Best Sky HD box for Madrid, please

[lar]

Hi,
I got excellent advice from you in the past, which has kept me (and my family) going very happily for many years!
I'm sorry to bother you again, but I need a little bit of help:
After years of trouble-free viewing (practically everything 24/7) from the set up you can see, I would like to upgrade to HD.
Which box do you recommend for Sky HD? How does it compare to my faithful Pace 2600C1?
Thanks!
Regards,
Luis Alberto (Las Rozas, Madrid, Spain)

 

[Analoguesat]

If you want a new one theres only really one make in current production - the Sky branded ones (Sky bought the Amstrad production a few years ago)

Avoid the old Thompson hd boxes - they have power supply issues and are steadily being withdrawn. They will also probably stop working for the pay hd channels at the next card swap

 

[timo_w2s]

I think the Sky/Amstrad branded HD boxes are as good as the great Pace 2600C1, if not a tiny bit better. I haven't tested the very latest Sky HD wifi enabled box but I doubt it's any worse than the others, unless anyone else knows differnt.

Just be aware the latest wifi boxes don't have RF out so you need additional kit (google IO-Link) if you use coax and a magic eye to distribute the channels from the Sky box to another room.

 

[lar]

Thanks guys!
So if I go to Ebay, do I need to look for a particular model? I found an AMSTRAD DRX890, as well as an AMSTRAD DRX595... I guess I don't need any wifi stuff, as I'm not supposed to be connected to anything, am I?
Regards,

 

[timo_w2s]

Depends on what size hard disk you want. The DRX595 does not have a hard disk or on demand, and was originally designed for multiroom setups but works on its own too.

 

[lar]

I'm not too worried about hard disk size (I think). My main worry is the tuner. First tuner, then size of hard disk.
Thanks!

 

[Steve Steve]

May I suggest the AMSTRAD 'SKY+ DRX895 this box has a wonderful sensitive tuner.. great for low signals in 2f fringe reception areas...and has nice and quiet 1,5 tb hard drive ............. .hope this helps some way....

 

[TonyWhalley]

The DRX890 is the better box from a space usage view and the tuner is as good as my Enigma boxes.
e.g if you upgrade to a 2TB disk (its amazing where all the space goes with families recording!) and it's easy to replace the original disk ... even I have done it!

DRX890 - 1750GB for personal recordings, 250GB for showtime use
DRX895 - 1500GB for personal recordings, 500GB for showtime+ use

... you cannot delete Sky's Showtime (was Anytime) space allocation so on the 895 you are throwing away 500GB!

So I would buy a box has not been disk upgraded and do it yourself.... cheaper!
There are various links that describe how to do the upgrade.

 

[lar]

Thanks!
This is all really helpful!