Reciever Options

cmo

Hi there,

My Grundig gs200 just died, I am looking for a suitable replacement. I have a sky dish, also a ( what I think is active ) virgin wall port. I have been looking now and again at receivers and the dreambox stood out a lot for it's various features. How reliable etc are they?

I was looking at the DreamBox DM100-S or DreamBox DM600pvr or at a stretch and very very late Christmas present the Dreambox 7025 _http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/english/products_dm7025_technical.php.

I see on the dreambox site that there are only 2 ( registered ) uk suppliers. Is it best to buy from these?

I am not too happy with only having and IDE interface, are there alternatives with sata controllers/connectors for similar prices?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! So many questions I know

Thanks!

cmo

Analoguesat

To be honest, Dreamboxes are not really suitable for beginners as they are high end enthusiasts receivers.

If you want to take it out of the box plug it in and get the best from it then buy another Sky digital receiver.

If you want something that will sort of work out the box, but wont give you anywhere near its full capabilities, will give you endless headaches, & generally drive you up the wall then buy a DB

ONLY buy a DB if you are willing to spend endless hours learning to drive it properly. (WE are talking a minimum of weeks here....)

Dont get me wrong - Ive got a DB7020 and its a wonderful receiver, but its a complete b*st**d at times when it goes flaky for no apparent reason!

Analoguesat's message to the world Analogue forever!

cmo

Thanks for the info . I am a linux admin by profession so I am not sure if that will help with configuration etc? I don't really want a sky box again, I feel they are too tied down and would prefer something a little more open. Even a freesat box I suppose if it comes to it.

Analoguesat

Tyhe linux bit doesnt really help much - as long as you understand folder structures and basic ftping they are easy enough to configure.

I try to discourage folks who are newish to the sat hobby from DB's as I dont want them to see the DB (or any linux receiver in fact) as a magic box that will suddenly give them all channels for free (which is what many folk want of course). They fail to realise they just dont work like that, and sadly some unscrupulous dealers are selling them as the "ultimate solution"

If you want to get the best out of them theres hours of relearning stuff simply because they operate so differently to most "normal hobby boxes"

Analoguesat's message to the world Analogue forever!

cmo

Ahh I see, it does sound like a bit of work to get them up and running. I was thinking maybe a freesat box instead, it seems to do a lot of things and is a bit more free than a Sky box. I will have a poke around online to see about programming the dreambox to see if there is anything I really want from it.