Dreambox 800hd vs Openbox/Skybox equivalent

[Steve_W]

Hi all, I have been looking around online at various sites and trawling this forum and youtube to see the best setup for what I want. Ideally I would love the Dreambox DM 800HD SE PVR but I am on a shoestring budget, so I ended up looking around and I know you get what you pay for, but I see there are Skybox equivalents and Openbox receivers that are similar (is there a rough equivalent with twin tuner and hard drive for recording???)

So in terms of support forums etc (I'm getting into a bit of CAM emulation & jiggery pokery) what has the best support? Also I hear there are clones of the Dreambox, I guess these are no different to the KIRFs you see on Chinese sites that copy iPads/iPhones etc and again, you get what you pay for (cheap internal components)

Also, is it true that these Dreambox clones can be infected with time bomb viruses when official Dreambox firmware is loaded into it?

Many thanks all...

 

[Captain Jack]

Yes, you need to be careful loading images on Dreambox not designed specifically for clones. And even then, you have to be sure that the image is for the specific clone that you have (bootloader has to match). If you load the wrong image, you can put on the correct one on. Gemini images are known to put a "time bomb" into their images so avoid these.

I've used/owned several DM800 clones and haven't really had issues with any of them but they can go wrong.

I can't help you with Openbox/Skybox but they seem well regarded on this forum with quite sensitive tuners and cheap prices for genuine original models. Someone will be along shortly with more info on these.

 

[digi247]

As far as "in terms of support" the DM800 wins hands down over the Openbox/Skybox which is a closed source receiver and so is dependant on patched firmware from teams, The DM's are Open source Linux Enigma2 Receivers with massive support from lots of different teams and can do a lot more than what the Sky/Open can.

It all really depends on your budget what people could recommend for you.

 

[Steve_W]

Budget is cheap as chips! Think I might have a look at an Openbox S11 HD PVR to start with and see how I go from there.... anyone know if this box works OK with a diseqc switch (28.2e & hotbird)??

 

[Lazarus]

Openbox S11 is old hat ............... go for a Skybox F3

Read up on it here http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/skybox-hd-receivers/