Wharfedale: DV832B

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Your responses

Ian, North Wales on September 24th, 2006
Since the last software update a few months ago, the box keeps forgetting my 16:9 setting. I do unplug from the mains every night, but it didnt used to forgett that setting. So now I have to always change the setting from normal to 16:9 which is very annoying!

Bob Crump, Liverpool on September 22nd, 2006
Purchased this from argos for £29.99 after reading reviews. Easy to set up, works great, fantastic picture/sound. No freeze ups or breaking up like the bush model that I'm replacing. Had to phone help line which turned out to be an argos helpline based in the uk, very helpful, issue resolved in minutes. It should be noted that when you purchse the above model at argos you seem to get the DV832BN instead even though it is not listed in the search facilities at argos.

Tony, Glasgow on September 19th, 2006
bought one today for my grandad ,then went and got myself one Looks superb very happy with this

Dee, Glos on September 17th, 2006
Bought this Wharfedale box from Argos £29.99 and have been pleasantly surprised by it. The model # is DV832BN and is an updated version(June 06 according to the blurb). It has 2 scarts and an aerial loopthrough. The EPG (using the Now & Next option ) now allows you to select the programme you want fom the list, see it in the Picture-in-Picture box, then press Guide button... et voila! I haven't really used the 7 day EPG yet. I am using the Timer option and, while I am disappointed to have only 5 slots - which requires some occasional juggling - the box seems to switch on from standby fine, ready to record onto my HD-DVDR which has the actual programme recording parameters set up. I've only had this box a week but am hoping that it will carry on being as reliable as most other posters have said it is.

Darrin, London on September 16th, 2006
Just picked one of these up at Argos on offer for £30. Nice pic. A little soft compared to my Humax Fox T. EPG works well in now & next mode. 7 day EPG could be better though. It only lists the next 3 programmes for each channel and oyu have to manually flick through time and day using the coloured buttons. I wish it had the info show how much of the programme has passed and is remaining like the Humax does. But for the price it's pretty good nonetheless. I would give it 5 stars for the price alone but just for those minor niggles I am trying to be objective, so it's a 4 from me.

Steve, Brum on September 11th, 2006
Thought i had reception problems,was using a Panasonic box,in fairnes it was 3 years old but bought the Wharfdale DV832BN cos remote control for Panna fell apart.I can now get all the freeview channels and the new box does everthing you would want it to,i really like the simple timer to switch channels,a steal at £29.99 (Argos) get one!

Steve, Rotherham on September 9th, 2006
Hi, I've just bought a Wharfdale freeview box. I have connected it to my TV using a SCART cable and done the same to connect it to my VCR. However, I cannot get my VCR to work and don't know what to do. Help would be appreciated! Regards

Net, London on September 2nd, 2006
Thanks to your very useful reviews, I found the perfect product (under low budget) for the job. It has everything you need to view all extra channels and it does the job extremely well. Extremely fast channel changing and have no problems so far. Having used/read many reviews for other similar products, if you want a decent low a cost set top box, don’t waste any more time - get this one quick!

Andy North, Milton Keynes on September 2nd, 2006
Interesting box, this. It has a 7-day EPG but no Now/Next except through the (i) button, which only shows Now/Next for the current channel. We got it from Argos after returning our crap Bush DVBwotever, which was substituted for the Sagem we fancied. I like the idea of a front display, although 2 inch characters (ok, I'm male, they're really 3/4 in, but they look BIG) with leading 0's (Program 1 looks like POO!) is a bit excessive. Timer problems: The box recieved software upgrade v2.9 recently. The box now keeps time OK but still will not switch itself on to record - it must be left switched on. Don't be surprised if your recorings start with a banner asking "Are you sure you want to change channels?", even from the timer. Sloppy programming. Apollo rockets' computers had the power of today's calculators and yet today's digiboxes cannot even switch themselves on at a preset time. Good job we've got lots of really young people on the case in IT then!

Bill, Blackhill on August 20th, 2006
Bought one last week to replace my Pace 543-1005500 which is still working but the power adaptor cable is u/s and I cant find a replacement. The biggest downside on the Wharfedale for me is the inability to directly toggle between favourite lists (or am I missing something?) It seems an awfully long winded process to change from List 1 to List 2 etc. i.e having to enter the Menu!

