Freeview and Freesat set-top boxes: How we test
Line up of set top boxes for testing
The electronic programme guide (EPG) is the control-centre for a set-top box. Selecting channels, accessing programme listings and even programming your recorder can all be done via the EPG, so this is a vital feature that our experts spend a long time scrutinising.
The way manufacturers choose to display these varies enormously – we’ve seen excellent examples but come across some complete nightmares too.
Layout paramount
The layout is paramount – the number of channels and time period they can display on screen varies and this can have a bearing on how easy it is to navigate around and find the information you want.
The Hitachi machine, for example, only shows information on a single channel, while others show far more, such as the TVONICS, which shows nine, making it easier to plan your evening’s viewing. The Humax EPG handily displays a mini-screen of the channel you're watching, even when you're accessing the channel listings.
Other EPGs blot out the picture completely, while the Philips takes a halfway approach and overlays a translucent EPG on the picture beneath.
EPG load
We also measure how quickly the EPG can load the TV listings information – a good box will do it in around 10 seconds, but a bad one can take several minutes or even longer, which can be very frustrating. Similarly, we measure the speed of the Teletext. This too can vary significantly between boxes depending on how much memory they’ve got and the speed of their processor.