CHEAP HD BOX UNDER 45 EURO

suse103

Hi,

Came across this,
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.50749,

I bought the HDVB8601 and using it for over 6 months , the picture is excellent ,and works great, epg is also clean and numbers station from 1 up, this looks to be identical just in a new shell as remote is identical. Mine doesn't have mheg5 teletext so expect this doesn't either but it ticks all the other boxes on the requirements list and as it falls under 45 euro there should be no import duty.

elsy

How do these work sorry im clueless if I bought this could I just hook this up to my tv and receive some stations

watty

I'd seriously avoid any video gear from Dealextreme (Hong Kong).

Also more than €20 the Customs will charge VAT and €6 delivery surcharge in Ireland. Total nearly €60 You can get a UK box that does Irish DTT including MHEG5 (and "Freeview HD" if you have an aerial for IOM or Wales, or NI after 2012, and Freeview in N.I. today)

NO MHEG5

from RTE Website

Key elements of the receiver specification include the following:
1. The receiver needs to be capable of decoding both Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) MPEG 4 signals. This is important as RTÉ is planning to replace its current SD RTÉ Two service with an RTÉ Two HD service on SAORVIEW. More HD services are likely to follow in the future.

2. The receiver needs to have MHEG5 middleware to decode RTÉ’s proposed new Digital Aertel Service and other possible interactive services.

also see www.saortv.info

Yes, if you TV has not got built in MPEG4/HD/MHEG5 Digital you can get a set-box and put it between your TV and Aerial. SCART or HDMI.

But I'd not buy that box.

aintnopegion

I bought a Hd box from Amazon this week for £57.49 with free delivery
Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Digital Receiver box


This receives all the Irish Digital channel, Radio and Teletext It takes a min to set up just run an initial scan to find stations and you are up and away, I am living in Sallybrook near Glanmire and am using a flat One For All Digital indoor aerial that needed just a little moving around to get a signal. But works fine now. I am sure there will be other better value units on offer than the Walker unit recommended by Soarview (cheapest I found was Ebay at €99.00)
I will be looking in the shops in UK to price up units to go in another room in the house
Just have to make sure its a HD box with the right specs to work here.

watty

You can get "Freeview HD" boxes cheaper than that direct from UK retailers!

Also no such thing as a "Digital Aerial" All the "One-For-All" aerials are madly overpriced and come with fake snake oil.

Loads of other threads here.

glineli

watty wrote: »

You can get "Freeview HD" boxes cheaper than that direct from UK retailers!

Online or by actually going into the shop?

watty

Tesco, pixmainia = currys/Dixon. Others..
Of the UK electronic retailers we really only much get from dabs, who have Irish site also

I think eBay or Amazon can be poor value unless you are expert and also know all the retail prices. But same is true of Bricks & Mortar Auctions and Car Boot sales. It's the expert regulars that are in no hurry that pickup bargains and the in-expert casual shopper gets fleeced.

I expect the UK chains will be selling both more Saorview certified and also "Freeview HD" products here shortly.

I've had intimations from sources that MUCH is in the pipeline. After all official launch is in May 2011.

aintnopegion

I am sure you can get boxes cheaper in the Uk and probably online as well
and if you know of one that definitely works why not mention it to give others the chance to check it out (AS I DID).
As for aerials you pays your money and takes your choice, I chose mine on the basis of where I wanted to put it and reading online feedback on the model.
More positive remarks would be one that actually gives some usefull information. ie model, price, location and how well they work.

watty

There are loads of such threads and posts. You multiple posted. And not 100% appropriated threads. Also there is no charge to start a thread.

aintnopegion

watty wrote: »

There are loads of such threads and posts. You multiple posted. And not 100% appropriated threads. Also there is no charge to start a thread.

?????I thought info might be usefull ,if all it means by doing this is I get daft replies then I will not bother. from the number of posts you seem to do you obviously have plenty of time on your hands to do the research and pass on your infinite wisdom on everything including HD boxes so I will leave you to it.

glineli

aintnopegion wrote: »

I bought a Hd box from Amazon this week for £57.49 with free delivery
Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Digital Receiver box

Thanks for the info, good to see people getting options other than the walker.

Newtown90

Thank for the info lads!!

Definately going to get a cheap one instead of spending the big bucks, despite what the "experts" say!!

aintnopegion

Glenviewjf wrote: »

Thank for the info lads!!

Definately going to get a cheap one instead of spending the big bucks, despite what the "experts" say!!

