DTT/SAT Combo Boxes List 2009

STB

The cheap to not so cheap.

Abcom AB IPBox 9000 HD (plug and play tuners)

Azbox HD Premium
Clarke-Tech 5000 HD Combo

DarkBox HD Super Combo Rev 2008

Dreambox DM 8000 HD (plug and play tuners)

Globalteq ST 700HDCI

Opticum GLOBO HDS1 TS Combo

Illusion MAX2 HD

KAON KTSC-850HD

KAON KTSC-854HD

KAON KTSC-660HD

Lyngbox HD PVR Combo

Metabox HD CXCI

Mvision HD200 Combo
Strong SRT 8345CI

Technomate TM-6900 HD COMBO AND
Technomate TM-6900 HD COMBO Super [IMG]http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:UKhkTgEh4MbUAM:<a href=http://www.tracsat.co.uk/catalog/images/6900.gif target=_blank>http://www.tracsat.co.uk/catalog/images/6900.gif</a>[/IMG]

Vantage HD 7100TS
AND
Vantage HD 8000TS Twin PVR

Contd (click to see pic - pic limit on thread)

Hyundai AH-3100


GoSat GS 8010 CRCI HD Combo

byte

Good post. I'm going to Sticky this thread for the time being, as it should prove useful.

cormacl

The Dreambox DM800 is not a combo box.. it has only one tuner which can be a sat, terrestrial or cable variant.. but only one at a time.

For the listing of a combo box, you should have listed the DM8000 as opposed to the DM800. The DM8000 has two DVB-S2 sat tuners and slots for two more.. allowing for a sat/terestrial combination.

christo82

What is the cheapest one of these boxes?

STB

Thanks Cormac, Well spotted (you can spot a Dreambox owner straight away:). Edited.

Cheapest - Mvision HD200, DarkBox Combo and Metabox HD CXCI - all atround the €200 mark delivered. Alsat were doing a deal on the Darkbox Combo before Christmas for £160 (with Metalgear Motor included).

If you do not want PVR facilities then check out the thread below. A cheap Siemens Combo. €110

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055471850

watty

There is also Reelbox Avantgarde from Reel Multimedia. About €1500. Up to six tuners I think.
http://www.reel-multimedia.com/en/produkte.html

I had the dual/Quad tuner Reelbox Lite for a while and found the software very poor, though amazing HW. It was about €500 trade in Volume, €750 retail. I only ever tried single tuner modules in its two slots, rather than dual tuner per slot. It did do DTT & Sat with PVR.

I had an early Lygnbox HD PVR on test. Only one each Sat & DTT tuner, but a module slot/hole for a second tuner unit (not sure if 2nd module is DTT or SAT or Combo of both).
Not bad sw for an early beta. Much better than Reelbox.

gtg60

Good thread, worth putting approximate prices beside the units to give people an idea of the actual sort of costs involved.

It is also worth noting that the Darbox, Golbalteq and Metabox are all clones albeit with different displays and the fact that nobody has the PVR working on the Globalteq yet.

Also the ClarkeTech is a clone of the Technomate but with a nicer display on the front.

taung

Great Sticky. I'll be investing in one of these boxes fairly soon so it is nice to have a list of MPEG-4 DVB-T/DVB-S compatible receivers. I will try to make a mini-database of additional data on some of the receivers over the next few weeks, if I get time.

In the mean time it may be workt noting that the Opticum GLOBO HDS1 TS Combo receiver is being advertised as DVB-T2 compatible on the following web-site;

http://www.satshop.tv/en/Digital-Receivers/Opticum-Globo/GLOBO-HDS1-TS-Combo::1032.html

So, this is either a global first :eek: or a serious typo:p!

I'm betting it's a typo!

slegs

taung wrote: »

Great Sticky. I'll be investing in one of these boxes fairly soon so it is nice to have a list of MPEG-4 DVB-T/DVB-S compatible receivers. I will try to make a mini-database of additional data on some of the receivers over the next few weeks, if I get time.