Gary, Chatham on August 18th, 2006
Despite the fairly rave reviews above I have had at least 4 Freezes/Lockouts since I bought the box a month ago. I was considering swapping it with my old Mediamaster 9850T which is currently used on the PC for direct to digital recording, but now I'm not sure it's up to the job.

Rak, West Midlands on August 16th, 2006
Can't believe the reviews on this page. I know residents near me with a sony freeview and their picture is what I would call quality, not the the wharfdale. The remote is small and the buttons are awkward. The interface is unimaginative and slow, signal was poor on film four and the 2 music channels. I agree with whoever said on this page: You get what you pay for. I WILL exchange mine for a sony, you can't go wrong with them.

Rachel, Wilts on August 16th, 2006
Bought the Wharfedale box for my birthday upon reading the reviews below. Shame I did! The first one lasted a month before turning every channel a vile bright pink colour, firstly on and off, but soon it was constant. It also hated channel 4 and stuttered about every 3 or less seconds on attempting to watch it after time. Picked up another one today from Argos, as soon as I plugged it in the pink was there immediately again and it found absolutley no channels upon searching for them this time. Am not pleased. It's odd that nobody else has mentioned this pink problem, anyone any ideas on the problem? Am going to look elsewhere for a more reliable box... not good.

Francis, Dublin on August 15th, 2006
Bought this box in Argos in Derry, N.Ireland at the weekend for the DTT trial on the E / NE coast of Ireland which *just* started (finally). Very easy to set up. £34.99 at the moment. Already I have spotted the time quirk in that it was exactly two hours slow this morning! Bizarre. Came with firmware 1.7. I noticed that if you mute the sound, it mutes it to *both* SCART sockets! Not so good if you're recording to the VCR. Signal strength is shown by means of a bar - basic in that there isn't a signal & quality percentage display but the picture itself is perfect.

Alison, London on July 30th, 2006
I am yet to buy a box. I have got the message that Sky is a rip off but back to topic... I am now considering the Wharfedale box as mentioned by other reviews. By the looks of things it seems this box is reliable. I was going to go with the Phillips but as someone else mentions, the scart connections are too close together. I personally like the clock and channel number. two scart sockets and at thirty five pounds...Overall rating Will buy this Wharfedale box on Monday:)

Mike, Newcastle on July 24th, 2006
No problem setting up on two tvs with two scart connections. When I tried to set up on combined Goodmans TV and DVD set with only one scart point - could not get it to work. It would not bring up the initial set up menu

Dev, Dudley on July 22nd, 2006
Poor EPG cannot select channel from EPG, Not that user friendly. Poor Malfunctioning remote control needed 8 batteries in week im getting it replaced if that doesnt work i will search for a new remote). Good Picture quality cant knock it. I only had the time freeze once and that was on the very first day seems to be fine now. Overall i wish i had spent a bit more to get a better box. You do get what you pay for.

Iain, Wakefield on July 15th, 2006
This is my 3rd Feeview box, after 1 year the asda box packed up, the panasonic replacement went back after 5 days for being so poor working. This box has worked well so far. Occasional sound drop outs but I expect this is due to electrical spikes as detailed on the forums for losts of freeview boxes. One critism is that you can not select a chanel from the guide and entering a timer reminder in the guide does not enter it in the timers menu. These are quirks though so otherwise a good box for the price.

Michelle, Droitwich on July 13th, 2006
We have had our wharefedale for about 6 weeks now and on the whole have been very pleased with it. Sometimes we have the sound interference (usually at a crucial stage of a programme) and it has frozen on a few occassions. The main bugbear we have at the moment is the upgrade which has been going on this week. Our standby light is continuously flashing on and off, which means it is impossible to watch the TV 'cos the picture is fuzzy and keeps flickering when the light does. We have phoned the helpline and have been told this could go on for 4 days!! Is there anyway around this and is it vital to have the upgrade? Would appreciate any comments on this!!

dt, Glos on July 12th, 2006
Bought on the strength of this website and I have not been disappointed at all. It took me about 20 seconds to setup. Digital text is very quick loading (when compared to older digi-boxes). Nice quick channel changing. Recommended.

Paul, York on July 7th, 2006
This is the 3rd set top box I've come across. It seems to have identical software/interface/EPG to the goodmans and digihome ones I've seen and the same remote. It seems to have a more sensitive tuner as on rooftop aerial 30 miles from the transmitter it picks up 100% signal with a long cable run! The two other boxes get nothing like this signal level. The picture and sound seem slightly better, interactive and menus load faster. It hasn't frozen, cut out of pixelated yet (sadly I can't say that for the other 2 boxes). Highly recommended for the price of £30 I paid for it, it is better than the goodmans and digihome ones I've encountered (although they were all right).

