Our digibox just died...

[beanzontoast]

... the 5th one we've got through in about 2 years. What is it with these things? Is the technology rubbish or what? After the first 3 went, we started buying more mid-priced ones - and it's made no difference at all. Mrs B went to switch it on tonight and nothing - not a sign of life in it. Tried changing fuse (as you do). Nothing.

Is this what we can expect from a digital tv future?

Back to channels 1-5 for now then - ah, the old days!

 

[MarkF]

I have a spare as new box, if you want to pay postage, it's yours.

 

[Carwash]

Perhaps it's getting dirty AC? A good surge protector will fix that - took me three hard disks to work it out though!

 

[beanzontoast]

MarkF - you are very kind. However, it's still under warranty (bought June 2008 - done well hasn't it?!) so I'll be tripping off the the electrical shed again over the weekend to swap out yet another one.

My point is more that if the technology is so unreliable, why are they being sold in the first place? Mrs B has been looking at tv's that have freeview built in - but I keep telling her it will be even worse if it goes wrong as an integral component and you have to return the tv as well!

 

[beanzontoast]

Perhaps it's getting dirty AC? A good surge protector will fix that - took me three hard disks to work it out though!

Been using one - hasn't made a difference.

 

[simonali]

I have a Pioneer one that I've had for a few years now and cost about £90 at the time I bought it! This has been slowly dying over the last few months, something I'm failing to understand, seeing as it has no moving parts.

 

[barq]

My point is more that if the technology is so unreliable, why are they being sold in the first place? Mrs B has been looking at tv's that have freeview built in - but I keep telling her it will be even worse if it goes wrong as an integral component and you have to return the tv as well!

You've been very unlucky but if they were generally as unreliable as yours it would get very expensive for the manufacturers to handle all those returns. Better luck with the next one.

That said you could point out to the retailer this is the fifth one you've taken back and ask them what they can do to keep your business in future. Push for some money off your next purchase - if they are smart they'll see the sense in offering you a small discount on a future purchase. (I speak as an ex-Dixons manager.)

 

[dodgy]

Is the digibox sandwiched between other heat generating equipment (VCR, amplifier etc)? Just a thought.

 

[Lardyboy]

Is the digibox sandwiched between other heat generating equipment (VCR, amplifier etc)? Just a thought.

Beat me to it dodgy.

Or a confined space with no ventilation?

 

[Mr Pig]

it will be even worse if it goes wrong as an integral component and you have to return the tv as well!

I agree, just like the TVs you used to see with video recorders built in. Our recorder box died too, just inside warranty, which was pretty good as we got a full refund and, technology moving on as it does, bought a better box for the same money :0)

Check out the revue sites. Some of the boxes are hopeless and others seem to fair much better. Is it a hard drive recorder? Hard drives basically have finite life and I'm sure they'll be making them more cheaply then they used to.

It's like that with CD transports. The very first ones were among the best ever made. After that they started cost cutting, now they're all crap.

You can't really complain. These things are so cheap they have to be considered disposable. It's the consumer's own fault, they want everything at the lowest price and the manufacturers just go along. It's why the focus is on technology, rather than quality, as it's a lot cheaper to do.

 

[swee'pea99]

You wanna get yourself one o' these. They're not pretty but they work and they have a very good reputation (I did lots of homework before getting one)

 

[MarkF]

You can't really complain. These things are so cheap they have to be considered disposable.

True.

It's the consumer's own fault, they want everything at the lowest price and the manufacturers just go along.

Not true I sell a premium price product for a living and find it easy to deal with cheaper competition. It's an old but true cliche, the customer actually wants the best deal not the best price.

Right now, I have fully functional digital box but a duff toaster, it's third one that has died this year. Now, I want a decent toaster, not a supermarket £20 toaster but not a Phillippe Stark £x's toaster. I'd happily spend £50 on a decent toaster but looking closely at models from brands that have had, historically, a good name, I find that some are the very same as the supermarket "named" junk. I've given up, I go to bed thinking about toaster quality. "Branding" has gone mad, I am sure ALL toasters are made by one man, a blind man, with parkinson's, with only a Xmas cracker multi-tool in some hut in Shenzhen. It's a minfield looking for a decent electrical appliance.

Rant nearly over but, it's not just short-lived electrical stuff that globalisation has dumped on us, it's everything,......maybe 2 years ago my can opener died, it was given to me when I left home 24 years ago. I went through 3 replacements in one bleedin day I didn't want a 99p freakin piece of chink junk, just a fully functioning can opener.........rant over

 

[Mr Pig]

these[/URL].

I can second that. This is the one we have:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/3138

Although it looks different it's actually the same chassis under the skin. You also see it as a Hitachi, which looks near identical, and a couple of other brands.

It works really well and has a very easy to use menu system, one of the best I've seen in fact. Setting up recordings is child's play, if the Digihome one uses the same menu as the Sharp, but that I don't know.

 

[Mr Pig]

Not true I sell a premium price product for a living and find it easy to deal with cheaper competition.

You say it's not true but then illustrate my point with your toaster! What do you sell? Not toasters or digiboxes I know that much ;0)

 

[summerdays]

We have a Humax box, one of the earlier modals (for about 3 or 4 years now). Whilst it seems to go wrong occasionally - they produce software upgrades to overcome problems. The kids love being able to rewind back programs or hit the pause button during tea. And Mr Summerdays has just taken it apart and put in a new bigger disk too.