Dreambox/Openbox or Other?

chrisino

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Hi,

I have a Tivo at the moment and I am contemplating buying a Dreambox or Openbox.

I have seen the F3 and F5 but can't notice any difference between them apart from the USB slot being located at the back on the F5 rather than the front. Is there a difference apart from this?

Also having Tivo is great but Virgin is so expensive but Sky+and Tivo are quite good PVR's.

If I plump for an F3 or F5 then I would have to buy an external HDD (although I have 2 1Tb drives in my PC)

I have also heard the PVR in the F3/F5 is very basic and the EPG is really naff.

The Mrs is used to having the Tivo and I am worried that it's going to a waste of money unless it's all singing and all dancing.

Does anyone have a recommendation on alternatives or advice on which one to choose?

Also if I did buy a HDD would any old HDD do or does it have to be IDE externally powered?

Is it possible to record to my PC drive on via the network to save on purchasing a HDD? I have heard that some boxes can record to a drive on your computer but I guess that takes quite a bit of knowledge to set up?

I don't have much cash so £150.00 is probably my limit.

Sorry for the war and peace but if anyone can offer some advice then that would be great.
 

Analoguesat

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You dont get an all singing all dancing receiver for 150 quid.

What are you wanting to watch - if its the subscription channels stick to Sky or Virgin.

If its just the free channels then look at Freesat
 

Analoguesat

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Many linux receivers and some other boxes can record to an external hard drive, to a big pen drive, or a network attached storage drive. It can be a bit of a faff getting it working though.
 

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If you look in our Skybox HD section, there are Reviews of both the F3 and the F5, along with much other useful info - including about Recording to USB or HDD.
 

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The F3/F3 only has now & next on the epg, so dont expect Sky style epg functionality.
 

chrisino

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Thanks for the advice. I would gladly go with Sky+ or VM Tivo but you can't transfer recordings from sky+ in HD due to copyright laws and the same goes for Tivo. You can record in HD and transfer to DVD using a DVD recorder but that's like recording in HD and then transfering to Betamax!

Apparently US Tivo users don't have any restrictions and can happily transfer to their PC's.

Anyway I presume that HD content can be recorded using the F3/F5? Having looked at you suggestions in the Skybox thread. I want to go for a paid subscription. Have you any suggestions of which company to use rather than trying the crooks on Ebay?

Sounds stupid but I might keep the Skybox F3 for my recording of HD and also keep the Tivo so er indoors is happy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 

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Subscriptions - well we are back to the topic of what do you want to watch? If its Sky then buy a legit Sky sub

If you are foolish enough to be thinking of buying a card share for sky we STRONGLY advise against it, wont give you any help and wont give you any sympathy whatsoever when they

run off with your money
provide a useless service
or the police come knocking because the operator has been busted and the law enforcement have all the ip logs.
 

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If its foreign tv then many of the forum advertisers sell subs cards for assorted services
 

chrisino

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I wasn't considering doing this and wouldn't so don't worry I am not asking for dodgy dave's email address! Nudge nudge wink wink!

Basically I only want TCM HD and MGM HD but you can't just purchase them alone as far as I know.

So I can take out a Sky sub with Sky and put the card in a F3 box to record HD?

I presumed that I would have to get a Sky+ box as Sky sells it's subs with that hardware or again I might be getting the wrong of the stick.
 

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No you cant buy them on their own


The sky.com website has all the latest prices on it but you are looking at the sharp end of £40/month for the entertainment packs in HD.

I think MGM is in the movies pack as well. - ad another 15 or 16 a month for that.

You can work out the costs of what might interest you in the sky shop part of the site

BTW theres no nudge nudge on this site - we will NEVER suggest anyone buys anything apart from a legitimate subscription......!



No idea if a Sky card even reads in a F3/5
 

Archived-1

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our sky package costs us around 60 pound plus per month and we can record hd channels :-),
 

chrisino

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Sure. They are included but I don't want the rest of the movie channels. Once you have added movies onto a basic package it works out really expensive not to mention HD charges.

Sky have the monopoly on movies and most things. Even VM have added SKY to their packages. All in all VM works out about £7.50 more (which is probably a portion of what they pay Sky for access)

The main point is that you can't export or copy HD to external devices only SD.

What is the point of having a Tivo or Sky+ with a 500GB HDD? When your HDD is full of films what do you do, delete them as you can't back them up and loose your collection of films unless I am ill informed?
 

chrisino

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martin-f said:
our sky package costs us around 60 pound plus per month and we can record hd channels :-),
Like I say you can record them but they can't be exported or kept. When your HDD is full then you have to delete them or buy a bigger HDD which is more cost.

Whatever way you look a it the big 2 have you over a barrel so you either put up or shut up I guess.

Not much of an option.
 

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why would you want to copy/save films anyhow they repeat them every week ? and all films are on the net for streaming.
 

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chrisino said:
What is the point of having a Tivo or Sky+ with a 500GB HDD? When your HDD is full of films what do you do, delete them as you can't back them up and loose your collection of films unless I am ill informed?
The drive is for temporary timeshifting not permanent archiving!

If you like a film that much then get it on dvd
 

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chrisino said:
I don't want the rest of the movie channels. Once you have added movies onto a basic package it works out really expensive not to mention HD charges.
Its all or nothing with the movies. You either pay the hefty premium for them, or you decide its not worth it and do without.
 

chrisino

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Cheers guys. My polish isn't that great.

What is shown on HDTV isn't always available in HD on Blu-ray. For instance and it maybe a bad example but Death Wish was shown on a satellite TV in 1080p before it was released on Blu-Ray so the rent it from Netflicks or buy it on Blu-Ray doesn't appeal as much unless you want to wait a year from the Blu-Ray to appear.

An even more weird example of this is the appearance of a HD print of the On The Buses film. Yeah it's crap but it appeared on ITV 1 HD and forgive me if I am wrong but some of the Carry On films were shown in HD on ITV1 HD recently. Don't ask me for the exact resolution but they looked a lot better than SD.

I get your point re recording as it's supposed to be for time shifting. I presumed it could be used for both time shifting and archiving but I am a novice.

I might just stick with TIVO to keep the wife happy. I have kids so I probably won't have the time or energy to watch the films anyway.

Cheers for the info and help. Appreciated.
 

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The Sky card will not work in a Skybox .

Just for those channels i would look into getting a foreign sub . Much cheaper in the long run .
 

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The way things are looking, Sky cards won't work in any box soon, apart from the provided Sky box. They are playing with the encryption to stop cardsharing. And everyone knows, the best way to stop cardsharing is to stop them working in any other box than the Sky box.

Keep the Tivo is what i would suggest.

Nano
 
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