Jim, Horsham on July 5th, 2006
Bought one on the strength of this website. And I have to agree with the majority: great value and performance. Two questions: how does manual tuning work? Its not obvious from the instructions and seems to be basically give it a whirl and when the signal is strong , take the option. And I seem to have lost vision but not sound when I play back VHS tapes. I'm sure theres sensible explanations for both of these issues.

Paul, London on July 3rd, 2006
Works well. A few freezes so far but rare. Works very well with TIVO. use the tivo listed code, no problems.

Russell, Watford on June 30th, 2006
Absolutely brilliant! Best £30 you could spent on kit like this. It appears to be sold exclusively through Argos. I questioned their support line about possible future software updates. Courteous response but didn't really seem to know, and there appears to be no website from which you can download an update, even though it explains how to do it in the manual! Still, why should an update be necessary when it works ok in the first place, right? This unit replaces a Humax F2-FOXT purchased in 2003 and which was frought with various problems ever since. Good decision on my part.

Brad Friedel, Blackburn on June 27th, 2006
fantastic, good signal, doesn't freeze, sound is to a very high quality. well worth its £30 price tag

John, Hemel Hempstead on June 22nd, 2006
Had the Wharfedale for about 3 months now without any major problem, just sound dropouts (almost certainly caused by signal noise like light switches, fridge, motor bikes, etc). But I've noticed a strange effect - if our Sony VCR is turned on (out of standby) I cannot change channels on the Wharfedale ! The other functions work fine, do I don't think it is remote control signal interference, it's just channel selection ! Apart from that it works fine, but I'm not keen on the EPG - it seems to give a very limited time range displayed at a time, and only one channel at a time which you can't then select from the EPG if you can find something in it ! Also you can't see what is on other channels while you are watching one. I prefered the SKY EPG. But as we get a good listing mag anyway, I'm not too bothered.

Vas, Mansfield on June 21st, 2006
I stupidly bought a DigiFusion 103, which I promptly swopped for a WharfdaleDV832B and I've only had it running for about 2 hours, but it is fantastic!! The remote seems very good, the unit seems to be decent quality, and the whole operation is good. Only cost me the same as the Digifusion too, £29.99 from Argos.

Ian, North Wales on June 14th, 2006
Good set top box. Faulty remote (drains battery after 1 week, batteries leak). I have to buy a new remote now :-<

Henry, Colchester on June 13th, 2006
We have just had a new digital rooftop aerial installed, but all our cables are standard old-fashioned single-shielded coaxial, and we have no aerial booster. This box has a lot going for it - low price; easy setup; well laid out remote control with volume and mute to control TV without needing to use the TV remote; front panel programme display which turns into a digital clock when in standby mode; RCA audio output jacks; standby switch and programme up/down buttons on the box front - very handy if the remote is mislaid; 7 day programme guide; reasonable quality picture. On the negative side, there was a slight hum on sound, which was fixed by purchasing a good quality SCART cable to replace the basic one supplied with the box; you can't access any channel directly from the guide; and the clock should not be relied on as ours lost 2 hours overnight on one occasion in the 10 days we have been using it. We are unlikely to use the timer, so can't comment on this. This box suffers from what appear to be normal problems with DTV - 'impulse interference' - sound and/or picture cutout or picture 'blocking' when light switches are flicked, fridges and central heating cut in or out, a motorbike with a badly suppressed engine passes, etc. Nobody tells you about these problems when they say everybody must convert by year X or otherwise do without.

Andy, Lancashire on May 30th, 2006
Well I've had my Wharfy for nearly 8 months now (got it very early from Argos when it was £40 and had only been out for a few days) and I've got to say I'm still delighted with it. There are one or two little problems with it, however, the worst being the short sound dropouts mostly before BBC programmes weirdly!!(never during the programme funnily enough???). Could this be to do with the PDC signal that is sent out to VCR's/DVD's to start recording programmes?? The clock sometimes is a little quirky and will disappear for a few seconds but then come back on and still with the right time! My picture has frozen up very occaisonally (BBC4 was the worst with this) but not recently so I wonder if there's been a software update? The softward upgrade is fast (about 2 minutes) and is worth doing every few weeks to catch any new DTT channels. I've not given this box 5 stars due to its little quirks, but seriously, they are minor and don't provide any serious grief. Also the digital radio on it is excellent (played through a stereo amp). I reckon the quality of the radio would give a few DAB tuners a run for their money actually:-) If I could give it 4.5 out of 10, then I would. It is almost flawless (especially for 35 quid!!).

