Ferguson: FD1 Prism

Sean, Newquay Cornwall , on January 2nd, 2009
Yep I bought two for my mum as it looks good, exactly the same problems with channel switching with both of them! Very disappointed as not cheap and not a great start to get my techno phobe mum into the digital age. Took one back to my place and same issues. Will be writing to the manufacturers and claiming goods not of merchantable quality. If anyone finds a solution please email me at seanstribley@yahoo.co.uk Thanks.

Richard, Whitstable, Kent, on October 16th, 2008
Yep, the same is happening to my Prism from Ferguson. If the channels are tuned to either any of the ITV network or Channel 4 network, the device will reset itself after a minute or two and is currently switching back to Nuts TV!!! Yesterday, it was defaulting to ITV1. Very annoying indeed! There doesn't appear to be a firmware update available at all. Shame really, because, apart from the crappy membrane remote control, the picture is normally excellent, and fits in my bag very easy when I stay away. For anyone who has any suggestions, it'll be very much appreciated. The current firmware version of my Prism is: v1.4; hardware version: v01.00 The latter version probably is the reason. And yes, I've had this STB for around 18 months.

Gemma, The New Forest, on October 5th, 2008
Getting the same switching off/on problems after about 1 year. Very disappointed given the price! Will not be getting another one. Whilst it looks great it is no use if it doesn't work. Anyone found a fix for the problem??

Andy, Leicester, on April 27th, 2008
Seems this "switching on/off" business is all too common on these! I've had my prism since christmas 2006/7 and it was working great, the EPS is really user friendly and versatile, but then it started switching itself off and back on every few minutes just after the warranty had run out, tried a few experiments to fix it but no go (seems to do it on most channels but not bbc1 for some reason). I hoped that when I moved house it might be better but it's still happening. I may try using the aerial lead rather than the scart to connect to the TV. I love the box and the EPG but if the manufacturers do not come up with a fix, I'm swapping boxes :(

Ges, Yorkshire, on April 22nd, 2008
I was initially very impressed with this unit for ease of use and picture quality. However, it developed the ubiquitous 'switching off/on' fault within twelve months. I exchanged within the guarantee for another unit, after twelve months of use the second unit is now constantly switching itself off/on. One to avoid!

Alan Sargeant, Derby, on March 25th, 2008
I am having the same issues as Paul from Hereford, purchased from Currys November 2006, started to turn itself on/off and puts you back on to a channel you were watching before which gets really annoying when it happens 10-15 times during an hour programme. started once or twice after a year and is getting worse day by day. Seems to happen on ITV and Channel 4 programmes I find for some reason? I am running the same software as Paul, but again no downloads are ever found. So great at first but becoming more and more tempted to throw on a train line that is not too far away......

Elliot, Devon, on November 29th, 2007
Really good box, all channels were picked up within seconds. Very easy to use and cheap price with nice design.

Paul, Hereford, on October 3rd, 2007
All started very well, good picture good signal capture, but after a year the box started to reset or turn off/on by itself. The problem is getting worse daily and is totally frustrating as the channel that it returns to is not the one that you are watching! I am not alone in this experience, my brother bought one about the same time as me and his has started to show the same "feature". Checked for software updates and nothing available - am running hardware vs #1.0 and software vs #0.12. If you dont want to spend more money on a replacement after a year or so then look elsewhere. I note in the forum that someone else has had the same problems.

John, Middlesbrough, on May 10th, 2007
Bought one to replace a Bush 'plug in the back of the telly' digital gizmo which would not work at all. So far this one works a treat.

Richard Talbot, Cumbria, on November 24th, 2006
Reduced price from Currys great value until 6 months later ITV1 lost sound and needed to be powered down and back on to get sound back, then ITV1 picture broke up about a month later. Replaced and similar happening again 4 months on, except it turns itself off and on! Going to change for a different box.

neville shaw - wallasey - merseyside, on November 14th, 2006
Excellent, great box, small, easy to set up, we use 2, 1 inside the house and the other in our motor home, a great space saver as well. Forget the rest this is the best.

Robert Charters, Ayrshire, on October 28th, 2006
Very helpful.

