Report back on DM500HD after a couple of weeks

shumifan50

shumifan50

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
2xDM7025(DVB-S tuner), DM600SPVR, DM800S, DM500S HD, Triax 90cm with MultiBracket 4 sats.
My Location
Europe
I am deliberately posting this on the general dreambox thread so all can browse it (especially DM800 users). But of course admins can move it if they think it inappropriate.

The DM500HD is amazing compared to the other dreamboxes I have (Dm600, DM800, DM7025). It is totally stable - I have not had the need to reboot because of a hang or a crash. The remote is always responsive and all the functionality that I use always works - including downloading EPGs. I have run it with permanent timeshift enabled, and even that did not destabilise it. I have an external 500GB (2.5inch) eSata hard drive and not a single recording has failed so far (I have a daily recording for my GF that records about an hour and a half daily). I run automatic EPG updates each night, for next 7 days, and these have all worked so far.
The lack of a display and a USB port is sad, but I rather have a box this stable without these features. I have a swap file set up on the hard disk, but have never seen it used.

I have used OpenPli (self compiled image) and DreamElite Blackhole 1.0 and both have proven stable. I have not tried any other images. I find the DreamElite image great as it has a huge set of features, but it is nice to know I can run a truly open source image that works equally well, just needs a bit more setup to reach the same feature level.

I would recommend this STB over the DM800 every time - purely for stability reasons. There is no difference I notice in picture or sound quality and functionality, when running the same image, is the same, HOWEVER, the DM500HD does not hang all the time, unlike the DM800.
 
Thanks for the valuable feedback. It sounds like you like the new box very much. Just wanted to say however that my dm800 runs great and no hangs of any sort. I suppose the higher CPU frequencies is certainly a plus, particularly for the RC operations.
 
Thanks for the feedback, however I feel I must comment on the performance of the 800. I totally disagree. My 800 is also rock steady, previously using Nabilo and now Dream Elite. It never crashes and everything works perfectly. I think it's only fair that a second opinion is given on the subject.
 
@DM800 reliability:
Different setups might very well produce variance in reliability. I could only comment on my setup, which is identical on both DM800 and DM500HD. I specifically mention the remote responses as that seems to be where the DM800 is most vulnerable to hang on all the images I have tried. It also seems to suffer with handling EPG updates and many recordings failed (again the reason for the special mention). These problems have been raised by many on many forums, so I am not isolated. Add to that the fact that the DM500HD is £70 cheaper and I rest my case.

@PCD:
I am not a hardware guy, but I suspect it will be a significant mod as the miniUSB is a client port not a master, however, there is also a modem port, so somewhere there must be RS232 hardware and maybe this could be used with a RS232/USB converter, but speed will suffer.
The fan of the DM500HD is VERY quiet and the speed can be controlled from the remote control. The eSata hard disk I use is in an aluminium case with no fans, so no noise except the scratchy sound when it seeks.
I only ever used the USB for setting up swap space and as the swap I have set up on the 500 on hard disk has never been used, I have no need for the USB.
 
Have to agree with B16MCC on the 800 front, mine never crashes, locks up or fails to record or update EPG.

The main reason for problems is people don't run the image in the flash.
I have to say with e1 never run the image in flash but e2 is different.

Dream Elite compile and test all images in the flash only, that is why we only support images in the flash. If you pop on the the board and read members problems 9 out of 10 are running multiboot.

I am still waiting for my 500HD but I fully expect it to be better than the 800 because of the hardware improvements.

If you want to enable USB on the 500HD then Dream Elite have released a tutorial on how to do it and there images fully support it.
 
@sonic: I have never run multi-boot as it can cause mismatches between different software components. I also never backup/restore any settings as I am wary of changes in the file mappings.
Thanks for the tip to create a USB socket. I just wonder: what happens about firmware flashing using the miniUSB. Looking at the hardware change, it seems like it should not affect it, but I will ask the question on DreamElite board to be sure as I am not a hardware person.
 
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