Sky HD pace boxes

Tweeter

For anyone who has taken up the half price HD offer currently available until the end of the month.
Would you mind telling which brand HD box was installed. I'd like to order but I'd also like to wait until I'm guaranteed a pace box and not a thomson.
So what brand box did they bring?

many thanks,
Tweeter

steveon

got 2 deleivered yesterday and they were thomson, was expecting pace..reckon they are still clearing there stock

Tweeter

Thanks steveon for replying.

I'm hoping that the pace boxes start showing up before the offer runs out on the 31st.

Having said that, I don't know anyone who has a thomson box and have formed my opinion on them from reading negative stuff on the web.
Is there anyone out there who has a trouble free thomson and is completely happy with it?

Mac128

I have had a Thompson HD box for 18 months now and haven't had any problems other than periodically having to reset it, which I have always had to do with all of the Sky boxes.

BTW by periodically I mean 2 or 3 times a year.

byte

At work there's a Thomson HD box feeding multiple TV's (running for nearly 2 years now), and has never had any hiccups either, except of course, the occasional reset, as with Mac128 above.

John mac

Had mine 18 months ish and like Mac128 only had a few resets.

1 time it failed recording but i think that may have been something to do with the wind.

stanley1

same here, just the very occasional reset, no problems otherwise.

Tweeter

Thanks for the replies, sounds positve.

It's the usual I suppose, you only get to hear the problems and not the majority of people who are happy with their kit.

desb

My Sky HD was delivered today and was a Thomson. Rightly or wrongly based on what I read here I point blank refused to accept it from installer. Friendly installer was extremely unhappy and muttered loudly.....eventually reluctantly accepting that install would be delayed until he got Pace box, saying it was not in stock and could be delay of "one day or one week". Then he disappeared with his van and returned with a brand new Pace in a box! Something shifty going on I reckon!

Tweeter wrote: »

For anyone who has taken up the half price HD offer currently available until the end of the month.
Would you mind telling which brand HD box was installed. I'd like to order but I'd also like to wait until I'm guaranteed a pace box and not a thomson.
So what brand box did they bring?

many thanks,
Tweeter

SickBoy

Result for you! I got my installation yesterday and I was half thinking of asking the guy for a Pace box but chickened out
If this Thompson box sneezes it's going back to sky!

artvandulet

Well I just ordered my HD box today. Install next week which is quick.
Asked for a pace box purely from what I've read here! No first hand experience of reliability from Thomson. My old box is Pace too and never had to even reset in over a year.
The agent told me they've sold so many boxes recently that there was more chance of getting a Pace box now as that is what the install dept. are getting in now. Got the number for install dept. and will ring them to double check its a Pace. Jaysus I've been completely swayed by you lot! For all I know the Thomson rocks!:D

Widescreen

stanley1 wrote: »

same here, just the very occasional reset, no problems otherwise.

Same here. Show me a computer based product that never needed a reboot!!

sesswhat

Tweeter wrote: »

For anyone who has taken up the half price HD offer currently available until the end of the month.

Can Sky afford not to extend this offer, just like they are doing with the €49 SD Sky+ offer which was due to expire last month?

Especially when the Freesat+ badged Humax HD PVR should be available by mid November.

rogue-entity

My own experiences with the Thompson box was far from the best I have to say:
First the second input randomly died, losing some of my recordings, fixed with a reset of the box.
Second my recordings failed to playback, crashing the box. Anytime I went to play them, they just refused to play, as did any recordings that followed, so I did another full reset of the box, and this fixed it.
Third was the last straw for me..

I was recording a programme off Sky1 HD, and I started watching it about 15mins in, forwarding through the adverts. At about ten minutes past nine, the picture froze up, the box went into standby and rebooted. The recording showed up as failed and I couldnt watch it... the entire recording... gone.
This happened the same time again the next week, only it crashed while I started watching it, as soon as I went to forward through a bit of the start.

Rang Sky and got an engineer to come out. He told me they had nothing but problems with the Thompson boxes, and gave me a refurb. The refurb box is one of the older ones that still has Componant outputs for HD and I have not had a single problem with it yet. It hasnt crashed once, it hasnt frozen, glitched or anything, it just works, rock-solid. Engineer told me, if it so much as sneezes, to ring Sky and demand a Pace unit, and make sure it's given to the installer. So far though.. its doing fine, and I like the unexpected bonus of having those Componant outputs.

jr_spurs

Tweeter wrote: »

For anyone who has taken up the half price HD offer currently available until the end of the month.
Would you mind telling which brand HD box was installed. I'd like to order but I'd also like to wait until I'm guaranteed a pace box and not a thomson.
So what brand box did they bring?

many thanks,
Tweeter

I got Sky HD installed last Saturday and they installed a Pace Box. I am in Limerick and the installation guy came from Cork so I presume if you are in munster you will get a pace box. To tell the truth the thing is class. The epg is very speedy the HD is excellent, SD is upscaled very well RTE looks class and the best of all is the sound. The Dolby D that come out in the HD broadcasts is spot on. Very impressed.

