Digifusion: FVRT200

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Comments (127)

Neil T, Cornwall on July 9th, 2005
Just got a FVRT200 seems little different from FVRT100 other than it runs much more quietly and looks a bit more interesting.Extra HD space will be useful.I never had a minutes trouble with the FVRT100 lets hope same applies with FVRT200

Peter, Somerset on July 10th, 2005
Bought yesterday in John Lewis for £199 - excellent!

Keith McD, East London on July 30th, 2005
I have had the FVRT200 for over six months now and it is amazing. The only problem I had was the noise level of the fan under the HDD inside. I have replaced it with a low powered unit and now you have to strain your ears to hear it. Great unit now even better.

Jumbo Jim, West Sussex on August 22nd, 2005
I find this Digi-box to be 98% perfect. It drops 1% for having a slightly too noise hard drive, and another percent for not warning purchasers that a strong 65% plus signal is required.

Matt, London on August 30th, 2005
I bought it a few days ago, works well and there is not a whisper of noise.

Paul L, Cambridgeshire on September 5th, 2005
I am really impressed with my Digifusion Box, as the other reviews say it can be a nusance the fan noise, especially if you have the box in your bedroom. The only possible modifications that i could possibly recommend to Digifusion is to change the EPG to a Grid list, similar to that on the Sony Box or the Pace Twin, and a Weekday only Repeat Record Function. 95% Happy with the Box! I Would Recommend It to Anyone!

bundanoonboy, Tetbury, Glos on September 7th, 2005
my FVRT200 is fantastic! no noise, easy to use and features galore. Connected to my dvd recorder for stuff i want to keep, it's changed the way we watch tv. Always something to watch, no more hurrying to catch the start of a program with use of chase play. only very minor niggle is slightly awkward remote and slow channel changing with no on screen program info while channel surfing. otherwise perfect!

Darren, SW London on October 1st, 2005
Had a FVRT200 over a month now, an OK looking box, but badly made inside (I'm a component engineer). Cheap in every sense of the word! Box does work though, although swapping channels is slow and have had 2 formats of the HD, contacted Digifusion, they say "it can be normal" whatever that means! 4/10

Bill Yarrow, Sale on October 9th, 2005
I got the FVRT200 about 2 months ago, and am very happy with it. It receives all the Freeview channels I have looked for - much better than the old Pace set-top box I had, which was dicey on Five! Also the Hard Disk recording is great. I can't comment on "Chase-Play", as I haven't used it, but watching one channel and recording another, both digital, is very good.

Bob Moore, West Yorkshire on October 17th, 2005
Too damn hot. Intermittent lockups, slow channel changes and failure to respond to the remote... all cured by switching off and cooling down (internal cables are fine, I checked). It just gets too damn hot - keep the power block away from the unit, as that by itself gets very hot.

Chris, Newcastle Upon Tyne on October 19th, 2005
Got mine 2 weeks ago and it's going back. It has locked up 6 or 7 times, sometimes overnight, sometimes while watching - the unit freezes and won't respond to the remote. At this point in time the unit lasts about 10 minutes after a power cycle before locking up. Judging by reviews of the FVRT 200 in other forums I'm not alone. Reliability seems to be a big problem and I wish that I had read a few more reviews before buying it.

Derek Hodgkins, Wirral on October 20th, 2005
i have had my 200 for about 5 months now and so far very pleased. but e4 and more 4 and itv 3 are not in wide screen,just black bars at the sides.

Steve L, Stoke on Trent on October 23rd, 2005
had the FVRT150 for 4 months untill it started locking up on me.Argos gave me a sagem instead.Tried it for a week but it did not come anywhere near to the FVRT, got my money back and bought the FVRT200 somewhere else for the same price.It feels like an old friend has come home! Just hope the reliability is better.

Rick K, Bucks on October 24th, 2005
I've owned a FVRT200 since July. It's done everything I wanted it to in the meantime. It's not failed to record anything I've asked it to and picture quality is fine. For £200 it's a great workhorse. The only thing that concerns me is that I have a 16:9 plasma screen and the fact that it cannot display this on ITV2, E4 and More4 is a concern. They need to fix this with a software update, which has been promised a long time, THEN it'll be a great box for Freeview.

Andy, Manchester on October 24th, 2005
I've had the FVRT100 for over 9 months then it kept locking up. Got the 200 as a replacement and its fantastic! No problems with locking up and the fan is quiet on mine. Hope it continues to be this good

Peter, Oxford on October 31st, 2005
I chose the FVRT200 because "What Hi Fi? Sound & Vision" Awards 2005 gave it a glowing 5 star report and made it their "best buy" freeviw PVR. So far the box has behaved itself without any problems(a mere 10 days' ownership). My only gripes are: the on-screen menu display - the mottled blue background is unnecessary and makes the menu items difficult to read; the noise of the fan which runs all the time. It's not very loud, but enough to be irritating when I'm sitting reading. Lastly, the remote, this feels cheap and the box only responds to the signal if the remote is carefully pointed directly at the receiver, pointing even a little up/down, left/right of the DigiFusion's receiver causes it to ignore the signal. Minor problems, but tedious. I contacted their techincal support who told me that the menu background cannot be changed and suggested I housed the box in a cabinet to suppress the noise. Apparently the box is busy processing whatever has been recorded, which is why the fan/disk run 24/7. Hmmm. On the plus side, the picture quality is excellent and the recording features have worked well. It's my first freeview box, so I can't make comparisons. Quieter & with better menus would earn it my 5 star rating!

Carol, Manchester on October 31st, 2005
Had the FVRT since August 05. Keeps locking up. Plug very very hot. Had about 60 hours of recording on it, but when turned on to watch something today it's all disappeared. The programmes I had to record in advance are still listed to be recorded. The hard disc says its got 81% free, so I don't know where the other 19% is cos there's nothing at all on it now. Has anybody else had this problem? Really annoying cos I'd taped so many progs I really wanted to watch when I had the chance. Think I might just go back to Humax, cheesed off about the Fuji now.

Geordie, Dorset on November 4th, 2005
Excellent quality recordings and very quiet but can only program manually as it locks at exactly the same time (03:18 hrs) each night while attempting to update software/program guide in standby mode.

Martin, London on November 7th, 2005
Nice looking unit. Excellent pictures for Freeview. Easy to use, better epg layout than the Humax. Front LCD is very good and extremly functional. Menu looks good but can be cluttered on a smaller TV. Poor remote, have seen better on lower price units. No digital audio out. These are minor points though, this unit is going to get a lot of use in my house!

Tim, Epping on November 13th, 2005
Just had my 150 die on me after 6 month - spoke to Tech support who reckon the hd has gone. I am very tempted to get a 200 despite this experience because all the good things that people say about these boxes are so true; just want the reliability as well.

Carol, Manchester on November 15th, 2005
I posted on 31 Oct about my library disappearing. I only bought the FVRT200 after reading all the good reports about it. The company I bought it off told me that there are that many faulty units being sent back all the time with various problems that they have stopped selling it. They arranged collection of unit for me and gave me a full refund. I've now bought the Humax 9200 and it's brill. I'd recommend it over the FVRT200 anytime. Humax 9200 is so good I've ordered another one.

