Best box for £150 - £200??? [Archive] - Satellite Support Forum .: Home of OpenViX Team:.

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rob1979

16-01-13, 20:29

Mr. Mister

16-01-13, 20:37

For an extra few quid.. I would go down the route of a twin tuner box..

Have a look at Technomate TM2T .. (http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Digital-Satellite-Receivers/Technomate-Linux-HD-Receivers/Technomate-TM-2T-Enigma-2-Linux-HD-PVR-Twin-Tuner-Satellite-Receiver)

Cracking box for £219.00.. But if you send the sponsor a pm.. He will send you back a £5 discount voucher..

So you have only gone over your budget by 15 quid.. and well well worth it..

Larry-G

16-01-13, 20:42

I'll second the TM2T, its a great little box and i have not had any serious issues with mine since it was set up a couple of months ago. on the whole i'd say its on par if not slightly better than my Duo's, there are a few slight niggles but nothing to dissuade me from recommending it to others.

warajoker

16-01-13, 20:45

I highly recommend an enigma2 based receiver as it will make things a lot easier. for full 7day epg and channel lists etc.
I suppose a lot of this will come down to personal preference but what is the best box I can buy for £150 to £200? I'm new to all this so if you need more info please get back to me. I would be connecting it to an old Panasonic TV via SCART so don't need HDMI if that makes a difference.

rob1979

16-01-13, 20:47

Thanks for your replies so far!

dlmlus

16-01-13, 22:03

if you can stretch your budget a little, have a look at the VU+Uno
with the £5 discount =£234, next day delivery, and flashed with vix image
very good spec indeed.

dlmlus

Mr. Mister

16-01-13, 22:06

if you can stretch your budget a little, have a look at the VU+Uno
with the £5 discount =£234, next day delivery, and flashed with vix image
very good spec indeed.
dlmlus

Would you honestly buy a Uno.. over the twin tuner 2T.. ??

Larry-G

16-01-13, 22:08

if you can stretch your budget a little, have a look at the VU+Uno
with the £5 discount =£234, next day delivery, and flashed with vix image
very good spec indeed.

dlmlus

yep thats another very nice receiver, my first e2 receiver in fact and it has not let me down once since i got it.

scruff1963

16-01-13, 22:39

I suppose a lot of this will come down to personal preference but what is the best box I can buy for £150 to £200? I'm new to all this so if you need more info please get back to me. I would be connecting it to an old Panasonic TV via SCART so don't need HDMI if that makes a difference.

I have a tm2t and it's an excellent box for the money but to be honest if your going to be using scart then I would just buy an old dm500s box.
I don't see why you should spend good money on an all singing all dancing hd box when you are not going to watch in hd.
You havn't said if you want a twin tuner box or not so assuming it's a not.

As I say I have a tmtwin and a tm2t here and they are both great boxes but if I wasn't using hdmi then it would be a dm500s like my stepson has for his tv in his room as he only has scart not hdmi, money is to hard to come by without spending on a box where you can't benefit from it's main function.
.

rob1979

16-01-13, 22:44

Mr. Mister

16-01-13, 22:45

I have a tm2t and it's an excellent box for the money but to be honest if your going to be using scart then I would just buy an old dm500s box.
I don't see why you should spend good money on an all singing all dancing hd box when you are not going to watch in hd.
You havn't said if you want a twin tuner box or not so assuming it's a not.

As I say I have a tmtwin and a tm2t here and they are both great boxes but if I wasn't using hdmi then it would be a dm500s like my stepson has for his tv in his room as he only has scart not hdmi, money is to hard to come by without spending on a box where you can't benefit from it's main function.
.

Very true scruff.. I can see exactly where you coming from..

But what happens if you want a 7 day EPG.. and the AutoBouquetUpdater.. Recording facility's .. etc etc etc..

Larry-G

16-01-13, 22:49

Scruff - Thanks for that. That's why I put that in the opening thread as I don't have an up-to-date TV so you're right in that I don't want to waste money on features I can't use. My only worry with an old Dreambox is getting a clone.

well if you buy a DM500 it's almost certainly a clone as they ceased making them over 6 years ago, all DM500's on the market now are clones or in some rare cases people selling older units.

rob1979

16-01-13, 22:51

7 day EPG I would like. Record facility would be good too but not a deal-breaker as have a Humax freeview box with record facility. Not sure what an Autobouquetupdater is but it sounds lovely ;-)

Mr. Mister

16-01-13, 22:55

Hi Rob..

Autobouquetupdater is a really cool piece of kit that AndyBlac developed..

It updates your bouquets every day at a time that suits you.. So chances are you will never ever see another channel that has gone off due to frequency chances.. most Vix users are now using this.. and even works on some other images also..

