Goodmans GDB15HD

Had a cheap Asda box before , picked up all channels perfect until dog ate remote. So purchased Goodmans GDB12..... so disappointed. Had to buy Booster to get Main channels (BBC, ITV) anything else still unwatchable due to freezing. Have gone back to old box and manual turn over so at least I can watch something. Was a complete waste of money.

Would not buy this or any other Goodmans freeview box again. Bought in summer 07, its always had some problems, for example when there's lowish signal and youre on teletext, it makes this loud exploding noise and switches itself off.

But today we were watching the rugby and sparks came out of the vents at the back, and it blew up. We immediately disconneted it and moved it away from the tv. Smoke was coming out of it and it stunk!!!!! it literally smells like a firework but 100 times stronger..

the metal underneath was on fire.

my husband is an electrician so when it cooled down he took the screws off the back and slid the casing off, the circuit board has a hole in the bit that blew up and is now all burnt.

its been about four hours now since it blew up and it still smells really really bad.

i dont recommend this item at all

Absolute rubbish - checked what we could expect to receive prior to purchase but we can't actually get any service at all. What did I like??? The cardboard box it came in! What didn't I like??? The product - useless! Manufacturer not interested.

When it works, its fine. The handset fails to change channel often, even though the batteries are ok. Frustrating, and if the shop had more stock I would seek a replacement. Looks like many shops do not carry it anymore which I find odd.

I previously reviewed the Goodmans GDB15HD box on 16 March 2008, being is a replacement for an earlier one which was faulty and kept freezing. This second box also suffers from frequent freezing, again necessitating unplugging and plugging in again to make it work.

It has been returned to Argos and exchanged for a Wharfedale on which I will report in due course.

The Goodmans GDB15HD is a good looking box, in black/chrome, which looks good alongside my other home cinema equipment. There are outlets for a TV aerial, 2 x scarts, audio phonos and crucially for me, HDMI. The Goodman's claim to fame is its ability to upscale to 1080i via the HDMI socket but this is largely superfluous as any 'HD' TV will convert the input signal to fill the screen - and at £30, what quality upscaling can you reasonably expected? The HDMI however, has the advantage of single cable which can be fed to a home cinema system carrying both video and audio. The remote control is a small piece of equipment which doesn't exactly have the feel of quality about it, but does the job. There's a 7 day EPG which takes a fair while to populate and isn't the most user friendly I've come across - Goodmans, and most others, could take a lesson from Humax. The initial set up is a doddle, the box will automatically scan for available stations. Out of the box, I found the volume level low, but setting it to maximum is good enough. For the record, my box is connected to an Onkyo receiver which upscales to 1080p and feeds my Panasonic 50" plasma. So the box needs to be pretty good to produce a picture of good quality at this size.

Purchased in November 2007, my first box produced an indifferent picture - far inferior to my Panasonic PVR (the digibox is needed because the PVR has only one tuner. When it's recording, time to use the digibox if I want to watch a different channel to the one being recorded). After a few weeks the box stopped responding to the remote control and could only be brought back to life by unplugging it from the mains and plugging in again. Eventually it was returned to Argos and replaced. The new box produces a picture in a different league and on a par with my Panasonic PVR. So far the remote stills works........

Note that I originally set out to buy a Bush digibox from Argos but the Goodmans is offered instead when the Bush (cat. no. 532/1289) is requested. Argos say Bush and Goodmans are now the same Company. I previously owned a Bush digibox which gave excellent service so I'll give Goodmans the benefit of the doubt on the first, defective, box. For £30 it's difficult to level much criticism against this box, but if it's going to be your sole source of TV, it may be better to consider something more 'sophisticated' - and hence more expensive.

The Goodmans GDB15HD is digitally interactive.

Digital text.

RF loop.

Digital video broadcasting (DVB) subtitles available.

Auto set up.

Now and next electronic programme guide.

7 day electronic programme guide (EPG).

Not Top Up TV compatible.

2 SCART sockets.

1 SCART lead supplied.

HDMI socket.

DVB compliant.

MHEG5 interactivity.

Upscaling to 1080i resolution.