Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Nickbat on 24 June 2010, 09:54:13
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I have an on-going project to switch over to Freesat. I have a dish coming (only £40 with Octo LNB & cabling) which I will pole mount beneath my existing aerial on the side of the house.
The next stage of my project concerns the HD decoder boxes. Although you can get cheaper Bush ones from Argos, they don't get good reviews (problems with locking up etc.). My quest has turned up this Technisat receiver which has been well rated and also has the ability to stream iPlayer wirelessly from a broadband connection and record to an external HDD. :y
Any opinions?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technisat-HDFS-Freesat-HD-Receiver/dp/B002DPVMXO
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I am a bit out of touch....
but a while back the Humax was the box to get.
I do like the specs on your link though :y only having 1 tuner is a bit limiting, depending on your needs, and the external storage could be a blessing or a curse depending on your point of view.
the media streaming aspect is nice :y
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I have an on-going project to switch over to Freesat. I have a dish coming (only £40 with Octo LNB & cabling) which I will pole mount beneath my existing aerial on the side of the house.
The next stage of my project concerns the HD decoder boxes. Although you can get cheaper Bush ones from Argos, they don't get good reviews (problems with locking up etc.). My quest has turned up this Technisat receiver which has been well rated and also has the ability to stream iPlayer wirelessly from a broadband connection and record to an external HDD. :y
Any opinions?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technisat-HDFS-Freesat-HD-Receiver/dp/B002DPVMXO
I got as far as sticking a dish up and was looking for a good dual-channel PC card to build a pvr on Linux. Unfortunately, being a bit short on cash at present, I delayed and now have Freeview HD as a contender. Doesn't pay to delay unless you can accept never getting there (which is a big saver)!
I would not settle for a single tuner myself. Even though there is not enough HD going out to record two channels, there may still be some SD stuff I would want to record.
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I would not settle for a single tuner myself. Even though there is not enough HD going out to record two channels, there may still be some SD stuff I would want to record.
Totally agree Chris, allthough I have Sky HD at the mo and looking into a fresat setup as well . You definately need to be able to record 2 channels at once.
I didnt record a thing before Sky, now it's often got 2 recordings on the go and would like the the ability to record more arround 8/10pm
Freesat for the PC would be good as well then no hassle having to output from a standalone for editing etc.
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I take your point about the two-channel recording facility, but we don't watch that much TV here, so I doubt it would be that much of a drawback.
That said, what I want, what I really, really want, is one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMR-BS750EBK-Freesat-Blu-ray-Recorder/dp/tech-data/B001Y8Y7XI/ref=de_a_smtd
:y :y :y
Maybe they'll come down in price soon. ;)
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Nick i was watching LK this morning on TV and they was talking about HD boxes and you can get one for £99 from morrisons at the mo so I would check them out, hope this helps
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I take your point about the two-channel recording facility, but we don't watch that much TV here, so I doubt it would be that much of a drawback.
That said, what I want, what I really, really want, is one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMR-BS750EBK-Freesat-Blu-ray-Recorder/dp/tech-data/B001Y8Y7XI/ref=de_a_smtd
:y :y :y
Maybe they'll come down in price soon. ;)
I have the XS350 twin freesat and DVD
Will buty the blue ray version when the prices are reasonable.
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I take your point about the two-channel recording facility, but we don't watch that much TV here, so I doubt it would be that much of a drawback.
That said, what I want, what I really, really want, is one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMR-BS750EBK-Freesat-Blu-ray-Recorder/dp/tech-data/B001Y8Y7XI/ref=de_a_smtd
:y :y :y
Maybe they'll come down in price soon. ;)
Just checked that price again, it has come down, it was £699 in january, and that was the reason I didnt buy it.
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the 850 was £799
the 750 was £699
the XS350 was £499
Blueray boxes seem to be dropping faster now.
That Amazon price is good, might have one next week ::)
This place is normally good on prices http://www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk/hard-drive-recorder-c53.html
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Humax get a good reveiw, however whatever route you choose it makes sense to get an HD twin tuner model even though you may not think that you'll use all the facilities it offers - you will.
