DigiFusion: FVRT95

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Comments (30)

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!

Ron, Thatcham on November 21st, 2009
I purchased the FVRT95 quite a while ago, programming is simple, find the programme box, press record, bingo! The problem I am having is the digi box keeps turning itself off. as there is no warning, I find I Have no recordings, very frustating, can anyone out there help me?

John Berrington Cullompton Devon on October 18th, 2009
Does anyone know the number of the smps 8 pin I.C on the digital vision dvr180. as on mine the the main electrolytic went open circuit, and blew the ic into ic heaven.

Thomas Perkins, Plymouth, Devon on February 10th, 2009
You can't beat it! (except maybe with the later Matsui twin tuner version). I have not had a single problem with mine in about 2 or 3 years of ownership and considering it cost under £50 second hand on eBay I think thats pretty impressive. It is by far the easiest to use recorder on the market and its latest software has no glitches at all. I have never had any tuner stability problems, the picture is always perfect when watching live, delay TV or recordings. Would never own a different one unless I really had too or could get a twin tuner version of any Access Devices/ Step01 device (the actual manufacturers of these, Digifusion FVRT90, Digifusion FVRT110, Ferguson FPVR1T, Astratec PVRTU1, Astratec DVR80GT, DigitalVision DVR180, Matsui M1602PVR and the other Matsui recorders - all essentially the same box, some with top-up/ setanta card slots and some not and some of the matsuis with twin tuner and bigger hard drives).

Alex, Heathrow on January 2nd, 2009
I've had one of these boxes for 2+years. Most of the time it works flawlessly. Image is clear, sound easily good enough to use happily on surround. Grab one while you can. It has it quirks but these rarely cause problems. It used to seize up, freezing on a particualr channel ,blue screen etc but most of this was cured by plugging it into a GOOD QUALITY surge protected extension lead. It seems these boxes dont do well with the normal 'dirty' mains supply. Also we had quite a few times when it suddenly refused to recieve whole groups of channels, or we'd lose audio, or it would just say 'data channel' - all this was cured by a little TLC on our aerial and a decent quality aerial lead running to the box. Lastly make sure its not got other equipment on top of it. This may seem obvious but the hard drives will be much happier (and last longer) if the unit is able to breath. Their hard drives dont make any more noise than they do in any PC I've had no probs with the remote.

Andy, London on December 17th, 2008
A lovely piece of kit, very much recommended.

hilorsu on December 13th, 2008
I must of had this box for like 2 years and I must say that it has served me very well and you develop an unconditional LOVE much like you would a reliable old car that just keeps going and going. The box is sexy as hell lookswise, but today I must list the reasons for change 'yes we can'. The Digifusion remote control has now become a bodybuilding gym for my thumbs. It can take about 8-10 fully forced thumb press reps to ad-skip. Even worse, once you have completed the reps you sometimes realise that the box has frozen so your work-out becomes more like circuit-training as you now have to get up and pull the flaming power cord from the wall. EPG channel data often gets lost for no reason, all channels can stick in 4:3 after watching Minder or something, after you woke up to the holding screen of FilmFour the only way to change the now 'blue screen' is through BBC1 cleansing which may only show as picture in picture. The view for prog guide is just way too limited for anyone who thinks about whats on more than just 5 terrestrial channels for more than 3 hours also. The ad-skip is so annoyingly either 3 mins or 5 mins meaning you have to forward or rewind afterwards. Everyone knows ads are 4 minutes right?? Digifusion has got a remarkable skill of knowing exactly (down to syllables) when eastenders punchlines are occuring on playback and will very rudely start recording another program to record at that very point so that 8 seconds of audio cuts out and the a screen turns into a thrown up digital pizza. Other than that, good box.

Paul, The Woods on September 6th, 2008
i think mines quality! no noise and had it for years! I would buy it all over again!

Tony, North Somerset on August 23rd, 2007
Like Mike from Bognor Regis, I bought my FVRT95 for £51.00 from bid TV just over three weeks ago and so far have been very pleased with the performance. The only minor irritation I've experienced is when switching to a digital channel on a couple of occasions there hasn't been any sound, however changing to another channel and back again cured the problem, which fortunately has never shown up on a recording. I also own a Humax PVR 9200 which I think is a fabulous piece of kit, but considering that the Digifusion only cost around a quarter of the price of the Humax, then I reckon that I will have easily had my money's worth if it works as well as it has done so far for the next 12 months.

