Digilogic: DSTB1000

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Comments (52)

Freaky, UK on December 23rd, 2005
This box, features & menu is identical to the Bush DFTA11, it even has the same remote!, however it is somewhat bigger (307 x 210 x 46mm). It has 2 SCARTS (1 RGB) analogue audio on phono & a RF loop through. May be clone of Goodmans GDB3/Lodos DVB-T3. Set up is fairly quick. It provides for 16/9 & 4/3 displays & in letter box mode has several zoom modes. The menu system is quite simple, perhaps too much so as there is no option to change many settings. Channel change is average but there is no option to re-order them, this is a major bug as freeview channels are somewhat mixed up after initial install (ITV 1,2,3,4 are on channels 3,6,10,30). There is a 7 day guide but it is slow to get all the data. Text services are fairly quick though. It has a 5 event timer. Picture quality is OK, although I find this varies little between STB`s. The remote is smallish but has no separate buttons for your TV. Overall not bad for the money as long as you don’t mind mixed up channels.

Chris, Stockton-on-Tees on January 4th, 2006
This is my 3rd freeview box, this one has got a good picture and sound even on weaker channels.dont touch alba and mico i took both back then bought digilogic from tesco £29.99

Orange, London on January 8th, 2006
bought one for my parents at xmas to use on their bedroom tv. i gather like all freeview stbs it needs very precise aiming of an indoor aerial, but once that was done the picture quality was excellent. however very strangely the remote control signals for its functions are also recognised by their samsung 14" as a command to do something else. very annoying as you need to hold the remote right in front of the stb so the tv doesnt see the signal. as said above you can not reorder the channels, so the data channels have to be in your epg favs. - if you "hide" any then their function such as bbc1 red button will not work.

Ade, Leeds on January 14th, 2006
Bought from tescos today,the one on display has rg232,the one I have does not,also software is v1.1 and no upgrade available.There are a lot of tv channels missing and it only gets three radio channels(and definitely not DAB as shown on the box),in fact they do not even seem to be stereo.It goes back on Monday.

Simon, London on January 17th, 2006
For only £30, an excellent budget box. 7 day EPG, 2 scarts, timer, quality picture & sound, excellent with weak signals, responsive remote control. HOWEVER, I have a Philips DVD recorder and a Philips DVD player - certain of their remote controls operate the Digilogic box (but not each other). Don't buy Digilogic if you already have Philips DVD equipment!

Ron, London on January 29th, 2006
Great box, good picture and very fast to setup. Picture was a bit blocky but I reconnected the aerial and it was fine! Box is fully packed with features and lots of extras, an EPG, fast box, and fully packed at £30 is a great price BUT if you have other Phillips equipment...WATCH OUT!! the remote can adjust various components like brightness and colour, that caught me out.

Jam, Essex on January 31st, 2006
Bought from Tesco couple of days ago. works fine and good value for the money. you can also connect another device VCR or DVD and this box can put that signal through (i.e. you can switch to DVD without going to telly and changing cables etc.) I did not try this feature.

Fudge, Birmingham on February 1st, 2006
Really like this box, as before I installed a loft aerial it got great results from an amplified set top aerial. Outside electrical intererence, not the box's fault, made me go for a better aerial. Only glitches are the remote's very low angle of acceptance, as you have to point it straight at the box. My One For All 6 operates it with more acceptance, but still causes some unintended results. Also it (and I presume all the other clones) are no good with a Philips TV, as they interfere with each other (I thought my tv was dying as the picture brightness kept going up and down, until I worked out it was the Digilogic's remote!) Far quicker at interactive than my Echostar T101, just wish it had a few more timer recording slots.

Nick, Henlow, UK on February 3rd, 2006
Great box. It finds channels really quickly and is working off a indoor aerial in a strong reception area. I can confirm that on the box there is no reference to DAB but it does state that it recieves digital radio channels Software version is 1.7 and it does state this info on the box next to the barcode.

