Alba: STB2NS

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Comments (9)

What are your views on this product? Tell other Digital Spy users what the strengths and weaknesses are, and don't forget to include your rating out of five!

Phil, Salford on August 6th, 2007
Bought mine just over 12 months ago for £30 and was happy to see that it received all the possible channels from the transmitting station, so full marks there. However it is a total nightmare when it comes to using the remote control - it tends to delay when you press the buttons and you end up pressing the buttons harder thinking that it will make some difference! Then all of a sudden you'll end up try to access channel 8383 (3 times in a row). At one point last week the remote stopped working completely! There have been several occasions where the sound has stopped or there is no picture (even though it seems to be picking up signals). The only way I found to resolve this is switch the set top box off for a few minutes and restarting it. I bought this thinking that Alba was a decent enough name for the price and that it was aesthetically pleasing - do not buy it as I'm sure there are better set top boxes out there at this price!

HPC, London on September 7th, 2006
Not worth 1p let alone £299.99. Just like Mike Evans I've also persevered with this for months. Utter rubbish. Locks up frequently, remote initially intermittant, now packed up completely. Box worked for a couple of months but had to power off and power on far too often on lock up. Will now throw it in the bin and pay double for something better.

Allan, Christchurch on July 25th, 2006
The Alba box looks very nice and works well some of the time. I use mine exclusively for front-ending a DVD recorder for timer recordings. Sometimes, half way through a recording the screen goes black and the sound continues. After the recording has finished (with 50% of the picture missing) the remote has no effect, neither do the buttons on the box work either, until the box is unplugged from the mains and replugged. I'm afraid this is not acceptable and it's going back to the supplier very soon.

S. Davies, Carmarthen on June 27th, 2006
You pay for what you get, its cheap so i dont expect bundles of features, it does the job and does it ok. It has crashed on a few occasions and once in a blue moon switches itself off. I have seen far better out there for a little more cash, but if i spent £50 plus i would expect far more.

Mike Evans on June 17th, 2006
I've persevered with this for months now. Just plain rubbish. Locks up frequently, black screens if you stay on a subscription site for more than a second, audio disappears without warning, causes my DVD player case to become +110V, need to unplug it and retune every other time you use it, blocky picture, remote control, channel and power buttons on the thing lock up. Just far too irritating. Spend an extra fiver and get something else. Anything else.

Mark Quinton, Ipswich on May 31st, 2006
After paying £30 from a high street supermarket I had the box up and running withint as many minutes of stepping through the door. The unit is a very nice looking box with solid buttons on the front and small enough to perch on top of the DVD player inconspicuously. After the initial setup and auto tune all the expected channels were received (90% coverage where I live) and I was very happy with the menu system. The menu system is identical to that used in several Daewoo TV's incorporating Freeview. However, after watching the England game last night when it came to half time I couldn't get the TV to respond to any presses of the remote control. The box itself will change channels and work correctly and upon switching it off the TV will then allow me to alter volume etc but when the box is on again it doesn't. After switching the box off at the mains and retuning etc it works fine but again after 20 minutes or so of sitting idle on the same channel it prevents the tv remote from functioning. Will be taken back and trying another budget box from elsewhere which is a shame as its easily the nicest looking box in this budget.

Matthew M, Shropshire, UK on May 27th, 2006
I bought the box today from Argos and I have been using it all afternoon. The dinky little box is rock solid, allbeit getting a bit warm, but what electrical device doesn't these days? However, if you make sure that the vents are not covered, the box sould be fine. Using a decent £20 aerial and proper, sheilded cables - just like it always should have been - I can get alot of channels, sone 50+, even though I am about 20 miles from my transmitter. The only negative I can think of is that there is no card slot - so no TopUp TV. However, nether the catalogue nor the retail box said it did, so no stars lost there. All in all, for £30, it is a great buy, and I would easily recommend it.

Geoff Richardson, Bristol on May 6th, 2006
Sounds all very similar to the STB2; remote works only intermitently, if at all. Also had problems with picture breakup

R. Lupton, Nottingham on May 2nd, 2006
had the earlier alba stb1xi and found it to be perfect with reception.that models psu packed up so i bought this new model but the reception is breaking up on all bbc channels and the sound has a background hiss. not pleased.