In the mean time it may be workt noting that the Opticum GLOBO HDS1 TS Combo receiver is being advertised as DVB-T2 compatible on the following web-site;

http://www.satshop.tv/en/Digital-Receivers/Opticum-Globo/GLOBO-HDS1-TS-Combo::1032.html

So, this is either a global first :eek: or a serious typo:p!

I'm betting it's a typo!

Looks very much like another Metabox/Darkbox/GoSat clone

gtg60

slegs wrote: »

Looks very much like another Metabox/Darkbox/GoSat clone

I don't think so, unlike those it has USB PVR, two card slots and if the listing is right it also has an ethernet connection (picture doesn't show that though)

the500club

cormacl wrote: »

The Dreambox DM800 is not a combo box.. it has only one tuner which can be a sat, terrestrial or cable variant.. but only one at a time.

For the listing of a combo box, you should have listed the DM8000 as opposed to the DM800. The DM8000 has two DVB-S2 sat tuners and slots for two more.. allowing for a sat/terestrial combination.

I looked at the DM8000 but it doesn't say it supports Mpeg4 decoding only Mpeg2, so will it work off the 3rock?

cormacl

the500club wrote: »

I looked at the DM8000 but it doesn't say it supports Mpeg4 decoding only Mpeg2, so will it work off the 3rock?

It will.. they mention H.264 in the specs. The mpeg4 video standard for HD DVB is using H.264 encoding. as opposed to MPEG2

mullingar

Which are capable of being reprogrammed to use the freesat 7-day EPG?

cormacl

mullingar wrote: »

Which are capable of being reprogrammed to use the freesat 7-day EPG?

Dreambox for sure.. the Gemini and presumably many of the other recent variant software images have integrated support for decoding the Freesat EPG. Works like a dream.

a clanger

Has anybody got a combo box working with freesat and irish DTT in tadem i.e. using the same EPG, or is it possible at this stage. A system similar Sky+ is obviously what I would like to achieve.. Is this realistic and if so recommendations for a combo box appreciated. (ease of use would be main criteria)

John Dough

Are all these combos DVB-S2 capable and DVD-T2 as well could someone enlighten us as would like to be future proof for a few years!!.

slegs

John Dough wrote: »

Are all these combos DVB-S2 capable and DVD-T2 as well could someone enlighten us.

No any that I've seen to date but I guess the likes of the more advanced Linux boxes like the high Dreamboxes are based around modular cards for the tuners so it would be an easy enough upgrade in th future.

STB

Most of the combo boxes listed do both DVB-S and DVB-S2 on the sat side.

None of the boxes listed do DVB-T2. However that shouldnt be an issue as there are no plans to use DVB-T2 in Ireland. The standard is set for DVB-T and its use in Ireland.

Britain is planning to use dvb-t2 in the future for HD terrestrial services. That does not affect us here in Ireland.

_________________________________________________________________
Anyway heres a new box I came accross - spec looks good.

Best I've seen in a while anyway (its due out end of next month) - €400-€450





System and Chipsets:

• Chipset STi7101 (ST40 with SH4 Core) at 266Mhz
• 8MByte of NOR ROM for secure bootloader storage
• 128 MB of system RAM.
• FPGA Chipset at 100 Mhz as co-processor with soft 32-bit MCU16MB D-RAM

Video Decoding Resolution:

• H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10) and MPEG-2.
• HD display multi format capable (1080I, 720P, 480P/576P, 480I/576I)

Audio Output:

• WMA-9, WMA-9 Pro, MPEG-1 layer I/II, MPEG-2 layer II, MPEG-2 AAC, MPEG-4 AAC LC 2-channel/5.1 channel MPEG-4 AAC+SBR 2-channel/5.1 channel, Dolby® Digital EX, Pro Logic® II, MLP™ and DTS®.