Cookie, Slough on February 5th, 2006
Be aware that you will need a spare SCART to use this. If you want to simply use the unit in line with a television, video and then split the signal round the house be WARNED. The RF pass through is just that, a pass through of the analogue signal. The DVB output is via SCART only. Not bad for the money but make sure you have spare SCART sockets. My TV only has one for the DVD player hence the box goes back Monday!

Ian, Kilwinning on February 14th, 2006
Bought this box yesterday and find it to be good value for money so far, good reception and picture quality makes for a good watch however some of the channels that it picks up are scrambled and are a bit of a pain in the back side.

Julie, Hastings on February 23rd, 2006
its stoped working, plugged in correctly i rescanned as was no signal on any channels at all for 3 days but it just wiped all the channels and asked if arial was connected which it is.

George, Stalybridge, Cheshire on March 14th, 2006
I have an old Goodman stb and two DVD recorders so decided to buy this one from Tesco to operate the two DVDs at the same time. However the Goodman remote has exactly the same functionality as the Digilogic so I can't operate the two stbs in the same room!!! In fact the Goodman remote is easier to use if you have arthritis in your hands.

Rosco, Ayrshire on March 29th, 2006
After a years service, I was disappointed to find that my Thomson box has now been deceased and after finding a replacement, my mum bought this box mainly becase it was cheap. When I came home to install the box, it had a very simple installation and only took around 5 minutes to get it installed and the channels scanned and away you go. The remote control is rather simple and is good for those that cannot work anything technological and all of the buttons were well spaced out and easy to find. The Now and Next was simple to use with the NOW and NEXT text being colour coded with the remote buttons and when flicking through channels, it is done rather quickly. I also found the software to be rather good and no problems with it. To conclude, if you are looking for a basic, yet effective box out there in the market as well as low priced, this has to be it. The control layout is simple and was mastered in seconds, the installation was quick and easy and if you are an individual that can't work technical gizmos very well, I would highly recommend this Set-Top Box due to simplicity and reliability.

John, Reading on May 16th, 2006
I had an Hitachi HDB60 which used to suffer from fairly regular freeze ups and finally the power supply died just out of warranty. Surveying STB reviews I came to the conclusion that the Sony VTX-800U looked to be best on performance and reliability. However, I was tempted by the Digilogic DSTB1000 as it had pretty well all the features I needed and at Tesco you could buy 4 of these boxes for the price of the Sony. When I opened the box I was surprised the remote and control functionality were identical to the old Hitachi and even the design and wording of the manual were the same. The box is a very different shape and weighs more, but inside it must be a close clone, so it will be interesting to see how reliable it is; then again at less than £25 for the box it is a pretty disposable item.

Jim Wickham on June 4th, 2006
I bought this three days ago. It seems to work well, but it fails to find channels 19, 20 and 22, which my wife watched until our old box expired. It will have to be returned, I guess.

Oliver, Milton Keynes on June 20th, 2006
After research into quality of Freeview reception in my area, I discovered that I should not be able to recieve digital signal according to the Freeview website. However, the analogue signal is just about ok and no Channel 5. So I changed to a Televes DAT45 aerial and hope for the best. I decided to get the Sony box as it was the best box according to this review site. Thinking of getting a box from the shop, as I can return it to the shop easily if the Freeview website is true. But Currys and Comet shops won't match thier own web price any more. So pop into Tesco and give the Digilogic a try at £24.95. If it won't work, I could return it. But to my surprise, the Digilogic is good and all the channels are there. Very easy and quick to set up. It's over a week ago now. One drawback is the response to channel change sometimes can be a bit slow. Otherwise, it's very good value for money. And in my opinion, a good digital aerial is a must and well-worth investment.

Stephen, Bradford on July 8th, 2006
great

Tim Gloucestershire on July 13th, 2006
Bought this from Tesco 12 months ago. Freezes everytime you turn over and now turns, it self off when you turn over avoid!!!

Pete, Reading, Berkshire on July 21st, 2006
I purchased a Digilogic for £25 from Tesco 6 months ago and I think it a great model for the price. I have had no problems with it since installation and the functionality is just fine for only £25, an excellent box. 7 day EPG, 2 scarts and a timer.

