Digifusion FRT101T - TechRadar UK

The FRT101T is one of several boxes on the market which also boasts a card slot suitable for the 11-channel Top-Up TV service (currently £7.99 a month) although this will not get you additional radio channels. It's a compact, slim, good-looking box, although the accompanying remote does have a rather cheap feel to it.

Twin Scart sockets are included with RGB on the TV Scart and a loopthrough on the VCR Scart. There's also a UHF loopthrough but no modulator is included for analogue reception. There are no digital audio outputs either, just stereo phonos, we're afraid.

Tuning is easy and you can even select to tune in a specific multiplex or opt to be notified when new channels become available. You can also check signal strength and quality. The main channel list can be re-ordered and re-named but, weirdly, can only be accessed via the EPG. The information banner shows now-and-next information only.

A maximum of 10 favourite channel lists can be created and the eight-day EPG can be used to set programme reminders and to program the eight event timers. There's also a manual timer option. Interactive MHEG-5 services are supported and proved very quick to load. Subtitles can also be accessed, as can alternative audio streams.

Picture quality is pleasingly low on incidences of MPEG artefacting and shows plenty of detail with only minor instability visible on occasion. Clearly, Digifusion hasn't skimped on the quality of the digital tuner. Audio from the phono outputs also passes muster, even if audiophiles may long for the crispness a digital connection provides.

The FRT101T is ultimately a serviceable (if unremarkable) Freeview and Top-Up TV provider - even if it does skimp in certain areas compared with other Top-Up TV receivers on the market, such as Thomson's DT2300.