So far it,s been no trouble and the pic has been good, I get a full EPG and the teletext service is also up and running, Good luck with your search.

rurs

julianok wrote: »

Find a cheaper one here!
DVB-T 806 TV receiver Digital Terrestrial Receiver Mini multi media player+ Digital Terrestrial Receiver +PVR+MHEG5(UK Compliance)+ Card Slot[/URL]

Mini Digital Terrestrial Receiver
· Frequency Range: VHF:174~230MHz; UHF:470~862MHz
· MPEG-2 digital & fully DVB-T compliant
· Automatic PAL/NTSC conversion
· 950 channels TV and Radio programmable
· 8 different favorite groups selection
· 256 colors On Screen Display
· Fully support to 7 days Electronic Program Guide(EG)
· Parental control for channels
· 5 event timers,off/Once/Daily/Weekly/ Monthly Mode
· Subtitle support DVB EN300743 and EBU
· Teletext support DVB ETS300472 by VBI and OSD(English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Polish, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Greek)

Mini multi media player
· Support SD/MMC/MS Card and USB2.0 high speed host.
· Photo, support JPG/BMP/GIF format
· MP3 Player, support OGG/MP3/WMA format
· MP4 Player,support DAT/VOB/MPG/AVI format
Programmed video recorder
· TV record to USB2.0 USB Drive.
Record capacity is 1.2GB/hour for MPG format.
· the file saved by USB , or SD

No mention of DVB-T mpeg-4, so likely to be unsuitable for Ireland.

watty

Won't work here. No HD or MPEG4 or HE-AAC audio
see http://www.saortv.info/terrestrial-saorview/the-black-list/

glineli

Any boxes out there that support all saorview requirements and have avi playback?

watty

Look at "Freeview HD" boxes. The only major issue known of actual genuine significant D-Book HD and Saorview incompatibility is how to treat EBU Teletext. Some "Freeview HD" boxes and TVs may not display TV3 and TG4 teletext because they assume the pages ought to be MHEG5. Later TV3 and TG4 may add MHEG5 text. Probably.

One of the Walker Saorview boxes has USB. I don't know what if anything is does with the USB.

Some TVs do play many video formats via USB.

There are two new Triax boxes shortly with Saorview (one is combo with Satellite, but is not a true Freesat), check out what they do.

reboot

aintnopegion wrote: »

?????I thought info might be usefull ,if all it means by doing this is I get daft replies then I will not bother. from the number of posts you seem to do you obviously have plenty of time on your hands to do the research and pass on your infinite wisdom on everything including HD boxes so I will leave you to it.

I am sure you are not the only one feeling you are wasting your time and experience,I have not posted since last year because i got my head in my hand over suggesting an aerial for DTT from maplin.Was told they were all rubish and every one was tested by you know who.
I suggest we hold onto the Ego bypass and simply ask politely"Who moderates the Moderators?"

glineli

I think we all benefit from different peoples experiences, whether it is an aerial from maplin that worked for one person or a DTT box from someplace else, i know i do.

So please lads keep posting.

Also, Watty and the alds know an awful lot so its great to have their feedback on whether certain products are saorview future proof.

I think this is a great forum with plenty of traffic and it would be great if it could stay that way

JJDoherty

Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Digital Receiver box on amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metronic-Zapbox-T2-Freeview-HD/dp/B003BEEP58/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2BK6P2Q4JM8GO&colid=3RSVVQAHU42ZV has now gone back to it's previous pricing of £121.10. Does anyone know of another Freeview HD box similar to this that meets the price of €60 or so?

STB

Cheapest at the moment is one of Vestel's T8300 rebdges, the Digihome.

STG45
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/digihome-freeview-hd-digital-tv-receiver-08687445-pdt.html

watty

Which oddly they don't sell here.

aintnopegion

reboot wrote: »

I am sure you are not the only one feeling you are wasting your time and experience,I have not posted since last year because i got my head in my hand over suggesting an aerial for DTT from maplin.Was told they were all rubish and every one was tested by you know who.
I suggest we hold onto the Ego bypass and simply ask politely"Who moderates the Moderators?"

LOL just a question if a TV that receives Didital is refered to as a Digital TV to differentiate it from an analogue TV and a set top box that picks up Digital is referred to as a Digital set top Box what do you call an aerial that is capable of receiving digital to distinguish it from ones that will not?
As I was told there was mo such thing as a digital aerial. (funny that if you Google it they do seem to exist)
I have to admit I found some of the comments unhelpful and unfriendly (not a good way to encourage chat on the forum) although some of us may not be informed on all the tech speak I still think that as it is a forum then surely they deserve to be heard without have smart comments made at there expense (I have enough of that from the kids at home)

STB

aintnopegion wrote: »

LOL just a question if a TV that receives Didital is refered to as a Digital TV to differentiate it from an analogue TV and a set top box that picks up Digital is referred to as a Digital set top Box what do you call an aerial that is capable of receiving digital to distinguish it from ones that will not?
As I was told there was mo such thing as a digital aerial. (funny that if you Google it they do seem to exist)
I have to admit I found some of the comments unhelpful and unfriendly (not a good way to encourage chat on the forum) although some of us may not be informed on all the tech speak I still think that as it is a forum then surely they deserve to be heard without have smart comments made at there expense (I have enough of that from the kids at home)

Hi.

