Which Receiver would YOU recommend?

[mca]

Hello all,

Just found this very interesting site!

I'm no noob to satellite but I have little experience in anything non-$ly related. I'm about to buy my first digital receiver. Now I'd love a Dreambox (but I'm only a student) so I'm looking for something cheap & cheerful.

Should I go the FTA route, and if so what (patchable) receiver would you recommend?

OR

Should I go for a "proper" receiver with CI slots?

I'm not exaclty up to speed on CAMs and the like, but from what I've read you buy a receiver with a CI slot and buy a CAM. The CAM (PCMCIA card?) fits into the CI slot, and into the CAM fits the decryption card (or am I way off?) ...The CAMs can then do everything and more a patched FTA job would do.

With the huge variety of receivers out there I'm just a bit lost on where to start so any help at all on this would be greatly appreciated. :-)

[mhku]

The Dreambox 500s is around £100- 130 and comes with a ci slot. A CAM isn't PCMCIA. The 500s may be small but it is "proper" and you can use it with any $ky stuff that you may have (dish and lnb) and it doesn't need a CAM (all done with software) so that will save you some money.

I can't comment on other receivers but have a good read through the Dreambox section of this site and it might help you decide. Steep learning curve but once you're there you only need to keep on top of updating the key files and any new emu's. There's also a great bunch of people in there who are very helpful and friendly and helped me get mine working.

[mca]

Appreciate the quick reply!

I've got a spare dish (currently located on 19.2 E) which I'll use for this little experiment, had only really looked at the DM7020s so may be a 500s would be a nice introduction to Dreamboxes ...will investigate more

Anyone else have an opinion?

[closetosoton]

rumour is KAONs are cheap and software plentiful....

-cts

personally I got a samsung DSR 9500, second hand.

[Rob]

Have a look on E-Bay, just bought a new Technomate TM-1000D FTA receiver last week for £72 plus postage, and it's very userfriendly idea for first time buyer, or lazy b*sta*d like me.

[gerryl]

£95...Technomate TM-1500 (one card reader and 2 Cam slots) patches are on the net.... as ye are pointing 19 east (old astra sat ) get a 'mono block lnb 0.3' picks up both 19 and 13 east (hotbird ) from the one dish...make sure its a mono block for 2 sats ...Astra and hotbird approx £30-50...good luck

[mca]

Thanks for all the replies ...very helpful bunch of people here!

Spend the last few hours researching and I'm fascintated by the Dreambox ...would like a 7020 but more likely a 500S I'd say. There's also a 5620 model available but I don't know if its worth paying extra for? May be I can find a 2nd hand one to keep costs down

[hoppo]

If you can get an Illusion C3/M3 you wouldn't go far wrong. It does seca2, T*SCrypt and stacks more. If you can't find one email me (i am in Spain) and i will look into postage for you.

Point your other dish at 13deg east Hotbird, and u will get S*y It*lia, & T*ps france which canboth be changed to english. Also to use a monoblock, you need to point at hotbird as the prime focus or you won't get a reception from most of the hotbird channels (weaker satellite)

PS. ABOUT £110.
PPS. MY FRENCH TALKING FRIENDS ( IS THAT RELEVANT? RATE IT HIGHLY. ABOVE THE ASTON SIMBA ANYWAY.

Thanks for all the replies ...very helpful bunch of people here!

Spend the last few hours researching and I'm fascintated by the Dreambox ...would like a 7020 but more likely a 500S I'd say. There's also a 5620 model available but I don't know if its worth paying extra for? May be I can find a 2nd hand one to keep costs down

[kebabinho]

the goldern interstar 8005CI is a good patchable reciever with 2 CI slots. you can also enter the keys in by remote. there are alot of them on Ebay for about £70 and the patches are available on the net.

[mhku]

From memory the 5620 has usb and hard drive but the 500s can be connected to a LAN (PC) so you can use the HD on your PC. The Dreamboxes are "powerful" because they are Linux based so everything is done using emulators and images. If you are happy to tinker and be a bit lost when starting out they are great units. Otherwise go for a more user-friendly unit like the Technomate.

[mca]

From memory the 5620 has usb and hard drive but the 500s can be connected to a LAN (PC) so you can use the HD on your PC. The Dreamboxes are "powerful" because they are Linux based so everything is done using emulators and images. If you are happy to tinker and be a bit lost when starting out they are great units. Otherwise go for a more user-friendly unit like the Technomate.

I've done some checking and it appears the main differences between the 500s and the 5620 is an extra scart socket and an RF modulator, the 5620 has an ethernet port too, not sure about usb. Not at all afraid of doing some tinkering, quite like the idea ...is the Dreambox the only Linux based system?

[mhku]

500s has an ethernet port and scart (also component out through it).

Not sure if there are other linux boxes but there is plenty of DB support both here and on other forums.

[el7]

You have so many choices my friend,depends what you are going to do and what are able to do.Think about that in the market are thousends of recivers find a good one let it be your choice

[chewyturk]

M-vision is supposed to be good....?

Have you looked at the Triple Dragon? Opinions are mixed but many say it is a better machine than the Dreambox and when more software becomes available it will leave the dreambox for dead!

I was looking to buy a DB but this TD machine has left me wondering which way to go.....

[mca]

Thanks for all the views (seems there's as many as there are receivers!) May be I should have asked what receiver not to buy!

Only briefly looked at the TD so more investigating needed I think :-)

[the_wizzz]

have a look at the technomate tm-1500...it's by far the best receiver money can buy...card reader which can read any card and has a ci slot and up to date patches by darkman...if you look around, you can get it for £120

[Rob]

, patches are on the net....

Hi Gerry, That web is a very big place, do you think you PM or e-mail me some sites that would be of interest !
Thanks in advance Rob.