Mike Smith, Bognor Regis on August 14th, 2007
I bought my Digifusion FRTV95 from bid tv for £54. The next day I could have had it for £39 Grrr! I bought it to replace my hopelessly slow Panasonic TU-CT30, as the 7 day programme guide was an absolute joke, sometimes only showing now and next programme information, or taking light years to update. In comparison the Digifusion was a revelation. It's literally plug and play, with the box automatically tuning in the available channels and setting the clock. Picture quality is excellent, as is the sound, which is far superior than the Panasonic, which sounds muffled in comparison. Recording onto the hard drive involves pressing just one button, either while watching the current programme, or selecting a future one from the excellent EPG. This gives instant access to all programmes over the next 7 days, showing programme information without the need to press an extra info button. You can use the EPG while continuing to watch your current selected programme, as it provides a small picture in the top left hand corner of the screen. Absolutely brilliant, beat that Sky+!!! Playback of recorded programmes is as good as the original broadcast, you can't ask for more than that! I've been using this receiver for 2 weeks now with no problems whatsoever. That might be tempting fate, but I've got no complaints up to now. The only downside is there is only one tuner, so you can't record one programme while watching another. At the current Argos price of £69, or cheaper through bid tv or Price drop tv, this PVR is an absolute bargain. 5 stars less a half for only having one tuner!

Mat, London on June 5th, 2007
I have the same problem as others with having the 1.5 software which is a bit dodgy, as I bought it in October 06 after the last update, and have been told there will now be no more OTA updates. It's really annoying as it'd be a really good box, if it wasn't for the glitches.

Malcolm, Sussex on February 22nd, 2007
Initially impressed but not anymore. There has been no over-the-air update since October when I bought the unit. Currently on V1.5 of the software which has the freeze on delete problem. The unit occasionally stops playback before the end of a recording - very irritating! Five e-mails to Support have resulted in vague estimates for an over-the-air update in a month or two. I'm not holding my breath... If anyone has found another way of updating the software please post it here!

Clark, York on January 13th, 2007
Wanted this unit for the bedroom problem is its noisey when recording. Keeps you awake with the clicking. The remote takes about half an hour to start working. When you delete saved programs it sometimes crashes. Picture quality is excellent. Simple operating system is great.For £80 its not bad.

OM Gibson on January 4th, 2007
I feel that the DIGIFUSION FVRT90 is a very good electrical product, and i feel that it was very easy to set up, whilst being very attractive looking. I feel that it beets a dvd recorder is ease of use and the fact that you don't have to bother buying more and more discs after you've either lost them of they have worn out through over use or over formatting. Despite other reviews on the Digifussion FVRT90 i feel that the box never seems to freeze, but i have only had it for three weeks! I would recomend the box to anyone, my only problem with the item is the fact that it would benifit from a larger remote with larger buttons as you can quite often press two buttons at the same time or press the wrong button.

Paul, London on December 3rd, 2006
We had a few problems with the box freezing, but having given it some cooling space (nothing on top or under it), it works perfectly. We got ours unboxed, without a manual and its been fine ever since.

Nil, London on November 3rd, 2006
First got this and thought it was fantastic. Bit noisy, but very user friendly and set up within minutes, but now i'm gettin a comnbination of the problems listed below, and worse still. the box freezes regularly, but the recording feature has now gone totally haywire. It appears that recording is working fine and lists it under the recorded programmes list, but it doesn't allow playback. If i reboot, all my recorded programmes disappear! If anyone else is having this problem, what did you do about it? Haven't managed to get hold of their customer services yet.

Mat, London on October 13th, 2006
Seems like a pretty good box - solid construction, good remote, clear menus, very good picture. A few annoying problems though - sometimes when you change channel, you get a blue screen and have to change again; when the box finds new channels, the channels on any scheduled recordings get mangled; interactive text seems to stop working quite often and you have to switch it off at the mains to fix it; and if you schedule any programs but not to record (so as to record them to a VCR instead) the box has to be switched on and won't go in and out of standby. But for less than £100 it's a good buy.

Fez, Gloucester on August 23rd, 2006
Fantastic PVR - great quality recording/playback. Software is the best I've seen by a long way (right up there with Sky+). Had it for 6 months now and had a couple of software upgrades which have always added extra functionality and features. Only way it could be improved is with the addition of a second tuner. BUt from what I've seen 2 of these would be better than most of the twin-tuner competition. I've actually got the FVRT90 which I think is identical. Waiting for the twin-tuner version.

Dan, Ely on August 13th, 2006
Now on my third box, downloaded the most recent update on the last two boxes. They have both stopped receiving a signal.

Brian, Hants on August 12th, 2006
Exellent value for money doesn't crash like my origonal nokia digiview set. have spoken to others with digiview boxes that are crashing often. problems seem to be often fixed when taking those sets back and replacing. shops don't seem to quibble about this. Set has only ever crashed when deleting several files in a hurry prob not giving system chance to take breath. just received update tnite offering me 3 extra upgrades. One allows me now to rewind ongoing recording. Gr8 system 89 quid from argos money very well sent my dvd recorder is a bit redundant now. sky plus for free in my opinion. Will now get one for each tv. I think the best selling point is its ease of use, look at the daily programe list and press one button to have it recorded, later if you want you can repeat that choice either daily weekly m-f or whatever and leave to record all of the same programes when your away. goodbye sky.