Steve, Stockport, on October 3rd, 2006
Following my last post, I found some very minor issues: 1) Green LED indictaing power on wasn't illuminating, but red for standby worked fine. 2) The EPG event doesn't wake up the unit from standby. Both issues were dealt with quickly and efficiently by TVONICS via email. As a precaution, having just bought the box, I returned it because the LED wasn't working (hardly a big problem though) - Tesco replaced the faulty unit. I'm now on the replacement unit, and I still stand by what I said earlier - a great little box for the money. I get crystal clear pictures (marginally better than from my SKY installation). The EPG issue however is a design goof in my opinion. If you set an EPG event and then switch off the unit, it will not wake up from standby. You have to leave the unit on, but you are still only consuming less than 6Watts power (SKY box consumes 30W in standby and runs very hot). I'm sorry for the gent in Swindon and his bad experience with the box he bought. It sounds like it was faulty if his older Alba unit worked fine before. Did you give TVONICS a chance to help you sort things out? It really is annoying though, that everything you buy these days comes with an inherent fault either built or designed in to the unit. Both the boxes I have experienced gave really good picture and had no problems with reception. Maybe this is a box that doesn't perform well in fringe or weak signal areas. As explained in my earlier post, I took great precautions before buying the box to upgrade my aerial and cable, and it seems that I now have an excellent signal source to start off with. Digital signals are quite fickle things unlike the analogue signal that could be received by a 'wet bit of string' !

Andy, Swindon, on September 29th, 2006
I brought the tvonics variant from Tesco on the strength of the reviews, but although it looks cool the performance is rubbish and I took it back straight away. The cheap alba that I had before had no problems whatsoever, great picture etc but this box behaved as if there was a constant rain storm raging nearby. Useful paper weight.

Steve, Stockport, on September 29th, 2006
Just bought the TVONICS version (TVO-STB-100) and must say that so far I'm very impressed. Picture quality is very good, box is small and discrete, doesn't get hot, only draws a small 6 Watts of power (unlike some). I dislike the small remote control (uses button cell). Don't particularly like the lack of a true on/off timer which can kick the box out of standby and then switch it off after the event...., however it does have a really good EPG akin to that of SKY which is easy to navigate. I get a great picture using a boosted loft aerial (but I did upgrade the aerial last year to a Televes DAT45 which is a beast of an aerial). We are very close to Manchester airport where planes drop very low infront line of sight of the aerial... no drop outs or pixalation. I was looking to get the SONY VTX-D800U, but acn't get one for love nor money. This was 2nd choice having discovered it's made in a UK factory by the guys who were involved with the SONY development and BSKYB. This is very good value for money at £49 (Tesco supermarket or online or Curry/Dixons stores) and although there are cheaper boxes, I think this little box will be money well spent.

Charles Lubek, Leicester, on September 21st, 2006
This is a really great bit of kit and it looks really cool compared with the other STB’s I have been looking at. Very small and neat remote. I can’t praise this kit too highly. I bought the Tvonics version on the web via their web site on Amazon as this gave extra colour versions over the silver only Ferguson version. It was cheaper than Currys & Dixons even after P&P. I had to wait a few days as they were busy trying to meet demand but it was worth the wait. From what I can gather Tvonics designed the prism and it is manufactured by Sony for Tvonics & badged either as Tvonics or Ferguson. I have a 13 year old aerial in the loft with a signal booster and was fully expecting to have some problems requiring a new aerial etc. Connected up to the bedroom TV and sent it off to find channels. It found 35 TV and circa 20-25 radio channels. Reception is brilliant across all channels and so far absolutely no problems. It is a bit more expensive than some STB’s but in my view well worth it. Delivers value for money in a neat package.

Mike Parkes, Harrogate, on September 6th, 2006
Put it on the end of very long twisting aerial extension to an upstairs room and it most of the channels without any problems (Channel 5 being about the most tempermental). Far better than the WinTV USB which only picks up a few channels. Small neat footprint useful on a slim shelf (why do they generally get referred to as set-top boxes when you can't balance one on top of a LCD display!)

Mic Robinson, on July 11th, 2006
I've had this box since it was first reduced to £69 in Dixons and I am still really impressed. In using the box it soon becomes apparent that the designers have actually put some thought into making it useable and reliable, which makes a nice change! .. and its made in the UK. In nearly a year now I have seen the problem of the remote not working twice. But on both occasions that was cured by a a simple reset (unplug and re-connect) .. so I think its probably just a crash (2 chrashes a year, not too bad in my opinion) and we're not on the 5th version of the software. Overall, a joy to use and a nice thing to own. Thoroughly recommended!

Graham, Manchester, on July 3rd, 2006
Had three cheap Matsui boxes fail on me so I decided to trade up. Nice bit of kit but like Jonathan Greening mentioned I can't get sound on ITV1. Currys are really going to get tired of me when I return this one later. 5/10