Goodmans and Grundig Freeview HD Box (NOT Recorder)

Grundig and Goodmans are the next of the big manufacturers to announce that they will be releasing a Freeview HD box before the start of the World Cup in June 2010. Both manufacturers ahve no plans to release a Freeview HD Recorder which is very surprising and puts them at a significant disadvantage.

By the time the world cup starts in June 2010, it is estimated that around 50% of all UK homes will have the option to receive Freeview HD (ie. The Freeview HD signal will be transmitted to 50% of the UK population). All those people who previously purchased a HD Ready TV but have only ever been able to watch standard TV channels will be able to watch the football channels on the following TV channels: BBC HD Freeview, ITV HD Freeview, and Channel 4 HD Freeview. In the short terms Five HD will not be transmitting via Freeview and will only be available via Sky.

The new Goodmans and Grundig Freeview HD boxes, despite not being a recorder, will come setup so that they can utilise the BBC iPlayer when it is released later on this year.

The Goodmans and Grundig Freeview HD Box (not recorder) will be sold by most of the major high street and internet shops. It has been confirmed that they will be sold for around £149.99 at Play.com, Tesco, Comet and Amazon.

Despite these not being a Freeview HD Recorder, both the Grundig GUD300HD Freeview HD Box and the Goodmans GDB300HD Freeview Box will come fitted with a 8 Day EPG. Both of the boxes will be abel to offer 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p resolutions which will be transmitted via a HDMI. The Freeview HD Boxes will have a single Ethernet port and two Scart Sockets. Apart from the design and outer casing, it would appear that these two Freeview HD Boxes are pretty much exactly the same.

We expect a PVR and HDD version of both boxes to become availiable later this year.