How many are still holding off buying a HD receiver?

[jimmyboy]

Is it just me or how many others are still holding off buying the next receiver? Are we waiting for the QBox HD to arrive before deciding to opt for a twin tuner HD box?
-For me- the dreambox 8000hd is too expensive full stop.
-AZBox is reasonably priced but not sure if the picture quality is up to scratch in SD/HD broadcasts reading some of the posts?
- The cuberevo is pricey but good picture quality but not sure it has the support yet (or am I wrong)?
- QBox similar price but support for 3 tuners- but wait and see.
Anyone with more than 1 HD box care to comment?

:toetap05::toetap05::toetap05:

[chelseaboy]

I wont buy one was thinking if getting one had one before a humax not enough channels, i would have gone for a dreambox 8000, but the price is ridiculous, you can get a sxy hd box from asda for 29.99 and one free months hd subscription.

So why pay a 1000 pound for a dreambox, when you can get a sxy hd box and pay for 3 years subscripton for the same price of a dreambox 8000hd?

chelseaboy

[Dreamlife]

I wont buy one was thinking if getting one had one before a humax not enough channels, i would have gone for a dreambox 8000, but the price is ridiculous, you can get a sxy hd box from asda for 29.99 and one free months hd subscription.

So why pay a 1000 pound for a dreambox, when you can get a sxy hd box and pay for 3 years subscripton for the same price of a dreambox 8000hd?

chelseaboy

I have to agree on this, at the moment a decent non sky HD box is just too expensive for the amount of HD channels you get. I had sky HD installed and have the HD channels and it's enough HD content for me. Maybe in another 12 months I will have another think about buying a non sky HD box.

[jimmyboy]

Good point about the price. Paying £450-950 in this climate just doesn't make any sense.
Guess I will stick to my PC dvb-s card until the prices drop (not that there is much to watch at the moment - but in this game you never know). I did not want to waste my money and buy a non HD box.

[Yoda]

Guys,

One thing to think about is that a HD box gives you more than a few HD channels that you never had before.

Example:
I purchased a Azbox Premium from Goldwafers for £349.

I now have the ability to:
A: Watch HD Channels
B: Use CS to watch HD channels.
C: Am able to stream full 1080P or any high def content to the Azbox and
watch it on my TV. ( works very well )
D: Use my Azbox as a media center for music, photos and videos.
E: Use Youtube without even booting my PC from my remote.
F: Coming soon - Have the ability to add a second tuner for recording two
channels at once.

I'm sure there are other features that I have missed, but you get the idea.

I would say that the firmware is very young (but stable) and the potential of this box will probably only be seen in around 6 months when all the bugs have been resolved.

All in all I am well happy with my purchase, and as expected also got first class service from Goldwafers.

Yoda

[Gone_Fishing]

Think some of you are missing the point of these boxes theres a 150+ HD channels across EU and in theory all could be open :respect-050:

I'm still biding my time DM800 has great support and seems to be coming on leaps and bounds, AZbox is appealing to me because it has sigma chip so even mkv with dts work, Qbox not sure whats going on there, if the last two had CCcam (I know theres Incubus) then it would be even harder to decide

I kind of wish I had jumped in with a DM800 when they were at there initial price but there you go :willy_nilly:


TNT

[xanadu]

I have a few budget HD receivers with the intention of getting something better when it's available.

Qbox HD is the box that I am hoping will become a good receiver when it comes out of Beta testing, and is released for retail to the public.

Azbox HD is an everything box, but no good at anything!

No other boxes out there worth buying due to one problem or another with them.

If the DM8000 was £600 or less then it would be reasonable value, but at it's current price with the same tuner problems as the DM800 it's not worth it.

To sum it all up, there is no HD box out there that is worth spending over £200 on at the moment.

[Yoda]

I have a few budget HD receivers with the intention of getting something better when it's available.

Qbox HD is the box that I am hoping will become a good receiver when it comes out of Beta testing, and is released for retail to the public.

Azbox HD is an everything box, but no good at anything!

No other boxes out there worth buying due to one problem or another with them.

If the DM8000 was £600 or less then it would be reasonable value, but at it's current price with the same tuner problems as the DM800 it's not worth it.

