Bush: DFTA7

Average:

Your responses

Tony, Plymouth on March 13th, 2007
Unit continually freezes. Remote works only when it wants until today when it stopped completely. Am I the only one who is in love with technology but am continually let down by its promises?

Ian on February 8th, 2007
I have had this box for about 15 months it locks up, freezes, crashes, does weird things and I have been close to throwing it out the window because it doesn't respond to the remote trust me don’t waste your money on this box do your homework and get a box with great reviews once mine blows up (can’t wait) then I’ll get a better one.

Leslie Parker, Winterton on February 1st, 2007
I have had to remove the unit because the sound keeps fading, the whole thing locks up, or it keep switching itself off

G ray, London on January 30th, 2007
This unit tends to over heat and freezes the images. Other times when I am watching the video, which is connected to it, the screen goes black. The overall performance is poor but I am advised to buy a better arial. The thing is, is it better to get a better unit or the arial?. I have an old Amstrad satellite dish on the outside wall, is it possible to connect it up to the unit?

Rob, Bournemouth on October 3rd, 2006
Rubbish, locks up and doesn't respond to the correct remote request. It is some times one request behind. Go up one channel then up the volume and it still goes up one channel! I wrote to Bush\Alba and they asked me to call the freeview helpline to see if I have the correct aerial!! Yes I do, but why would that stop the unit responding to the remote!!!!!! I am awaiting their response to see if the unit can have a software upgrade. Also have a DFTA1000 - better but often freezes and needs to be power cycled every couple of days!

Graham, Edinburgh on September 3rd, 2006
Previously had a Philips box that gave a jumpy picture and didn't pick up all channels. Got this Bush box free with double glazing and have been using it for a year now. Like previous reports the box can take some time to react to the remote (probably as stated before the processor is trying to do too much). Used to receive all channels fine but since film 4 has appeared we can't get any itv channels, ch4 channels and the beeb ones are a jumpy picture/bad sound. Am now looking at sky.

Andy North, Milton Keynes on September 2nd, 2006
This box tries to be very clever but unfortunately fails. It sports 2 EPGs, 7 day and Now-and-Next. I think that the lock-ups are largely due to the box spending so much time trying to keep both of these up to date that it doesn't have time to respond to the remote and sometimes can't even process the incomming program which, on occasions, ends up jumpy. This box sports the standard bottom of the range West Ham colours, common to most boxes of a similar price. We took ours back to Argos (Sale Of Goods Act, not fit for the purpose, regardless of any 16 day stuff). We replaced it with a Wharfedale DV832B. Better, in that it doesn't lock up, but it only has the 7-day EPG and not the Now/Next. See other reviews of this box on this site. The Wharfedale has recieved a sortware update; the Bush never did. Support?

Barbara Whitehead, Blackpool on August 3rd, 2006
got it set up with a few hiccups. Now all of a sudden the remote isn't working. Tried new batteries!!! It is very tempremental at most times, with having to switch off at the mains and re-boot it. I want a new remote or my money back!!

Graham Tate, UK on June 22nd, 2006
The digibox has quite a strong signal, and can pick up channels with my old aerial that didn;t even pick up regular channels very well, the menu's are very similar to most freeview boxes, picture and sound are very good, nothing seesm to freeze or go wrong with mine, but as previous reviewers said, the remote can be annoying if your quite far away from the box, if your close (within 3 meters) it works fine, any futher and you'll find yourself lifting the remote into the air or pushing it down to the floor to get it level with the box to be able to change channels. overall it's not that bad and for £20 it's a very good deal, the box itsself gets 2/5, but for value 3-4/5

Jackie, London on June 14th, 2006
This box is a total disaste! The remote doesnt work and the box constantly freezes up and I have to constantly switch off the box at the socket to get a picture.....hate it! its drivin me mad

Neil, Biggleswade on June 9th, 2006
Box and remote freezes all the time!! pain in the arse, really poor build quality, more hassele than its worth!! AVOID!!!!

D. R. Smith, Romford on May 17th, 2006
Just bought DFTA 1000, fails to work with my video cannot get signal from video to TV, if fitted to Tv cannot record onto video from DFTA1000. back to Tesco tomorrow, after spending 45 quid, might as well spend another 45quid, get a Digital video.

UK on March 5th, 2006
Bought it for my old mum, as cheap and easy to use, works well as long as you don't want BBC1 or BBC2, just cannot find them. The box then freezes up and the remote (as also stated elsewhere) is terrible. I too wished I found this site first. DO NOT buy this digibox.

Digispec, Birkenhead on January 25th, 2006
Total disaster. Firstly, I experienced the remote control issues mentioned by the other reviewers. Basically you have to be right in front of the box, and lined exactly up with it, if there's any hope of button presses on the remote control being registered by the box. Secondy, it has some really loud electromagnetc relay inside it, which clicks loudly when the box turns on and off. Finally, the box repeatedly overheated on me. It worked fine for up to three or four hours, and then invariably went into a repeating reboot cycle, where it would reset itself every ten minutes with a loud click, and then 30 seconds later come back on. This happened despite the fact that the box was correctly ventilated, and in a relatively cool room, and it's January! The box felt worryingly hot to touch, after being on for several hours. Totally unwatchable and unusable, because of the above problems. I originally obtained this box because I had ordered a SAGEM box from argos, and they substitued this one instead, which I never asked for. Box now has been returned to Argos, and I recieved a no-hassle refund. I have now replaced it with the current £30 entry-level box from "TJ Hughes", which has worked perfect so far.

Zino, Wallington on January 12th, 2006
I bought it 2 days ago, Argos cheapest freeview box, great for just 48 hours, now no more audio, video signal ok even with a little ariel, but while i was watching, suddenly the audio is gone. All trobles shooting done, just is making me crazy. I am going to bring it back ...

Dave, Lincoln on January 6th, 2006
B&Q purchase for X-mas present - complete waste of money. Refused to pick up Ch5, Aerial had been previously proven good by using a Digilogic box to check. Remote control - PANTS - refused to do what it was told, numerous lockups - eventually fixed the problem by throwing the remote at the wall. Felt a lot after that. Bush help desk - another name for a black hole.

A Frank, Leeds on November 6th, 2005
Purchased a DAFTA7 from B&Q 3 weeks ago, unit developed various faults cleared by numerous resets culminating in black screen lockup , exchanged unit. found new unit to be as daft as the previously returned dafta7,with BBC channels missing terminating in permanent lockup, Do any of these daft units work? Bush id appear to have a help line dedicated to avoiding the return of Faulty units,

Richard, Huddersfield on October 29th, 2005
Bought from B & Q - Friday - going back Monday! Seemed a great set, good picture and features, just wish the remote worked properly, as mentioned by previous reviewers. Obviously a known fault - why do they still market faulty goods! Wish I had found this site before I had bought any freeview set - this is not my first! Just buy a Sagem PVR and you will soon know what faults/bugs are all about!

Will, Bristol on October 10th, 2005
Wish I could return mine but was very cheep... so doesn't matter... Remote is extremely unresponsive and the box regularly does something completely different to the button pushed on the remote. The SPDIF coaxial output on the back doesn't appear to work either. No TUTV compatibility

Andy Fox, Leeds on September 24th, 2005
Box returned due to regular lockups. Remote was very sensitive to being pointed directly at the box and on same level. Box locked on black screen and remote refused to respond. Only way out was power reset.