The only thing about Freesat is the abysmal programme guide.
http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/products/product_stb_satellite.asp
or for a choice;
http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Main
some prices;
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=humax+freesat+hd&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15159205544743177477&ei=jzwjTI7DOonu0wT9qJD5BA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCwQ8wIwAQ#
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Nick i was watching LK this morning on TV and they was talking about HD boxes and you can get one for £99 from morrisons at the mo so I would check them out, hope this helps
Thanks, Maria. :y
I can't see anything about it on their website, but I suspect it may be for Freeview rather than Freesat. I can get Freeview here, though the signal is not great (and according to Freeview, I shouldn't be getting it at all!). However, I'll check it out next time I'm passing a Morrsions. :y
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Nick i was watching LK this morning on TV and they was talking about HD boxes and you can get one for £99 from morrisons at the mo so I would check them out, hope this helps
Bloody hell has he got a TV show now?
There's just no stopping the mad Stokie is there. ;D
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From Experience
Humax HDR
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As soon as the new Blackgold 6 in 1 tuners become more readily available, I will probably go to Freesat on the Media Center (each tuner card has 2 freesat, 2 freeview and 2 useless analogue tuners, all independent). A couple of those cards will give the MCE 4 freesat and 4 freeview tuners, which is more than enough for my needs. This can be streamed to the xboxes elsewhere in the house.
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
Mine has a DVD drive back in it after bluray failed (Sony drive). Now the DVD drive is getting fussy (Optiarc = Sony/NEC).
Modern drives seem to fail prematurely, but I guess in MCE, goes through a lot of power on/off cycles as the system comes in and out of standby
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
Mine has a DVD drive back in it after bluray failed (Sony drive). Now the DVD drive is getting fussy (Optiarc = Sony/NEC).
Modern drives seem to fail prematurely, but I guess in MCE, goes through a lot of power on/off cycles as the system comes in and out of standby
Still got the pair of DVD burners in mine, for the price they are nowadays just swap when they start to play up, cba opening them up to clean the lazers.
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
Our BluRay player is easy to software upgrade, also does streaming, and plays better games than Jaimes media streamer ;D ;D
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
Mine has a DVD drive back in it after bluray failed (Sony drive). Now the DVD drive is getting fussy (Optiarc = Sony/NEC).
Modern drives seem to fail prematurely, but I guess in MCE, goes through a lot of power on/off cycles as the system comes in and out of standby
I like Pioneer drives
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
Our BluRay player is easy to software upgrade, also does streaming, and plays better games than Jaimes media streamer ;D ;D
You know if we get in a 'my knob is bigger than yours' debate, a decent spec MCE will crucify a gayStation....
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
Mine has a DVD drive back in it after bluray failed (Sony drive). Now the DVD drive is getting fussy (Optiarc = Sony/NEC).
Modern drives seem to fail prematurely, but I guess in MCE, goes through a lot of power on/off cycles as the system comes in and out of standby
I like Pioneer drives
Older ones are really good. Still have a 108, but its beige, and MCE is black. Not so enthused over newer pioneers...
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As soon as the new Blackgold 6 in 1 tuners become more readily available, I will probably go to Freesat on the Media Center (each tuner card has 2 freesat, 2 freeview and 2 useless analogue tuners, all independent). A couple of those cards will give the MCE 4 freesat and 4 freeview tuners, which is more than enough for my needs. This can be streamed to the xboxes elsewhere in the house.
I agree, I've always liked Black Gold stuff so will be waiting for this as well. I'm using a single tuner BG Freeview card in this Scaleo E mce I built after seeing your thread on the other forum. It works very well on W7. :y
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
I've never considered a media centre. How would you suggest I start from scratch?
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Media centre is definately the way to go, if a new tech comes out you just change/add the receiver card and associated bits and you're done. Same goes for bluray just buy the drive and fit it. Seemples.
I've never considered a media centre. How would you suggest I start from scratch?
How about seeing if it will do what you want first Nick.
If you have a lappy or a system running vista/7 home premium or above stick a cheap USB tuner on it. Not the best solution by far but you will get an idea of what MCE is all about then you can decide on building your own system, cases, tuner cards and other hardware vary enormously and it usually ends up being a how much do you want to spend exercise.
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interesting stuff, I shall have to get father T one of these freesat boxes when i nick the SkyHD box...
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As soon as the new Blackgold 6 in 1 tuners become more readily available, I will probably go to Freesat on the Media Center (each tuner card has 2 freesat, 2 freeview and 2 useless analogue tuners, all independent). A couple of those cards will give the MCE 4 freesat and 4 freeview tuners, which is more than enough for my needs. This can be streamed to the xboxes elsewhere in the house.