Sara, Colchester on July 31st, 2006
I bought this from Tesco's last June on a whim as I had been advised that I couldn't receive Freeview in my area of Colchester. It works well and I have slight delays with the picture on heavy days of rain, other then that it's perfect for £24.95

Kaitlyn, Cheshire on August 16th, 2006
Again, as usual, a very happy purchase from Tescos. Had to make do with a portable aerial for a while, but dug the carpet up a few months ago and ran a main aerial through from the splitter box and hey presto, all channels, picture perfect. nice looking box, remote not too chunky, my only limitation with this box set is that the remote does seem to have a mind of it's own at times, not much of an issue though. For £29.99(now £24.99) you can't go wrong. It's a hell of alot better than the grundig one we have in our living room that was bought a few years ago paying £99 for.

Alhagi, Southmead, Bristol on August 18th, 2006
My receiver's standby light will not change from red to green. I just cannot get it to work. It new, purchased from Tesco, Eastville, Bristol.

Kev, Uttoxeter on August 21st, 2006
Feels nice build quality, a 14in portable sits perfectly on top so ideal for the kitchen or bedroom. I like the fact it plugs straight into the mains with no adapter required. Menus are informative and it switches well from widescreen to 4:3. Its only 28 quid from Tesco!! Internally identical to many other supermarket own brands. The major criticism I have is the very sluggish channel change and programme guide cursor. You can press a button and the effect sometimes happens straight away or sometimes after a 15 sec delay! Rather annoying esp. if you're channel hopping but never mind the quality, feel the price!

Pete, Shropshire on August 26th, 2006
dstb1000 - On automatic it only found 1 mux channel all the rest failed. Went to Manual still only worked for the first channel selected (the rest showed no signal strength, found that if you input each mux channel - waited until it found the tv channels connected to that mux then sw/off then sw/on again selected next mux channel etc. etc. until you had all the possible channels within that AE configuration (i.e. mine was Sutton Coldfield). It now works ok. Hope this helps somebody else who may be unable to pick up all the channels on Auto.

Mart on September 6th, 2006
at first it was excellent but then the picture keep on breaking up and now it doesnt work no channels are there and it says check antenna connection but i checked everywhere and the antenna connection was connected so m taking it back to tesco tommorrow,only after 1 month from buying it.

Bert, Wokingham on September 10th, 2006
The box worked well for a while but is now in standby and it doesn't come out! I guess that's what happens with cheap stuff from Tesco ... Will dump it in the bin and never buy electronical stuff in Tesco again.

Simon Brown on October 1st, 2006
Since receiving the upgrade I can now only receive channels BBC1 BBC3 and Channel 4. I would advise against buying this item.

joncz, Cambridge on October 5th, 2006
Just installed a DSTB1000 . £30 from Tesco.This is a replacement for a cheap Bush unit also from Tesco. Only problem as far as I am concerned, is that it will not accept more than one programme reminder for any particular time. Not a major problem but the old box could do this.I could put in reminders very quickly for every programme I MIGHT want to see, later in the day. Perhaps this habit of mine caused the old box to give up the ghost!!!

Rudolph , London on October 14th, 2006
I bought Digilogic DSTB1000 from Tesco couple of weeks ago. It works fine and the control layout is simple and the installation was quick . You can also connect another device VCR or DVD at the same time. The Now and Next was simple to use with the NOW and NEXT text being colour coded with the remote buttons and when flicking through channels. I also found the software to be rather good and no problems with it (version 1.7 ). To conclude, if you are looking for a basic, yet effective box out there in the market as well as low priced, this has to be it. I would highly recommend this Set-Top Box.

Mark uk on October 22nd, 2006
I am trying to run this freeview Digilogic DSTB1000 through my computer and am wondering if i need extra software? Also i cant get the remote to work. I am running it through my Media center. Also when i try to scan for Channels it only detects 10 channels.

MSB, Wembley on October 28th, 2006
Bought it last Friday from Tesco's, cost me £25. Installed it and after it finished scanning for channels, it intermittently switched itself off and on by itself. Took it back same day, got a refund. Pretty ironic that that box was the last one they had... 1 star-rating, because I can't rate it a 0. Avoid like the plague.