You do know that this is a technical forum ? People can be short some times because the same questions come up and people dont search for a similar thread already on the page or the statements made by people may be just plain daft. I dont mod so I cant apologise for everyone! Anyhow lots of things are described by retailers and manufacturers for "sales" to "wow" the buying public - they are at fault!!!! for example there really is no such thing as a digital aerial! Or a HD aerial or a HD LNB. They are repackaged to take more money off people in Maplin and Argos etc. Shiny things, digital, nice.

By the way, a lot of these boxes have been discussed over and over on this forum should you care to have a look through the previous threads if you are looking for a few cheap boxes.

Note that these will not have all the functionality of the Saorview approved boxes (middleware for fancy text and RTEs own EPG which will be launched later on), for example if you search this forum for the "TNT HD" boxes namely these all around the €50 mark which have PVR facilities via USB and will play MKV and AVI formats as well.

Akira DHB-B36HR
XORO HRT7510
SIGMATEK DVBR-520 HD

Previous discussions on cheap yet not full compliant boxes (ie no MHEG5)

Cheap DTT Boxes
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055807314
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056136881

Cheap DVD/DTT Combo Boxes
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70098031

Media Centre 1 TB Drive with DTT built in
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=67512909

The current Saorview approved boxes do not have PVR facilities so are expensive at €99. The new Vestel's when approved may.

I hope that came out the right way! Hope that helps you.

watty

Many companies trying to "cash" in on people's lack of knowledge and charge x4 price for the same aerial "branded" Digital.

SCART cables, phone modem cables, earphones, loudspeakers, coax cables, Dishes, LNBs, Aerials, mast Amplifiers are on a range from Poor quality to Good Quality. There is no special "Digital" version of any of these different from Analogue.

If a UHF aerial is good for Analogue on Group B channels, then it's good for Digital and vice versa.

Marketing people are trying to "rip off" the Public.
Things that are used for really Digital Signals only
Like €108 1.8m long HDMI cables that are identical to €10 ones. If an HDMI cable meets spec, then a more expensive one can't give any more quality.

Things that are used for really Analogue Signals only
VGA cables are analogue. So poor ones and expensive ones may make a visual difference, but only if very long (more than 5m) or very rubbish quality.
Coax even for Digital TV or Digital Satellite is actually carrying an "Analogue" kind of signal. It can leak out and make interference or extraneous signals from DECT phones or other devices can "get in". So Screening is the most important aspect.

JJDoherty

The Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD Digital Receiver box is back at Amazon.co.uk at a discounted price, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metronic-Zapbox-T2-Freeview-HD/dp/B003BEEP58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296556448&sr=8-1.

watty

I see they offer a 2m HDMI cable for £5. I bet it's the same picture quality as €100 cable.

Sam Russell

watty wrote: »

I see they offer a 2m HDMI cable for £5. I bet it's the same picture quality as €100 cable.

....and a 1.8m one for £1.69 +p&p.

OldRio

I purchased the Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD box a couple of months ago. The picture quality is excellent, both in SD and upscaled SD.

Still awaiting a full HD channel !!! (Get on with it)

On the downside, it switches itself on for no apparent reason from time to time.
For the price I am more than highly delighted with the box.

BTW the cable came with the box (all in the price)

aintnopegion

Recieved this box from China on Ebay tested it and works fine teletext and subtitles work. it sits behind tv out of site which is good as it will be in kids room.
HD SCART DVB-T FREEVIEW MPEG-4 H.264 HDMI RECEIVER BOX



from SinoITproducts I bid on this and paid £35.including postage (it takes a while)

aintnopegion

OldRio wrote: »

I purchased the Metronic Zapbox T2 Freeview HD box a couple of months ago. The picture quality is excellent, both in SD and upscaled SD.

Still awaiting a full HD channel !!! (Get on with it)

On the downside, it switches itself on for no apparent reason from time to time.
For the price I am more than highly delighted with the box.

BTW the cable came with the box (all in the price)

I have box I think it turns itself of if not used for defined period of time and this function can be altered or disabled