Nick, London on November 18th, 2005
Read about the poor build quality of these boxes on Digital Spy, but went ahead and ordered one anyhow. Well it's just arrived and what do you know - it doesn't work! Fusion tech support say it has to be returned. Brilliant.

Bert H, Bristol on November 20th, 2005
I have owned a FVRT200 for just over two months now. Having read various reviews on the DS forums, I considered that this seemed to have the fewest issues, and was at least available (unlike many others, which seemed to be perpetually `around the corner'). I have to say, it hasn't disappointed. It does everything properly and reasonably quickly; it has hung only once (apparently - I wasn't home when it happened); the disk space seems plentiful - haven't yet used/reserved more than 50% of the disk; the fan is inaudible, although it is possible to hear the HDD ticking in a quiet room. On the downsides, the UI is slightly clunky - while it looks very snazzy, it sometimes isn't all that clear, and there seems to be under-use of the OK button, preferring to use the 4 colour buttons. They could have though of a few short cuts as well. I also don't like how both vision and sound are lost when reviewing the guide. All-in-all though, a very good, solidly built and stable box for the money. Well recommended.

Bernie, Brighton on November 25th, 2005
Sorry to say I have just returned the second unit because both it and the first virtually seized up taking upto 3 minutes to respond to the RC! I hope this was just a faulty batch because when it worked it worked very well - good picture, easy to set recordings etc.

Roger T, London on November 29th, 2005
Just got a FVRT200 for £147 from qed.co.uk. Looks great but big problems with lock-ups straight out of the box. A system reset (power up whilst holding 2 right hand buttons down) got me going for a few hours, but then the lock-ups started again. Hope to get a replacement box from qed next week - what a drag.

GH Hampton on December 5th, 2005
Bought a new FVRT200 from Currys for my wife's birthday who didn't know she neded one! a littkle noise but now much noisier. locked up a couple of times. Now just says please wait -- I waited all night. Waiting for tech support who go home at 5pm.

Julian H, Wiltshire on December 11th, 2005
I have had a FVRT150 for almost a year, well that is to say I have owned that model for a year but am on my 3rd unit. The previous ones and now this one develop a fault after a number of months which cause the box to 'freeze' on a far too frequent basis (almost every time I switch it on!). I have loved the way the box has twin tuner automatic 30 min record, pause live telly, 14 day epg, however the bugs are now becoming too frequent. Am looking for a replacement unit, any suggestions!

Mark, Three Bridges on December 15th, 2005
Great looking box with great functions. No problems as of yet except... I live in a weak signal area and this box is nowhere as good at picking up signals as my old Nokia 221t. This also means that it doesn't always update the EPG overnight, as I'm guessing the signal needs to be a certain strength. Worth thinking about these problems if your signal aint that great!

Nigel, Brighton on December 16th, 2005
Have had FVRT200 for 6 months now and have to say on the whole its very good, although it does have it's occasional "funny moments". For instance; - It has locked up once or twice - solved by power cycle - It has just totally reset and lost everything (like it has just been taken out of the box) - I have no idea how this happened, but its fine after power cycling and resetting up the whole box! Lost all my recordings.... - It needs a stronger signal than other digiboxes 60%+ by its reckoning although don't know what this means - HDD runs all the time (not really sure why this is the case if its turned off) is slighly noisy but not offensive - Menu backgound colour is terrible and makes menus hard to read at distance - Twin tuners are fab and recording/playback quality is good - General features are good, rec x 2 and start watching while recording the end etc is ace expecially if you don't like ads! - Can be a little slow to change channels/access EPG etc at times - No simple output to PC / more storage On the whole this is an excelent piece of kit and I recommend it to the house!

Lesley Kilgallon, York on December 19th, 2005
Just bought the Digifusion FVRT200 and was a little worried after reading the reviews. What can I say - it's brilliant! Has worked perfectly, easy to use, what fan noise??!!! We own an ALBA digital receiver which is always locking up and from what I have heard it is a problem with Freeview boxes but the Digifusion seems OK. Overall very impressed with it.

Neil, Luton on December 23rd, 2005
Ahhh! Digifusion, weird name, weird graphics awful remote(cheap more than anything) But so far an excellent box. The build of the unit is first class, nice and solid and it feels as if the money has been spent on the right things. The front display is clear and informative and the blue glow behind the buttons is a nice touch, shame you can't turn this off though as you can turn off the main display. Have only had the unit a few days, but so far so good, recordings have recoreded and the quality is excellent. Below I've listed a few niggles: - The graphics - gawdy but staightforward - No automatic now and next info when changing channel(although pressing 'ok' brings this up) - The fan/HD noise, quiet but still a bit annoying(although from reading other reviews of similar machines this seems common) - Slow channel change over(or am I impatient?) All the above points are nit picking more than antyhing as for the money this box seems to outperform every other box on the market, picture quality is first rate excellent 14 day epg, twin tuner , record both and watch previous recordings. Hopefully this box won't have to many of the problems highlighted in other reviews, but then every digi box i've had has had problems with freezing, unresponsive etc, including those from philips and ones from NTL. Recomended(for now?)

Jim, Gloucester on December 24th, 2005
I've had to return two FVRT200 in a week. First one continually locked up. It was only when I bought the second that I noticed, like other reviewers here, that it was crushing the picture size on ITV2, E4 and more4. I know , it sounds weird, but it was only on those channels! Then this ne started to lock up as well! Coupled with the noisy fan in standby, it had to go! It's a shame because if these 3 problems were sorted it would be a cracking bit of kit.

Russell, Lancashire on December 26th, 2005
Bought my 200 on ebay for £150 with 9 mnths Receipt, So far so good already filled 50% of HDD, excellent picture both live and recorded, I moved upto a 200 from a ITV Digital box{I Know stop laughing} so anything is better than that. Yeah this box has niggles like any other piece of new technology it equals new problems!! Anyway It beats being on your hands and knees in front of a video looking for Corrie!!! I'm sure this box will give great service but like everything it will break eventually just hope its later rather than sooner. Just wondering wether I can chuck in a bigger hard drive if I start running outta space.

Toozalii on December 28th, 2005
What we originally thought was a great product has sadly failed to work after 3 months. Totaly dead, so a replacement unit was sent which did not work at all out of the box, Third replacement unit failed to tune, saying there was no signal? Funny, as the first one worked straight out of the box. All being sent back for a refund and we are now looking for a better manufacturer. Humax?? Sad, as the Digifusion interface and software seemed very good, but all let down by poor manufacturing.

Julian, London on December 28th, 2005
Bought the FVRT200 in Dec 05 after undertaking quite a bit of research as the up and coming PVR market has incfreased over the last 6 months. Was also looking at the HUMAX 9200 and Topfield. I went for the FVRT200 because of the price, £158 incl P&P from Tribaluk. It is excellent and not disappointed. Twin tuner, 14 day EPG, and 80 gb HDD are its best points. Yes, hard drive is a little bit noisy but unoitcable when tv volume is up. Looks good, works like a dream and is so easy to use my Mrs and 11 yr old son can use it as well!!! Go get one.

