Digital STBs

I had to replace the electro's in my Digicrystal PVR. Topfield are the ducks guts, but expensive. I've heard quite good things about the Bush units.

It's all about usability really. Little things can really bug you, like unstable firmware that resets your channel list, load audio pops when an appliance switches on or your garage roller door opens and closes. Screen freezing up for extended periods because it can't recover from an arror. Unfortunately you usually don't know these things until after you buy one and try it in your situation.

Get a HD box, the image image quality is MUCH better, and not just because it's HD. Try watching fast moving sports action on an SD box, it's awful, the MPEG compression makes it almost unwatchable sometimes. Plus you get extra channels on HD. No need for a HD TV to get benefits from a HD box. But HD boxes start around $90-$100 or so.

Dave.

I had reasonable success with a Strong STB about $60 from Hardly Normal. Does HD. Runs cool. Occasionally needs a power cycle ( switch on the back of the unit - wonders ! )

That's very cheap for a HD box. How long does it take to start up?, and how fast is the channel switch? I hope the stock issue has been resolved too, some time back you could hardly find a reasonable priced HD STB in stock in Oz.

Dave.

Regards,

Ross..

Thanks for all the advice gents.

I bought a "Bush DFTA10HD" HD STB from DSE in the end, and I'm quite happy with the quality and features, apart from all these scratch marks on the front fascia that were probably there from the factory. Anyway does everything my parents need, and the remote/interface was easy enough for them to figure out.

In case it's of any interest, I'll mention that it has selectable aspect ratio, which is useful for those 4:3 CRTs and apparently often a missing feature from the low end STBs, from what I've read.

Regards,

Ross..

Check that there is not a clear protective plastic covering the front. A lot of these units have one, and the plastic covering often looks scratched, but when peeled off, leaves a unscratched panel underneath.

David

Only a few seconds to start up. And channel switch is virtually instant. Much better than the Samsung DVD recorder I just bought, which is painfully slow.

My Topfield 7010 takes about 10 seconds to start up, but channel change is instant.

Dave.

Thanks for the tip! I initially looked for this plastic but could not find it and assumed it was scratched, however I paid more careful attention now and was able to peel it. It was so thin and tight, that it wasnt obvious it was even there..

Regards,

Ross..

I've encountered that many times. Some stuff I've had for years and only realise it had an almost invisible film on it when it got scratched or whatever. Amazingly good stuff.

Dave.

I bought one of those Bush set top boxes - pic was OK but sound was way out of sync with lips.

I rang their help line (same day I bought the unit) - and was advised I needed to talk to their tech support line - but until I queried them, on a hunch, they didn't want to let me know that to do that would cost me $3.50 a minute

Retuned it, got a refund, and bought a Topfield - which is great

David