Technika Smartbox 8320HD

price

50% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

Exceptional suite of features (including on-demand content) at a great price ; very decent pictures and sound

Still not bug-free ; a bit flimsy in the flesh

Who’d have thought Technika would be at the cutting-edge of set-top boxes? With greater refinement, this could be a winner

Freeview+HD, network file support seems wide, connectivity options, price

Platform stability, build quality, persistent Wi-Fi issues, USB problems

In some areas the Technika SmartBox 8320HD is a little rough around the edges. It won’t win any prizes for design and the user interface isn’t the best around - the previewed update is something that would make the experience just that little bit...

Visually we have a square box measuring 20cm x 20cm with a height of 4.5cm. Apart from a USB connector to the front all other connectors for the device are to the rear and include a power, Ethernet RJ45, aerial in and out, HDMI, S-Video, left/right...

Plus points An affordable FreeviewHD recorder with both iPlayer and optional Sky Player

Tedious online registration process, rather cheap build quality, the Sky Player costs extra

User interface much improved on previous Technika Hard Disk Recorders, Small Device, USB extension to hard disk, potential extension to Internet. HD upscaler to maximise normal broadcast picture quality. Will be HD when it is switched on.

First: You need to be a bit of a techy to get this running. My smart box would not connect to the WIFI in my house. I had to download the latest O/S version to a USB stick and then manually update the O/S on the smart box. After that it worked fine BUT...

Excellent Picture Quality , HD live and recorded is superb. BBC i-player works well. Plays files from external drives or network. Full media player capability in many formats. Remote control is excellent and also controls TV. Since the latest update...

Only one - No external indication of recording status. ...Oh ok then, its a little bit ugly :)

Can record 2 things at once, or record one thing and watch another. Downloaded Alice in wonderland in HD from Fetch TV, very good value and Fantastic picture! I love being able to rent films without leaving the couch and bbc iplayer is much better on...

its not my favourite design for a remote control, but it works!!

Good SD picture and great HD, my parents in law were surprised how much better the picture was than their foxsat HD box (partly down to a better tv :)) Easy to use and install(although there isn't a manual so it helps if you know how a PVR works), does...

When first installed it would lock up/become unresponsive around once a day, this was solved with the first software update but..... After first software update the box would sometimes fail to display HD cannels showing a fault with the HDCP...

Good price,picture quality

Unreliable

Absolute rubbish, I payed nearly £200 for this junk, Its never played a whole film through without a reboot, or channel change. Total utter piece of junk, dont waster even £30 unless you want a 320gb HD