Larry-G

16-01-13, 22:56

well your not going to get a Full 7 day epg with a E1 system which the DM500 is, as for ABM thats a plugin that once setup keeps your channels auto updated in a similar way to how sky uk do including the sky uk numbering system, it also works with many other European service providers but it's only for E2 systems but as you dont need HD it will likely be of no use to you.

rob1979

16-01-13, 22:58

Thanks for your help so far guys. I'm learning a lot.

scruff1963

16-01-13, 23:00

This forum doesn't support clones in any way shape or form but any dm500s you get will be a clone box.
I see the sponsor has tm500 and tm600 boxes http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Digital-Satellite-Receivers/Technomate-Linux-Receivers I havn't a clue what they are like though.
My stepsons dm500s is over 4 years old and still going strong.

Mr. Mister

16-01-13, 23:00

Another reason for an E2 receiver..

If your old CRT decides to give up the ghost in the near future.. and you buy a nice new lcd / plasma..

Wouldnt it be great to be watching in full HD quality.. rather than a cheap piece of Chinese crap.. ??

rob1979

16-01-13, 23:04

Larry-G

16-01-13, 23:05

you could buy a max digital for £149 and with the sponsors discount get it for £144.

it's a E2 receiver supported by ViX and a few others, you can still get all the advanced features of any other ViX supported box such as autobouquetsmaker and the full 7 day EPG and still use it via scart without breaking the bank.

http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Digital-Satellite-Receivers/MaxDigital-Linux-HD-Receivers/MK-MaxDigital-XP1000-Single-Tuner-DVB-S2-HD-Enigma2-Linux-Satellite-Receiver

bigfish1479

16-01-13, 23:06

Got a Gigablue hd800 se from here for £149 and been blown away with it. Has many plugins for extra features too.

scruff1963

16-01-13, 23:08

The dm500s does 5 day epg with the commando image, It was also the 1st image to have an autobouquet make though I have never used it myself, recording is a doddle over a network to my server.
The only stopper is the fact that you can only get clones.
I would buy a cheap box and put the rest of the money towards a hd tv then buy an all singing all dancing stb after you have a tv that can use it's functions.

rob1979

16-01-13, 23:08

Yeah I saw the Maxdigital at £149 and thought that looked good value but then thought would I get something better (Gigablue 800 UE/Technosonic) for not much more? I've seen a couple of these which have been recommended at £169.

Larry-G

16-01-13, 23:08

Got a Gigablue hd800 se from here for £149 and been blown away with it. Has many plugins for extra features too.

yep thats another very nice budget E2 receiver that has some nice features and is fully supported by ViX.

rob1979

16-01-13, 23:12

There's just too much choice for a mere newbie like me!

manicscrewdriver

16-01-13, 23:48

Just don't buy one of those Amiko Alien 2 boxes. Biggest pile of sh*t I ever wasted £150 on.

I had two, an Alien 2 which lasted about six weeks before breaking and an Alien SHD-8900 which failed after 3 months. They really are crappy boxes.

If it were me i'd buy another Gigablue. Unfortunately i don't think the 800 Solo is available anymore, although the 800Se and 800Ue are great boxes. I only picked the 800 solo as it had a 400Mhz CPU over the 333Mhz CPU the Se had. Best £169 i ever spent. I had it shortly after it was released. Back then it was a bit iffy due to poor support, but now the support is fantastic for it.

As for using them on a CRT its not the best, but it will work brilliantly. I sometimes use my Gigablue on the old 36" JVC CRT in the back room and it works fine, and it displays the HD channels perfectly. They are clearer than the SD channels, but not as good if it were put on a Plasma or LCD TV of the same size.

Its also worth remembering that the old DM500s can't do DVB-S2, so even if its not connected to a LCD tv its still an improvement over the DM500s as you can watch the stuff that a DM500 wouldn't even see.

Nano

rob1979

17-01-13, 00:04

I'm swaying towards a Gigablue HD 800 UE. I like the little LCD screen on the front of it as well. Do you think this is the best I will get for my £169? Or would Technomate TM Single be better? Still confused!

Stanman

17-01-13, 00:05

rob1979

17-01-13, 00:08

I don't know if its been mentioned but worth considering this as well

http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Digital-Satellite-Receivers/MaxDigital-Linux-HD-Receivers/MK-MaxDigital-XP1000-Single-Tuner-DVB-S2-HD-Enigma2-Linux-Satellite-Receiver

Yeah it has. Is this well rated? Was wondering about this one or spending a bit more on the ones I have mentioned above?

Stanman

17-01-13, 00:11

Both boxes have VIX image and either one is a decent box that will do the job for you.

At those price points, its not going to be a humangus difference between them that you will see in day to day use.