Dave J, Southampton on December 29th, 2005
Living in a flat with a communial aerial, I thought this box might struggle for a signal due to some of the reviews on here. When I first set up the box it did fail to get a few channels, but sitting it on the floor away from my DVD player and keeping the aerial lead away from the transformer has solved the problem and I now a near perfect reception for all channels. The 14 day EPG downloaded last night and works well, would be easier if it was in a grid like Sky's but hardly worth worrying about. Does appear to have an issue with screen ratios on E4, More4 and ITV2 which again is a little frustrating but not really worth worrying about as I would assume a software fix will be downloaded soon to fix it? Recording to HD is easy and the reminders work nicely as well, haven't figured out how to do the chase play part yet, but overall I am delighted, great picture and feraand great features would certainly recommend it to anyone!

Keith, Northumberland on December 30th, 2005
Had mine for 6 months now. Generally very pleased except a) still awaiting software upgrade to stop recorded radio skipping on playback b) at one point it started taking 45s to respond to remote - cured by HDD reformat but I lost my library (had exactly same problem with FVRT100) c) ocasionally locks up during chase play. Despite these niggles (which software upgrades should fix?) wouldn't part with it.

Anna Louise, Leeds on January 3rd, 2006
I've had the Digifusion FVRT200 for about four months. On two occasions when I was away from home for a week I returned to find that the system was unresponsive until unplugged then plugged in again. It then turned out that none of my programmes had been recorded. Today I returned after being away only 2 days to find that it was again unresponsive and that all the programmes on my hard drive were gone - it was 80% full! Up until this point I was quite happy with it.

Helyn D, Northumberland on January 3rd, 2006
I have had both the FVRT100 and the 200 - and both have been returned after less than a week for freezing and various other problems. After the first one went wrong I decided to upgrade to the 200 as I thought this would be more reliable as it was a newer model. When that one went wrong I did get advice from the Digifusion helpline telling me how to re-boot the machine (it didn't work) but best of all they blamed this problem on the bad weather!? I will try with a second FVRT200 - perhaps I have just been unlucky so far - but if that is no better I'll give it the whole PVR thing a miss until the technology works better. It is a real shame because when they work they are brilliant - I feel lost without mine.

Paul C, Berkhamsted on January 4th, 2006
We love this unit - (had it for 2 months now) and it's generaly excellant, but we have the following minor niggles. a) it *is* a little noisy b) remote is very cheap and nasty, and sometimes seems inaccurate c) Have twice had the unit lock up immediately after deleting a programme from the library. Power cycle clears that problem, though. d) I wish there wasn't an image (rippled water) behind all the menus, it makes them very very hard to read. If you can live with those (we certainly can) it's thoroughly recommended. The way I see it, if I have to replace it in a years time it's still far better value than a Sky+ subscription.

Jakob D, Aberdeen on January 4th, 2006
I found the Digifusion FVRT 200 ‘cheap’ in every sense and irritatingly noisy. I returned it to the shop and changed it for the new Humax machine which is vastly superior. Build quality, features, ease of use, regular software updates and twice the memory - the Humax machine is streets ahead! Spend the extra £50 and get the new Humax PVR 9200T instead!

John, Glasgow on January 5th, 2006
Very good box, excellent value @ £156 with next day delivery included from tribaluk.com. Note to Digifusion this is a good box but it could have 2 more things: 1. A Digital Audio Out 2. A Top Up TV Slot This would increase the price slightly but it would make an excellent box, perfect.

Stephen M, Reading on January 10th, 2006
My FVRT200 died after two months after many of the problems above. Replacement OK after two days but not very optimistic about future life having now seen all the other complaints. Next problem that crops up, it's back for a refund! Pity really as was brilliant when working.

JC, London on January 24th, 2006
Bought my FVRT200 in November 2005, and loved it - well apart from the very annoying fan. Have had a number of instances whereby it did not respond to the remote - solved with a power down. Last night it refused to switch on - did not power up in the usual way (fan did not kick in for a couple of mins) now it just says please wait. Have called helpline who have suggested I return it to John Lewis. Of course, they do not have any in stock! Arrrgh! I feel as though I have lost my right arm. When working, it is very very good. When broken it is crap!

Paul D, Newcastle on January 24th, 2006
Had the FVRT100, nice features, love the twin tuner but it kept wiping my recordings for no reason (a froum indiacted this might be down to converting to LP from SP so now I just record in SP. In any event I got sick and took it back, got another same problem, took it back and got the 200. Nice machine, pretty much the same but more room for more films but alas after 4 weeks programmes wiped for no reason other thank I had forgotten my only record in SP rule. Shucks. Nice machine. I am happy to about 80%

DB Wiltshire on January 27th, 2006
I had a FVRT 100 - from Dixons - which had the nasty habit of deleting all the recordings on the HD when it felt like it. Very annoying. Digifusion said it was a known fault for which a S/W fix was being prepared. It never materialised & I took the box back for a refund. In Oct 05 I bought a 200: this started to lock up after a short while, a problem which just got worse & worse. It was also very noisy compared to the 100. I'm currently awaiting a refund - I bought it online from TribalUK. Functionally both were OK: but they were just hopeless in terms of reliability. I also have a similar machine from Aldi - a Technosonics - which keeps loosing the signal & requiring a re-boot. Why can't anyone make a Freeview box + HD recorder which works properly!!.

Witchnut, Essex on January 29th, 2006
Excellent piece of kit. Easy to set up and very tolerant of being switched off while working (we get power-cuts here) have avoided the data compression features as others have indicated they have had problems. Gets good reception in our marginal reception area. Screen letterboxing options work better with a newer widescreen tv. Would like option to change the menu background for a plainer screen but not possible. Remote control unit is a bit cheap looking and operating.

Al, Dorset on February 14th, 2006
Box is well spec'd and the picture is better than NTL! Only trouble is that I've set it up and half the buttons on the remote don't work! I cant get into Menu, Guide or use any of the colour buttons (which the menus are dependent on). Sent back for replacement.

Dave S, Surrey on February 16th, 2006
Like everyone else... frequent lock-ups. Annoying that it regards a disk that WILL become full as being too full to accept more recordings. That really means that with repeated recordings you can never get past half full. Also if you specify a more compact recording format (LP or EP) for a repeated recording, it forgets that after the first and reverts to SP. Also a Weekday-Only repeat would be so useful.

Mark Snelling, Bucks on February 21st, 2006
Love it. Big Fan. Purchased 6 months ago and the first unit finally died just after Christmas having shown no faults... believe it was the power pack that finally gave up the ghost. John Lewis have replaced it and we picked up the new one today - note new style power pack included with this one - has this been a problem I wonder?

Tom D. Oxford on February 23rd, 2006
Have had the FVRT 200 for several months. This is the second one. The first crashed after about 6 weeks but getting a replacement was easy. No hassel. New unit has different power box, first one had big 'block' at power source, got very hot. New unit has smaller 'block' with seperate mains cord. Unit is quiet, records 2 channels at same time, good quality. Sits on top of Philips 28'' wide screen with own Freeview. Nice to have '3' tuners. All work well in good weather with good signal. One drawback on unit is it is hard to read program information. Background picture should be 'blank or single color' so print stands out. No real search mode either. Would also like to be able to transfer saved movies, shows to computer to save.

Linda, London on February 26th, 2006
Had the 200 bought for my birthday 2 weeks ago. It went back yesterday for a full refund as, like Carol in Manchester, I sat down yesterday to watch some programmes I had recorded, which were there the night before and yet had disappeared the day after. I really liked it but it did not respond to the remote all the time and channel changing was slow. Does anyone know where I can buy another (in London) as I am having little success. Would like another one to give it once last change!

