I bought a thomson recordable freeview set top box last September as my partner wanted Setanta sports. We had a few problems with signal in the first instance but fitted a booster and everything seemed fine.
Now, the picture keeps freezing and we cant go 5 mins without this happening and we have to turn all the power off and start again.
We seem to have misplaced the manual so can anyone give me customer services contact number before i throw this machine out the window...Thank You
It's the box that's dodgy, they all seem to suffer from it. I have one and my girlfriend has one too... they both freeze all the time and require powering off and on again. After this the box normally works for a few minutes then switches itself into standby!
Whatever the cause it's NOTHING to do with the scart cable so don't waste your money. The scart just gets the signal from your box to the TV and has nothing to do with the picture freezing on the box.
And you CAN use a loft aerial for Freeview, as I use one myself on another TV in the house (and it works perfectly), provided you have a good 43/48 element High Gain aerial, and live in a medium to strong signal area.
To resolve the freezing issue you will most likely need to format the hard drive in your box, however BY DOING THIS YOU WILL LOSE ALL OF YOUR RECORDED PROGRAMS.
To Format the drive: -
Go to
Menu > Set-up > Help
Then press the Green Button followed by the Blue Button
The box should switch itself off when done. You may or may not have to re-scan for channels, but it may be a good idea to do this anyway even if your channels are still there.
Hope this helps
DontRun
DontRun, September 2009
Call Top Up TV customer services on 08444159159. They are actually very helpful people. Give them a try. Although agreed, the box is useless and has problems every other month!
Marc, July 2009
we have had our box for not even a month,it freezes,and loses it memory.
today we have had a constant flashing red light,top up tv say its a fatal error with the box and to take it back to the shop.
just rung the shop where we brought it and they said they have removed these boxes from sale as they have had so many back faulty.
im really peed off about it to be honest and feel ripped off,thankfully the shop are refunding us the money even without the receipt.
so now we are on the hunt for a decent box any suggestions?
ria, May 2009
I cant give you an answer but I am having same problem and seems that others are too if you look at other queries on this site. i have tried deleting recordings and have checked scart leads. My aerial is outdoors and was renewed to suit stb's when we bought our first one. Does anyone have any suggestions please, or an address for thomson?
Helen, April 2009
Bad SCART cables do not cause that fault.
T, February 2009
check the scart lead , from the tv to the box , or try getting a better quatly scart lead , gold plated ones are good , should get one in maplins , look up there site , this should help with the "freezing", mick
mick, February 2009
That sounds like a problem with your aerial, rather than the box.
The most important signal factor is its quality, not its strength and so you could be boosting a bad signal. I reckon that you need to get your aerial sorted out.
In order to receive Freeview you need a good quality, properly aligned outdoor aerial. Indoor and loft aerials will not work.