(Potential Audio output. Not all formats are implemented at present)

Operating System:

• Linux Operating System kernel release 2.6.23.16 (or further)
• DVB-API version 3 and version 5 (DVB-S2)

Input and Output:

3 x Tuner Input (DVB-T and DVB-S2 included)
2 x USB 2.0 input (one in the front one in the back)
2 x ISO 7816 Smartcard Readers
2 x Common Interface Slots
1 x RS-232 Interface
1 x 2,2 inches TFT Display 16364 colors
2 x Scart (RGB, FBAS or S-Video)
1 x RGB Connector (3 RCA - Red Green Blue)
1 x Component (3 RCA - 1 x Video 2 x Audio R/L)
1 x HDMI Output.
1 x S/PDIF Interface for digital bit stream out (AC-3)
1 x LAN (Ethernet) connection at 10/100Mbit
1 x Wi-Fi (WLAN connection) is embedding 802.11N technology (optional)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=TvvYNPji_sA


http://www.duolabs.com/qboxhd.html

STB

Another out in last few weeks - AZBOX premium

AZBOX ELITE HD €289

AZBOX HD PREMIUM €320-€349

(diffrence between 2 is that the premium has Wireless - also play DIVX)



* Linux as the operating system
* PVR (recording) internal or external
* WLAN (wireless to Internet)
* NG RACE GoGo List (online station list update)
* Webradio
* Support video portals such as YouTube and other video
* Audio & Music portals
* RSS feeds
* SIGMA processor SMP 8634 LF
*SIGMA CHIP specification DTV-8634 pdf * 32 MB FLASH MEMORY
* EEPROM 256 KB
* SD RAM 256 MB
Main features:
* Smart Tuner Support
* DVB-S2 / S, DVB-T2 / T (DVBs2 and DVB-T from the factory)
* DVB-C2 / C, ISDB-T
* GO GO List function (Intelligent Channel sorting)
* MPEG4 HD and fully DVB compatible
* 11 digit VFD display
* 9 Front panel buttons (Power, OK, channel up, channel down, volume up, volume down, Menu, Exit, OK)
* 7 day EPG 7 day EPG
Personal Video Recorder:
* Fuktion timeshift (pause and play live TV, time-recording of programs)
* Receiver streaming (audio / video and radio)
* Video On Demand
Internet access: http://s554.photobucket.com/albums/jj438/sapro-azhd/
* Wireless and RJ45 connection Wirelessly over WLAN and via RJ45 connection
* Web interface for remote control of the receiver's
* Update on the Internet, USB and serial port for update
* Web browser
* RSS newsreader
* E-mail client (POP Only)
Media Player :
* Audio formats: MP3, WAV, AIFF, WMA, Ogg Vobis
* Image: JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, PNG
* Video: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, XviD, MKV, AVI SSF (incl support subtitles)
* Video-Audio Aüflösung: MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Part 10 AVC/H.264 HD, [EMAIL="HP@L4.0"]HP@L4.0[/EMAIL] 1920x1080 @ 50Hz
(MPEG-2 transport stream specification ISO/IEC13818)
* Input: max 90 MB /sec
* Aspect ratio: 4:3, Letterbox, 16:9, Pan & Scan

In / Out connectors
* 2 slots for Common interface
* 2 Smart Card Reader
* 2 x USB 2.0 (rear and front panel)
* HDD LAN via Samba
* IDE hard disk can be installed internally
* Dolby Digital Optical output
* HDMI port
* 2x Scart
* YUV / YUV Component Out / Component output
* UHF connection
Physical properties:
* Size: 340x220x65mm Size: 340x220x65mm
* Working Temperature: 0 ° C ~ 60 ° C
* Storage Temperature: -20 ° C ~ 75 ° C
* Power: 90 VAC ~ 240 VAC power switch
* Max 40 Watt
* Internal security

http://www.ng-box.com/index.php?q=node/9

John Dough

[QUOTE=STB;None of the boxes listed do DVB-T2. However that shouldnt be an issue as there are no plans to use DVB-T2 in Ireland. The standard is set for DVB-T and its use in Ireland.

Britain is planning to use dvb-t2 in the future for HD terrestrial services. That does not affect us here in Ireland.

_________________________________________________________________
Not quite correct as a lot of peeps in northern counties can receive U.K. transmissions from Divis etc. and this will be increased when on full power in 2012 and have a wider footprint.

