Best Digital Converter Boxes in the UK

Using this digital-to-analogue converter offers not only a TV-immersive experience but also an opportunity to feel yourself inside a time machine. It is all owing to the Freetime guide support, which as if takes you forward (8 days) or backward (7 days) in time allowing you to seamlessly select and watch the content broadcast within this two-week-long period. The easy roll-back feature makes the TV programmes on the players supported by the HDR-1100S to be instantly available for watching so you do not need to exit the guide menu. With that, you are free to view your favourite content using the ITV Player, BBC iPlayer, All 4, YouTube, Demand 5, Hopster and Curzon Home Cinema. What is even more exciting you can use the Showcase feature that shows you editorially selected programmes for the day selected to always keep you updated on the latest must-see shows and movies on TV.

The support of such advanced features as Showcase and TV Guide is complemented with the availability of half terabyte built-in storage on the device. You can record and store dozens of hours of video and even more audio on this 500 GB HDD to watch and listen to it any time you want both on digital (using the SPDIF and HDMI outs) and analogue devices (using the pair of analogue audio outs and the composite video). The wired Ethernet and wireless Wi-Fi connectivity allow you to keep your media collection stored on the device always up to date as well as to share your content with other devices connected to your home network.

The August DVB415 model not only provides a great connectivity and compatibility with a wide range of devices but also has a USB 2.0 port, in which you can plug USB sticks and USB HDDs of up to 1TB capacity. These external media can be used as a storage for video and audio content recorded from digital TV broadcast or other sources. Thus, the DVB415 set-top box can be used both as standalone digital content recorder and player. The feature of recording to external media also makes it possible to set up an automatic recording schedule after listing through the 7-day EPG available so you can be sure you won’t miss your favourite shows. In addition, you can rewind and pause a live TV transmission owing to the TimeShift support.

When choosing the DVB415 model by August you can rest assured that you are covered in terms of media formats supported by the device. This device is capable of working with such popular video formats as mpg, dat, mp4, mov, DivX, avi and commonly used mkv. On the audio side, the August converter supports mp3 and Ogg, which provides a superior quality. The bundled remote control makes accessing your media files on storage media connected as well as managing TV programmes an easy task.

The front panel of the set-top box has a USB port for external media connection. With the support of USB sticks and USB HDDs of up to 1TB capacity, this Freeview receiver and converter offers big opportunities in terms of media handling. Owing to the support of the MPEG-4 H264 video codec, this model can record DTV programmes at up to 1080p resolution effectively compressing them so that the resulting 10 GB records can be of 4-5 hours long. With that, the support of mkv media data container allows for playing videos with multiple high-quality sound streams. As a consequence, you can enjoy hundreds of hours-long collection of high-resolution video footages stored recorded from digital TV broadcast or obtained elsewhere on a single media carrier connected to this converter box.

The SCART port typical for digital TV converter boxes shares the back panel of the device with an HDMI port in the center and RF antenna in together with RF loopout, which are located on the left. The RF in and SCART interfaces provide the basic functionality of this digital to analogue converter while the availability of an HDMI port allows the box to receive digital video and audio signal from any HDMI-enabled source and to convert it to an analog signal output via the SCART. It is important to note that the HDMI port is implemented with a two-way connectivity and offers an output of the digital signal received from the RF or connected media. On top of that, the converter box is equipped with a coaxial audio out that offers an output of audio stream from TV, radio broadcast (up to 60 channels) and media connected.

As distinct from many models on the market, this digital TV box was designed with combined controls and has control buttons on the front panel in addition to those on the remote control. The front panel button set offers two buttons for moving through the channels list, OK button for the channel selection, two volume adjustment buttons, power button and menu access button.

Probably the most distinguishable feature of this set-top box is its support of SD cards as external storage. With the SDHC cards providing up to 32GB of storage space you can record the programmes you like from the Freeview Digital TV broadcast and play them at any time you want. You can easily swap SD cards on the box if you run out of storage space and insert the filled card into an SD card reader of your laptop or any other digital device to watch the recorded programmes elsewhere. In addition, you can enjoy watching the media from your collection on the device if you insert an SD card with the media loaded to it. This port is also very handy for viewing the photos taken with your camera: all you need is to eject the card from your camera, insert it in the MSD7818 port and turn on the device.

Owing to the implementation of the modern powerful dual-core processor the iView HD MSD7818 supports such features as broadcast pause &rewind, Live TV, and Time Shift as well as record and playback of Full HD video content encoded with the H.264 codec and stored in MP4/ MKV/AVI/MOV (QUICKTIME) formats. In addition, the device supports the 7-day full EPG and One Touch Recording features.

The convenient and simple onscreen menu of this set-top box allows you to switch between available TV channels and radio stations. In the menu, you can see the broadcast frequency of the channel or station selected. The EPG feature allows showing a more detailed info on the broadcast items. To access all the device features and navigate through the menu you need to use the bundled remote control.

One of the great features of this set top box is in the ability to record just about any broadcast TV station. This allows for watching your favourite TV shows at a time when it is convenient to you instead of having to be glued to the TV at a particular time. This can be done thanks to its inclusion of a USB port that lets you insert any USB flash drive to use as storage for any recorded shows. If a USB flash drive doesn't have enough room for everything you want to record, you can also connect an external USB hard drive or SSD with up to 1 TB of storage, giving you a nearly endless supply of space for keeping all of your favourite broadcasts recorded. You can set the box to record any show up to 7 days in advance, all in 3 easy steps.

In addition to the features listed above, this digital set top box has a few more tricks up its sleeve that help give you the best TV experience possible. Included in the menu is an easy to set Favourite Channels list that lets you quickly and easily store the most watched channels, giving you quick access to them. In addition, the box includes a signal strength indicator for your antenna, providing you with the ability to set it to the optimal position for the best over-the-air reception. The interface is also easy to use, although it is a bit slow and may seem unresponsive at times, but this is a slight gripe over what is ultimately one of the best digital converter boxes available.