AZBox Elite/ Premium

gtg60

Ok, just got one of these a few days ago and thought I'd let everybody know what they are like (have posted in this forum even though it'll be 2 weeks before I have my DTT tuner).

Firstly, there has been a lot of speculation and misinformation floating around since these were announced last year and this, understandably, seems to be one of the main reasons people are holding off purchasing.

As an introduction to Linux boxes, my previous STB's were a Sigmatek (DTT only) Globalteq (combo) and an Mvision HD200 (combo), the price really is great, a similar specced Dreambox costs at least twice as much and even though the firmware is still technically in Beta and without extra tuners I decided to take the plunge.

I purchased it from slegs from SaorTV who I have dealt with in the past and as usual found him to be extremely accommodating and helpful (also good to know he is the official Irish distributor for AZBox).

Right, to the actual unit! I was never not going to be disappointed by the looks of the STB as the original (photoshopped) pictures that floated around the net showed a vastly superior looking piece of kit, the actual unit looked a bit better than the real pictures of it but not as expensive looking as my Mvision 200HD but then it has an actual display instead of numbers (my biggest gripe with the Mvision), so like everything, a trade off. Built quality though looks very good and the plethora of connections at the back gave me the excitment that only techies seem to get with bits of kit like this, dare I say the back looks better than the front!

After connecting it up and switching it on I was amazed by the sheer amount of configurability (is that a real word?) and always had been daunted by the thoughts of a Linux OS but it was actually simple to set up (worth noting that slegs will configure any STB he sells before he posts it out so even if you are completely tech-less you have no excuse). Straight away the Menu system showed that this was no ordinary STB, on pressing the 'Home' button a menu came accross the bottom listing this boxes many talents, it appears that TV is just one of them as it also has a Browser, Youtube app, RSS reader and various media player and File Manager options.

For SD material on TV it definately displays the best pictures I have ever seen and while not a million miles better than my Mvision it is an improvement N.B. I always thought that the Mvision had a great picture.
For HD material I felt a little disappointed, it may just be that the jump from SD to HD wasn't as much now and I had expected an improvement similar to the way it handled SD material, will try and do some back to back testing but don't get me wrong it's more than acceptable.

Youtube app works exactly as promised and if that was more my sort of thing I'd be more excited about it but again, thumbs up for an whole new feature

RSS reader, same thoughts as above, not my cuppa but works perfectly.

Browser, I suppose after having the internet for 10 plus years I was going to be critical of this and I wish it had been implemented a little better, it works fine and certainly better than the browser I currently use in my sitting room, which is on the Wii, the real letdown and no fault of the machine is that I NEED a mouse and keyboard to surf! There has been talk on other forums of a plug-in to allow use of a USB keyboard, if this develops into support for a wireless keyboard and mouse then I'll be a happy bunny! For most though it is going to be more than acceptable and I certainaly won't be using the Wii to surf again, of course hats off for bringing another great feature to this box as it is going to mean a lot of people surfing from their sitting room for the first time.

The Music, Video and Photo viewer I haven't even tried yet (this box just does so much) but I have heard it is great, will test later as I have a few Blu-Ray images on my PC and would love to see if it can play them accross the network.

I only experimented briefly with Recording and it seems to work fine, one thing I did note and that was that it doesn't store them as Transport Streams but as MPEG that even Windows Media Player can play without modification! (Something my Mvision didn't do).

Another great feature is the LAN connection, being able to download the latest firmware without having to switch on your PC or mess around with USB sticks is great! You can also remotely access the STB from your PC and download, edit and upload your channels listings!

Even though I have this 2 days I have only barely scratched the surface of what it can do and that's saying a lot, for a techie like me I don't think I'll ever stop playing or adding to it (there is a Plug-in section on the Menu to add new apps!) and I know development continues at a staggering pace and a quick Google will find you all sorts of forums to see what this machine is capable of.

Worth noting that I can use my Dragon CAM and genuine Sky sub card in this box, if I hadn't loaned out my spare Dragon I would be able to test if I can run 2 CAM's, one with my Genuine card and one with my FTV card (this has been one of my ambitions to get both running on one box).

The biggest gripe I have though is with the remote, it really is a step down from the one for my Mvision, it, in comparison is well built, solid and laid out well, the AZBox one has me looking at the remote looking for keys a lot and doesn't fell as solid, I'll probably be less harsh on it once I've learned where the buttons are and truthfully this doen't bother me as I have a Harmony that will soon be learning the AZBox codes but I want to make this 'review' as honest as possible.

Now, as mentioned in the beginning of this thread, this box is kinda still in Beta and there is promise of all sorts to come, well the most exciting developments are just around the corner, the Firmware for the DVB-T tuners and twin tuners is being released today, the extra tuners will be here in about 2 weeks and slegs has negotiated a deal with a programmer to implement the Freesat/ Sky EPG into the AZBox (and hats off to him), this is an exciting time and the dream DTT/ Sat combo box with 7 day EPG's for both looks like it'll be a reality VERY soon.

So, a very postive review for this box from me and it's main let-downs seem to be that it is a bit more functional than stylish (ala the looks of the box and the remote) but it is more than made up for by the features and definately the price! So, the question is, do you wait until the few weeks until the Unified EPG combo box becomes a reality (to be on the safe side) or do you take the plunge now?

IHMO when the first report comes in that it is working you better hope you can grab one as they will fly off the shelves, now that Boxer is gone there is no point holding on to see if you can get a cheap DTT box on a special offer or something!

Hopefully that covered most things and over the weekend I should be able to test a whole host of other features so will do a follow up review, and, as usual if you have any questions, just ask.