Pete H, Swindon on February 28th, 2006
Reliabilty is a big issue, in six months three boxes have given up!. When working the unit performs very well, I could not go back to tape.

Mike, London on February 28th, 2006
Taking mine back to John Lewis tomorrow. Suspect they won't have a replacement in stock. Locks up and fails to respond to remote until re-booted - sometimes several attempts are necessary. I get the distinct feeling that the HD has a bad sector and the unit locks when trying to write to it (in record or buffer). Have re-formatted the drive once - worked fine for a week then locked again. Not happy. Functionality is great though. Changes the way you watch TV. Much better picture than the older F/view boxes. Excellent record quality in standard mode. Guess I will have to get used to five channels again...

Dennis, West Midlands on March 3rd, 2006
Bought FVRT 200 3rd Feb 06. PSU failed item replaced. 23rd Feb unit started locking up.Carried out Digifusion procedures. System still failed. Then system went through set up procedure every time the power was removed. Returned item to store for refund as item not fit for purpose. Lost confidence in this product. If thay can make it work it would be a fine product

Mike, Warwick on March 3rd, 2006
Generally fine for the six months I have had it with all problems fixed by power cycling. This week it died and calling the helpline it became obvious that there is a problem with the Power adapter which has failed. They have promised a new one. Seems 2amp is not enough and they are replacing with larger unit. Using it now with a 5 amp from my LCD TV and it is fine, nothing lost, all OK. However help desk lose emails, don't respond, and I still do not have the replacement PSU as promised. Don't respond to emails and give the impression that emails get lost in their own system.

David, Beds on March 6th, 2006
I chose the FVRT200 because of the recommendation in What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision magazine. Indeed, the video quality was stunning, but unfortunately it was unreliable and the build quality was not what I expected. Like many others in this forum, I found that the unit kept on freezing and frequently did not respond to the remote control. Eventually, it died on us, refusing even to boot up. We even had the newer 3A power supply block. The unit was only two months old when it failed and, having read some of the comments on this forum, decided that we would be risking disappointment if we exchanged it for the same make and model. So, today, we took it back to John Lewis and part exchanged it for a Humax. I have read elsewhere that a software update over the airwaves had been scheduled, but the manufacturer could not be specific, and whether or not this would solve the problems that users face. I have to say I find this shows a shocking disregard to quality control and customer care and is quite unforgiveable in this day and age, when customers expect reliability and durability straight out of the box.

Roy, Bedford on March 7th, 2006
Bought a FVRT200 as a replacement for a Panasonic which far too often failed to save a recording after recording it! The FVRT200 records well, but suffers from too frequent lock-ups which are only resolved by re-powering. The most annoying problem is that we lose the library on average once a month (4 times since end of November 2005). Digifusion have released updated software for the 100 and 150 and say the 200 will follow, but wont say when. Reflect the poor quality of the remote and that silly blue background seems a little childish.

Juile, London on March 10th, 2006
Have had a FVRT 200 since July 2005 and have had no problems at all. Easy to use and munch better than Humax as thought that was the worst box I had seen. However my mum also has a FVRT 200 since November 2005 and has problems with freezing. Agree with Mike from Warwick regarding the helpdesk however pestered this one guy there so much on telephone they promised new power cable. Should be here Monday.

William, London on March 11th, 2006
My second FVRT200 is being returned today which is a shame because I really like it when it was working. It did exactly the same as the first, locked up and then wiped the library on restart.

Adrian R, West Sussex on March 11th, 2006
Bought the 200. First unit locked up on any playback (from live pause or library, etc). Tried all the re-formatting things bur couldn't solve it so got it replaced. Second unit has no sound on play back. Sending it back for a refund. Other niggles: Background image makes it difficult to read the menus. Automatic info in the guide is distracting as it moves everything else down while you are trying to scan the list. Don't know what to buy next but certainly will not be from Digifusion.

Neil, Luton on March 12th, 2006
Thought I should update everyone about this box that I did have since December. Initially I was impressed, things recorded, picture was excellent and behaved itself, and for the most case this was still true. Until that is you live with the box for a couple of months, little things started to becoming annoying and there was no sign of it being fixed. The main things that bugged me were: The widescreen issue on ITV 2.3 and 4. Also on E4 more4 etc The next issue is , and one no one else has mentioned, and I see this as a big flaw is the fact that the machine locks down every morning at 3am to update the EPG. This then renders the box useless for half an hour, you cannot record anything or even watch anything. Now I know that this won't effect to many people because of the time, but if you wanted to record a late night film or as my wife did some OU programmes you can't because at 3am the box shuts down. So if there was a film on at 2am and finished at 3:30am you would lose half an hour of the film. I did phone digifusion about this and they said that's how the box has been designed and there were no confirmed plans to fix the widescreen issue, although it was due to be "fixed". The fact that the box shut down at 3am everyday was the main reason I returned the box, there was no mention of this in the manual and so as far as I was concerned the box was not up to doing the job it was bought for. When you pay nearly £200 for a box it should do everything you want without compromise. Yes it looks good, recorded well and had good features but it is flawed as many people are finding out. I bought the box after reading a review by What HI-FI and they gave it a best buy, obviously this was only based on recordings made during the day and over a short period and it does impress, but little things soon become big things. I returned the box to Currys and eventually got my money back. I then purchased the Humax 9200t online after reading good reviews and seeing it demonstrated on QVC. For not much more you are getting a box designed for the job, there are a few minor flaws but it appears this company have got it right, excellent features and an informative website where you can download upgrades from when they are available. So if you want to buy a box get this one!

Chris, Aylesbury on March 12th, 2006
I have an FVRT200 and although it is a nice box and has great functions it is prone to locking up so that you have to unplug it from the wall to reset it and that often ends up with us losing the recorded programs in the library! The main problem however is with the screen format. It doesn't seem able to cope with widescreen formats on all channels and no one seems to know why. I typically get narrow screen pictures (with black stripes down each side) and tall thin people on the screen, when I know the broadcast is in widescreen. I have tried every option on both the TV and the FVRT200 to no avail. Has anyone any ideas? I have emailed Digifusion and ITV about this, (most problems seem to be on ITV stations, but BBC is doing it as I write this), and ITV said there was a "known problem" but had no idea when it might be fixed or whether it was the box or the transimissions that were at fault. I'm thinking of taking it back!

AndyB, Newport on March 17th, 2006
Nice piece of kit. No 'lock-ups' in first two months. The ITV2 aspect ratio issue is really starting to bug me, though.

Hodgie, Liverpool on March 18th, 2006
I have a 200 and I think it is great, but like everybody else the aspect ratio buggs me too. When are they sending a software download to sort it out? Ever time I ring them up they say it will take place in a couple of weeks, but that was before christmas.

Derek, Wirral on March 19th, 2006
I bought my 200 over a year ago and it does every thing I want it to. I bought it from john lewis and they delivered it straight to my house. I said goodbye to my video recorder and most recently my dvd recorder, this little baby does the job every time! The digital text is fast and I simply would be lost without it. Who needs sky+? Give me Freeview every time!

