New Receiver needed - which one to buy?

Floh

Hi Guys

Today my Humax CI-5100 went down, after nearly 7 years' of service. I'm not sure if it is a co-incidence, but my wife dropped the extension lead in a bucket of water, and the RCD on the main switchboard went. Some time later, I wanted to watch ORF and found that the receiver wouldn't switch on as usual. It doesn't recognise my Irdeto AllCam (loaded with Freecam2 V.018) either, so I don't get anything at all, not even FTA programmes.

So I wanted to know if someone could recommend a good STB. I kind of liked the Humax box, except the channel search always took ages and switching channels wasn't very quick either.

My dish is pointing at Astra 19.2 and I really it needs to be capable of using my Irdeto AllCam so I can watch Austrian and German channels (ORF etc). Is there any box out there that's programmed to get Premiere Austria/Germany without a card?

Please help!

Thanks very much.

Servus.

rolfw

One of the best supported patchable budget receivers, unofficial software wise, (not necessarily the best receiver) is the Technomate, will get you most of what is available currently. Premiere soon to disappear.

For the connoisseur, the Dreambox is the tool of choice, certainly it (and its Linux based cousins) is the most flexible of all the boxes.

Probably no real use for the Allcam any more, I've got three of them sat on my shelf, as it can't get anything which a patched box can't get.

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Floh

Thank you very much for all your help rolfw.

I have been offered a Technomate 5400 USB, and a lik to a website to get the relevant patches/soft cam which is meant to be auto updating (all for £95). All the advise I found so far is that in order for this to autoupdate it needs to be switched to a channlel on Hotbird.
What to you think about this receiver and do you know if the autoupdate will also work on Astra 19.2?

I have also been offered an alternative (via Ebay) of a Echostar FTA 777, also with a patch to receive all Premiere Channels (incl. Austrian channels) and an autoupdate feature. This is offered for £70.
What is your thought on that?

I value your expertise and was looking at Dreamboxes, but have read somewhere that you need to be a bit more advanced to be able to deal with these boxed, and that Linux isn't everybodies cup of tea? I know a bit about computers, but I'm not a programmer, so am not sure if this is for me?
If it is easy enough, which box would be best to suit my needs?

Many thanks for all your help and knowledge.

Robbo

Hi,
I have a Technomate 1000D, which is very similar to the 5400 in most respects.

Yes on TPS (13E) you have to tune to any channel that is on the same transponder as France 4.

For Premiere on 19.2E it AUs on any channel.

As Rolfw says it is one of the best supported at the moment.

But you must bear in mind that it is expected that Premiere will change encryption, and will only be available by subscription some time soon, the same goes for TPS, some time in May apparently.

Also £95 for theTM5400 may be a bit pricey, I have seen it for about £80.

Robbo

rolfw

Forget the Echostar, it isn't in the same league as the technomate with regard to support. At leats one of our supporting advertisers (see my signature) has the TM 5200 for around £80.

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Floh

Thanks very much guys.

Although Premiere would be a bonus, I'm mainly interested in the ORF channels. They are still running the old Betacrypt system alongside Cryptoworks and I hope they won't turn that off.

Should I not go for the TM 5400, which has a CI slot, rather than the 5200, just in case I need to get a module, if they change encryption method (I may be able to get an official ORF card if that happens)?

Cheers.

Robbo

The 5400 is more future proof than the 5200, as it has a card slot and a slot for a CAM, the 5200 has neither.

The 5200 is available from £50-£60, the £5400 from approx £80, so I think rolfw might have meant that one anyway possibly.

HB13DISH

The Dreambox has a lot of flexibility and you don't need any Linux programming to set it up or in everyday's general use.
All you need is a router, an internet connection, a PC with FTP application.
Also to do a lot of reading in the Dreambox section.
My choice today would be the 7020S and add a hard disk for recording.

Floh

Thanks for the info HB12DISH. I did actually order a TM 5400 yesterday, which should do me for now.

However, I may want to go down the Dreambox route once I had time to digest all the techno bunff.
Does the Dreambox need a constant and fast internet connection then? My broadband connection at home is crawling at around 360kbps max, as I live a long way from the exchange and the cables are really old. BT don't want to invest in new ones, so I'm going to be stuck with this for a long time!
Thanks.

HB13DISH

This speed should be fine.
You can switch it on only when you need updates to download.
I have it on all the time because I can read all my incoming e-mails with a special mail plugin (good only to read text)
The use of a router can make your life a lot easier during the initial learning curve, as you get connected to the Gemini Server to download all kind of software and the box does the install automatically, meaning putting files in the correct subfolders.
Enjoy your new box.