digibox recommendation

thayes

Hi,

I have a choice between a Thompson DSI 4210, DSI 4212, Amstrad DRX400 and the PACE 430N.

The first 3 are all about 70 sterling, while the Pace is 110 sterling.

Are there any in that lineup that I should avoid?

Thanks in advance.

kaizersoze

I presume your talking secondhand?

thayes

yes they are second hand with 6mth warranty

kaizersoze

I've just bought 3 on Ebay (Panasonic, Thomson & Amstrad) for in or around £35 euro each with all cables and remotes, so your prices are high even with a warranty.
From what I've read about the different boxes, they are all as good or as bad as each other. Each one has it's own faults and advantages. Sky themselves seem to be the cause of alot of problems with the boxes with their software upgrades. However everyone seems to have their own favourite ones.I think it's a case of pay your money and take your chance

Tony

I disagree the pace 430 has a much better record that other models

thayes

Compared to ebay, they may seem expensive BUT, they come from a shop, have 6 month warranty, and include an activated FTV card.

I just don't want to go for a model I later regret.

kaizersoze

thayes wrote:

Compared to ebay, they may seem expensive BUT, they come from a shop, have 6 month warranty, and include an activated FTV card.

I just don't want to go for a model I later regret.

If they include an active card then they are good value
Tony I'm sure you're right. You would probably have more experience than me but I was just making the point that when I looked up the various makes and models, each one had as much bad reports as good. One person would would say they had a particular box for years with no trouble, followed by another had nothing but trouble.

Tony

kaizersoze wrote:

If they include an active card then they are good value
Tony I'm sure you're right. You would probably have more experience than me but I was just making the point that when I looked up the various makes and models, each one had as much bad reports as good. One person would would say they had a particular box for years with no trouble, followed by another had nothing but trouble.

Fair point

Tony

thayes wrote:

Compared to ebay, they may seem expensive BUT, they come from a shop, have 6 month warranty, and include an activated FTV card.

I just don't want to go for a model I later regret.

The pace new is around 179 euro with a 12 month warranty so perhaps you might consider buying the card separetly and get a new unit instead of 2nd hand

thayes

I was thinking of buying new, but I am only trying this out to see how well it works, thus negating NTL, so I don't want to spend too much to begin with. If it works I was going to upgrade sometime in the future. For the minute I only wanted to dip my finger without getting burned, or at least try to minimise the burns!

I'll probably go for the Thompson 4212 or Amstrad unless someone says they are a disaster.
Tom.

wolfe25

thayes wrote:

Hi,

I have a choice between a Thompson DSI 4210, DSI 4212, Amstrad DRX400 and the PACE 430N.

The first 3 are all about 70 sterling, while the Pace is 110 sterling.

Are there any in that lineup that I should avoid?

Thanks in advance.

I've got a Pace430N and it works well.
If it's not a trade secret, you might share with us where your getting them from.
There was someone on the For Sale Forum selling the cards recently for €100.00. The price from SKY for a card to a UK address is €30(£20), so £70(€100) for a receiver and activated card is not bad,
Do these prices include for delivery direct to ROI?

thayes

I hope to order a system for myself and brother-in-law tomorrow. Assuming all goes well I'll pass on the details, I don't want to be the cause of others suffering.

thayes

If anyone is interesting in the pricing go to:


If you know someone in liverpool they can pick the items up, no credit cards. You can pay using paypal (as I did), cash, cheque bank transfer.

edit: link removed
no pimping of sites

Tony

this guy charges £40 for a freesat card which compares well with what is being charged by some Irish retailers

byte

Indeed very true, £40 is one of the best prices I've seen those cards being resold for! Until now the average I saw them for was £60 - £70

Mossy Monk

all well and good but no pimping of sites

kaizersoze

byte wrote:

Indeed very true, £40 is one of the best prices I've seen those cards being resold for! Until now the average I saw them for was £60 - £70

I got 2 for £30 each. One caveat though, I didn't receive them yet (tomorrow). They could be duds :eek:

thayes

2 things that I find interesting

1) No pimping of sites, but satellite.ie gets pimped all over the place

2) If you need a digibox and the card, £70 for the 2 with warranty is a bargain to me. £40 for an activated card is far better than the other prices I have seen.

I have no affiliation to this guy, I just happen to find the site and know Liverpool. People asked what the contact details were, so once I ordered, I was happy to say I had ordered from him. If anyone gets stung, I will be as well.

I have ordered 2 boxes and will report back once they arrive (hopefully by tomorrow or Monday).

Can someone tell me why satellite.ie can be recommended all over the place but anyone who mentions another site will get edited?

Sponge Bob

thayes wrote:

2 things that I find interesting
1) No pimping of sites, but satellite.ie gets pimped all over the place

. Some of their staff do contribute somewhat , unlike other retailers. . They are restricted in what they can put in their sigs though.

2) If you need a digibox and the card, £70 for the 2 with warranty is a bargain to me. £40 for an activated card is far better than the other prices I have seen.

I would agree wholeheartedly with that if you get 2 x working digiboxes for that price with 2 x working cards AND if everything is still working fine by the end of October I will say that I know of nobody in Ireland who even comes close .

I have no affiliation to this guy, I just happen to find the site and know Liverpool. People asked what the contact details were, so once I ordered, I was happy to say I had ordered from him. If anyone gets stung, I will be as well.

The real test will be to see if the cards remain activated or whether some dodgy dealings take place after you +++ their rep on Ebay. +++ = it straight away , wait a week or two , and see what happens .

If all is well end October 2005 please PM me and I for one will fully back your campaign to permanently link that retailer in the Retailers Sticky thread above .

I have ordered 2 boxes and will report back once they arrive (hopefully by tomorrow or Monday).

