Hi Folks, Im thinking of buying a starview 3 or EX5000 and just have a few questions. I have been with s*y for a few years now and have with their price hikes although the service has been quite good. I have terrestrial n*l in Dublin that comes in through coax but the line is quite bad, for example some channels including setanta ireland and channel 4 come in almost unviewable with static. Would it be worth getting a box with such a bad line? and secondly would ntl upgrade it as Im an existing customer? Apologies if these questions have been asked before Thanks In Advance
best bet would be to get on to n'l firstly and sign up for the basic digital package,if you still have problems its up to them to sort them out.
AFAIK the basic digital N*L package in dublin is actually cheaper than the basic analogue at the moment. Also the engineer will have to come out to install and test the line for digital, and adjust things if it is not good enough. I have the basic package, the other good thing about having a subbed box is I can use it in another room, but also if my dodgy boxes go down I can check the subbed box to see if it is a local area problem. Also I can use the sub box to see what freq they are using if they change it. I would only get a linux box in dublin though, I wouldnt go for the ones you mentioned.
I just bought a starview 3 for 80Euro which seems cheap, I will test this and maybe buy a linux box later if it seems worth it. I had a look at some of the linux based boxes and would be interested to know the advantages? I have read that some have usb ports, card readers and ethernet ports but that very few will actually play avi/divx among other codecs? are the menus and channel selection better? Thanks Again,
The reason I would go for it is simply since they should be nagra 2 capable with an upgrade, and more likely to be able to handle it than the non-linux boxes, easier to program by 3rd party programmers. Many here get upset at rumours, but it is no rumour or myth that UP* has changed to nagra 2 in other EU countries, it is also no myth that the current UP* boxes are running only on nagra 2. It is no myth that my fathers old pace was taken out and replaced. Some nonlinux boxes might be upgradeable to handle nagra 2, but I expect some will not if some pace boxes cannot handle it and must be upgraded. In the same area the smaller pace boxes were not replaced, these probably can handle nagra2 with just a new card. The other reasons would be picture quality, I do not know of a non-linux box with component out, I have a ITGATE TGM220 with great component out quality. I have an ABCOM HD900 with amazing HDMI output. Linux images are generally more customisable with more complex menu systems. But that reason may put some people off who prefer a dumbed down box. Both my boxes have a 2 year guarantee and are made be respected companies, not some shady crowd. Both can connect to an external drive to record onto, I even recorded onto an SD card put in a card reader and then in the back.
ruprect, all good points, but the general punter wouldn't know what linux is, most would answer the guy from the charlie browne cartoon and think Nagra 2 is a playstation game, they just want a box to watch TV, yes some here know what a linux box can do or can't do, but depending on your knowledge of your hobby, most poeple who have box's either bought from fleabay or the bloke up the road just for the purpose of watching tv
LOL, and I was trying to keep it simple. I have used similar analogies before though. far2gud- Think of the linux boxes like a PC, and the "non-linux" boxes as a playstation. A PS can play games and so can the PC. The PC is usually a very capable, updateable machine and can do lots of other things, while the PS is made cheaply and is just barely capable of playing the games it currently does. The PS is dumbed down menu wise so a kid can use it, it is usually fully bug tested before release to ensure no problems upon release. A PC may need some updates and bug fixes. Especially if you are using newly released software. Your playstation is simply not powerful enough to run PS2 games, while the PC can be upgraded with software to do so. So if nagra2 is released you might have to get another new starview box to be able to run it. The newer more powerful non-linux boxes may well be updateable. Some people would prefer playing games on a PC since they like to be able to customise stuff etc, and do not mind little bugs that must be fixed or adding new software in. While some prefer the dumbed down console for games. Same goes for the cable boxes. I have set up dboxes for mates but then some go messing with advanced settings and say it is "broken", they may have been better off with a starview, esp. if I was not around to "fix" it.
LOL,Well said MICKAH when you see newbie and To Box Or Not to Box? you like to keep it nice and simple,most ordinary folk have trouble setting up a eurovox or starview so we don't like to over complicate matter's.
Bad news Lads, rang NTL and they say my area has not been upgraded to digital yet!! I cant beleive they still havent upgraded the lines. Gonna try on analogue and see how it goes, fu*ckin disgrace, I only live 10k from the centre of Dublin!
all i have known for the past couple of years is starview and eurovox, time for another challenge, so what is the best linux based box out there, i may aswell start learning (just incase)