Also the Irish situation could change as no package is up and running after all the promises of start up on Jan 2009 officially and providers are having second thoughts as the Mpeg 4 equipment is proving very expensive especially as they will have to provide it FOC to get peeps to sign up.;)

gtg60

John Dough wrote: »

Not quite correct as a lot of peeps in northern counties can receive U.K. transmissions from Divis etc. and this will be increased when on full power in 2012 and have a wider footprint.

Also the Irish situation could change as no package is up and running after all the promises of start up on Jan 2009 officially and providers are having second thoughts as the Mpeg 4 equipment is proving very expensive especially as they will have to provide it FOC to get peeps to sign up.;)

No, I think STB is totally correct, DVB-T2 will not affect us in the Republic who receive Irish DTT which is what this thread is about.

Also I think your facts are a little off, Irish DTT is not supposed to launch until Autumn 2009 and if you do a little digging you'll see that Irish DTT is required to be MPEG4. Please do not confuse the issue with speculation, if, on the other hand, you have proof please post links etc.

The Cush

John Dough wrote: »

Also the Irish situation could change as no package is up and running after all the promises of start up on Jan 2009 officially and providers are having second thoughts as the Mpeg 4 equipment is proving very expensive especially as they will have to provide it FOC to get peeps to sign up.;)

The Jan 2009 provisional launch date was part of Boxers submission to the BCI for the multiplex licences and this date continued to appear on Boxers website until recently. The Jan 09 launch date was quickly ruled out by RTE and the Dept of Comms last Jul. Autumn 2009 is the official planned launch date with a national information campaign due to begin in March 2009.

STB

John,

This whole Mpeg4 technology is expensive mallarkey is total rubbish, do not buy into it. Dont let anyone tell you that. Its in vast supply. France has 61 million people alone and quite similar technology.

Regardless of what Boxer do I would imgaine that dtt will go ahead in accordance with plans for digital switchover and analogue switchoff.

byte

That Azbox looks intriguing, with a decent pricepoint. Not sure which is in the image STB posted though, as the link at bottom of page shows receivers not quite the same (see LED display). Anyway, would be worth keeping an eye on.

CrowdedHouse

Is there a simple tuner/converter only set top box available ?

I.E. One that will allow reception of DTT on an older TV

Onikage

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Is there a simple tuner/converter only set top box available ?

I.E. One that will allow reception of DTT on an older TV

The thread is for combo boxes, but:

Sigmatek DVB-500

€99 + shipping

John Dough

gtg60 wrote: »

No, I think STB is totally correct, DVB-T2 will not affect us in the Republic who receive Irish DTT which is what this thread is about.

Also I think your facts are a little off, Irish DTT is not supposed to launch until Autumn 2009 and if you do a little digging you'll see that Irish DTT is required to be MPEG4. Please do not confuse the issue with speculation, if, on the other hand, you have proof please post links etc.

Irish DTT is for the WHOLE of Ireland that was 32 counties when I was last in school!!:D

DVBT2 will be available in Ulster check the Freeview facts m8.;)

gtg60

John Dough wrote: »

Irish DTT is for the WHOLE of Ireland that was 32 counties when I was last in school!!:D

That is correct but Irish DTT will not require DVB-T2

John Dough wrote: »

DVBT2 will be available in Ulster check the Freeview facts m8.;)

Contradicting yourself now, aren't you? Freeview will not be available to the whole of Ireland therefore no relevance to DVB-T2, check your facts m8

KeRbDoG

STB wrote: »

Another out in last few weeks - AZBOX premium

AZBOX ELITE HD €289

AZBOX HD PREMIUM €320-€349

(diffrence between 2 is that the premium has Wireless - also play DIVX)...

The "AZBOX HD PREMIUM" has an option of installing an internal HDD which the ELITE HD version does not, but the ELITE might allow for a USB HDD instead

http://66.102.9.132/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://ng-box.com/shop/index.php%3Ffile%3Dshop%26mode%3Ddetails%26number%3D24&usg=ALkJrhjXB_mUyK2nSNNiw2BidMxcWEtUpw

"# no installation option for internal 3.5 "or 2.5" SATA - Harddisk
# no Wireless WiFi no WiFi Wireless "

slegs

The AZBox Elite has the exact same PVR features as the Premium but through the USB drive instead. The premium can take an internal Sata drive and can alos work with the USB. In fact it can have use both as desired.

topcatcbr

I am completly confused by much of what is being talked about in these thread so i thought id ask some questions which are at my level of understanding. Sorry if i posted this in the wrong section.

