Sagemcom DTR500 Build Quality

Tony1A

Tony1A

Never going back to Sky TV. Ever!
My Satellite Setup
Humax HDR1100S Freesat Recorder. Octagon UHD satellite box with Gibertini 1m motorised dish. Triax TD78 for Freesat. Triax TD64 for Freesat to 3 rooms. 2 Panasonic Freeview+ HD recorders.
My Location
North-East England, UK
HI ALL

An interesting afternoon! I decided that I hated the DTR500 as a Freesat recorder so I decided to take it apart and remove the HDD and fan so it becomes a Freesat receiver only and use it in the kitchen. No wonder I was kicking this over to HDMI on the TV in the living room when I keyed up on 2 meters as there is NO metal cabinet within the plastic one. It has the board seated in what can only be described as a cheaply made, thin plastic cabinet. At the rear where the HDMI, ethernet and other sockets are is a basic metal strip which goes over these and held in place by 2 screws that are seated where the RGB/Audio sockets are. Dreadful!

The board section should have been housed in a metal cabinet in the plastic one to act as a shield from RF and other sources. At least I'll be able to use the 2.5 inch HDD on something else when formatted, say an external HDD for use on the desktop computer and laptops. IMHO I would not recommend this recorder as there is much better out there. Having said that though, the picture quality is very good on these.
 
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The older terrestrial/Freeview Sagem booxes will not work without a hard drive as it provides the firmware for the circuitry when it first powers up.

My sister has had a Freesat DTR for about three years and so far it has done everything required from it, the lack of screening has made no difference to the operation, though I am of similar opinion that a Faraday cage is the only way a stb should be designed (unless it is part of a wireless network of course).
 
One question:-

How did you manage to open the box?

I have one of these but cannot find a point of entry:-doh

Regards
 
Skomedal! Underneath the unit you will see the info sticker and underneath that is a screw with torx head. There are three plastic lips on the lid at the back and if you're lucky it will slide off. There are also two plastic lugs you have to push in. Yes, you have to puncture the sticker to get to that screw. It was a right pain trying to release the HDD screws underneath the circuit board. And to get the board out you have to remove the metal frame that supports the sockets on the back by taking out 2 screws where the AV/Audio RCA jacks are. When you have all that done you need then to get the board OUT. Look for two lugs that just push so that it can slide out on the base. Yeah, it's fun! Bloody good luck with it :).

Also using a 12V/3A power supply as it does not have to feed a HDD or cooling fan which I think was there for the HDD. Using just the one LNB input now.
 
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Have fun, Skomedal!
 
A little more info, Skomedal. I should have said that the board slides back a bit and then you have to lift it from one side. Tell us how you get on with it :)
 
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