Cheshire on November 5th, 2006
Easy to configure and use, great picture and loads of channels.

sid on December 6th, 2006
excellent. have 2

Brian S, Colchester on December 12th, 2006
Delivered from Tesco 1:30pm (it's 4:30pm now). Software v1.11, hopefully I'll get 1.7 overnight. Pros: Nice box, good picture and sound (definitely stereo, Ade) and surprisingly good build quality (I expected plastic but got robust steel!). Definitely has a 7-day guide and it's not exactly hidden. Good 4:3/16:9 switching, the TV/DTV function lets you switch to other inputs easily and the CSTV setting gave a good Picture on a set with no RGB input. Cons: Don't trust the supplied SCART lead! I spent an hour assuming this box was broken and had no video output and then found everything worked fine when I used a proper lead - worked on another TV though, it's quite a thin lead and I guess it's not fully-wired. The text is a bit sluggish but not enough to be a problem. Yes, the remote is bit directional (you have to within about 25deg of the sensor). Only 5 event timers - there's room on the screen for the usual 8 and I assume this is just last-minute cost cutting, personally I'd have paid the extra 5p or so for 3 more slots! Also a bit slow with the 'on' button sometimes, you have to hold it down for a few secs. Hint: if you want to set the parental control and don't want to dig in the manual, the factory setting is 0000. Investigate the configuration menu, some of the options - setting favorites, not scanning encrypted channels, etc - solve some of the issues mentioned above.

glasgow on December 26th, 2006
One piece of crap this is the worst purchase I have ever made and i am only saying this as i am one of the type of people who like to know who exactly made my purchases. This box is a rebranded vestel t1000 that has absolutely zero support from any source especially Tesco. Once you contact Tesco for help concerning this product you enter an infinite loop. Here is what myself and many others have asked from Tesco
1. when is the new firmware release.
2 .who the hell is the true manufacturer.
3 .were can I contact them as there is no contact info in the small very sparse manual that is laughingly provided. no web details, no manufacturers website, no phone numbers, no complaints department. no updates released to date not recommended as has many problems I suspect due to the lack of software update and little info...

Rob from South Devon on December 28th, 2006
Installed the box no problem and actually quite liked the quality of picture and sound. Also installed a new mega aerial with masses of gain to take advantage of Freeview and the signal strength is showing as maximum so no problems there. Settled to enjoy programmes and now after a three weeks the sound disappears (drops-out?) for 2 - 3 seconds for no apparent reason, it does this 3 to 4 times per hour so now we have some lovely kids Christmas films recorded to DVD with some lovely silent moments, usually occuring at a crucial dialogue moment. Very nice, thanks Tesco. This is the second pile of Freeview **** that we have endured from the same store and it goes back today. One observation from all the forums I can find is that most people request or talk about finding the cheapest and best Freeview box available. My advice is forget it. It's an impossible combination. Today more than ever before you only get what you pay for. Buy a quality brand from a quality supplier with available support or expect to pay the consequences. Buying cheap is all too often a false economy that we all fall into. My only relief is that the guarantee is still in force.

Digilogic UK on January 1st, 2007
Everything seems fine......except every 30minutes or so, I get up to 5 seconds of no sound.......anyone any ideas...........or do I just take it back...

vms, Hampshire on January 8th, 2007
Given a DSTB1000 as a second box. Am pleased with it overall: easy setup, straightforward to use. Not being able to change the order of the channels is a minor niggle. Reasonable for the money. In common with a few other postings here there is intermittent loss of sound for 3 seconds or so. Does anyone know if this is resolvable?

Mark, Edinburgh on January 25th, 2007
Bought on impulse from Tesco a few months back. Picture quality looks better than Telewest Cable. Second SCART allows you to plug DVD player in for those who only have 1 SCART on TV - perhaps some of the earlier contributors should have read the manual! Excellent tuning performance with set top aerial - I have just relocated same aerial into loft space (to get rid of reception problems when you move round room) and can get all 6 multiplexes load and clear. Have had no problems with box hanging etc (unlike my Telewest cable box) and it has been running OK since I got it. Will probably get another one for the living room.

