one day be tempted into cable because it’s pretty much picture perfect ALL the time, but I’ll still have it hooked up to this machine for recording. I had a true electrickery anorak (and perfectionist) come round the other day and he made very impressed noises about how excellent it was for the price, so I’ve got no complaints. Think the answer is to not have it in your bedroom if you’re a light sleeper. See also review below by Allan Kelly below from 12 Aug 07, very helpful.
Customer Review: Worst Sony Product ever - and that is being kind!
I love Sony - or did at least until I bought this. After having a successful introduction to Freeview via a Daewoo unit my hubby bought me for the bedroom, we decided to ditch Sky and go for Freeview in the livingroom. I saw some of the reviews regarding the Sony, but thought they had got it wrong. After all, Sony were great weren’t they? Got it all plugged together okay, got it switched on and then heard the fan from hell. Now, we live in a detached house and have the telly up loud - and I can still hear the fan going. The 3am download it does is no laughing matter either - horrendous fan noise which sounds more like my pc when its running at full pace doing the virus scan - this goes on for at least 30 minutes and seems to get longer every day. If you’re looking to buy this for the bedroom - forget it - the only thing you’re likely to get is a heart attack. Now don’t get me started about the EPG - it is the worst I have ever seen - menus are slow to load - not user friendly in any way - interesting that the Daewoo leaves Sony standing on all fronts for this. Picture quality is appalling - again the Daewoo leaves this well behind. In short, the only reason I give this unit 1 star is it hasn’t frozen yet. Take my advice and steer well clear.
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