To sum it all up, there is no HD box out there that is worth spending over £200 on at the moment.

I have to disagree here mate.

Azbox HD is an everything box, but no good at anything!

It is very good at everything that it claims, the firmware is still in beta stage and we were aware of this before we purchased our boxes.

Can you explain exactly what this box is not good at ???

Yoda

[xanadu]

Can you explain exactly what this box is not good at ???


The main issue that scares me is the many reports of poor picture quality.

CAM slots are not working, which is no good to me as I use CAMS.

I have a PS3 for all the multimedia stuff, and I am sure it does it all a lot better than the Azbox HD, so all those gimmicks are of no use to me.

All I want is a dedicated HD box that works properly, and has good SD/HD picture quality and working CAM slots, and no overheating or tuner issues.

[Yoda]

The main issue that scares me is the many reports of poor picture quality.

CAM slots are not working, which is no good to me as I use CAMS.

I have a PS3 for all the multimedia stuff, and I am sure it does it all a lot better than the Azbox HD, so all those gimmicks are of no use to me.

All I want is a dedicated HD box that works properly, and has good SD/HD picture quality and working CAM slots, and no overheating or tuner issues.

Hi mate,

Very good points.

CAM slots are not working, which is no good to me as I use CAMS.

This will be fixed in firmware as stated before the firmware is in beta stage.

I have a PS3 for all the multimedia stuff, and I am sure it does it all a lot better than the Azbox HD, so all those gimmicks are of no use to me.

I too have a PS3 and a Xbox and the Azbox can out perform both as it plays every file that I have asked of it, no codec issues and very fast response across the lan.

Picture Quality is an issue in some respects.

I have no problems with the HD quality it is a very clear crisp image from BBC HD for example, however I am using a very good hdmi cable so this may help.

SD has room for improvement and I along with many others hope this is addressed in the form of a firmware update.

Yoda

[holmroad]

Just as a matter of interest guys, I keep seeing 'Beta Stage' being bandied about - and not only in THIS thread!
What 'IS' Beta Stage please?:respect-050:

[BE-COOL]

New HD linux receivers are comming from Clarke Tech, Technomate and ITGate.

ATM AzBox Elite seems to be the best choice, since the others are far too expensive.

Prices will drop.

Sláinte.

[Yoda]

Beta indicates that the software is not the final release, expect issues and bugs and the manufacturer then takes these findings on board to work towards a final release.

More info

A beta version or beta release usually represents the first feature complete version of a computer program or other product, likely to be unstable but useful for internal demonstrations and previews to select customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, as a technical preview (TP) or as an early access. Often this stage begins when the developers announce a feature freeze on the product, indicating that no more features will be added to this version of the product and only software issues, or bugs, will be removed. Beta versions stand at an intermediate step in the full development cycle. Developers release them to a group of beta testers (sometimes the general public) for a user test. The testers report any bugs that they found and sometimes minor features they would like to see in the final version.

[AJR]

AzBox

Even though it has current issues that are waiting to be resolved... its where I have invested my money, the potential is fantastic.

As soon as its passed the beta stage then I'm sure that the price will be put up.

[Gerry55]

Hi xanadu
I have a 8000 and dont have any tuner problems!

[Yoda]

And with the release of MgCamd and NewCS available now plus CCcam to follow the Azbox just took a giant leap into the possibilities of this already great box.

Yoda

[paul01609]

im waiting to see what the support is going to be like on the qbox hd,dont have money to burn on the db8000 so im hanging on befor rushing on my next box after selling off the 800hd

[AJR]

The main issue that scares me is the many reports of poor picture quality.

All I want is a dedicated HD box that works properly, and has good SD/HD picture quality and working CAM slots, and no overheating or tuner issues.

Using hdmi the hd quality is ok and sd of course is dependant upon the quality of the broadcast.

Using scart, the quality is lacking at the moment as RGB is not enabled.

The tuners are good.

The elite will run warm as it has a built in power supply... but the premium (with external power supply) runs so cool, I would imagine you could use it to chill cans of beer.

Its reported that a lot of cams do work... but the diablo doesn't.