I agree, I've always liked Black Gold stuff so will be waiting for this as well. I'm using a single tuner BG Freeview card in this Scaleo E mce I built after seeing your thread on the other forum. It works very well on W7. :y
I'm currently purely freeview, running hvr2200 dual tuner (excellent PCIe card (got '4' tuners, but only 2 can be used at any one time, and who cares about analogue!)) and a Nova DT500 dual tuner (not a great card).
Intel DG45ID mobo, Q8200 cpu, works well, though need to use audio driver from around October 2009, as the later ones cause a black screen requiring a reboot. All in an Elonex Artisan case :y
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As soon as the new Blackgold 6 in 1 tuners become more readily available, I will probably go to Freesat on the Media Center (each tuner card has 2 freesat, 2 freeview and 2 useless analogue tuners, all independent). A couple of those cards will give the MCE 4 freesat and 4 freeview tuners, which is more than enough for my needs. This can be streamed to the xboxes elsewhere in the house.
I agree, I've always liked Black Gold stuff so will be waiting for this as well. I'm using a single tuner BG Freeview card in this Scaleo E mce I built after seeing your thread on the other forum. It works very well on W7. :y
I'm currently purely freeview, running hvr2200 dual tuner (excellent PCIe card (got '4' tuners, but only 2 can be used at any one time, and who cares about analogue!)) and a Nova DT500 dual tuner (not a great card).
Intel DG45ID mobo, Q8200 cpu, works well, though need to use audio driver from around October 2009, as the later ones cause a black screen requiring a reboot. All in an Elonex Artisan case :y
I've kept both cases running the original mobo although I feel the inclination to follow your lead and upgrade the box I'm currently using to OOF and watch some telly through. (via a Radeon HD 4300 and HDMI lead)
This works quite well and I was surprised that the drivers for the BG were OK in W7 as the Dell I had the card in before this, which was running Vista, didn't like them at all.
I had so much trouble with the Dell I beat the keek out of it which is why I bought the two Artisan/Scaleo cases in the first place. ;D ;D Anyway I rebuilt the Dell and it's running fine in everything but MCE mode.
One of the things that did concern me before starting the upgrade however was the case PSU as it doesn't appear to be readibly upgradable? but I guess that it's sufficiently powerful to run the additions - unless you were able to locate a different PSU.
I think the MCE is well worth the effort and an easy way to view and record the telly.
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As soon as the new Blackgold 6 in 1 tuners become more readily available, I will probably go to Freesat on the Media Center (each tuner card has 2 freesat, 2 freeview and 2 useless analogue tuners, all independent). A couple of those cards will give the MCE 4 freesat and 4 freeview tuners, which is more than enough for my needs. This can be streamed to the xboxes elsewhere in the house.
I agree, I've always liked Black Gold stuff so will be waiting for this as well. I'm using a single tuner BG Freeview card in this Scaleo E mce I built after seeing your thread on the other forum. It works very well on W7. :y
I'm currently purely freeview, running hvr2200 dual tuner (excellent PCIe card (got '4' tuners, but only 2 can be used at any one time, and who cares about analogue!)) and a Nova DT500 dual tuner (not a great card).
Intel DG45ID mobo, Q8200 cpu, works well, though need to use audio driver from around October 2009, as the later ones cause a black screen requiring a reboot. All in an Elonex Artisan case :y
I've kept both cases running the original mobo although I feel the inclination to follow your lead and upgrade the box I'm currently using to OOF and watch some telly through. (via a Radeon HD 4300 and HDMI lead)
This works quite well and I was surprised that the drivers for the BG were OK in W7 as the Dell I had the card in before this, which was running Vista, didn't like them at all.
I had so much trouble with the Dell I beat the keek out of it which is why I bought the two Artisan/Scaleo cases in the first place. ;D ;D Anyway I rebuilt the Dell and it's running fine in everything but MCE mode.
One of the things that did concern me before starting the upgrade however was the case PSU as it doesn't appear to be readibly upgradable? but I guess that it's sufficiently powerful to run the additions - unless you were able to locate a different PSU.
I think the MCE is well worth the effort and an easy way to view and record the telly.
I use the standard Artisan PSU (similar to the Scaleo one iirc), even though its only rated to 200 or 250W.
Core2's pull next to nothing (flat out, the Q8200 is 95W, but its never flat out).
I pick mobos with no fans, and the cpu is passively cooled via large heatsink (airflow from psu fan).
So its quiet, fast, and is good on power requirements.