Best Box for Recording and EPG

Hi guys,

I've just moved into my first home which has Sly already installed. I originally wanted to just stick with the freesat channels to keep monthly outgoings down but after ringing them to try and get the features set up they want to charge me £25 for a card and £10 a month just to enable the recording and pause features, which I find ridiculous!!

Therefore I'm looking at entering the world of Satellite boxes and I've done some research around them but it's an absolute minefield.

Basically I'm looking for something which is as easy to use to as Sly for pausing, rewinding, recording etc. What is also very important is being able to record a channel while watching another...

I'm not too fussed about whether the box has an internal HDD or not, I'd happily spend a few more quid for an external drive...

Other factors which are important to me are:
HD and SD picture quality.
Digital audio through optical

I've been looking closely at the Blade BM7000s as it is quoted as being generally very easy to use. Does anyone have any experience of the box and answer my above queries?

Also, where would be the best place to buy a Blade (or other recommended box).

Thanks in advance guys and I apologise in advance for my stupid newbie questions.

Simon

 

you may have to get a twin tuner then for recordings and 7 day epg,something like a vu+duo not an easy box ,buy original and not the clone crap,dropping in price to allow the more newer 2s to be launched soon.

 

Hi cactikid, thanks for your reply.

Does that mean the blade isn't capable of recording one channel while watching another?

Cheers,

Si

 

blade may only allow to record the same transponder of channel you are viewing i think as box only has 1 tuner,when you mention record a sky+box has 2 tuners.

 

Ahh right, I thought I saw the Blade advertised as capable of recording a channel whilst watching another.

Forgive my ignorance but what exactly does it mean when you say it will work if channel is on the same transponder?

Thanks,

Simon

 

transponders hold a number of different channels but not all of the same genre.
so one transponder might have sly sports 1 but not the other sports channels.
with a single tuner you could record a channel on a certain transponder and watch another channel on the same transponder but not use a different transponder.
so you would need twin tuners to watch one transponder while recording something on another tramsponder.
i hope that makes sense.
look here to see which channels are on different transponders, might give you a better idea of what i mean.
http://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-28A-and-Astra-1N-2A-2B.html

 

Oh right so it's a bit of a cheeky marketing ploy from Blade manufacturers?

Thanks for the info, I understand it a bit better now.

Are there any boxes on the market which are as user friendly as the Blade with dual tuners? Other than the vu+duo?

 

The vu+ duo is very user friendly and very well supported and if you do get one there are enough people on here to help you out with it should you need any help.

 

its not a marketing ploy by blade or any other receiver manufacturer, its just a technical thing.
quite a few manufacturers make dual tuner boxes, dreambox and vu are pretty good and are mostly commonly used, hence there is always good support for these two in particular.
i would'nt say any one box is easier to use than another.
the vu+ duo is quite straightforward, i know lots of people that are very happy with it.
it's like any piece of equipment, you just have to learn how to use it.

 

Thank you,

My only worry now is that after searching the vu+duo is around the £300 mark which is a bit more than I wanted to pay. Ideally I'd want to stay below £200...

Is that possible or is it down to a decision between single tuner for around £180 or a dual tuner for £300?

Thanks?

Si

 

as always, you get what you pay for.
£289 is a fair price for a good piece of kit (vu+duo)

if that is totally out of reach you could look for a 2nd hand one (try fleabay) but you should know there are risks involved in that.
or go for a single tuner vu uno or dreambox, you won't get the functionality of the dearer versions but it's a good start.
the problem is, once you get started you might want to upgrade and then you will regret not paying the <£300 in the first place.

 

i would recommend vu duo purely on the basis of image support (vix). i would not recommend the vu duo in that the standard def quality is rubbish (high def quality is excellent). I also concur with what piopat says that the clone vu duos are absolute rubbish. Do not think you are saving money by buying the clone version. The dreambox clone had issues, the vu duo clone is beyond issues it is utter rubbish.

