Manhattan T1 Freeview HD Box, Black

Product Information

Freeview Play combines over-the-air channels and programmes on-demand that are streamed via broadband, giving you access to apps such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX, All 4, My 5 and a few other catch-up services, all in one device.

The feature-set is impressive if a bit dated – from “Smart” HD switching and recordings, to tight integration between the live TV guide and the catch-up apps. The FVP-5000T also has three tuners, so you can record up to 4(!) different programmes while watching a fifth. With the new retune behaviour in 2.03, when retune events were signalled by the broadcasters you could be prompted to retune more frequently than necessary. The overall quality of any product is important, but it’s especially important when you’re considering Set top boxes. You’re making an important investment in this product so you want to be sure that it’s going to be durable and serve its purpose for a decent length of time.The Freeview market has undergone a lot of changes this past year – with ITVX replacing ITV Hub (and no longer working on some devices), along with older boxes that are now almost impossible to find. and earlier versions effectively performed a retune each night (‘Automatic Service Update’) to ensure that the T1 was tuned to the strongest transmitters. However, this behaviour caused difficulties for some customers due to a phenomenon called tropospheric propagation that can cause distant signals to be temporarily boosted and travel long distances. It happens more often at night and is very prevalent in coastal areas and at times of high pressure. An affected customer would typically find that in the morning their box had retuned to a weaker transmitter and suddenly some channels have poor or no signal.

The Manhattan T3R takes everything that’s good about its T3 set-top box and adds dual-tuner recording capabilities. It’s a little larger than the T3, with a footprint closer to a modern Blu-ray player, but it shares a similar curvy design with just an understated blue status LED at the front. We’re also big fans of the remote control, with its chunky buttons and easy access to the major features.Your T1 will update automatically overnight whilst in standby, as long as you haven't disabled automatic updates in the System Settings menu. Both terms are interchangeable, and it doesn’t matter whether a service is called on demand or catch up. What matters is what you get from them - a mix of recently aired shows,old favourites, exclusive programmes and shows you might have missed the first time around. They’re amazing services, but require an internet connection and many of the shows are only available for a limited time. After discussion with Arqiva (who manage the UK’s broadcast infrastructure), we implemented improved behaviour on our latest T3-R model. This behaviour has now replaced the Automatic Service Update on the T1. During initial setup the Confirm Your PIN step has been updated to make it clearer you need to re-enter your PIN. Of the 26 products in the Set top boxes category, 21 were more expensive than MANHATTAN T1 Freeview HD Set Top Box and 4 were cheaper. Prices from Manhattan