Philip, Wells on May 23rd, 2006
Really awful, faulty remote, required constant battery removal/refit to get it to operate correctly for a minute or two at a time. The receiver box itself appeared to tune in quickly and function well enough though, when the remote was behaving itself. However the remote seemed to get in a loop constantly transmitting a signal and hanging the receiver. I can't describe how distressed I was by this tacky malfunctioning remote control. The Argos service line quickly talked us through a diagnostic and are sending another remote.

John, Pembrokeshire on May 21st, 2006
What a pleasure it's been to find this gem! After buying one of these freeview boxes in March 2006 from Argos for £39.99 I can honestly state that its the first box I've tried that's worked perfectly and it just hasn't missed a beat. It also has a very slim and responsive remote control and a built in clock that you never have to set yourself and it seems to hold on to a digital signal like a bull terrier, It hasn't dropped a picture or sound signal once!! After struggling for the past two years with the Philips DTR1500, DTR320 and a particularly cheap and nasty Sagem (they all went back due to faults and poor quality), I was just about to go for the range topping Sony box in desparation. I decided to try this Wharfedale first cos it looked good and Wharfedale have a reputation for good quality cut price audio products. What a find, I'm so glad I did. I'm just off to buy another from Argos before they all vanish. The price has since dropped to £34.99 ...Cant fault it - buy with confidence!!!

Marco, London on May 20th, 2006
Bought this after checking out the reviews on this site - excellent box, excellent picture and easy to install. No 16 day return available from Argos but dont need it! Now watching tv 24 hours a day - will I ever see the sun again!

Mac on May 9th, 2006
Bought this from Argos for £35 as a second set-top-box for a small bedroom TV. It's early days yet but this box seems well made, fast to respond to channel change and has a simple and easy-to-use EPG interface. I have an old aerial which seems to be more than adequate as the box tuned into all channels without difficulty and signal strength is almost 100%.

Jo, St Albans on May 6th, 2006
Just got one to replace my Pace DTR201 - it was constantly breaking up - particularly on E4. The Wharefdale (£34.99 at Argos) is great - 5 minutes to set up - it doesnt even need the aerial amplifier the Pace did (it's a new digital compatible rooftop aerial). Signal strength is very high and I'm 26 miles from Crystal Palace. My one and only wish is that the RF loopthrough carried the digital output as the Pace did - but hey - I'll trade that for the stable picture anyday.

Mike, Cardiff on May 6th, 2006
I am pleased to say I have now had my Wharfedale freeview box for seven months now without any problems, Read my review dated October 21st 2005.

DC on April 29th, 2006
Bought one today, easy setup and very good picture and sound via RGB scart.(using shielded cables).I am a basic viewer don't use epg, record etc. Much better then my grundig box (died after 16 months)and Sagem box died after 14 months. Have taken out extra 3 year cover for £9.99 with agros. So if it fails after 14 or 16 months I can just get myself a new one.

Clive, Basingstoke on April 27th, 2006
On sale at Argos now - £35 ! Got one but not tested yet.

Keith, Wantage on April 24th, 2006
Further to my comments on January 3rd, if, like me, anyone is having problems with short breaks in sound, then take a look at this very interesting website which explains why this occurs http://www.megalithia.com/elect/aerialsite/dttcon.html(I have found my breaks in sound are due to electrical interference when the central heating cuts in.) Anyone who is having problems with a Freeview box (or is contemplating buying one) would do well to visit this website. I believe the information on this website could explain a lot of the other problems people are having and why some boxes are more susceptible than others. I am also pleased to report that I am still very, very happy with my two Wharfedale DV832B's and have still had no lock-ups or freezes. I just need to replace all my old co-ax now!!

Andy, Lancashire on April 16th, 2006
Well going of the reviews here. This morning I went down to Argos, and got the DV832B. £39.99... It came with 1 Scart lead. The install was dead simple, no problem what so ever. It seem's to find the best reception you have. and stick to that tranmiter. Pic and sound are spot on if not better then my last box (Philips 1500). It's less then 24Hrs old yet. so I'll update you in 1Mth.