Sharp TU-T2
Review The Sharp TU-T2 is most expensive box in the group, and it's also one of the ones with fewest features. The front panel, for example, sports nothing more than a power button and a pointless square arrangement of eight bright blue LEDs.
It comes with a very compact remote control. However, the buttons are a little small and closely packed together, and it didn’t feel as responsive as the controls bundled with the other set-top boxes.
The TU-T2's on-screen displays are clear and crisp, but a little lacking in polish. While the EPG displays eight channels of information, for instance, it all seems a bit squashed down at the bottom of the screen.
Ultimately, there’s nothing really wrong with this box. But the plastic case and annoying lights on the front panel give it very much a budget feel that’s at odds with the suggested price.
Verdict
A decent budget box - shame it comes at a premium price. ®
COMMENTS
Bush was 99.99 at Argos until recently
It's really sad that this first generation review of Freeview HD boxes failed to find one priced at 100 quid or less, which is surely the point at which Joe Public decides to take the plunge? It's especially sad that these HD boxes that can't record have come in at the price of twin tuner SD Freeview hard disk recorders - the price of early adopters of 1st gen equipment I guess.
It should be noted, however, that Argos was selling the Bush at 99.99 quid for a fair while, but it's now back to an overpriced 149.99 quid. I picked it up at the cheaper price (I wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't for the World Cup looming) and for a basic box, it's not bad. The remote control is indeed "weird", plus the channel display on the front on the box is far too bright (4 eye-searing 7-segment red LEDs). I wouldn't recommend the Bush at 150 quid, but at 100 quid it certainly justified more than the 45% rating it got and would also have been by far the cheapest of your group by almost 30%.
What seems to be missing at the moment is decently priced twin tuner HD Freeview hard disk recorders (500GB+ please) - they should be out *now* and priced at 200-250 quid. Also missing is a twin tuner USB DVB-T2 for a PC - Hauppage's forums suggest a total lack of interest until some time next year!