Paul, Neath on January 27th, 2007
Got one of these before Christmas from Tesco for daughter's room. Seems to work ok but annoying not being able to switch to a channel direct from the EPG! Having searched the forums I still can’t get my head round the software versioning system. Mine is V.1.11 with a date of 10/06. Is this the latest?

bradford on February 4th, 2007
Purchased this from Tesco’s on Friday as on offer for £19.99 this is first Freeview box & we are very pleased with it, it’s a lot better than we thought it was going to be, easy to set up, perfect picture & that's on an indoor ariel.

Chippy PO10 on February 24th, 2007
It has worked great for 8 months but it has now "died". One of the components has burnt out on the power side - the number on it is 340531, it has 7 legs , and the number that was above looks like*2*5PN - (* being unreadable) Can anyone tell me what it is. The circuit board says IC601. I must admit I was expecting it to last longer than a year.

Ian, Meopham Kent on March 6th, 2007
Purchased this box from Tesco around a year ago. We can get a signal from Crystal Palace most of the time. However it's marginal at times. Looses signal at the slightest sign of interference (central heating switching on throws it for about 15 seconds). The box is very slow to change channel - even between channels on the same multiplex. Push the button and about 3 seconds later it might change channel. Seems to get completely locked up a couple of times each month. Unplugging from the mains fixes it. You get what you pay for and this was cheap. Buy something else. This one is going in the bin next week.

mjs Crowthorne on March 17th, 2007
Cheap box, great when it worked. Unfortunately it is not reliable. The box periodically loses its settings and now it is stuck in standby and won't turn on. Reading down this list, stuck in standby mode seems to be a common failure mode. My next free view box won't be Digilogic and it won’t be coming from Tesco.

Bals, Cornwall on March 21st, 2007
We have 3 of these boxes in our house and 2 of them work ok. One has a problem when changing the channel but that’s probably the tuner. If anyone experiences problems with picture and sound, buy a new SCART cable as the one that it comes with is rubbish. Otherwise it’s a really good box!!!

Matthew Farnell, Rotherham on March 28th, 2007
i think it is OK but it dosn't play +RW's from other machines it simply says "Error Disc"

Joe, Bromley on May 21st, 2007
I bought a Digilogic box a week ago and have set it up perfectly to my VCR and I can tape off of digital channels and the oicture is great. However after about 5 minutes of watching the thing, the sound goes but the picture remains. I have checked all scarts andth aerial but nothing happens. I then turn it off and then try to turn it back on, but then it won't turn on again for another 5 minutes or so. I am very dissapointed. Can anyobe please help me?

H Carr on July 15th, 2007
I bought my DSTB1000 January 2006 and it was great, enjoyed having the choice of freeview. But it now appears that the picture defaults on the TV and dissappears intermittently - you can't watch the channel or programme then. I have switch it off and tried again to no avail. Any suggestions or do I need a new box?

Adrian, Surrey on October 12th, 2007
Have owned a Digilogic DSTB1000 for over 12 months. Quite often would not switch on by remote unless main power switched off and back on again. So was inclined to stick to anologue and little used the thing. However recently it would not switch on at all, no power lights showed. Checked usual things such as plug fuse etc. Decided to remove outer casing and discovered part T614 had burnt out and left scorch marks on underside of casing. I do hope this is not a fault that can become a fire hazard. Needless to say with problems encountered I will be looking to replace with a different product.

John Thomas on November 27th, 2007
Bought it just over a year ago and it worked fine until today when it just gave up without any warning. Same thing happened to another freeview cheapo purchased from Tesco. My guess is they are only made to last a year then you have to buy a new one.

Duncan, Warwick on February 23rd, 2008
Not a bad bit of kit, had mine for a few years. Latest EPG update from/for Teletext Extra has rendered it rather unstable, requiring a power cycle, re-scan and EPG download every morning.