Installation, then, is just about connecting the MFR-300 up, and sticking the IR receiver to the top or side of your telly. There's a double-sided sticky pad in the box for just this purpose, and two complementary strips of velcro for fixing the MFR-300 itself to the back of your TV.
All the features you'd expect from a set-top box
Doing so exposes TVonics' only design flaw: the biggest faces of the MFR-300 are curved, so you can ever get an entirely flush fit against the TV. But at least the use of velcro means you only need a small area of contact to keep the device in place.
The MFR-300 sends out its picture on analogue channel 38 - though you can change this in the device's settings - so all you have to do is tune your TV accordingly and keep it there. You can toss the TV's remote, if it has one, and rely exclusively on the MFR-300's own controller. It's a shame the MFR-300's remote can't be programmed to turn your TV off too.
You may not even need the IR pick-up. It's included in case you want to stuff the MFR-300 right behind your telly, but since the Freeview box has a built-in IR receiver too, you can fix it to the side or top of your TV and point the remote in its direction.
Auto-tunes on start-up
The first time it's powered up, the MFR-300 sits and waits for you to OK a channel search. It runs through the range quickly and efficiently, and you're ready to start watching in almost no time at all. The remote is good, and provides access to the full array of Freeview features.
COMMENTS
"the original analogue channel groups will be used for digital"
That may well be, and will certainly be appreciated by many. However, it will be a gamble, buying digital gear on mere trust that it will receive. No wonder they are phasing the switch-over, so that the people the state generally doesn't care about as much get screwed over first.
Re: The price is wrong
"80% of old TV aerials"
Actually, in many regions, the original analogue channel groups will be used for digital after the switchoff. This coupled with a power boost means that no aerial upgrade will be necessary. In fact, many who've bought high gain aerials will probably see their picture disappear when the transmitter power goes up. Whilst the tech savy will realise they just need to fit an attenuator, I'm sure there will be a lot of aerial installers who suck air between their teeth and say, "you need a new aerial mate, give me 200 quid".
The price is wrong
Nice idea, but is it really worth £40 to keep a telly going, that's so old it doesn't have a SCART socket? My mum's telly is early 1990s, but does have SCART. I expect most folks will go out and buy a new Freeview-tuner TV, once they're widely available and analog TV in their area is about to be turned off. At £15 they'd sell a lot better.
BTW the hidden cost of digital TV that they are keeping quiet about, is that something like 80% of old TV aerials won't hack it. This will surprise and upset a lot of grannies.
re"Stop saying overpriced! "
(This is just a blatant AOL "Me Too!!") It cost me £60 to get a box from Maplin to convert the signal and a cheap Freeview box with separate audio out (I like running the telly output in to the HiFi).
Instead of the four and bit channels I was used to in a rural area the cheap Freeview box grabbed the lot and with a great picture.
Saved buying another telly with a decent picture - much better than a cheap 'digital' ie Freeview-equipped telly.
Legal requirements.
SCART is a standard, not a legal requirement. There was nothing to stop you selling a SCART-less telly apart from the inconvenient fact that you weren't likely to sell any as anything the purchaser wanted to plug into it would most likely have a SCART lead on it.
Past tense there as I'm sure that SCART-less boxes will show up soon as HDMI takes over.
Sorry, but this one's touched a nerve. I spend waaay too much time trying to seperate the real legal requirements (i.e. it's required to do this by law) from the fake ones (i.e. we want it to do this but we can't justify it.)
Incidently, removing the RF modulator from DVDs and such is less to do with saving money and more about getting pissed off with explaining to Joe Public why their DVD doesn't look any better than their VCR did and that all their hard work in wading through the RF tuning instructions was a waste of time.
