Got this for my 75+ year old mum as her old digibox had packed in. This is the world's first talking FreeView box. In the box was the large remote control with easy to read buttons + batteries, the printed manual & quickstart guide, 13A mains 5V transformer, a SCART lead and a co-ax aerial lead. This Smart Talk Digibox was easy to install, and the chatting bloke usefully talked me through the setup [via the TV speaker], saying number of channels found, what to do and stuff. The rear of the Digibox has twin SCARTs for recorder and TV, the loopthrough aerial sockets [no RF out though so you can't tune an analogue TV channel to the aerial, you have to view via the SCART leads AV1/2]. The Digibox found all the expected channels and response via the remote is good. However once the Digibox was up and running my mum found the Talk Feature voice over too much and we switched it off - her eyesight is poor, but with reading glasses the large buttoned remote and large on-screen text was all she required. If your eyesight is too poor for that, the Talk Feature could probably tell you all you need to know [which remote button you have pushed, menu options, whats on etc..] - you might benefit from a sighted person helping you first set the system up though, as the printed manual is very helpful.
The Smart Talk audio commentary [called TF: Talking Feature] says the channel number, the channel, and whats on, so the voice over can last 6 seconds or so, which can seem like an eternity - but there are brevity options: you can get him to talk faster and in expert or beginner [easier to understand] mode. Otherwise the voice over is either off or on [the voice itself is quite natural & pleasant though, and you can reduce his volume relative to the TV sound]. There's audio description and subtitles as well, and you can switch the TF voice commentary/subtitles/audio description on/off in the menu or via their dedicated remote buttons. You can change the TV Guide layout, on screen font size, menu colour, subtitle language [English/Welsh:Cymraeg/Gaelic:Gaedhlig - although the TF voice over is English only], and there's the usual parental control, TV aspect ratio, digital teletext, auto-standby, program reminders, and so forth.
The TV on-screen menu is easy to read and navigate, and the printed manual is very well written [in fact clarity is approved by the 'plain English campaign']. There's the usual on/off LEDs and more unusually there's a headphone socket, but sadly it's relegated to the rear of the box [OK for us as the Digibox is in an open space next to the TV, and it could be used to output sound to a HiFi]. The on-screen TV guide works better than most, it's easy to read and no adverts, and you can have the TF voice reading each entry - in fact the TF talks when-ever you do anything. Overall This Goodmans Smart-Talk is a well made, well thought out Digibox. It's on the large size, but has good features. Perhaps it's a bit expensive if you don't need the voice over, although the additional poor vision friendly large text and remote, and ease of use make it quite good value for those later in years or have poor eyesight or just like that sort of thing. Value for money wise it can't match the likes of the superb TVonics MDR-240 thats costs about a third of the price of this Smart Talk box. The TVonics MDR-240 [Which best buy] also has 'improved usability features including easy grip remote control, audio description for partially sighted and blind plus subtitles for hearing impaired and deaf users' and it also has a nice remote, although I'd say this Goodmans unit is more solidly built, with a nicer implementation of features for those with limited vision/hearing, plus it offers the unique Smart Talk voice-over if needed. Being bigger and heavier the Goodmans unit also stays put on the shelf, whereas the light TVonics box keeps moving about as it's tugged around by the thick SCART cables. Two years on this Goodmans Digibox is still working perfectly.
