Darreen said:Normal Cat5 cable with a router will be fine
Im in a similar situation myself, desiding what model of dreambox to purchase 7000/5620/500. I've been lurking around a few forums for the last weeks reading up on what people have to say.
The 7000 with its USB and HD support does sound very useful for image swapping but its costs that extra £120 or so, the 5620 does sound a good entry level box to experiment with, but many people mention about its low memory space which can fill up very rapidly.
Then we come to the disccusions about the tuner quality on the 7000/5620 not being so good and the 500 having a better one, but the 500 has a cut down remote control.
Im personally thinking about getting a 5620 and if my new found interest/hobby takes off i maybe get myself a 7020 in the future.
I consider myself quite competent with computers and networking so i dont see a problem connecting to the dreambox or configuring it
I plan at first to use the old sky dish thats still connected on the wall outside, until I've saved abit more cash up for a proper dish with a multi LNB on it
Have any other UK people here had much trouble with the tuner quality on the 5620 or problems with the memory getting full too quick ?
Any tips/advice would be gratefully recieved
Darreen
Hi,
Had similar thoughts myself - bought a 5620 because it was an inexpensive 'entry-level' satellite reciever. I wasn't too sure about what it would be able to do, what channels it could get etc.
Bought it a couple of months ago from a German site and since then it has to be the second-best electronic thing I've bought. (Number 1 is Tivo) Connected into a home network with broadband access (Number 3 is wireless adsl modem/router/firewall) it is amazing.
Mine has worked from day one, no problems. It does not need to be earthed - earthing cannot and will not make it more reliable. An unreliable or spiky mains supply might, in which case use a surge-protected mains extender.
My advice - buy it but you'll need a reasonable sized dish. 60 cm gets you Astra 1 in SE of UK, 80 cm gets you Astra1 and Hotbird, 90cm gets you Thor. If you want to upgrade after 6 months then E-bay prices match the German retail price.
If you can afford it then go for the 7000 straight away - you can then plug in memory sticks, compact flash, hard disc etc which gives you a lot more and allows you to play with images, record stuff etc. If you just want to watch the channels then a 5620 is fine.
Just my 2p worth.
Bob