Can someone tell me why satellite.ie can be recommended all over the place but anyone who mentions another site will get edited?

Its a hard one to call, regulars have used him in the past and are expressing satisfaction post facto. The mods have often chinwagged over that very but their solution is to have one retailers thread stickied with all the retailers who check out as genuine in that thread. Thats fine by me (I have had linkees deleted too ) because they are pretty consistent.

However we badly need one or two reliable UK suppliers of FreeView and Sky Digibox packages with reasonable delivery costs to Ireland . If the Irish retailers want to rip us off then they will have to be UK retailers and second hand is just fine with me .

I frequently do what you have done fand I think your source is very very reasonably priced .

Tony

Correct me if i wrong but does pimping not mean you recommend your own site or a site you have a connection with?(i'm not saying you are doing this at all) I do agree with you though I did not see anything wrong with you recommending this guy as from what you say he gives good service and he is certainly cheaper than other card suppliers I know of so far. I contacted the guy who runs this company (keith) and he told me that they are ex sub cards but he guarantees them to last as long as a freesat card.

BTW if you really want to see pimping in action check out the home entertainment board, it seems differnt rules apply there

thayes wrote:

2 things that I find interesting

1) No pimping of sites, but satellite.ie gets pimped all over the place

2) If you need a digibox and the card, £70 for the 2 with warranty is a bargain to me. £40 for an activated card is far better than the other prices I have seen.

I have no affiliation to this guy, I just happen to find the site and know Liverpool. People asked what the contact details were, so once I ordered, I was happy to say I had ordered from him. If anyone gets stung, I will be as well.

I have ordered 2 boxes and will report back once they arrive (hopefully by tomorrow or Monday).

Can someone tell me why satellite.ie can be recommended all over the place but anyone who mentions another site will get edited?

Tony

Sponge Bob wrote:

However we badly need one or two reliable UK suppliers of FreeView and Sky Digibox packages with reasonable delivery costs to Ireland . If the Irish retailers want to rip us off then they will have to be UK retailers and second hand is just fine with me .

I agree definitely more competition needed, I've no axe to grind on this as i do not supply freesat cards and have no plans to.

thayes

Thanks for the replies guys.

I understand where people are coming from and it is good to discuss things. I wasn't complaining about satellite.ie or anything, I just wanted to undersatnd the 'rules'.

Look I may still get burned, who knows.

And to fair to satellite.ie, some of their kit is very well priced and cheaper than some stuff in the uk. If I had an existing digibox I would have done things differently, but I hadn't, so what the guy ion the UK offered was best value. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a case of, if its too good to be true then it is! Anyhow I expect delivery early next week, so I'll let ye know how I get on.

Sponge Bob

you can say that <snipped retailer> is good in terms of what you ordered was delivered , I think we are a while away from publishing recommendations in the sticky.

Having said that, eBay is a minefield and this forum is full or repetitive how do I get C4 etc posts so we could kill two birds with one stone later this year .

Lets see how it goes !

Tony

thayes wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys.

I understand where people are coming from and it is good to discuss things. I wasn't complaining about satellite.ie or anything, I just wanted to undersatnd the 'rules'.

Look I may still get burned, who knows.

And to fair to satellite.ie, some of their kit is very well priced and cheaper than some stuff in the uk.

I for one never got the impression that you were complaining about satellite.ie and I think the points you raised were very fair, I agree its good to discuss these things in a open manner. I'm pretty sure the freesat will work out for you based on what i've heard of the company you are dealing with.

thayes

Hi People,

just to let ye know that the 2 digiboxes arrived yesterday with all the bits and bobs.

However, they were both damaged in transit. Parcelforce were the delivery company. The guy left the cards in the slots. Something hit the cards quite hard and damaged both of the internal slot holders. The front left plastic side of each box was slightly damaged as well, possibly by something pushing down on the digiboxes, but it is only cosmetic damage.

A real bummer.

However I was able to repair each of the boxes, and both cards and boxes are working fine. I though it better then teh hassel of sending them back (which is one benefit of buying in Ireland).

So the stuff arrived and is working, but the shipping left alot to be desired.

I have emailed the seller this morning and await his reply.

By the way there is some awful trip on most of the channels.

Anyone know if there is a way of removing non child friendly channels?

Tom.

Sponge Bob

not packing properly is a big no no anyway , as both were damaged he really should take them back , thats normal for ebay .

thayes

Hi people,

well I reported back to Keith and he got back to me and said it had never happened to him before (damage in transit). He offered to refund the money I had paid to get the boxes repaired. I suggested a FTV card which he has said he will send so, everyone is happy.

Can't say fairer than that. Hope they keep working!

Tom.

pH

Back to Digibox recomendations ...

Do any digiboxes (apart from sky+) stand out for any particular features. I've seen reports that some are much quicker at changing stations? Anything special in terms on connectivity on any of them worth looking out for? are any known to be dogs? Surely some fangeek has a website somewhere with a catalog of Digiboxes?

The Muppet

thayes wrote:

Hi people,

well I reported back to Keith and he got back to me and said it had never happened to him before (damage in transit). He offered to refund the money I had paid to get the boxes repaired. I suggested a FTV card which he has said he will send so, everyone is happy.

Can't say fairer than that. Hope they keep working!

Tom.

Happy things worked out for you and it sounds like a very decent company to deal with.. Would you be so kind as to send me the name of the supplier via pm as it has been deleted from the post for some very strange reasoning. In my book making recommendations about suppliers from personal experience happens on a lot of fora here and is far removed friom pimping. Such a strict line would make one wonder if there are vested interests at play here .

Tony

The Muppet wrote:

In my book making recommendations about suppliers from personal experience happens on a lot of fora here and is far removed friom pimping.

I agree