Echostar: T-101

M Gardiner, Surrey, on November 7th, 2008
This box is affected by the recent transmission changes and similarly to other poster, cannot allocate the correct channel numbers for BBC1, 2 and other channels and channel data... Everyone is washing their hands of the responsibility and it has been featured on BBC Watchdog. It was a so so box anyway, but steer clear of this company and its products...

Andrew, on September 16th, 2008
Following changes to Freeview network the main channels BBC1 /2 ITV 1/2/3 etc end up on channels 800 and odd. Time for the bin!

Dirk Knight, on August 28th, 2006
Very slow and always crashes/freezes on top up channels. Tuner not very strong as most of the services I could not receive with it, I receive with ease on my sagem t68

Darren Sprudd, on April 19th, 2006
Got mine in june last year for 39 pounds in Woolworths and it went well on the first setup then I had a few problems like it keeps crashing and I have to take the plug out of the socket and put it back in. EPG is good as mine has an 8 day feature as it is in the latest update.

Alex, Dollar, on April 12th, 2006
i think this box is great. it is much better than the Bush STB downstairs.

NickB, Redcar, on April 9th, 2006
I got one of these from Woolies for £40 last summer and have found it to be very reliable. It can easily receive all available channels from a standard 10 element aerial in the loft in this rather poor reception area. The picture is sharp and break-up seldom occurs - can't comment on the sound as I don't have a stereo TV! I move it around the house a lot and it doesn't suffer problems due to frequent disconnection/reconnection of power. My only gripe is that sometimes the EPG says 'no information' for some channels, although this may not be the fault of the box.

Richard, Ayr, on March 24th, 2006
I get occasional picture blackouts, but too few to make much of a fuss about. A good sturdy box and the unit sensitivity seems to be one of the best in the industry according to what I have read on the web. Signal strength with a standard loft aerial is 7 for most of the channels, 6 on some and 5 on others, and even at 5 there is zero blocky interference. I've had this as a second unit for over a year now and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a simple to use set-top box.

P_Man, London, on March 24th, 2006
I bought this unit based on the good reviews on the internet, and came to the following conclusion. The T101 is unreliable. Hangs a lot, and shuts itself off. Unit says that it is upgradable, but yet to see it on any of the engineering schedules. AVOID THIS PRODUCT!!!! or any other echostar products.

Ryan, Rotherham, on February 16th, 2006
I've had this box six months now and I'm getting picture blackouts all the time, luckily it's still in warranty, I'd avoid it.

Fudge, Birmingham UK, on February 1st, 2006
This was my first Freeview box over a year ago and I was amazed that it could get all muxes from an indoor aerial. Reliability seems very variable, as I bought three, one for me and two for others and mine is the only one which has problems waking from standby. It also has picture blackouts, though the sound continues. Signal strength is 8-9 on all muxes. Interactive is rather slow and no ability to edit the channel list. I recently bought a Digilogic from Tesco for my main TV and definitely prefer it to the Echostar, faster and more customisable channel list.

SF, Westgate On Sea, on January 20th, 2006
Have to say this is a good freeview box if you like to put reminders on for programmes, most of the newer freeview ones only show you now and next on the screen for the day without going into a 7 day view (and even these are a bit haphazard) but this is good as you can view programmes for same day and set reminders for the whole day.

Ken, Uxbridge, on January 7th, 2006
Aziz, I have the same box just out of warranty !!!! that now has identical symptoms. I have several of these boxes so I have tried different cables, remotes, etc. It is defiinitely the box. I tried the help desk but they just tell you to unplug, wait, retune, and all will be well (NOT). I also have another box that has intermittently distorted sound on a perfect picture on signal strength 8. Anyone else experienced this ?

Aziz, London, on January 4th, 2006
I bought this but after a couple of days when I turned it on it woudn't come out of standby. It took around a dozen tries to get it back. But now it doesn't come out of standby mode AT ALL regerdless of how many times I turn it off and on at the mains. Anyone know how to solve?

Martin, Ashford, Kent, on December 11th, 2005
Excellent value for money, £35 from Woolworths although I had to ask for it as they are not on display. Full 8 day EPG and twin scarts. Good reception 30 miles from transmitter and a loft aerial! Only minor gripe is some of the onscreen display can be a bit hard to read as it's grey text on a dark background. However, sound and picture excellent.

Ryan, Rotherham, on November 7th, 2005
Too harsh in my last posting, have tried out the Goodmans GDB6 and the channel changing is slower, plus the EPG only give the name of the programme, the Echostar gives info about the programme too. The only real downside is that you can't create favourites and it's slow with text.

Ryan, Rotherham, on October 21st, 2005
I bought this box to replace my on-digital Pace 735 but went back to using the old box because this one wasn't as good. The picture is poor, the EPG is slow and frustrating, it freezes fairly often and the 16:9 aspect doesn't fill the whole screen. The now and next is slower than the 5 year old Pace and channel changing is no quicer either because you have to press two buttons instead of one so I'm still looking for a new freeview box.

Mark Heaton, Chesterfield, on September 24th, 2005
I have tried many freeview boxes and most of them have been were took back to the shop because of how rubbish they were. I then get this box and it has been perfect, no porblems at all. also great value for the price

R J, Oxford, UK, on September 17th, 2005
I have an Echostar which I got about 14 months ago - I have also noticed the problems with Teletext although these have ironed out lately following a couple of returns. I have a similar problem with subtitles, in particular on C4 and E4 in which the box can suddenly crash and then reload -= anyone else find this?

Tony, Newcastle Upon Tyne, on September 12th, 2005
I got my Echostar in August last year, to replace my flawed Daewoo one. Picture quality's fine, and, for the most part, the reception is fine, although it does break up here and there, possibly because of my aerial, though. However, as the last guy said, it struggles to load Teletext and, for me sometimes, BBCi. Also, the remote sometimes fails to work, leaving the box to switch itself off after a few seconds of this, then back on again. The only remedy is to unplug it, then plug it back in again. All in all adecent adapter, but not without its faults. No set top box is THAT perfect!