Recommendation for a cheap Sky digibox
 

Hi guys,

I would like to get my parents a Sky digibox and dish and a FTV card,
so they can get widescreen broadcasts and the FTV channels (as they
have a widescreen TV and do not live in a Freeview area). As such, I
plan to buy a digibox and dish on ebay. The going rate seems to be
around =A330 and there seem to be a whole plethora of boxes, for
example:

Amstrad DRX100
Amstrad DRX300
Amstrad DRX400
Amstrad DRX500
Grundig GDS310/2
Pace BSKYB 200S5
Pace DS430N
Pace 2200
Philips DTR500
Panasonic TUDSB 30
Panasonic DSB30 Silver
Thomson Sky DigiBox DV3
Thomson DSI 4210

Are there any recommended boxes (or more importantly any boxes I should
avoid)? There seem to be loads of Amstrad boxes. I guess the higher
numbers (e.g. DRX500) have more features. Any advice would be
appreciated.

Cheers,

David

Dave wrote:

I would like to get my parents a Sky digibox and dish and a FTV card,
so they can get widescreen broadcasts and the FTV channels (as they
have a widescreen TV and do not live in a Freeview area). As such, I
plan to buy a digibox and dish on ebay.

For just £150 Sky will install a new box, dish and card without any
subscription or phone requirement. This is probably less than it would
cost you to buy the new parts and install it yourself.

I never touch used digiboxes any more.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/7rm2m
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Dave wrote:
Hi guys,

I would like to get my parents a Sky digibox and dish and a FTV card,
so they can get widescreen broadcasts and the FTV channels (as they
have a widescreen TV and do not live in a Freeview area). As such, I
plan to buy a digibox and dish on ebay. The going rate seems to be
around £30 and there seem to be a whole plethora of boxes, for
example:

Amstrad DRX100
Amstrad DRX300
Amstrad DRX400
Amstrad DRX500
Grundig GDS310/2
Pace BSKYB 200S5
Pace DS430N
Pace 2200
Philips DTR500
Panasonic TUDSB 30
Panasonic DSB30 Silver
Thomson Sky DigiBox DV3
Thomson DSI 4210

Are there any recommended boxes (or more importantly any boxes I should
avoid)? There seem to be loads of Amstrad boxes. I guess the higher
numbers (e.g. DRX500) have more features. Any advice would be
appreciated.

Cheers,

David



Hi David.
You want the Pace 2600 series. They're a little rarer and cost a little
more, but are the best! They pull in a great signal and unlike most
boxes, you can't fry an egg on top! The Pace 2500 ain't a bad box either.
L

Thanks Jomtien and Lua,

I found a site listing the relative merits of the different sky boxes
at http://www.uk-satellite-tv.co.uk/rec...xes_59857.html and
this too confirms that the Pace 2600C1 is excellent with the comment
"Any failures extremely rare".

Jomtien, you mention that you will not touch used boxes "any more".
Did you have a bad experience? Also you mention that the =A3150 is for
a NEW box. Do you know this to be true as I thought that the
www.freesatfromsky.com digiboxes were re-conditioned? I have checked
the site and it does not say the equipment is new, simply that "Your
equipment and installation are under warranty for 12 months"

=A3150 for a re-conditioned box and installation seems expensive
compared to the large number of second hand available on ebay for =A340.
I guess the key risk with a second hand solution is that the box may
malfunction as I guess not much can go wrong with the dish, and cabling
itself.

Cheers,

Richard

Dave wrote:

Jomtien, you mention that you will not touch used boxes "any more".
Did you have a bad experience? Also you mention that the £150 is for
a NEW box. Do you know this to be true as I thought that the
www.freesatfromsky.com digiboxes were re-conditioned? I have checked
the site and it does not say the equipment is new, simply that "Your
equipment and installation are under warranty for 12 months"

I've seen a lot of used boxes and they always seem to go wrong sooner
or later. Also the condition is rarely as described by the vendor.

AFAIK the £150 Freesat offer is for new equipment.

I would be very surprised if Sky spent time and money reconditioning
regular digiboxes these days. The net value is too low.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/7rm2m
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

For completeness, I'll just mention www.dcsat.com for guaranteed 2nd
hand digiboxes, although cetainly not the cheapest!

If self-installing, remember to use satellite grade cable (not UHF)
between receiver and dish, otherwise it won't work!

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 08:06:01 +0200, Jomtien
wrote:



I never touch used digiboxes any more.

All the more for me, then :-)



Bill Hayles

http://www.digiboxes.org

spiney wrote:

For completeness, I'll just mention www.dcsat.com for guaranteed 2nd
hand digiboxes, although cetainly not the cheapest!

What a rip-off!

You can buy new for less than some of their used prices.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/7rm2m
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

If self-installing, remember to use satellite grade cable (not UHF)
between receiver and dish, otherwise it won't work!


Its not to be recommended, but it *will* work.

Just for the record, my first digital satellite setup was an old solid
Amstrad 'Sky analogue" dish balanced on a garden chair, with a Cambridge
universal LNB secured to the arm with PVC tape and a length of 50 ohm
10-base-2 computer coax connecting it to my Grundig digibox.
This 'temporary' lash-up continued to work fine for over six months.


--
Graham.



%Profound_observation%

Graham wrote:
If self-installing, remember to use satellite grade cable (not UHF)
between receiver and dish, otherwise it won't work!


Its not to be recommended, but it *will* work.

Just for the record, my first digital satellite setup was an old solid
Amstrad 'Sky analogue" dish balanced on a garden chair, with a Cambridge
universal LNB secured to the arm with PVC tape and a length of 50 ohm
10-base-2 computer coax connecting it to my Grundig digibox.
This 'temporary' lash-up continued to work fine for over six months.


--
Graham.



%Profound_observation%

Interesting, Graham. As you say, 10base2 is 50 ohms, so you'd have had
quite a big reflected signal. On the other hand, there's normally a
huge error margin (to allow for rain, poor dish pointing etc), so the
system's certainly "robust".

I've also seen old style ethernet with mixed sections of 75/50 ohm
cable joined together, it seemed to work, though goodness knows what
proportion of packets got rejected!