Jo D, Bristol on March 20th, 2006
I must be very unlucky as I have had my FVRT200 since July 05 (8 months) I have returned it after months of it locking up, crashing and erasing it's hard drive. This is the second one I've had (the first one was faulty from day one) and despite trying all Tech Support's ideas (two button restarts, new power supply etc.) it still wouldn't work. Which is a shame, as when it did work, it was a realy good piece of kit. BTW, when I did return it the guy in the shop said that he had had so many returned that he wasn't stocking them anymore - so I can't be the only one!

Henry Foster on March 26th, 2006
Mine makes no noise at all: it doesn't work. Digifusion support is virtually non-existent and my personal view is that this piece of equipment is a pile of poo.

Anon on March 31st, 2006
Oh what joy to have something from digifusion that does not make as much noise. The 100 kept me awake at night, but I can bare this 200 series. It shuts off around 3am for epg updates then powers back up after about ten minutes. All in all I suppose I like it.

Mark, Three Bridges on April 3rd, 2006
Had the machine for a little over three months and come home tonight to find it locked out. Will be taking it back to Currys and exchanging it for a Humax if they have one. Never been happy with this machine. IT IS NOISY and it looks and feels cheap. Love the idea of a PVR but not this one! Avoid at all costs.

Cham, London on April 3rd, 2006
Digifusion FVRT200 Woes – as evidenced also by numerous other unfortunates on the web! Bought 22nd Feb 06, started going wrong about 22nd/23rd Mar 06 - until then, great, but problems so bad have returned it to lxdirect.com for a full refund and am trying out the Humax 9200T (hopefully Humax will have fixed the small lockuup problems it appears to currently have due to BBC broadcasts). Started about a week ago (end of Mar 06) by locking up and not responding at all to the remote control – to fix had to power down and back up again. Since Friday 31st March, when put into standby over night it now resets completely and needs rescanning again to find all the channels – resulting in loss of anything in the Library / Recording List It takes up to a minute to change channel or respond to most key presses between TV and menu items Will sometimes freeze on the Library or the Guide – requiring it to be unplugged and plugged back in gain – resulting in yet another scan of channels and loss of anything in the Library / Recording List

David Martland, Guildford on April 8th, 2006
I bought this from Dixons about 2 months ago. Has revolutionised the way we watch TV. It's slightly noisy, but most of the time we don't notice, particularly when watching. I would have rated this as 5 star, but we have started having problems. First the machine has locked up a few times, with the letters EPG in the display. This happens overnight, and the explanation is that sometimes the EPG downloading gets corrupted. I think that problems get worse when the disc starts to get full. My hunch is that if you don't fill the disc you might avoid some problems, though I'm not swearing to this. A few days ago I tried reformatting some recordings to save space (this is not very well documented I think), and then started to watch a recorded film. After about 45 minutes the film would not play further. I turned off and hoped that things would be better in the morning. In the morning I found that the whole library had gone, which was a great shame. I rang Digifusion and was told to reformat the hard drive. Procedure is roughly: - Go to Menu, Go to Setup (OK), Go to Tech Info (OK), Format HD (Red button), use PIN code 1111, Confirm with Green button. Time to perform apparently 3-4 minutes.It's possible the PIN code is personalised, but I doubt it. I was assured that this will fix all problems, though I pointed out that the whole thing might just happen again in a few months, at which point I might consider taking back to Dixons for a refund. I haven't actually done this yet, as the machine does seem to be working again, though if we have a viewing marathon and clear most of it out I will do this procedure as a precaution. Others might want to try this from time to time as a precaution when they have no recordings left in their library. One other issue is that it seems to me that our VCR remote interacts with the Digifusion unit, so I can't currently back off video to VCR, as every time I use the remote to control the VCR it turns the PVR back on, and won't allow me to set up the VCR. I can't see any easy way round this from the Digifusion side, so I'll probably have to try shifting the frequency on the VCR (Philips) remote - if that's possible. I still like the unit, but I'm touching wood in case it fails again. The good things are that we have worked out how to skip adverts, and even live programmes can be done. Just switch to channel before the programme, or set to record, then arrive late - say 10-15 minutes past the start time and rewind. Then fast forward through the adverts. It took us a few weeks to work this out, and saves hours of time. It's only gone wrong once, when I hit the Stop button by mistake - you have to use Pause not Stop, as Stop will lose the recording if it's not in the recordings list. For this reason I usually set up each programme in the recordings list even if we want to watch it almost live. A few programmes get truncated due to bad timings - so do allow a few minutes on the beginning and end if you can and it becomes a problem for you, though take care with overlapping programmes.

Martyn L on April 11th, 2006
FVRT100 died after 8 months after multiple lock ups,recordings that vanished,it became a routine to reboot the box several times a day, returned and replaced with FVRT200 which is now performing the same. I want my money back, worst electronic device ever purchased in my lifetime

Geoff, Swansea on April 14th, 2006
Purchased in September 2005, very impressed with only one lock up. Only gripes are unresponsive remote, slow channel changing and the aspect ratio issue

Glasgow on April 17th, 2006
I see comments below that are just what I've experienced. The hard drive has completely wiped the recordings made prior to today. The unit is noisy and slow to respond also. It's great that it records two channels at once but not much benefit it wipes itself without warning.

Sid, Nottingham on April 30th, 2006
I have had this box for two years now; first of all I would advise you to upgrade the power supply as the one supplied is not powerful enough which makes the unit sluggish and eventually causes the dreaded HOLD message which can be rectified by upgrading your power supply. I also made the mistake of keeping the two buttons pressed to revert the unit back to the default settings in an attempt to stop the hold message which was a mistake as then I was confronted with a message of epg every morning. The only way to get the unit working was to turn it off and back on again. I eventually worked out after alot of fumbling using this link that if you go to settings on your fvrt100 and look at the technical page this will tell you your software version, at the moment this is 1.7.5 if It is lower you should try and upgrade.

Digifusion have made a good product the only message I would say is that customer feedback has not been acknowledeged to improve the support or developement. Every product has its problems in the early stages I think overall this is a good first step only time will tell.

Andrew L, Sutton Coldfield on May 3rd, 2006
Bought my FVRT200 from John Lewis for £180 in Oct 05. Recommended by the shop staff and they were right! Never notice much/any noise from the hard drive or fan. I have found that the occasional "freezing" is best sorted by unplugging the unit for 30 secs; but this problem seems to have gone away over the months. Easy to use EPG and Library, plus the option to save recordings in LP or even EP mode if desperate for HDD space, but if you have 40 hours of back recording to watch, perhaps you need to only record the things you really want to watch!

Root Ginger, Slough on May 4th, 2006
I've found this unit very good. I've not had a single crash at all. The only niggle I have is that you can't get top up tv for it. For those of you who have complained about the aspect ratio being wrong on certain channels. If you read the manual you would find that you have the aspect ratio set incorrectly. Change this and all is fine. I also read one review saying you can't look at the program information whilst watching a program. Incorrect again. Press the OK button and it will pop up.

John, Reigate on May 6th, 2006
Just taken my second FVRT200 back. The first failed to work at all, and the second started to lock and refuse to record after only four weeks. The retailer told me they've had quite a few back and offered me a refund without any hesitation. I think I'll be looking at the Sony svr-s500 now.

