Philips DTR220 - Ultra Compact Digital Freeview Set Top Box

October 31, 2007 | By Doug In Freeview TV |

Philips DTR220 - Ultra Compact Digital Freeview Set Top Box
Customer Review: Why do all Digital Boxes seem to have problems?
This one is better than the previous PACE box I had, for some reason that needed to warm up before being usable and froze up and crashed all the time.

When this Phillips box works it’s excellent - BUT occasionally the on screen graphics (telling you info about the programme etc) completely corrupt and become little green meaningless blobs. Turning the unit off and on clears this though.

Also, and this one is bizarre. Occasionally when a BBC2 show is broadcast the screen goes black and all I get is sound. When the next programme starts, the picture comes back. Only affects BBC2 (so far). Annoyingly this problem is not sorted by switching off and on.

From what I’ve heard most Digi boxes have numerous glitches so I should be grateful this only has some minor ones. I do wander though if such a thing as a fault free Digi Box exists.

Customer Review: Aggravating on turn on and no better than any other freeview box
I accept that alot of the problems with this are down to the lack of an outdoor aerial but it isn’t any better than the cheap box I had before and alot more annoying due to it going through a loading screen when you turn it on rather than just going straight to the channel it was on when turned off. The epg etc is clear and set up easy but that palaver when you turn it on (which no other box I’ve ever had has done - and I have had a few, believe me) is just annoying, as is the big updated firmware announcement box that comes up after it has done an update and which shows in anything you may have been recording at the time. The box is attractive to look at, and lovely and small, but that doesn’t make any difference to the performance of it. I found that it isn’t any better than the previous box I had even though I also spent ?30 on a better aerial. Sorry, until the broadcasters do something about sending a decent flaming signal out none of these damn boxes will be that good. I know someone who had to change their rooftop aerial because their box didn’t like the one they had so even some rooftop aerials don’t do the job. Just buy the cheapest one you can get and you’ll probably get just as good as this - or any other one.

37 HD Ready LCD TV - Digital Tuner (1920×1080p) 3500:1 500cd/m2 - Black Bezel Size: 37 Tuner: Yes Resolution: 1920×1080p Brightness: 500cd/m2 Contrast Ratio: 3500:1 Connections: HDMI: 2 Component video RGB (via SCART): 1 SCART: 2 Side AV input PC Input: WXGA Analogue Audio Input Fixed/Variable Audio Output: Fixed Optical Digital Audio Output Sub woofer output Headphone DVB Common Interface Other: SRS WOW Active Vision 1080 HD Ready Warranty: TBC
Amazon Price: ?724.99
Customer Review: Brilliant TV, Brilliant Service from Amazon
We put our order into Amazon on Wednesday morning and received the TV the very next day - express delivery for less than ?8 was a steal. Unpacked, plugged it in, hooked up our SCART connector from our Sky+ box, turned it on … and it set up itself. Very impressed all round - great picture, great sound, stunning looks - all in a 37″ full HD TV that cost less than ?750. We love it to bits!
Customer Review: HD is the way forward if this is anything to go by.
I have had this TV a couple of weeks now and think I have played with it enough to have a good idea of it’s capabilities. Very easy set up with the TV essentially doing it all for you on both the built in Freeview and standard Analogue channels. I also connected a SD Sky+ box by Scart; a 1080p upscaling DVD Player by HDMI and an XBOX 360 by component. I first turned on the TV and was horrified by the pixelation that I had from the Sky box. However, after changing a few settings I have managed to get a good but by no means perfect SD picture. As a previous review says the TV looks at its best if you sit further away from it. It does however still struggle with Sports in SD because of the speed of movement. The Upscaled DVD’s look fantastic. Really rich deep colours and a really sharp picture. If this is the quality of Upscaling I cannot wait to get a true HD source, when Blu-ray and HD-DVD finally conclude their battle. The Xbox 360 outputs at 1080p since the recent update, although most games are still limited to 720p. Either way the picture is quite stunning. It is incredibly detailed and full of colour. All in all a truly fantastic TV with the correct source. A little dissapointing on SD but with the right settings and if you don’t sit to close you can make it look quite good. That being said who cares about SD? HD is they way forward. As soon as Sky start broadcasting more than about 9 channels in HD and stop charging ?10 extra per month then I will get one of their HD Boxes (Wife permitting!) and this TV really will be an all round winner.
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1000:1 contrast ratio ActiveVision LCD Picture Processing
Used Price: ?533.99
Customer Review: Toshiba brilliance!
After reading the fantastic reception that this TV has had on the AV Forums I decided to take the plunge as I have not been happy with many of the HD LCD TV’s that were out on the market. I can truly say that overall I have been absolutely stunned by the beautiful picture quality of this set. The M100 100hz processing technology that the TV uses produces silky smooth fast running images without any blurring. Connectivity is also utterly superb with 3 HDMI slots, S-Video, VGA, Component and many others ensuring that the TV has absolutely no problems connecting to your HD Satalite/cable box, upscaled DVD players or games consoles. The image quality (colours and the depth of black) in HD is gorgeous and watching Blu-Ray movies through the PS3 or playing games on the 360 is just an utter joy. My one issue with the set is the controller. It just feels cheap and can be a little unresponsive, but it in no way should deter people from purchasing this fantastic TV.
Customer Review: Great Picture, shame about the rest
I must admit I did not do my homework properly. The WLT68 has a great picture, looks the business and a friend has an earlier Toshiba LCD again with a great picture. However the remote control is fiddly with the most useful buttons hidden away. Most annoyingly the TV is very slow to react, especially the EPG and information pages. It sometimes appears to have come to a grinding halt. Our other television, a Sony, has better remote control and reacts much quicker. Another annoying feature, although there may be a setting to correct this, is its habit of reverting to 4:3 aspect whenever I change to the HDMI input for the DVD player. The sound is nothing much either, and turning up the bass causes the TV to resonate. If you do go for this TV either buy the optional Sub woofer or feed the audio through the separate sound system. It’s a great television let down by poor slow software. Come back Sony all is forgiven!
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