 

That's an excellent point, so the vu+duo is future proof too? I'd rather pay a little bit more and get the best box for my needs rather than not fully enjoying the box and wanting the more expensive one.

I need to make the decision on this vs a basic sly package...

I'm pretty much set on getting and original to be honest I certainly don't want an unreliable box!

That's a bit worrying about the SD content. SD makes up a large chunk of my viewing! What makes the quality so questionable?

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to add. I'm looking at setting up cardsharing on the box. I'm aware that you require the internet for this which both boxes are capable of, is either box better at this than the other?

Also, whilst I'm on the subject, if cardsharing requires the internet, does that mean the signal is sent via the internet rather than being received by the satellite? This confuses me slightly...

Thanks,

Simon

 

simon, reality check here. first it is blatantly obvious you have little idea of what card sharing is and this is not said to crush your ambitions. however if you did wish to share it would make sense that you would wish to share hd channels and as such you would need to subscribe to them. the vu duo original box is really a very good box to watch the vast array of hd channels available at the moment. most of the standard def channels are rubbish anyway.

ok your other questions
- yes you need a dish, what a sharing platform does is supply encryption codes to a satellite feed. and i guess the last sentence means nothing to you so not much point in going further

 

Hi fintannl,

I've done a bit of research and read a couple of guides around card sharing and everything seems relatively straight forward. Although you are right, currently I'm by no means an expert but some further reading will help me on my way.

My main concern was I wasn't positive what role the internet played in cardsharing and if a video signal was sent via the broadband line I would be worried about throttling. But as you've explained that's not really an issue. I understand the encryption being sent to decode the scrambled satellite signal, that's not an issue.

I'm terms of SD vs HD, I always go for the HD channel when possible but unfortunately that's not always possible for all channels such as bbc three etc, is the SD that bad or is it just bad in comparison to the HD? Surely the broadcast image largely depends on what resolution the channel is broadcasting in? I wouldn't expect the box to upscale but I'd expect a true representation of the resolution via HDMI...

Thanks for all the advice and baring with me...

 

its true some people have had issues regarding the SD quality on vu+ boxes but none that i know of have ditched their boxes just because of that reason or even been put off buying one.
HDMI connection has nothing to do with it as HDMI is only associated with High Def.
if SD is really a concern you might want to wait until the new vu+ s box is released and look for reviews on that box (you'd have to google for a possible release date)
or look at another receiver such as dreambox, but then the price goes up steeply i'm afraid.
you show a good interest in these things, i suggest you research a little more, there are plenty of guides, reviews etc out there.
everyone that uses a variety of receivers will have differing requirements and opinions so you might never find the exact answer you are looking for just on this one board.
as fintanni mentioned, if you went down the cardshare route you would never need to worry about the SD quality because the HD content over several satellites is massive.

 

popeye, having a vu duo original myself i find your comment about possibly ditching the box a bit funny. i bought it at sterling 470 a while back so its a bit unlikely i'm going to throw it in the bin. the vix image is great but standard def on the box is pants to the point that the dm500 in my parents house with a really crappy hd tv shows up better on standard def channels

 

i'm sorry if what i said came across wrong.
what i meant was, ppl have'nt been so disappointed with the SD that they felt compelled to ditch the box.
generally they are so happy with it's HD content, functionality and support that they would'nt consider looking at a different receiver in the same price range.

 

Thank you for all your help so far guys it really is helping me!

I think I have to be realistic here and I have 3 options;

1. Settle for a single tuner satellite box such as the Blade Media bm7000
2. Spend extra on an all.singing all dancing dual tuner box such ad the vu+duo
3. Go with Sly HD for 12 months because I've got a friends and family half price code, I can get entertainment extra with HD for £18 a month.

Whilst I will sorely miss my sports I need to look after the pennies! Considering card sharing will cost around £5-10 a month on tpp of the box cost were looking at over a year for payback!

Sorry for the toing and froing guys I'm just really stuck with what to do here,

Simon