Brendan O'Neill, Surrey on May 10th, 2006
Excellent performance in the last 4 months. Only pity is it can't handle Top-Up TV

Carlos, Bournemouth on May 24th, 2006
Where to begin. You can't record from the now and next info bar, or to make myself more understood if you're watching a program press the "ok" button, want to record whats coming up next you have to go through the guide to do so. Next point is the noisy fan, no info bar or banner when watching a recording (or none that i can find) to tell you length, what time you're at/elapsed (unless you pause). The way you can watch a recording in progress, you have to go either to the channel push the double arrow to take you to the beginning or through the "record" library. Not to say I don't like the unit it's just taking a long time to re-adjust after owning and ENJOYING my pace twin digital which I still have.

John, London on May 26th, 2006
Had this box for nearly a year. While not perfect by any means, the basic functionality is there. Have had about two or three occasions of odd or incorrect behaviour but nothing that wasn't recoverable and there has been no loss of library contents. The trick is to ventilate it well. It is not as sensitive as the Sony STB but still works in a poor reception area with a set-top aerial and a booster.

George, Farnham, Surrey on May 28th, 2006
FVRT200 purchased in January from John Lewis. It's developed a terminal fault and gone into permanent 'coma mode' - every button press takes 30 secs for any response. Also, all recordings have been wiped. Reboots make no difference. Will return for full refund and buy something else, probably the Humax 9200. Shame really, as the picture on my Panny TH42PHD8 was excellent via an RGB-VGA convertor.

Heather, London on June 8th, 2006
Well, where to start really?! Originally bought the 200 in December - 2 weeks later it's "hanging" and takes the well reported age to perform any task. After much too-ing and fro-ing between DigiFusion and TribalUK managed to get a replacement box - but not until TribalUK had told me it was merely the remote that was faulty, they had changed the batteries and were about to send back to me my original box with a new set of remote batteries!!!! FINALLY convinced them to go back to their testing area and look at it again. 6 weeks later got a replacement box... All happy again in our household. Until last week. Unplugged it to sort out the cable situation at the back of the TV - plugged it back in again and nothing. It's died. Dead. Gone. Nought. Am now in the process of getting a replacement PSU from Digi; we shall wait and see if this brings it back to life. All in all, when it works it's the best thing in the world ever. But when it fails it feels like the end of that brilliant world. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Ken M, Merseyside on June 14th, 2006
Where to start. I am currently on my fourth unit. I bought the first FVRT 200 unit in August, it failed to start and was returned to Digifusion. The second unit worked well for 4 months and crashed over the Christmas holiday and all my recordings were lost, I was assured it was a PSU problem and a new PSU was sent to me. This did not correct the problems so the unit was returned to the service people. The third unit worked brilliantly for 4 months and failed in exactly the same manner as the previous unit. This was was duly returned. The forth unit when recieved also failed to start, even after many calls to the service call-centre. The unit was returned to the service centre, they returned the unit some two weeks later, when it was re-connected, it did not start. After calling the service centre they maintained when they tried it, it booted up and worked fine, i.e. (it must be me)! After reading these forum pages, I decided to open the case and inspect the HDD ribbon cable, this was found to be flapping about loose and not connected to the rear of the HDD. I suspect this was the original fault with the unit even though digifusion stated that it worked perfectly with them, personnally I think they are now in denial with so many complaints now raining in. After inserting the cable the unit did in fact start up and ran perfectly for 2 days, when it then developed a pixellated screen and freeze up, the aerial information was saying that there was a tuner fault and corrupted signal even with 75% signal strength. After a lengthy discussion with the digifusion service manager it was agreed that I try the unit on another aerial for comparison. The problem was still the same, even though it was tried on a digital aeril with a clear visual line with the Winter Hill transmitter. Digifusion are now saying that there is still nothing wrong with the unit and that if I send it back I will be charged for the repairs. They want me to pay for carriage which is £17.50, I have refused as as it has cost me £35 so far, and from the last unit returned to site, I still have not recieved a working replacement. I am now in the process of writing letters to various bodies including the papers who have patently recommended a product that is clearly not robust, fit for purpose, or, undergone any sort of any long-term reliability testing. I am now resighne to writing this off as a dead duck and throwing it in the bin as my nerves and temper have been sorely tried. Lastly, Digifusion has now gone into liquidation/sold off to Beko that well known Turkish electronics manufacturer, maybe this is why the service is becoming less than what you would expect.

Richard T, Central London on June 15th, 2006
I got my FVRT200 about three months ago. Don't use it much, only as a back-up for the TiVo, because the software is diabolically clunky compared to TiVo. But the big problem was that, as soon as the hard drive began to fill, the machine wiped out all the programmes in the library overnight (as reported by others here). I also found the chase play function ceased to work, ie I could no longer play back a programme until the machine had finished recording it. They told me to reformat the hard drive, which I did, and it's working for now, but they said it was probably safest not to put too many programmes on the hard drive pending a software update. Unfortunately this is something that has long been promised and never appears. So I'm extremely unimpressed. If the machine fails again it's going back.

Daniel, London on June 16th, 2006
After being impressed with its features I bought my FVRT200 from John Lewis (knowing i might need to return it) and after 3 weeks of numerous daily freezes/failure to record it finally wiped the hardrive and all channels.I decided to give it a second chance and got a replacement (2 days ago) whic h had the new 5amp power supply (old 3amp got very hot). Today it has wiped the HD and failed to record from last night... I'm swapping it for the Humax9200. I'll miss the folders & scene selection but buying an FVRT200 is a reliability lottery. Digifusion should withdraw them from sale until the problems are resolved.

Daniel, London on June 16th, 2006
Decided to speak to support to see if they had any answers before i returned it for good. Apparently the freezing (during any operation) was down to the 3 amp power supply - the 5amp one is fine and runs at normal temperature. They've also just found out the software issue that erases the HD - A) if HD usage exceeds 60% auto-formating takes place which deletes all saved programs. B) formating occurs if LP or EP are used which again erases the HD. They're working on the fix (no date yet) but advised only to record upto 60% and at SP.

Chris on June 20th, 2006
The bloody box gives squashed pictures, horizontally on most 16:9 channels though not all. The Technical Support people told me they would be issuing a fix "soon". But that was over three months ago! I am fed up with watching long thin people and I'm going to take it back!

Hodgie, Wirral on July 4th, 2006
at last the update has arrived and all wide screen problems have now gone

Rob, Glasgow on July 7th, 2006
Just purchased one of these from eBuyer for £94 that includes delivery, hope its a good buy. I have a technosonic pvr which is garbage.

Derek, Wirral on July 10th, 2006
now with the software update my 200 has no problems anymore........

Bill, Motherwell on July 13th, 2006
The FVRT200 has been an excellent machine. Only trouble I have had was to get a replacement power supply. I previously had the Pace Twin machine which I returned after trying 3 Pace units.

Douglas, Telford on July 16th, 2006
I am on my second unit. The first went to the Blue screen. I like the unit because it is so easy to use, and so have now got a replacement.

Kevin Taylor, Norwich on July 18th, 2006
On my second fvrt200. Having problems with the box being very slow to respond to any commands from the remote. First box was fine for three months,box number two lasted a day before going slow. Shame because the box is great to look at and very easy to use.

Allan Brewer, Bristol, UK on July 19th, 2006
I had bad problems with "sticky toffee" i.e. going chronically slowly or freezing up. A new power supply did NOT make a difference. However with the LID OFF the pvr runs perfectly - up for weeks with loads of activity all through this hot summer weather. Clearly design fault on ventilation, but I forgive them because of the wonderful functionality when its reliable as now.