Tweeter

Thanks to everyone for keeping the thread updated.
Looks like the pace boxes are now starting to become the standard. I think it's time I got my order in, will definitely order before the 31st to make sure I get the half price offer. Having said that I'd be amazed if the price reverted to 249 from the 1st of November.
I will come back and update when installation happens and confirm which brand box they bring.
I'm jealous of the guy above who got a refurb thomson with component output as my surround sound processor doesn't have hdmi ,

regards,
Tweeter

modrover

Hi Folks,
Got the HD installed yesterday and asked the engineer if he had a "Pace" in the van. He said that he thought that he had one and we went out to the van which was full of Thomsons & Amstrads. Tucked away was a "Pace" which was duly commandeered. He asked his colleague to actually check that the details on the box serial no etc was the same as the information on the unit, very thorough. He also stated that the amstrads were giving a fair amount of trouble..... He apologised for his late arrival (after six) but explained that it was due to difficulty with a previous call when it took him an hour and a half to get the system to communicate with Sky. There was a 36 minute delay on mine but he contacted Sky via another number and lo and behold sorted within 10 minutes. Very professional install and I gave him €20.00 for himself and his colleague. Hope it was enough!!!! but I suppose if he got twenty euro every call???? He also said it was not required to have the phone line connected.:):)

redout

There is a poll going over on AVForums and both the pace and thomsons are about even as regards lip sync issues. Even the new Samsungs are having lip sync issues as well as remote control problems. Sky need to test this stuff properly before releasing into the market imo. I would rather be without HD than with a box the keeps messing up !

Kotek Besar

modrover wrote: »

I gave him €20.00 for himself and his colleague. Hope it was enough!!!! but I suppose if he got twenty euro every call????

€20.00 for doing his job? I wouldn't have given him that. It's not like he did you a favour, apart from complying with a simple request to check in the van for a Pace.

byte

Nonetheless, a tip is nice if you work late to try getting your worksheet cleared!

I know I appreciate such generosity!

Similarly would you not tip you waiter/waitress in a restaurant if they treated you very well?

Kotek Besar

byte wrote: »

Similarly would you not tip you waiter/waitress in a restaurant if they treated you very well?

Hardly comparible. And not €20 either.

byte

Well, comparable in that they were tipped for a service. €20 was probably a lot, as I have yet to get a tip that good!

Anyway, I digress. Back to the topic at hand.

I was unaware that Samsung make SkyHD boxes?

Kotek Besar

Just out after the Pace ones, so I've read. This thread at DS doesn't favour them too highly though.

Rippy

byte wrote: »

Well, comparable in that they were tipped for a service. €20 was probably a lot, as I have yet to get a tip that good!

Anyway, I digress. Back to the topic at hand.

I was unaware that Samsung make SkyHD boxes?

Talking to another installer in Cork whos put 3 in this week.
A bugger to get going apparently.:mad:
Electroplus have em.

byte

Rippy wrote: »

Talking to another installer in Cork whos put 3 in this week.
A bugger to get going apparently.:mad:
Electroplus have em.

Hmm, interesting.. Shall endeavour to avoid those for now so.

GEO147

Just got Sky HD (3 HD box install) yesterday. When installer rang in the morning I asked for Samsung or PACE and when he arrived he had 3 lovely new PACE boxes for me. All the rest of the boxes he had were Thompson.

He installed all three boxes and due to the nightmare job it was in terms of cable runs (3 to each box) I gave him a hand and we had great craic doing it. He even agreed to bring them down through the roof/attic for me as I said I would get into the attic if needs be, but he did it in the end. He then also tuned in the "Other Channels". It only took the boxes about 5 mins each to do a callback and all channels were there instantly. He was a really highly skilled and knowledgable guy and for doing such a good job (all cables hidden) I gave him a €30 tip, which I felt was too little but was all I had on me in cash.

So far I am very impressed with the install, programmes and PACE boxes.

Kotek Besar

GEO147 wrote: »

cable runs (3 to each box)

Why 3 cable runs to each box?

Zonda999

Well its 2 from the LNB on the dish anyway (2 each on HD and + boxes, 1 on standard sky boxes).Dunno what other leads you mean.To the telephone line maybe??

Charles Slane

benifa wrote: »

Why 3 cable runs to each box?

Well.... it's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and go man go

GEO147

benifa wrote: »

Why 3 cable runs to each box?

2 Coaxial and 1 Telephone to each box.

Kotek Besar

GEO147 wrote: »

2 Coaxial and 1 Telephone to each box.

Gotcha.

redpaulyd

I got a Pace box installed on the 15/10/2008.I have a far bit of trouble with it.Screen going green 2/3 times while I was watching tv.Constantly on to Sky customer services{useless btw}.Unplug cables/boxes blah,blah.Lost my rag and called the engineer company myself as I was well within my rights to as 30 days had not elapsed.Also my SKY HD remote also clapped out on me and stopped working-changed the batteries etc-no joy it was finished!Engineer came yesterday and installed a brand new pace box{i insisted on this-didnt want a refurb box} and So far-So good its seems to be working like a Dream.Engineer also told me the Thomson boxes are pure junk-that said I know somebody who has one and has had no bother with it-so I guess its the luck of the draw really.

My parents and brother both got HD installed within the last week. Both of them got Thomson boxes. My brother's one was stuck on EPG version 3.10 with no Anytime TV because the installer didn't upgrade the software. I did it myself and it worked a charm. So far I haven't seen any issues with their boxes despite being Thomsons.

GEO147

Just wondering what the latest software versions were for both PACE box and EPG??

Also, how you perform a software upgrade??

GEO147

GEO147 wrote: »

Just wondering what the latest software versions were for both PACE box and EPG??

Also, how you perform a software upgrade??

Same procedure as for any Sky box, disconnect from the mains and then reconnect while holding the back up button (on the box, not the remote) until all four lights come on.