1. I have sky because i cannot get a quality signal for RTE or TV3 will i get a FTV digital signal.

2. Is this going to be on the same broadcasting system.

3. Will i require an new arial on the roof. if so what type should it be.

4. What is the min equipment will i be required to buy. can i have a single box to decode both terrestrial digital and freeview satilite.

gtg60

Firstly the 'Search' function is your friend as all of these questions have been asked before.

topcatcbr wrote: »

1. I have sky because i cannot get a quality signal for RTE or TV3 will i get a FTV digital signal.
2. Is this going to be on the same broadcasting system.

You will get a FTV digital service but not over satellite.

topcatcbr wrote: »

3. Will i require an new arial on the roof. if so what type should it be.

If you already receive (or can receive) the Irish analogue channels via a UHF aerial then you will not need any new aerials.

topcatcbr wrote: »

4. What is the min equipment will i be required to buy. can i have a single box to decode both terrestrial digital and freeview satilite.

This is exactly what this thread is listing, you just need to do a bit more research and you will find all the answers in detail.

TheDriver

gtg60 wrote: »

If you already receive (or can receive) the Irish analogue channels via a UHF aerial then you will not need any new aerials.
.

As long as its pointing to a main transmitter with dtt equipment, and not a relay

topcatcbr

TheDriver wrote: »

As long as its pointing to a main transmitter with dtt equipment, and not a relay

How do i know.

topcatcbr

gtg60 wrote: »

You will get a FTV digital service but not over satellite.

Then how.

gtg60 wrote: »

If you already receive (or can receive) the Irish analogue channels via a UHF aerial then you will not need any new aerials.

I do not have a UHF arial on the roof (i cannot get RTE without) but i need to know do i need one for this new service. I know that up north they do not.

SRB

topcatcbr wrote: »

I do not have a UHF arial on the roof (i cannot get RTE without) but i need to know do i need one for this new service. I know that up north they do not.

Yes, you will need a UHF aerial, roof mounted is better than loft mounted, but it really depends on the DTT signal level where you are.
Given the strength of the DTT signals "up north" at the moment, "they" do need one.

slegs

topcatcbr wrote: »

How do i know.

If you are in Portarlington then you will receive DTT from Kippure in South Wicklow on 794Mhz.

You do need a UHF aerial.

A single combo DTT/Sateliite box (see sticky on this topic) which takes a satellite input from your dish and a terrestrial input from your aerial will give you Irish and UK FTA digital TV.

Bogger77

Can any one suggest an easy to use combo box for techno phobe.
Have an Sony Bravia Mpeg4 enabled TV, with a sky box for UK channels attached, at home, but am being told it's too dificult to use, as it doesn't which to the active scart unlike the previous tv, and I haven't found the setting on the sony to enable it.
Am thinking a combo box with one remote would mean no switching between sky and DTT which is a pain on the Sony, not user friendly at all to select hdmi, scart or rgb composite inputs on the it.
Which would best HD Combo box, PVR not really required, to use?

slegs

Get a Logitech Harmony remote. You can do all those steps (switch inputs etc) with one keypress.

watty

Even a cheap Lidl remote with Macro can do it

JimG

a clanger wrote: »

Has anybody got a combo box working with freesat and irish DTT in tadem i.e. using the same EPG, or is it possible at this stage. A system similar Sky+ is obviously what I would like to achieve.. Is this realistic and if so recommendations for a combo box appreciated. (ease of use would be main criteria)

Has anybody got an answer to a clanger's question?

cormacl

JimG wrote: »

Has anybody got an answer to a clanger's question?