Simon M, Selsey on July 20th, 2006
I've had the FVRT200 for 6 months. IT has frozen a few times and needed a power cycle. Its also a bit slow...but now I think the harddisk has failed as every time its switched on it enters setup. All my recordings have vanished from the hard disk along with all the recordings I'd setup for the rest of the week ... will be looking for money back and finding a more reliable machine!

Andrew, Telford on July 31st, 2006
I brought the FVRT 200 from Maples following purchsing another unit which gave nothing but trouble. The FVRT 200 is great, All the Freeview channels and being able to record 1 channel whilst watching another also being able to freeze a program while answering the phone or getting a cup of tea. The only down side is not being able to get Topup TV as an option.

James, Cambridge on August 11th, 2006
There is an issue with the digifusion boxes which they will not admit to. The power unit is underrated for the device and slowly over time kills the harddisk drive controller. As this happens you tend to find that the box gradually gets less and less reliable untill eventually the user interface is like swimming through treacle and recordings no longer work. To resolve this you need to buy a 5amp power supply (this can be found in many places on the web). This power supply is rated correctly and prevents damage to the device. If you are already experiancing the swimming through treacle UI then you need a new hard disk drive too. This a standard computer hardrive and very easy to fit. I made this upgrade to my FVRT150 about a year ago after the swimming in treacle issue started and have not a single crash, reboot, loss of library since. Into the bargin I popped in a 120GB drive rather than the standared 80Gb one. This is as large as the box can handle and gives you a bit more storage space. Hope this helps anyone who has issues.

Dave, Wiltshire on September 17th, 2006
Normally works very well with a good quality picture. It was purchased because it had two digital tuners and a HDD and neither facility has disappointed. However, the HDD has wiped the library recordings twice now. First time mostly SP recordings and the second mainly LP. On several occasions it has also stopped responding to both the front panel and remote control, which can only be rectified by turning off at the mains. Other issues, the ESG format is horrible especially when compared to the one on my Sony TV. I had set the TV channels, in a slightly different order and also blanked out numerous channels which I never watch. I therefore wanted to setup the FVRT 200 exactly the same. You can do this but it keeps the original channel number. This is a major frustration. Setting say BBC3 to channel 12 on the TV, you quickly go to the FRT 200 guide to set up the recording but pressing Channel 12 will not zip you striaght to BBC3. You have to trudge through the menu mannually or remember a different channel number. Absolute pain, when your going out and you want to set it to record quickly.

Generous Dave, London on September 26th, 2006
I've owned the FVRT200 for just under a year and I have to say it worked perfectly for 99% of the time but recently it has started to 'ignore' the remote control, which means a full reset. This unfortunately loses your library, very annoying! The problem has returned and i'm just glad its still in its first year warranty so will be replacing it with a Humax PVR9200T instead.

Ian, Hereford on October 10th, 2006
Just returning second unit. The first lasted just one month, this one six. When working this product is good, easy to programme and gives a good picture. However, reliability is the big issue as it locked up with increasing frequency before offering up no more than a weak 'Please Wait' message. If they could sort this out then I'd be happy, but until they do I'm getting something else.

Geoff, Midlands on October 18th, 2006
I have to agree that this has been a good unit for the last 10 months, but I have also had major issues with the remote taking 10 to 60 seconds control the unit. Digifusion have advised me to re-format the disk which has not helped and they now advise me to return it to the retailer. I am currently wonderering which unit I should replace it with.

steve jones liverpool on October 21st, 2006
i had a 200 for nearly a year, it was fine til the power supply broke. i got a new one from digidave and every thing was well. til last week it just failed to work. i was not happy so i have now put it in the bin and bought my self a sony hard drive dvd recorder which so far is great....... lets hope i get my moneys worth....

Frank, HOOK on October 21st, 2006
Freeview EPG does not show programme schedules for some channels. So programme can be watched, but not recorded. Programme schedules can be seen on other STBs

Darrell /Sheffield on October 24th, 2006
Have had 2 of these digifusion fvrt200 in 8 months they are a great box but they have got a problem with locking up. Waiting for the 3rd to arrive see how long this lasts if could find out what was happening when the warranty runs out could still get it repaired. Shame something so good could not be made to be more reliable.

Mr. R. Moyes on November 4th, 2006
As a previous owner of a FVRT100 which failed soon after purchase I was chary at VRT200 but as it was offering the only available twin tuner twin record facility I went ahead anyway. I've been using it now for some 6 months or so with no problems whatsoever, apart from the fact that upon the introduction of the new channels 35 and 36 (Five Life and Five US) I cannot get any info via the programme guide. I have on three occasions now left the equipment on all night to download what was available but still no guide for these two channels. I have emailed Digifusion but they fail to respond. Other equipment I have SAGEM, Panasonic and PACE all give programme info on these channels so I cannot work out why Digifusion has failed. R. Moyes

Dave, Guildford on November 26th, 2006
We've had our FVRT200 box for about 8 months now. It's failed a few times - usually when nearly full, and I contemplated taking it back for a refund. Usually resetting it works though - but loses stored programmes. However reverting to older forms of video playback is just too painful, so we've kept it. It beats the heck out of standard video and DVD recorders for time shifting. The one thing I really have never managed to get to work is the One Touch Recording. It says in the manual that this only works for programmes which are in the EPG, but I've never got it to work for any programme. Has anyone else?

Keith McD, East London on December 4th, 2006
Update on the FVRT200 - I have had this unit for a while now and it is still brilliant. I solved the problem with the fan noise by removing it and have had no trouble (unit sits on a glass shelf). Power supply failed, but I got a new one. Still recommend this as an excellent buy.

Alan Arnold, Horsham on December 7th, 2006
Received my FVRT200 today and the unit wouldnt even switch on!! the front panel lights illuminate but thats as far as it goes. manufacturer said to send it back, Grrr

arthur, trowbridge on December 17th, 2006
Is it posssible to end a recording early without losing the whole recording ? STOP just deletes the recording.

PaulR, Hampshire on December 19th, 2006
Just experienced a hang that wasn't fixed by the usual power off & on again. But... a format of the hard drive seems to have done the trick (PIN=1111 by default) - watch this space. Overall, the box is a bit noisy, I've had to replace the PSU and frankly the usability of the menu system could be better. I was thinking of upgrading the disk size, but I'm a little worried now if this would be good money after bad?

mark. tyne and wear on January 6th, 2007
purchased the fvrt200 in august 2005 fantastic for first 15 months, last few months it's died on it's arse, hope it's got a 2 year guarantee or i'm screwed.

Darrell, Sheffield on January 6th, 2007
I am on to my third replacement of this item previous 2 have had hard drive failure. Lets hope this one lasts out glad they have given another 12 month warranty. The unit itself is excellent just think digifusion where using an inferior hard drive.

T J North West on January 6th, 2007
Had a FVRT100 for over 2 years and the hard drive failed Oh! and 3 PSUs Replaced with FVRT200 but dumped the Maxtor HDD and replaced with a 160gb western digital so far so good. Tried a Proline PVR but didn't compare with the digifusion so I took it back lets hope this is as good as the last one!!!

