Freeview Digital TV Receivers made by Netgem

Features: Internet and email access from your TV via built-in 56k modem, built-in games and optional QWERTY keyboard.
Output: 2 SCARTs and RF loopthrough. Optical audio out and USB socket.

Availability: Discontinued. Last seen at BT
Shop in Dec 2006. See our iPlayer page for updates

Fetch TV launched towards the end of 2008. The service combines Freeview, a 40 hour hard disc recorder, and video content on demand over broadband. The Fetch TV Smartbox is made by NetGem.

Box specs: 80Gig hard disk, 8 day EPG, Freeview receiver, hard-disk recorder, pause/rewind live TV, USB connector Internet browser.

Availability: Available Now!

More on our Fetch TV page.

Broadband webhosting firm Namesco launched tvMax in April 2006. They were offering a NetGem box that’s capable of receiving the 50 Freeview TV and radio channels, has an 8-day EPG, and has a built-in PVR disk recorder (up to 30 hours on the built-in 30gig hard disk).

Availability: Discontinued. The 6640 was available for £199 from Webstore at Simply.com, but it’s no longer available. For more details, see our TvMax page.

Released in November 2006, the Evesham iPlayer 80GB HD Media Centre is a revamped, powerful iPlayer that receives Freeview, has a hard-disk recorder, and gets TV content over the ‘net. Here’s the summary:

• 80 Gig Hard-drive (PVR) for ~ 70 hours recording
• Pause live TV
• TV-over-Internet (IPTV)
• Freeview
• Onboard High-Definition upscaler
• HDMI (High Def) socket
• 2 x SCART , 1 x USB sockets
  1 x Ethernet
• Supports MPEG and WMV video formats

Availability: Discontinued. As of July 2007, no longer available. Last seen for £240 from Misco.co.uk.

As far as we know, this box isn’t available in the UK, but here’s what we’ve discovered:

• Aerial loop-through – standard aerial plug
• Two SCART sockets – one for the TV and one for a video recorder
• 3.5mm Stereo Jack socket audio output
• S/PDIF optical audio output
• RJ-11 Telephone socket
• USB1.1 master socket

Availability: Not released in UK

NetGem announced a new product believed to be called the NetBox HD, at the IPTV World Forum in London at the start of March 2006. Here’s what was public knowledge:

Box spec: High-definition MPEG4-compliant ADSL (Broadband) / DTT (digital terrestrial) terminal.

Availability: Not released in UK. The product was apparently due to become available between April-June 2006 – As far as we know, it didn’t materialise.