Technomate 6900 HD SUPER

With January 2009 looming around the corner, we move ever closer to a world of Digital Terrestrial Television. But all those people who bought Freeview-ready TVs to be "ready for the future" are in for a shock: the vast majority of them won't work in Ireland. There have been a few DTT trials around the country (mainly Dublin) that worked on the old equipment but these have now ended and there are new trials in places. These use the more modern Mpeg-4 AVC standard also known as H.264, x.264 and Mpeg-4 part 10. So, if you want to receive terrestrial channels after jan '09, you have a couple of options.

• Buy a TV with DTT and Mpeg-4 decoding built in. (Expensive)
  
• Buy a seperate box for DTT and Mpeg-4. (Probably not too expensive but who knows?)
• Buy a combo satellite and DTT tuner with Mpeg-4.

You may have guessed which one I'm going to recommend.

The Technomate packs a whole lot of functionality into it's shell, it can pick up channels from DTT and satellite sources, decode SD and HD channels, and download program info from the internet. It probably does more but I'm already sold! For the interested, you can view the specifications here:

2 High Definition Tuners: DVB-S/DVB-S2 Satellite & DVB-T Terrestrial Compliant (MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 / H.264)
576i & 576p, 720p & 1080i supported
1 Smart Card Reader & 2 Common Interfaces (2CI)
HDMI & Component Output (YPbPr) with Hardware Upscaler to Improve Picture Quality
Very Fast & Detailed Hardware Blind Search (power scan)
Ethernet Communication Port
eSATA Port
2x USB Ports (Front + Rear Ports)
PLL type RF-Modulator (Ch. 21- 69) and UHF tuning function
10,000 TV & Radio Channels
USB 2.0 PVR Ready via USB External Device
USB PVR Features: Rewind/Forward, Slow Motion Rewind/Forward, Timeshift (Pause Live TV) & Record Scrambled/Free-To-Air (FTA) Channels & Record current channel and playback a recording at the same time
Music player & JPEG viewer via USB 2.0
Fast Software & Channel List download via USB 2.0
2 Scart Outputs with RGB Support
Fully Featured VFD text Front Panel Display
Super Sensitive tuner for very weak signals
Dolby Digital Optical S/PDIF
Dolby Digital by HDMI
S-Video Output
Less than 1 second channel change
DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 & 1.3 (USALS) compatible
Auto Navigation system – select as many satellites as you want to search
On-screen display with true full color resolution
Enhanced 16 Favorite channel groups
Channel control by: Favorites, Lock, Skip, Move & Delete
Channel sort by: All, Alphabet, Transponder & CAS
Parental, Installation & Receiver Lock
Multilingual OSD Menu: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Czech, Romanian, Persian
Fast & Easy-To-Use Menu System
Extended EPG and program reservation on EPG
Teletext & Subtitle by OSD and VBI
Last channel memory function
Factory default channel list
Various games
Software & channel list upgrade via RS-232C: PC to STB, STB to PC, STB-STB and USB
Zoom function on Pause & Live channel
Multi picture display
Support for multiple language broadcasts
SCPC & MCPC receivable from C/Ku band satellites LNBs supported: Universal, Single, Single S & C band wideband LNBs
Multi TV Standards supported: PAL G, I, K, M
4:3 & 16:9 Screen Formats
90-250V AC 50/60 Hz
LNB Short Circuit protection onboard
Software & channel list upgrade via RS-232C: PC to STB, STB to PC, STB-STB and USB
Dimension 390mm x 262mm x 67mm
Available in Silver or Glossy Black

Do I iBOOD or do I Boffer...

VS

The eternal question for those in a world without woot (but with woot shirt). Do I go for the Dutch or the, let's face it, English. UK my arse, that's no Scotsman telling dodgy jokes.

Anyway, as I sit here mulling over the next twenty minutes I think to myself: "If a great bargain appeared and I missed it because I was on the other site, how annoyed would I be?". How indeed. The answer is surely somewhat or possibly even quite.

But just because both sites have the potential to create the perfect environment for producing a most lusted-after item from my list (which I assure you has no tangible form per say, beyond it's manifestations in my increasingly unpleasant personality) there are more factors to consider. The pedigree for instance. While Boffer has shown a great knack for quirkiness, they have yet to show that they can deliver performance when selling items of a greater scale. Whereas iBOOD occasionally forget to ensure that a given offer really is the internet's best offer, they have been known to come up trumps on big ticket items.

So how do I reconcile these two very different yet ultimately harmonious schools of consumerism? Casting a look at yesterdays offer sheds no clues at what will come tomorrow: iBOODS wifi enabled Archos media center (complete with loathsome optional browser) and Boffers cheapy PC repair kit typify the gulf that divides them and does nothing to make me think some serious mould-breaking is in the works.

iBOOD or Boffer...

Whoops, almost eleven. Gotta go.

Looket, I mean look at this...

Looket 3.5 Inch Touchscreen Sat Nav with UK and Irish Maps

While browsing through hotukdeals listings I came across this bargain price GPS. "Hmmm" I mused. "That's from the Misco UK site. I wonder if Misco Ireland do the same model at a similar price?" I didn't have particularly high hopes as the usual formula is UK price + Currency conversion fee + Irishness tax. On this occasion however, we enter the twilight zone as the same model can be had for as low as €53.66. Shock!

The good news:
So cheap. It's a GPS for less than €60.
Seems to be upgradeable.
Accessories are included.

The bad news:
No USB. If you want connectivity, it's serial all the way.
It's not the best spec.

Wii at iBOOD, can you do better?

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that iBOOD had a Wii for sale this week and that it sold out in about 10 minutes. The price was €214.95 with shipping of €12.50 making a total of €227.45. Not bad, but you would have to had to be quick to grab this... very quick. Then there's the matter of the 2-5 weeks until iBOOD deliver.

So can you do better on the high street? Zavvi do reasonable deals and if you are in the UK you could pick one up for the equivalent of €230. For €240 in the republic, I believe they will throw in an extra game too (from an in-store list, not any recent or AAA game).

Acer Aspire One A150L, £234.99 ex shipping

The blurb:

• The Acer ASPIRE One Experience
• Linpus™ Linux® Lite operating system
• Intuitive and specifically optimized software interface
• Intel Atom processor, specially designed for low-cost UMPC's
• Built-in WiFi connection and 120GB HDD

The lowdown:

• Processor: Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz Processor (533 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2 cache)
• Memory: 1GB
• HD Capacity: 120GB
• Display: 8.9" WSVGA (1024 x 600)
• Graphics Card: Integrated
• Operating System: Linpus Linux Lite
• Optical Drive: None
• Networking: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, 10/100 Fast Ethernet
• 5-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• External display (VGA) port
• Headphone/speaker/line-out jack
• Microphone-in jack
• Ethernet (RJ-45) port
• DC-in jack for AC adapter

Only an 8.9" screen vs the Wind/Advents 10" but it looks great, has a comparable spec and is much cheaper.
Play do it for £249.99 including shipping but of course they won't ship electronics to Ireland.
Shipping works out at... not sure. Waiting for a response from the sales team.

Print your own coupons and more

Want to get a little something back from your shopping? Fancy entering a few competitions? You can't go wrong with pigsback, the Irish and UK based shopping rewards website. You earn "piggypoints" by printing out and using discount coupons in shops, reading special offers or participating in short quizzes. You then spend these on a list of rewards which range from cdwow vouchers to phone credit to free flights!

Ps. They do have a referral system but it involves having to know the new customers email so I'm not going to bother :P Just enjoy!