Boyoo, Cardiff on January 9th, 2007
Had my machine FVRT200 for just under a year Dec 2005. Box froze and locked up so I was sent a replacement 5Amp power supply. The problem was not resolved so it was set back to Digifusion as the hard drive had failed. When I sent it back it took them two weeks to tell me they had received my box and send out a replacement when I sent it to them first class recorded. I was told they had been busy over Christmas probably replacing units!! Finally got my replacement with new 5Amp power supply. It worked for three days before having problems with the EPG running over night. The box works fine until the EPG running and then the next morning the unit is slow to respond. I phoned them several times about this and try different methods of resetting the unit. But every time you do you lose your recordings and schedule recordings. I was then told to check my signal on channel 300 4TVinteractive was between 70%-87%. Any higher or lower and you will get problems with EPG. My signal was between 75-79% and I never had a problem with my old box for 10 months!! I asked if i could delete the channel and manually program but this can't be done. I have been told there will be a software update Jan 07 for the FVRT200. But I will be surprised if this works!!! I have lost confidence in the machine and bought a Humax 9200. This is a much better unit it works!!!! The FVRT200 was great until it fail and the customer service is not the best. If you really want a FVRT200 you can get them on ebay for around £80. £100 cheaper than retail.

Alastair on January 23rd, 2007
I bought the FVRT 200 and i can't get it to switch on since i had to unplug it. Should i just go out and buy the 5amp fuse? Can anyone help?

Colin, Suffolk on February 3rd, 2007
Had my FVRT200 for about 16 months. It HAS changed the way we watch TV - we now rarely watch anything "live" (so we can skip the ads and plan our own schedule). The unit very occasionally freezes, but switching off the mains for a few seconds cures it and all is then well. Great bit of kit and if you CAN get one for £80 off eBay with a warranty I'd say go for it.

John Bx, Barnet on February 18th, 2007
It's cute when it works but it's buggy. Every few months the software corrupts the library - your recordings disappear, and the display shows "197% free space". Whatever is going on in the library takes 99% of the processing capacity of the box - no only can't you record, but every command takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r: literally hundreds of times longer than it ought to take. My first box did this and went back to manufacturers - now replacement has gone the same way. Don't buy this, spend a bit more and get something better engineered.

Andy, Malvern on February 20th, 2007
Stopped working after 15 months use with PLS WAIT displayed. Have 5 amp power input so dont belive this is the problem. Before it went I was very pleased with it. Sadly once broken its about as much use as a SKY+ Digibox.

Dave, Guildford on March 25th, 2007
After my previous posting(s) the FVRT200 finally became totally erratic, and I managed to get it back to Dixons just in time to get a replacement machine. The replacement, a Humax 9200 was highly recommended. About the only good thing about it is that it actually works. The user interface is absolutely rubbish, and when the clocks change, as on 24-25th March it doesn't record scheduled programmes. I couldn't understand why reviewers said the Digifusion was so good - although with a simplistic interface. Technically the Humax is better, and it is a quieter machine, but the interface is poor. OK - one of my friends says that it is better than his VCR interface, and when I say that the interface is poor he reiterates his statement. That VCR interface must be really dreadful. There is very inconsistent use of keys on the Humax. Sometimes one has to press Exit to return, and sometimes simply toggle the key already pressed. I think an HCI specialist could write a PhD about how poor this user interface is - though there may be others which are worse - sadly. I'd like a machine with a good interface - such as the Digifusion mostly had, but with technical reliability, which so far the Humax has demonstrated. Sadly I'll have to downgrade my recommendation for the Digifusion, because of reliability issues. I don't know what has happened to the company (Digifusion) - if they can overcome the reliability problems, they could otherwise wipe out the opposition.

Jason, Newcastle under Lyme on April 5th, 2007
Had the unit for approximately 16 months. Good sound and picture. ITV2 aspect ratio was fixed with an overnight update but since a reformat following a system lockup 4 months ago it has failed to update itself again. Has locked up and cleared the library twice so far - seems to be a link with using the long play facility. Planning to replace with a Humax in the near future.

John, Wokingham on June 9th, 2007
Bought this nearly-new on eBay. Lasted about two months, noisy, but otherwise no problems except it often chopped the last minute from recordings. However last week it started freezing, fixed this a few times by rebooting, but today it froze permanently and I've just binned it. Avoid!!!!!!!!!!

Don Smith, Burton on Trent on June 14th, 2007
I bought the Digifusion FVRT200 two years ago. Took it back the next day because of total errors on second tuner. Curry's replaced it the next day. The replacement worked for about a week and then took over a minute to execute any of the requests from the remote. Eventually it started freezing. Curry's replaced it the next day. This one worked well for about six months with just the occasional freeze, mostly around 0300 in the morning. Figuring it had a cheep power supply I suspected a dirty mains supply (I live on a canal boat) so I ran it on a modified sine wave inverter. It still kept freezing but now it became random. Powered it via a timer switch so that it would reboot at 0400 every morning which allowed the recording of early morning programs before I got up. And then the freezing started to erase the hard drive. Took the thing to pieces, took out the HDD and fitted it into my PC as a slave drive. The rest is junk and I would never touch another Digifusion. I now have the Humax 9200, far superior. I have noticed a great many Digifusion PVR's in a local Pound Stretcher Shop! but none in Curry's

Chaz B, Wilts on June 23rd, 2007
I'm about to return my second one. Both have wiped out all the programs I had stored and I can't get colour through the AV socket. If only they got it right as it could be a good system. My money is coming back so I'm on the look out for something similar.

Baz, Northants on November 25th, 2007
I have owned my FVRT200 for about 18 months now and in that time its fair to say that I have had a few issues with it locking up, the HDD becoming full but on the whole it is generally quite reliable, and has seemed in some ways to get more reliable as it has got older, whether this is due to software upgrades that are transmitted though the night I don't know. What I do know though is that having brought a Thomson DTR6300 the other day as a present for the parents and then took it more or less straight back for a refund due to a number of issues with it (jittery pic, live and on playback, buttons on the box itself that stick in, and out of focus menu screens) I have come to the conclusion that The FVRT200 is far better in the areas that count.

Peter, Oxford on January 10th, 2008
I commented here on October 31 2005 when I had recently bought the FVRT200, and now that I've owned it for over two years I'd like to update my review. In short, it's been brilliant! We use it daily and it has transformed our viewing habits. It has only encountered problems twice, when a simple power off/on has restarted it. Otherwise we have frequently recorded on both tuners simultaneously, watched playback while recording another programme, used it in chase play etc. etc. It gives a better playback picture quality than our Sony DVD purchased at the same time, and the various aspect ratios etc. work fine with our Panasonic TV, the TV automatically changes ratio when the Digifusion box is selected/turned on. I still hate the hideous screen colours - really stupid, and I find the remote pretty cheap and nasty too. Both things I can live with though. The only thing I would suggest is keeping the amount of recorded material to less than half the disk capacity. The times it froze for me was when the disk was over half full, and I have read other reviewers comments that suggest it isn't as reliable once the disk fills up. Again, this isn't a problem for me, it imposes a useful discipline to watch and clear off stuff I've recorded. I heard recently that this product is no longer made, which is a pity, as it's been fantastic. (Fingers crossed that this review doesn't jinx things and it gives me trouble-free service in the future!)