Best receivers for Fringe Reception

The TM5502HD & 5302HD are without doubt the best tuners for weak signals mine beat the F15 & TM690HD Combo hands down,

My top 5 tuners:-
1/TM5502HD
2/TM5302HD
3/SpiderboxHD9000
4/SpiderboxHD9900
5/TM5402HD M1
 
RayArdia said:
I noticed your comment " I don't want to go down the Linux path " and wondered, as a newcomer to this forum, what that referred to as I use Ubuntu (a Linux distro) as my OS and have done for over 12 years.
I'm in NW Spain on the Atlantic coast: Iuse a Humax Foxsat 500GB box, a 1.8m offset dish and a 8-way LNB labelled Sky but made I think by ??? (will have to look!)
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In this context 'Linux' means a receiver with a Broadcom MIPS processor running Enigma2.
 
From right out on the fringe I have tested a few different receivers.
Yesterday compared a TM5300 super, Amstrad DRX890 HD box and Hirschmann S hd203.
On same channel the technomate was severe pixellation, the amstrad just about ok but the hirschmann was clear.
Hoping to test the hirschmann against a tm5402 M2 and M3 at a later date.
Looks like the HD boxes do tend to be more sensitive as the TM5300 was considered the dogs doodahs in its day.
 
Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band comes to mind :-bighappy

"TM5300 was considered the dogs doodahs in its day"


I complained to TM about the symbol rate being out of calibration on my TM5200 D USB so they sent me a TM5200 D USB Super free of charge it still had the symbol rate out of calibration so could not use either for posting feeds as no body would have been able to duplicate my findings 5632 came out as 5602 to 5648 ect :mad: very sensitive tuner but not as accurate as the TM1500CI Super+.
 
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Has anyone had experience of any of these Freesat boxes in Spain and if so what?
They all all new names to me and mean nothing - perhaps they are equally rubbish but thought I might ask anyway.

OpenBox V8S,
OPENBOX V5S/F5S
LIBERTVIEW F5S (is this the same as Openbox?)
Cloud iBox 2+
Ferguson Ariva 150 HD Combo
Ferguson Ariva 153 HD
Ferguson Ariva 252 HD
Blade Media BM5000s
Goodmans GFSAT200HD
Triax HDS110 FTA HD
Sagecom Dtr94320shd
 
Openbox and Libertview are not Freesat boxes, but generic FTA boxes.

They are indeed the same, along with Skybox. The brand names have changed owing to pressure from Sky.
 
The Cloudbox and Blade aren't Freesat either
 
The Goodmans is a Freesat box and I think the Ferguson and Sagecom might be too.
 
The Ferguson arivas are not Freesat boxes either
 
Thanks for all the info folks - it seems that I was misled by some the way some of these boxes appear to be advertised as "freesat" but you have pointed out they are mostly not.
 
That's not to say those receivers won't receive Freesat channels, just you won't get the perks of a dedicated receiver like the 7 day EPG etc.
 
Again Thanks - seems I should stick to what I already know - i.e. my two venereable Pace 2600c boxes are still giving sterling service and are as sensative and selective as ever and my 2 Humax Foxsats work extreemly well also although both have had power supply attention due to the failing caps problem yet seem fine now. The little Manhatten also works well enough for general viewing so perhaps there's not much point in finding out more about alternatives unless they all go bang one day!
 
Those Pace boxes are pants. Slow and clunky and nothing very special about the tuners compared to modern boxes. People still singing about these are stuck in a time warp.

If you want a top quality single tuner HD box with a 7 day program guide, self updating to Freesat or Sky channel list and a lot of other providers, I'd go for something like the new TM-Nano-SE. Plug in a USB flash or HDD you've got a full recording box. For less than 100 quid you can't go wrong.
 
Huevos said:
Those Pace boxes are pants. Slow and clunky and nothing very special about the tuners compared to modern boxes. People still singing about these are stuck in a time warp.

If you want a top quality single tuner HD box with a 7 day program guide, self updating to Freesat or Sky channel list and a lot of other providers, I'd go for something like the new TM-Nano-SE. Plug in a USB flash or HDD you've got a full recording box. For less than 100 quid you can't go wrong.
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Thanks Huevos - wise words as always - and I admit I am a bit attatched to the old Pace boxes but simply because they have been so ultra reliable - with no power supply issues like I've had with the the Humax boxes! Also I'm not about to get rid of them when they are still very servicable although I would not be thinking of replacing them with like for like if they failed - of course I would then be looking at a much more modern box. TBH I've never heard of the TM-Nano-SE but to be sure will be looking carefully at it from now on - and with the advantage of recording it possibly could be a winner for me for the future!
 
As I know nothing of these Linux boxes can someone tell me how I would need the TM Nana configued if I order one from the above link - they seem to need to know how you want it set up when you order it - and to me that's all double Dutch - I want to be able to use it for watching freesat plus other channels - and BTW can I use the the BBC iplayer with it in Spain? The Humax HD can "see" iplayer and the programmes but won't play any files if I select them - I suppose due to not being in the UK!
 
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