I have every confidence that all outstanding matters will be addressed, soon'ish.

[x5]

if is a HD receiver (not media center) u want them i cant see any better tham the DM800 dont foul yourself i ve seem all this alread im sure whe all did
its beta ( azbox,qbox) now and will be forever like others (ipb.o.x 9000,900,kathrien) before they came out they was the best and now they almost dead
i would go for a DM8000 but is just to expensive if price cames down to 500/600 will get 1 for sure

[CROSSBONES]

The dreambox 800 does every thing I want.

As said above there is plenty of HD channels availabe, you just have to

know how to open them:respect-050:(please dont flood me with pm`s)

A £29 **** box cant do this.

The support for the 800/8000 is great, as CCcam reads NDS cards now!

only thing that lets it down is a single tuner.

I can see my self buying a 8000 in the future:king-041:

[paul01609]

The dreambox 800 does every thing I want.

As said above there is plenty of HD channels availabe, you just have to

know how to open them:respect-050:(please dont flood me with pm`s)

A £29 **** box cant do this.

The support for the 800/8000 is great, as CCcam reads NDS cards now!

only thing that lets it down is a single tuner.

I can see my self buying a 8000 in the future:king-041:
me to providing theycut the price by £300

[mrdude]

Well I have got a

xbox360 - which can play avi,divx,mp3,cd'dvd's,photos & games.
Xbox 1 with xbmc - which can play almost anything.
Cable dreambox500 - for watching cable
Humax5400 - for watching sat

So all a hd box would allow me to do is watch a few extra hd channels - many of which are foreign? & rubbish.

So unless the prices significantly drop - I'll be waiting a few years until there is something worth buying out on the market.

TBH - It would be cheaper just to buy sly+hd and a valid sub just now for those extra channels. Preferably I'd rather have them for free - but even if you join a cs group you still need to have something to share so you still need to sub to something - therefore are you really saving?

[jimmyboy]

Just some questions please-
Is the upscaled SD broadcast as good (in the az box) as the cube revo? Or files streamed from the PC in SD via HDMI 1080p upscaled pic quality good?
Is their any difference in quality between the elite or premium? (apart from wifi/internal HDD/external power supply)?
The elite price seems tempting.

[happyhammer]

well i've finally got the dosh for a HD box.
Choices are dm800 (clone) or the AZ Elite/Premium.

I dont need wi-fi and if the HardDrive can be network attached with no performance problems, the Elite would be enough.

So, the dealbreaker is CCcam. I've not seen CCCam on any other STB hardware other than DM. I've used FLYCCAM on my skystar.
In***bus as a client for more than once server may be enough for my use but i notice that the sigma version has stopped since 0.55 version, about three releases back.

Anyone insight as to CCcam? i'm tired of waiting for a HD box, so want to purchase one almost immediately, but need to know if AZbox will work properly with CCcam servers.

[ukpaisley]

I think is a hard choice, I have to look at all the money I have spent on HD like the 46"TV ect. I would like twin tuner but its still not happening yet. I have high performance PC's so maybe I will just invest in skystar HD and move everything to the PC for the mo until the market sorts its act out. The HD card is cheep ! price drop drom when it was first launched !

[john333]

to ukpaisley please could you tell me more about the hd card is there much
support ect regards john

[sonic1]

I think the choice is a simple one.

DM800

Why ?

DM8000 is over priced!!!!

All other box's are running BETA firmware in the hope that they will get CCcam to work!!!

I think we have all come to the conclusion that CCcam are in DMM's pockets so they will combat the use of CCcam on other platforms.

We can all hope but the facts are hard to ignore.

I have 4 Dreambox's and I am not disappointed { ever }

[ukpaisley]

The HD cards have been out for a while, its only now the PC's have the performance to decode and display. The cards are well supported and there is a forum on here that deals with them. Plugins for options like CS and CAMS.
Most TV''s will tale the PC input in full 1080 no problem.

[dave3dg]

Roll on the price drop for the DB 8000 I will serpently buy one then.

[Tarzan]

I got the Vantage and now after a lot of hesitation went and bought the AzBox HD Elite and I am very happy with it till now... I went for this box because I wanted an all-in-one solution after my IStar HD mini died....

