Best Digiboxes for Fringe reception

[dxsat]

Thomson quality control must not be that good as the one I had in for a customer was worse than my Pace Sky+ TDS470n.

 

[iceman]

Thomson quality control must not be that good as the one I had in for a customer was worse than my Pace Sky+ TDS470n.

Are you sure M8? cos,i have also installed 7-8 of these units to customers,some on 1.8m dish and they are all very satisfied with the tuner sensitivity...

 

[dxsat]

Absolutely sure, I had the two boxes side by side with one feed to each and there was a difference on 2D 10773 H, the Thomson being the poorer. May be just luck, in that my Sky+ 470 might be slightly better than average, and the Thomson slightly worse than average. Also take into account some boxes handle the extreme conditions we have here differently- by that I mean very strong south beam and very weak 2D. It causes some LNB's to fall over and some boxes to have trouble with interference between channels.

 

[iceman]

Looks like we'll have to wait for some more feedback from Thomson DSI8215 Sky+ HD Digibox users in Fringe areas...
I am positively sure this box has an excellent tuner because it has performed exceptionally well on both 2D and South beam for me and my clients..
I have ordered two more of these HD boxes from UK and they will be arriving sometime this week....will do more testing on them and report..

 

[dxsat]

Postscript to above: I've just got back from installing a Thomson HD for someone in Madrid. It was raining, dark, and the dish was well undersized at 1.2 metres.
Despite all the adverse factors, the receiver was showing vertical 2D channels well, including BBC HD.
Perhaps Thomson have made some modifications since the first one I tried.
The hard drive was noticably quieter. It now comes in a red box..

 

[iceman]

Thanx for confirming that M8...
The ones i installed (including mine) all came in a Green box...

 

[pajo100]

Seems like most people are blaming their boxes for bad reception but has anyone taken in to account the signal strength from the actual transponders??
as any installer will tell you it has been going down gradually over the last 6 month's so must be a 2D power problem.

 

[dxsat]

Pajo 100: My observation has been an increase in signal from 2D over the past six months. It's going down slowly now, and it appears that this is an annual pattern.
Iceman: Have to report I had another Thomson HD at home yesterday (getting activated and card paired- no callbacks these days- phew!).
The sensitivity was OK, but no better than my Pace V3 Sky+, compared side by side, and still not as good as my Pace 2600 CI, which remains the best possible choice for fringe reception.

 

[joddle]

To add to previous post - Problems in Valencia region - We found it pays to fine tune the dish and skew to a weak channel tat you want to see - we were having problems getting ITV at night but by tweeking the system for 10906 and 10704 we managed to get ITV Anglia right through the night and ITV3 up untll very late.

 

[ramblingbob]

I might need a new box soon, there's a lot here to trudge through. Has there been a clear favourite?

I know little, but can I use SKY+ living abroad without a Sky subscription or is that pointless and I just need a normal SKY box?

 

[billnot]

You can't use Sky Plus without paying Sky at least GBP10 per month, although there are agents who can arrange this for you if you wish.

The best Sky+ for fringe areas is the Pace 3100

I firmly believe that the best normal Sky box bar none is the Pace 2600 C1.

 

[bignick]

You can't use Sky Plus without paying Sky at least GBP10 per month, although there are agents who can arrange this for you if you wish.

The best Sky+ for fringe areas is the Pace 3100

I firmly believe that the best normal Sky box bar none is the Pace 2600 C1.

Just my opinion Bill but I would say that the 3100's replacement, the Pace TD470n is a noticably better performer than the 3100 (still not as good as the 2600 - though perhaps as good as the DS430n)

Cheers

Nick

 

[ramblingbob]

and if I don't want monthly payments, am I best off just searching ebay for the ds430n or 2600c1?

 

[billnot]

Just my opinion Bill but I would say that the 3100's replacement, the Pace TD470n is a noticably better performer than the 3100 (still not as good as the 2600 - though perhaps as good as the DS430n)

Cheers

Nick

I've found them unreliable. For sensitivity (but not a lot else) the Thomson HD box (can't remember the model number) is as good as the Pace 2600.

 

[billnot]

and if I don't want monthly payments, am I best off just searching ebay for the ds430n or 2600c1?

If you want a second hand box with a guarantee, there are specialists who will sell you one. If you're willing to take a chance, Ebay is as good as anywhere. I would say that the Pace 2600 is worth the extra compared with the DS430N, but make sure it's advertised as having the latest software (3.5.3) - if they have old software they can be hard to bring up to date.

 

[dxsat]

For sensitivity (but not a lot else) the Thomson HD box (can't remember the model number) is as good as the Pace 2600.

I wonder where you buy your Thomson HD boxes, all those I've tried at home before installing for clients have been good but clearly not as good as the 2600CI I use as a second Sky box. BBC 2 is starting to go around 11.30 pm at the moment so it's a good time to test one against the other.
The Thomson are also slower and very noisy, and have a delay when switching from HD to SD.

 

[billnot]

For myself, I have only bought one box - from a wholesaler in Malaga. The rest of my experience is with others in the area who have (mainly) been supplied by local dealers.

I think a lot depends on location as to which box is (absolutely) the best - I know of people in the Costa del Sol who swear that for them the Pace DS430N is even better than the 2600. In my own area the Grundig 3000, which generally has a poor reputation, performs well (as long as the power supply is OK).

The Thomson HD boxes have a lot of problems, of which the worst (for me) is future recordings failing is any signal gets weak. In fact a good tuner is probably their only good feature!

Also, you talk of BBC2. That's just a no-hoper here. Our yardstick is Channel 4 in the afternoon. I have many members of the "Countdown crowd". Countdown is on when the C4 signal is almost at its weakest, and if I can get them Countdown little else matters. The Thomson can get C4 as well as a Pace 2600, and gets the 2D vertical transponders 24x7 the same as the Pace 2600.

But given all its other problems, I wouldn't recommend the HD box to anybody on the fringes unless they are hell bent on subscribing to HD (and I don't think that's worth the money either, but that's another thread!).

 

[dxsat]

Quite agree on value for money on Sky HD, they even have the cheek to show The Simpsons in SD on SkyOne HD. BBC HD is much better and free.
I had wondered why some scheduled recordings showed up as failed before they had occurred. Thanks for that useful info.
Round here the Grundig 3000 performs very well, those that still work that is.
I have a feeling that there were some bad 430n models made, some seem to be much better than others.

 

[billnot]

I have a feeling that there were some bad 430n models made, some seem to be much better than others.

There may have been changes to the DS430N design during its life.

I have noticed that the early ones have a dish shaped ventilation slot in the bottom just like the 2600, whereas later ones don't. I have always assumed this was simply 2600 cases being used up with DS430N innards, but maybe there's more to it than that.

 

[rellstar]

If you want a second hand box with a guarantee, there are specialists who will sell you one. If you're willing to take a chance, Ebay is as good as anywhere. I would say that the Pace 2600 is worth the extra compared with the DS430N, but make sure it's advertised as having the latest software (3.5.3) - if they have old software they can be hard to bring up to date.

I'll 2nd that. I bought a 2600 on eBay and the software is stuck at 3.2.11 despite several forced upgrade attempts. I would have gone for DS430N had I researched it properly. I'm on a sidelobe here in Stockholm so I get really good 2d strength. I'm sure the 430 would perform just as well for me.