Best Digiboxes for Fringe reception

[bignick]

I believe they are not very good for fringe reception... sorry!

do you use Ebay ?

Guys, i've just been sent a photo of that Pace receiver and it turned out that it wasn't model 2200 but 2400 in fact. Is this model any better or even worse?????

[iggy]

I believe they are not very good for fringe reception... sorry!

do you use Ebay ?

Not really, local Ebay is pretty crappy, but we have www.allegro.pl which is much more advanced

[bignick]

Ebay is a great place to buy digiboxes though - do you actually need one or is it for experimenting purposes?

Not really, local Ebay is pretty crappy, but we have www.allegro.pl which is much more advanced

[iggy]

Ebay is a great place to buy digiboxes though - do you actually need one or is it for experimenting purposes?

I used to use Ebay when i stayed in England. There is quite wide range of Sky boxes i've just checked but just a few people don't mind to ship them overseas. Postage costs are quite high - 25 quits is sometimes even more then the actual value of the box itself. I am looking for some decent stuff for reasonable price.

[Zorba]

reliable but no good on 2D channels,also very slow.

[pajo100]

There are better tuners in the Manhattan range more sensitive , on a recent trip to Biarritz/ Lourdes I got all BBcs and ITVs in this location with a 60cm Panasonic dish and interstar .3 lnb so have a look at local shops there notably Lidl who were selling the Porty receiver for euro 40 or kit for 60.

[iggy]

I found a bargain for Amstrad DRX400, is it good for fringe reception???
The only thing is that it doesn't come with remote control. Do i need a dedicated one or can i use some replacement instead???? where can i buy one, i checked Ebay but couldn't find any.

[bignick]

Yes they aren't bad for fringe reception. I'm no amstrad lover but I do quite like that box. As for the remote....Ebay is FULL of them! Just type in the search box ' Sky remote'. If you have no luck then give me a call - I have some!

I found a bargain for Amstrad DRX400, is it good for fringe reception???
The only thing is that it doesn't come with remote control. Do i need a dedicated one or can i use some replacement instead???? where can i buy one, i checked Ebay but couldn't find any.

[iggy]

Yes they aren't bad for fringe reception. I'm no amstrad lover but I do quite like that box. As for the remote....Ebay is FULL of them! Just type in the search box ' Sky remote'. If you have no luck then give me a call - I have some!

You are right, i found a great deal of various remote controls, i really don't know how i could overlooked them. Thanks anyway, i think i'll finally go for that amstrad box.

[geoffreys]

I'll open this one, but cannot speak from experience, as I live in the middle of the footprint.

Feel free to add your experiences, both positive and negative for your fringe location.

Please do not ask questions here (start a new thread), this thread is meant for reports and reference only.

Hi all from Sunny Cyprus - and even though it is the first week of December we ARE still warm and sunny here! OK, well my 8 year old Panasonic TU-DB30 finally packed up after super service in this fringe area. We had ALL 2A/2B channels 24/7 using it with a Famaval 2.4m prime-focus dish.
I opted for a Pace DS430N to replace it, I chose the Pace mainly as it was off-the-shelf here in Cyprus.

It performs equally to the Pana30, no better and no worse. However it has a much faster processor making it nicer to use; also no more lock-ups!!

Incidentally I rang Sky to get our viewing card 'paired' to the new receiver, having first disabled the CLI facility on my mobile. No problem. The card is of course registered at a UK address,

Cheers,
Geoff

[iggy]

Today i finally received an Amstrad DRX400 - after a few hours of testing it, i concluded that it has quite a good sensitive tuner. The signal actually has increased. It came with Freesat card so the choice of channels from 28 degrees position have also widened. Anyway i am quite happy about that receiver and still waiiting for my new LNB to make the result even better.

[bignick]

Don't know if its been mentioned on this thread before, but I've just compared it with my 2600 and it's really quite poor in comparison....shame really as it looks quite good.

Nick

[rato]

Using a Grundig GDS 2000 with 20 meter long cable to a Inverto White Tech 0.4dB Single LNB on a 1.20m Offset dish. South Beam is fine with approx 80% Signal Strength & 60% Signal Quality. S1 Beam is 50/50%, the 2D is 50% SS with 30% sometimes lower SQ. The Fixed Beam is sometimes 40% SS & 20% to 0% SQ. The Grundig does hold on to the signal even when the SQ goes to 0% but pixelization starts to kick in and evetually loses the picture. In the evening, around 6 to 7 pm, you do see a few glitches in the reception of the 2D Beam, but nothing that you can complain about. I'm going to test an Invacom 0.3dB LNB to see whether there is a significant improvement in signal quality.

[jno]

So then, do we at last have some sort of recommended list of Sky digiboxes / Sky+ receivers for fringe reception areas?

Seems to me that the PACE 2600 and the JAVELIN makes it on most people's lists - any others?

[bignick]

You make a very good point ino... can we have a list at the front of this thread with a whats good and whats not list.