The media player is very good and am able to now watch all my movies remotely in the other room and it does access windows shares directly...

I still have to do a lot of testing but over all very impressed...

[happyhammer]

ok, gone for a DM800. The uncertainity over CCCam was a major factor in not going for the AZbox..

[jimmyboy]

Tarzan, what is the picture quality like on SD broadcats?

[Giga]

did buy a TM-6900 HD Combo Super (downstairs) & TM-5300 D+ USB (upstairs). Wanted PVR and dolby, had to buy a new receiver: switched from cable to sat. Still watching on CRT flatscreen. So maybe in 2 years I switch to lcd. Meanwhile I can watch those HD channels on my CRT. Yep this box also downscales HD to SD:respect-050: One regret: next STB twintuner. When recording want to be able to view other transponders or even another sat position.

[stevied]

Argh!!! too much choice !!

Have a dream 7020 and a second box [eagle ].

Already have sky hd box as well but i want to get a hd box for my multi sat set up.

I want the dreambox hd but...[doubt the wife will agree till my birthday :nopity:]

I suppose though if you want the best ,then you have to pay more.

[i was one of those fookers who paid £249 for sky hd...and now look!!! £49 effin quid]

Think im gonna hold fire till june [my birthday!] want to see if the rumours about the new sky cards being issued, and how it affects cccam c$ and stuff, before i make my choice ]

[Tarzan]

Tarzan, what is the picture quality like on SD broadcats?

I found no difference in the SD picture quality compared to my Vantage 7100S.

It looks bad if you try to stretch 4:3 broadcasts on a 16:9 screen which is the same case on all the receivers and it also depends on the bitrate used by the channel...

[Yoda]

I found no difference in the SD picture quality compared to my Vantage 7100S.

It looks bad if you try to stretch 4:3 broadcasts on a 16:9 screen which is the same case on all the receivers and it also depends on the bitrate used by the channel...

I have to agree, I cant say that the SD quality is bad at all, if you are using a channel that transmits a decent picture like sly 1, then the picture on SD is great.

Yoda

[jimmyboy]

I have a Panasonic 50 inch plasma which has 1080p - so looks superb via xbox 360 (HDMI) or my Freesat HD humax box on bbcHD (although 1080i). I also have a popcorn a100 streamer which can upscale sd--> 1080p and to be honest a dvd image in sd in sometimes difficult to spot compared to HD via the streamer.

Obviously SD broadcasts recorded on my PC card (I have dvb-s2 card) depend on the bitrate and hence the particular channel and broadcaster when played back via the streamer.

Reading other posts some people with both a dreambox 800hd and cuberevo HD seem to suggest the latter has a better picture quality when upscaling.

With regard to SD on the Humax Freesat HD box, the quality looks very poor (worse than freeview on terrestrial) but that is the fault of the low bitrates on 28oE on satellite channels.

[tr8.]

I am in the same boat as many here, have the cash but not happy with the choices. no longer a fan of DM as they are well over priced for what you get, a good example is my tm9100 and dm7020. The TM beats the DM easily now and i know the software took a time to become stable but so did the 7020 and the 7000 i had before. but not worth twice the price, and had to jtag the 7020 twice.

Now with a new card soon here needing 3.3v or it will fry and have read stories of other nds cards frying that its not so critical may be time to wait, but i realy fancy playing with a hd linux twin tuner reciever and would not waste money on one without twin tuner in future.

[dave3dg]

Thats why I am going for the DM8000 for the twin tuner and the HD recording. Like jimmyboy I have the Popcorn A110 and that and the DM8000 I can record and copy to the Popcorn. Perfect combo. :king-041:

[tinos]

I also had the Popcorn A-100... but now sold it and bought the AzBox HD Elite... for same price got a free HDTV SAT Receiver with twin tuner option and all the media quality stuff from Popcorn Hour... AzBox HD uses same Sigma CPU as Popcorn (actually better as it is the one with DRM so it could even decode BlueRay stuff). So it is the best deal ever!

