Dreambox DM8000 Beta testing

cormacl

Folks,
some days ago, Dream Multimedia posted a call for willing beta testers for their upcoming (for the last friggin 3 years) DM8000 model.

This PVR receiver comes with 2 built-in DVB-S2 tuners, slots for any 2 extra -S/-C/-T tuners, internal/external SATA I/F for recording, mini-PCI for additional wifi card, slot for slim DVD writer, DVI with audio for HD output (no HDMI) and running enigma2 on openembedded Linux, the same receiver s/w and OS used by the DM7025 and DM800 models.

Already an owner of a 7025 twin tuner PVR, I replied to their call indicating the desire to test in dual sat/terrestrial setup and mentioned the MPEG4 3-Rock trials ongoing at present.

They indicated in the post that they would provide the beta receiver at a favourable price..

I got an email yesterday to inform me that I was accepted for the Beta test and that the favourable price would be €899! This included a DM8000 with 500Gb internal SATA drive, DVD writer & wifi module.

I've replied to them to forward on contract details etc.. but if they are serious about the €899 price to test their product for them, then I'm afraid there is no way I'm going to justify that cost for a beta product.

I've also asked them to indicate just how favourable this price is in terms of what the expected RRP will be.

I honestly expected the trial to be a lottery where the receivers were given out free or at shipping costs only, given that you are doing part of their job for them etc.

I was an early 7025 customer and in the early stages of enigma2, you just needed to look at the receiver and it would crash.. it took ages to stabilise that receiver and since getting it, I had the PSU replaced because the drain from the hard-drive and tuners was causing the receiver to cut-out.. its working flawlessly now and can stay running for months without needing a reboot.. but the thought of going through this again and at such cost is a bit much to consider.

Interesting to hear peoples comments on the above. Just in case anyone has €899 to blow on one of these and wishes to see their chances, then email vip@dream-multimedia-tv.de detailing why you would be suitable to test one of these receivers. I don't know if they are still accepting offers but from what I can see in the IHAD & DMM forums, people are not impressed with the favourable price for a beta!.

On a general note.. It seems that there is a good range of cheaper alternatives available now. I'm not a fan of externally powered hard-drives simply because if they do power down due to idleness, its on their own stream and not via the receiver issuing a sleep directive over USB. eSata may be different in this regard. For me combination sat/terrestrial tuners is a must, but just 2 tuners is not enough.

Given my situation with a German frau, a dual sat tuner is a must for full control over watching one and recording another or recording two satellite programmes at once. Then a 3rd DTT tuner is a must for national DTT.. I'm not subscribed to any commercial TV services.. so a minimum of 2S+1T tuners is required.

The DM8000 will fit that need and allow for a 4th (extra DTT) if the transponder layout enlarges. Right now because they are on a single MUX, with just one DTT tuner, I can record all 4 stations simultaneously and still watch/record satellite at the same time... but that will probably change.

There's also the ability to transfer recordings from and to the receiver using the home network.. this has great uses for both DVD burning and also ripping DVDs for copying to the receiver.. handy for having films on demand without having to get/switch the DVD etc. We've bought box sets of TV series and ripped and transferred all episodes to the 7025 and watched at our own convenience... thing is that with external hard-drives for the cheaper models, one assumes this is also possible.

I'll post back any response details I get from DMM.. but I have told them I don't like the price but to forward contract details anyway.

watty

Reel Multimedia charges 1400 Euro for their BETA Avantguard. They never finished the SW for the Reelbox lite

MisterAnarchy

€899 for a receiver.
They really have lost it at this stage with pricing themselves out of the market.
Madness

byte

Heh, I had emailed them on this a few days ago. No reply as yet though, maybe never will

But €900 to beta test their receiver? ROFL! They're blatently losing the plot! That said, I'd still love one!

Nehaxak

Crazy price even if it is preferential ! Can only imagine what the full RRP will be

Nehaxak

I have applied to be part of the beta so will get one if accepted by them.
It is expensive but there's an awful lot in the box and I've used Dreamboxes for a long time, they're great receivers.

cormacl

after many delays, DMM eventually sent me the contract details.

However they would not budge on the "preferential" price and also mandated that the beta testers refrain from posting any public details on the box, its performance and functionality.. I would also have to agree to be liable for penalties if I violated this. So I refused to take part.

On the issue about price, the persion I had dialogue with indicated that the RRP of the box without the DVD writer or WLAN module would be €799.

I would expect it to retail around €750.. and if that happens, I probably will buy one and will post details of how well its working (or not) without any gag order or penalty risk.

cormacl

The latest on the DM8000 is now that the RRP will be €999 for the bare-bones model with the wifi module, DVD drive and HDD costing as extras. Gone seems to be the suggested €799 starting price. HM-sat and sat-place are both advertising this price for pre-order.

The "favourable" €899 price offered for the beta phase now seems like a bargain!

Its a massive price to pay for a 2-tuner HD solution.. however I know if I got anything else, it would not measure up to the dreambox.

The lyngbox is the only possible alternative.. watty?.. whats the latest scoop on the lyngbox.. have they solved the issues you had listed?

Sat Vision (a German sat/digital mag) reviewed it and gave it 97%. Their biggest negative was the power usage in standby.. 26.3W usage. I think they omitted that this can be reduced to a few watts by putting the box into deep standby.. but with a boot time of over 2 minutes, most do not bother doing this.

So we'll see how this pans out.. I had kind adjusted to the idea of 799 for a bare-bones model.. now that's seemingly 200 more

byte

Don't care how good it deems itself to be, a grand for a dual tuner receiver seems way over the top, IMO.

cormacl

it is a lot.. but to be fair, its a quad tuner receiver.. while it ships with 2 S2 tuners, it has slots for 2 more or any variant.

One of the Sat-Vision tests listed 16 parallel recordings spread across 2 S2 tuners, 1 terrestrial and 1 cable tuner.

byte

The price would hopefully be reduced after a while on the market.

It seems the DM800 wasn't without its problems, so I'd hope the DM8000 has less issues.

There's no doubt that there will be buyers of this kit, regardless, and I suppose DMM are aware of this.

TVDX

It's currently 912 here http://en.toppreise.ch/index.php?a=109234 , when I last checked it on that site it was 837 euros.