Paul, Ipswich on May 19th, 2006
Very good box but appears a number of others are having similar problems, I started with 43 hours of available recording and i'm now down to 40 hours free, 3 times the box has got stuck when i've deleted a program, only way out is to power on/off problem is it has left the data on the hard drive and reduces my recording capacity. Still looking for a way to get the data off.

Stewart, Larne N.Ireland on May 19th, 2006
I have the FVRT95 and have just got the software upgrade to v1.8. This adds: multiple slow motion continuous 2 hour record buffer no need to press pause first record subtitles add skip improved menus sort recorded programs multiple delete 32 recording slots instead of 8 improved synch after rewind or fast forward These additions make the FVRT95 an excellent PVR for under £100. I have used SKY+ for 3 years, it had loads of problems and it looks dated beside this new version software. Besides which SKY+ is not really a PVR, when you stop subscribing you cant view your recordings and it wont record, pause etc. should be SVR Subscription Video Recorder!

Chris Williams, London on May 14th, 2006
So far so good only had it for a few hours V good Box

Jill, Scotland on May 2nd, 2006
I'm on my second one from Argos in the space of a few weeks. Reception is good, the recording function is great, but it's SO NOISY. Is it the fan? It sounds like a jet engine about to take off -- or fall apart. I'm hanging onto the receipt and have kept the plastic bag and the box. It's crashed on me once so far, when I tried to delete a recording. When it works, it's fine, but I don't expect the good times to last. The Digifusion helpline is constantly busy. If I had an extra hundred pounds or so to spare, I'd go for a proper brand name product.

Staffordshire on April 30th, 2006
I actually got the FVRT90 when purchasing the FVRT95 from Argos. So far so good. Problems getting UK History though. The channel works straight after tuning but once switched away to another channel, can't get UK History anymore. Just says, no signal. The remote is not the prettoes in the world but works and is very fast.

Ashley, Chester on April 22nd, 2006
Got my FVR95 from Dixons around 3 months ago, and I have to say I have had no problem whatsoever with it. It has never crashed on me and has recorded programs perfectly. The quality on recorded programs is brilliant. I would definately recommend it to a friend or family.

Rishi Shah, London on April 18th, 2006
I recently got this unit from argos earlier this month. I've had no problems at all, its pretty good the only problem is this model is not the twin tuner model, so you can only watch the programe that needs to be recorded. The best thing to do if you continue to have problems is contact the manufacturer, they might give you an updated version or some sort of sugestion. The only problem i have had, is on the digifusion website (www.fusiondigitec.com) this model is no where to be seen. I wonder why??

Chris, Northampton on April 6th, 2006
Bought a FRT95 from Argos little over a month ago. So very easy to use, see a program in the 7 day guide you want and press a button. It has crashed, but only once. It's Freeview performance is far better in both sound and vision compaired our other receiver. Recommended.

Darren on April 6th, 2006
While the Digifusion has some good features the bad features seem to been more obvious. The first major problem is crashing, I too brought the unit from Argos, now on my third one (no better). The model is identical to the PVR90 which is sold in Dixons or Comet. The crashing usually occurs when you delete a programme from the recorded list. Having to then tug out the power lead and reset it, tends to make you consider the point of the nasty looking remote. Second problem, for me I came from using sky+, I cancelled the service as I only really recorded stuff off E4, BBC and ITV, still being the case, but I would have around 10 - 12 programmes scheduled to record a week. However this unit only allows you to have 8 recording slots, granted you can make it record each programme weekly and daily or however you want it, but if you see something you want to record you then have to delete one of the events and then pray that you remember to add it back in. All too time consuming and you only ever remember what you missed once its 5 minutes from the end.. Thirdly, I keeping it to 3 points. Every now and then it has a tendancy to actually forget to project the image to the screen, this might be acceptable to a few people but you then have to switch the unit off again switch it on, it might then need a repeat of the switching off then on, eventually showing a picture. Overall, when its good it's okay, when its bad its shocking!

Jon, South Gloucestershire on April 6th, 2006
I've very pleased with my FVRT95. Playback of a recording is excellent quality and choosing programmes to record is as easy as finding it on the 7 day EPG and pressing 'record'. The only problems have been occasional lock-ups when deleting recordings, and the fact that when you're looking at the list of scheduled recordings, only the time, date and channel of the programme is shown, not the name.

Dave, Bristol on April 3rd, 2006
Bought this unit from argos a few months ago and considering that it was £96 i have been impressed up to a point,good points are playback of a recording while recording another (this is a single tuner unit) and flawless playback and pic quality. The one realy bad point is that the unit randomly freezes up and has to be rebooted via pulling the mains plug out ,this seems to be a common problem with all digifusion products so why no software update from the manufacturer?.