Certainly the 2600 and minibox are about the best but that doesn't mean they are the only choice. Several of the amstrads and thomsons have excellent reputations for fringe reception, and the TU-DSB40 is supposed to be a great performer though I haven't managed to get hold of one yet to check.

Furthermore, can we add non digiboxes to the list since BBC and ITV are now FTA the need to have a dedicated Sky digibox has deminished. Indeed they can sometimes be a hinderance as they will not allow reception from other sats.

Cheers

Nick

So then, do we at last have some sort of recommended list of Sky digiboxes / Sky+ receivers for fringe reception areas?

Seems to me that the PACE 2600 and the JAVELIN makes it on most people's lists - any others?

[oldwrinkly]

I live in Crete right on the fringe of the footprint.I can get only half or maybe less than all channals.sky1 chan.5 and all the uk ones.i get Sky sports 1 2 3 but not extra.I can get bbc interactive this with a pace receiver i bought when digital started so it is very old.I have a 1.40 moterised dish.oldwrinkly

[jabbathut]

Hi, am a newbie here doing some research for my folks, any idea what set up would be most cost effective to pick up Sky+ around the paralimini area?

They have a standard Sky+ box here in the uk with a normal "standard" Digi dish.

Have never set up a system out of the UK so any ideas would be great!

TA
Jabba

[iceman]

Guys this thread was started for comments on digiboxes please use the rest of the forum for non relevant discussions..

Jabba
I have answered your questions here > http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/...d=1#post386752

[pandashoe]

i use a pace 2600c1 in costblanca spain with a 1.9Mtr solid dish with a invacom c120 with it onw feed horn in my area it's recomended to use a 2.4 Mtr dish but i get BBC ITV CH4/5 all day and BBC2 after teatime
(thats about 1800hrs to non expats) i havnt tryed my humax ci5100 yet cos my wifes been there & as we all know wifes hate you
("playing with that tv again"!!!) but i'll have a report in two weeks time,

any info on a cheep non Sky box that's as good as the pace 2600c1???

[pandashoe]

back form spain used my humax 5100 no cam for CH4/5 but signal strenth 50/55 as good as the pace 2600c1 that on the south costa blanca,

[Mike4t]

I run the following on a 2.4m with Invacom Quad, Pace2600c1, PaceDS430N and a Sky Plus box, with 60mtrs of CT100 on
would rate in that order, I can sometimes lose Movie channels on the Sky+ early evening, ok rest of day though, all others 24/7

[dave stringer]

hey
I am asking which is the best I am living in Denmark pace2600 /Panasonic TU-DSB30

Mike

I live in southern Sweden and have the DSB-30 connected to a 1.4m dish which is fine, although I had to replace my oldísh LNB.

If you are using your Digibox to watch the BBC channels and ITV it may be a good idea to have a receiver like the Nokia 9800S as a backup for bad weather - it has a far more sensitive tuner and pulls in signal when the DSB-30 has given up and gone to bed......

Good luck!

[corrigap]

I live in southern Sweden and have the DSB-30 connected to a 1.4m dish which is fine, although I had to replace my oldísh LNB.

If you are using your Digibox to watch the BBC channels and ITV it may be a good idea to have a receiver like the Nokia 9800S as a backup for bad weather - it has a far more sensitive tuner and pulls in signal when the DSB-30 has given up and gone to bed......

Good luck!

Hello Dave,

I also live in southern Sweden (outside Lund) and was interested to read your post. I've used a DSB-30 in the past and considered it to be a good receiver for fringe reception, until the lock-ups that is. Is the Nokia 9800S really that much better than the Panny, if so I'll have to try and get one. Do your comments also go for any of the other Nokia receivers? I've heard good words about the 212S but they're difficult to find these days.

Corrigap

[kitschcamp]

This is very interesting for me. I only recently moved to Skåne, near Eslöv, and am still trying to get my satellite system sorted. The installer put the wrong type of LNB on my 2.4m dish, so I currently get very poor reception, and I'm waiting for the C120 feedhorn and LNB to arrive to set it up correctly.

I currently have a DSB-30 that I'm using, and as soon as it rains, it stops working. This is really annoying seeing as it's attached to my TiVo, so I can lose days of programs if I don't notice.

[dave stringer]

Hello Dave,

I also live in southern Sweden (outside Lund) and was interested to read your post. I've used a DSB-30 in the past and considered it to be a good receiver for fringe reception, until the lock-ups that is. Is the Nokia 9800S really that much better than the Panny, if so I'll have to try and get one. Do your comments also go for any of the other Nokia receivers? I've heard good words about the 212S but they're difficult to find these days.

Corrigap

Hello Corrigap,

Yep, the Nokia 9800S / 9802S has a far more sensitive tuner than the DSB-30, although as a FTA box it is no good for CH4 & CH5.....

I would not recommend the 212S - the tuner is nowhere near the quality of the earlier receivers. Stick to the 9800S / 9802S or the 9900S / 9902S.

Cheers,
Dave