Hello, I am wondering what people are using for successful watching of British TV? I can use a VPN server and watch via my laptop just fine but I am looking for a set top box with a guide and live watching etc. I have one from Very Tangy TV right now and it was working great but has been rubbish now for a month or so. Any suggestions??

There have been a few threads on this before and various products named. A quick search should locate the threads. I use the Xbox for the BBC and Channel 4 programmes which works pretty well - not live though.

I'd be interested in knowing if there is a set top box that shows UK TV live.

usally called a PC with a VPN

Which is what I use at present. A set top box would be more convenient and not waste a PC.

Yeah I have a set top box right now that was working really well up until about a month back and they have been having technical difficulties which has made it patchy. It is basically a box that I bought off them and I subscribe to a monthly package and I get the main channels on the box. I can watch live (which is ok if you are home in the day due to time change) or I can PVR stuff and watch it whenever. I would wait off on buying it though to see if they sort out the problems with the service.

I use media hint. It's great for everything.

Then the other option would be to get one of those HDMI/android units floating around, and just add in the apps you need

I'm having general good times with a Raspberry Pi (model B, 512mb) and Rasplex (although Rasbmc might be a better choice for some as that XBMC). That's the free and open source option, and more simple to set up than it sounds. However, that said it's also the more geeky option. It should play well with any of the ways you get your iPlayer to believe you're in the UK.

I don't know what you would be willing to spend, but after playing around with a little Android box similar to the Raspberry PI (and being sorely disappointed), I splurged on an Intel "Next Unit of Computing" (nerd nickname: "NUC"). I bought mine from Amazon for about $170. It's a full-blown PC in a 4" x 4" x 2" box. It has two HDMI ports, three USB ports, wired Ethernet and WiFi. To this I added a 64gb mSATA disc-less hard drive (oxymoronic name) (~$80.00) and 8gb of RAM (~$75.00). I use a Logitech K400 wireless USB keyboard / touchpad (~$30.00) to control it. This can run any flavor of Windows, but I put Linux (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS) on it instead. It cold-boots in about 5 seconds. The NUC comes with a mounting plate that makes it easily hung on the backside of any standard flat screen (LED, plasma) tv, back of cabinet or on a wall where it won't be seen. Mine is primarily used to run XBMC media player, but the NUC can run any application you like. There's no official Linux version of iPlayer, but there are ways to run it anyway. Or you can just put Windows on the NUC instead and make your life easier (but if you do, install a larger mSATA and more RAM).

You can do what you want with a Raspberry PI and spend less than $100.00. I was just weary of the compromises that are imposed by that sort of rig (e.g. sometimes poor framerate, pixelated images and stuttering video). It was worth it to me to spend the money for a small and silent box that works every time on every type of video that I ever want to play.

For the Rasberry Pi it's very important to get the Model B with 512mb ram... but I agree... it's possible to choke the thing unfortunately... at this point I'm tempted to say "but it's under $100..." but I don't feel that's a fair defense as a WD TV can do that very well (btw, as good as those are, not recommended for UK TV watching as the OP asked). The other things I would recommend:
* Just use ethernet... easier all roudn
* Install Rasplex on a USB stick (the Rasberry Pi shares one bus between ethernet and SD card, so it can become saturated in this regard). I did this today and have seen a noticable improvement.

All that said, if you are going to spend more, I would happily differ to SoonerLater's advice. The NUCs are great media boxes.