Dm8000 with a dtt tuner added. Freesat epg supported and dvb epg working fine for irish dtt. You can record all 4 dtt services at the same time, 2 different sat services at a time (but only one can be a HD service). You can also watch existing recordings while other recordings are active.

One bug is that switching to a dtt service from a hd satellite service causes a tune failure. Switching to a normal sat service for 20+ seconds and then back to the dtt service rectifies this. Dream is aware of the issue and will be releasing a fix at some point.

JimG

cormacl wrote: »

Dm8000 with a dtt tuner added. Freesat epg supported and dvb epg working fine for irish dtt. You can record all 4 dtt services at the same time, 2 different sat services at a time (but only one can be a HD service). You can also watch existing recordings while other recordings are active.

One bug is that switching to a dtt service from a hd satellite service causes a tune failure. Switching to a normal sat service for 20+ seconds and then back to the dtt service rectifies this. Dream is aware of the issue and will be releasing a fix at some point.

Thanks for that, cormacl. Are there two separate EPGs or one integrated one?

slegs

For info...the DM8000 setup Cormac has outlined is about 1000Eur

cormacl

JimG wrote: »

Thanks for that, cormacl. Are there two separate EPGs or one integrated one?

When you launch a combined EPG with the dreamboxes, they base the combination on a selected bouquet of services.. a bouquet can be made up of any combination of sat, terrestrial or cable services.. so if you put all your stations on the one bouquet, then you have a single EPG.

The normal access to EPG data is via the current service.. you press the info button to see the current programme details and from there can access the EPG for that station.

However, in normal use, the green button can be programmed for quick access to a selected action.. in my case, I use it to access the Graph Multi EPG. The Channel list also shows what's curently showing on other stations.

I've attached some screenshots of this EPG showing the channel list with current programmes, single EPG, current programme details & the multi-epg

Slegs mentioned the setup cost is about 1000 Eur.. this convers only the base unit with S2 tuners, wifi and without a HDD. Its more really if you include the DTT tuner and then more again for an internal HDD.

JimG

Thanks again, cormacl. You went to a lot of trouble and I appreciate it. You answered my question very well. I have never even seen a dreambox in action, let alone use one, so I was totally ignorant about how it works. Having looked up prices even before slegs' warning, I don't think I'll see one for a while yet either! Hopefully there will be boxes aimed at the Irish market and they may get cheaper as time goes by. Thanks again. Thanks to slegs too.

patrick whitty

the technomate 6900 will do everything you want just add a usb stick(8gb or more) you can also use an external hard disc. you can record or pause play.you can use it for irish dtt signals.the only thing you cant do is record a channel and watch a differnt channel unless it is on the same freq.it has to be patched to do all these things.
pat

JimG

Thanks Patrick.
If I decided to stay with Sky and get a Sky+ box and get my existing ROI card matched to it, I could use it to record any available programme on the EPG, but not from "other channels", so not ITV1/2/3 or BBC3/4 etc. Right?
I also have a Freesat from Sky card which gives me the ITVs and BBCs on its EPG. If I put this in the Sky+ box, can I then record these channels?

slegs

JimG wrote: »

Thanks Patrick.
If I decided to stay with Sky and get a Sky+ box and get my existing ROI card matched to it, I could use it to record any available programme on the EPG, but not from "other channels", so not ITV1/2/3 or BBC3/4 etc. Right?
I also have a Freesat from Sky card which gives me the ITVs and BBCs on its EPG. If I put this in the Sky+ box, can I then record these channels?

No, recording services are only enabled through a paired subscription card

RandomName2

Can anybody tell me what a combo box actually is? I dont really have any idea...

How many channels can it get, any HD, and where can these combo boxes be bought?

Radio|Man

A Combo box is one box with two tuners, one DVB-T (Digital Terrestrial Broadcast or DTT) and the other DVB-S (Satellite).

A "combo box" will allow you to receive subscription free "FreeSat" from the UK via satellite and the 4 Irish terrestrial channels (RTE, TV3 and TG4) digitally.

Currently, you cannot receive the Irish terrestrial channels via satellite unless you have a SKY subscription.

As to where you can get one?

http://www.freetv.ie