[daedalus]

Is it just me or how many others are still holding off buying the next receiver? Are we waiting for the QBox HD to arrive before deciding to opt for a twin tuner HD box?
-For me- the dreambox 8000hd is too expensive full stop.
-AZBox is reasonably priced but not sure if the picture quality is up to scratch in SD/HD broadcasts reading some of the posts?
- The cuberevo is pricey but good picture quality but not sure it has the support yet (or am I wrong)?
- QBox similar price but support for 3 tuners- but wait and see.
Anyone with more than 1 HD box care to comment?

:toetap05::toetap05::toetap05:
since we all seem to be "not in KANSAS anymore" lets wish for an HD triple-dragon.that would certainly fit my requirements!!!

[dishnut]

Well I like my dm8000 a lot. I was lucky enough to be selected as a betatester so got the box somewhat cheaper. The box runs great on HD although sometimes it takes a little longer to grab the hd channels. Like you guys said the support for dreambox alone makes this receiver worth buying. Even thinking of replacing some of the older 500 and 7020,s with dm 800,s. Hd is just beautiful. Now I am waiting for a update so we can run blueray. Believe me it will come. Running CCcam the latest version and nds and seca 3 are all running perfect.

[happyhammer]

I also had the Popcorn A-100... but now sold it and bought the AzBox HD Elite... for same price got a free HDTV SAT Receiver with twin tuner option and all the media quality stuff from Popcorn Hour... AzBox HD uses same Sigma CPU as Popcorn (actually better as it is the one with DRM so it could even decode BlueRay stuff). So it is the best deal ever!

unless you want CCcam.

[Yoda]

unless you want CCcam.

If the rumours are true and neotionbox is true to his word, and he has been so far then we will have cccam too...

PS: We already have it via incubusCamd in the meantime anyway.

Yoda

[happyhammer]

If the rumours are true and neotionbox is true to his word, and he has been so far then we will have cccam too...

PS: We already have it via incubusCamd in the meantime anyway.

Yoda

I would go this in a heartbeat if i could be sure. From what i've read. in***busCamd as a CCCAm client for sigma stopped at ver 0.55 and at that point you could only have one server ( one C line). Also read that in***bus creates more ecm traffic, would need to know if thats true as you don't wanna cause problems if yer using a payserver.

Any feedback on this would be good. thx

[tinos]

Problems with more ecm traffic is not on incubus but on something else called fly... something, another client. But anyway I think it is probably bad publicity or marketing from dreambox like they did with perfectly working clones with improved stuff like working RGB on DM500... but anyway.

I am told from good sources, and also Neotionbox confirms that AzBox bought source code for CCcam... and also DTS license. So we can expect great support on future firmware.

Don't know if current anti clone box on CCcam 2.1.0 will make our wait a little longer or not... But AzBox is as far as I know going ahead with CCcam support on his box.

AzBox really makes me remember the good times when first Dreamboxes came out with great community support... but now they forgot how many help they got from users on supporting their buggy Enigma Dreamboxes (I had so many issues with DM7020 and don't forget about jtag needs on DM500)... I can understand high prices on their boxes if they want... but let people choose what they want to use at home. Breaking clones and causing issues on end users doesn't seem like good response to open community.

[happyhammer]

Problems with more ecm traffic is not on incubus but on something else called fly... something, another client.

I am told from good sources, and also Neotionbox confirms that AzBox bought source code for CCcam... and also DTS license. So we can expect great support on future firmware.

Don't know if current anti clone box on CCcam 2.1.0 will make our wait a little longer or not... But AzBox is as far as I know going ahead with CCcam support on his box.



1. flyccam..tested it with Skystar2 DVb card.
2. that would be great
3. can you elaborate what "anti clone box on cccam 2.1.0 " is?

thx

[ukpaisley]

Ccam and its new generations are trying to push flaws in clone box to stop them being "AS Good". covering their ass and then they charge 800+ for a sat box ! as said before it down to profit ££££

[samot4]

In my mind all linux hd boxes firmware are still in a beta stage.
So Ill wait another year.
As for cccam it is a disaster aeria.In their efforts to make it work with a lot of diffrent emus it doesnt work properly with any.The amount of traffic it creates is far to big.
Gbox outdated as it is works a lot better.Lets hope the mbox development continues.