BEST FOR PRICE

Goodmans GFSAT101SD, £55
This is the best of the no-frills Freesat receivers — but that’s not saying much. While the Goodmans produces a clean picture and is easy to use, the box looks plasticky and cheap. More importantly it can’t support HD channels because it lacks an HDMI connection, and unlike the others on test, it works only with your TV speakers. The electronic programme guide is also rough and ready. Best avoided.

Verdict Higher-specified, HD-capable receivers are available for a little more money. Buy one of them instead.

goodmans.co.uk

BEST FOR RELIABILITY

Grundig GUFSAT01HD, £105
Spend a little bit more to get an HD-capable receiver and the outlay brings several extra benefits. First, the Grundig is particularly robust, even with extended use, suffering fewer crashes and operating glitches than similarly priced rivals. Its picture quality (via HDMI) also appears sharper and cleaner. Disappointingly, it has little in the way of extra features and employs a slightly fussy operating system.

Verdict Although hardly the flashiest receiver around, this produces good pictures and runs unusually smoothly.

www.grundig.co.uk

BEST FOR FEATURES

Panasonic DMR-BS750, £550
Along with a Freesat receiver this Panasonic has a 250GB hard disk and a HD Blu-ray recorder. The latter enables it to record TV direct to Blu-ray discs - something no other box can do. It also carries two Freesat tuners; allows playback of picture, video and music from USB storage devices and SD cards; and can rip CDs to its hard drive. Its picture and recording ability is immaculate, but beware of potential copy protection problems when burning shows to Blu-ray discs.

Verdict A poster-boy for the flexibility of digital video — at a price.

panasonic.co.uk

BEST FOR FLEXIBILITY

TechniSat HDFS, £185
Freesat reception — which the HDFS does well — is just one string to its bow. It also displays Jpeg photos, Mpeg2 video and MP3 audio files from USB drives or a variety of memory cards. You can even stream files to it from a PC over a home network via an optional £30 wi-fi dongle or its ethernet port. Plans for it to record TV straight to a USB drive, which you could then take with you on the go, require a future software update to be delivered over the internet.

Verdict Over-complicated, but a great toy for techies.

www.technisat.com

BEST FOR PERFORMANCE

Humax Foxsat-HDR, £230
If you want HD TV for free, this is the best device on the market. It does for Freesat what the Sky+ box did for Sky — but there is no subscription. It supports “series link” (the automatic recording of a whole television series), can spot recording clashes, and even tells you whether there is an HD version of a programme that you’ve chosen to record in standard definition. It lets you pause live TV and carries two tuners, so you can record one channel while watching another. The Foxsat comes with 320GB of recording space — enough for about 80 hours of HD. Picture quality is outstanding.

Verdict Makes organising and recording from dozens of channels effortless.

humaxdigital.com/uk

FREESAT FACTS

What is it? Launched last year by the BBC and ITV, it is the only way to watch high-definition broadcast TV without paying a subscription. You need only a receiver and a satellite dish. Installation, including a dish, costs about £80, arranged by the retailer of your receiver. If you already have a Sky dish, you can connect it to the receiver yourself. It will already be pointing in the right direction.

What can I watch on Freesat? More than 140 TV and radio channels. Two, from the BBC and ITV, screen selected shows in high definition. For a full list of channels, see freesat.co.uk.

Should I wait for Freeview HD? HD is coming to Freeview, but transmissions might not cover the entire country until 2012. You will also need new hardware — current Freeview boxes cannot handle HD.

Do I have to use a set-top box? No. Panasonic, LG and — soon — Sony have TVs with built-in Freesat tuners, but they do not offer the extra features of the more expensive models on test.

Prices are the best found online at time of going to press

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