Why are you still buying AZboxes

[pedrogarcia]

AZboxes have been in the US some time now and the manufacturer has give many promises but little support. This part of the forum has thrown up many faults software and hardware. It seems to me Dreambox 8000 has far more support with less problems and incompatibility.

 

[Mr Tony]

I dont have any issues with my azbox other than high bitrate recording but I have a workaround The only thing I wish it had was better blind scan

it works fine for anything I throw in its way
4:2:2
S2
MPEG4

 

[brentb636]

Ditto for me. In fact, my primary receivers are CS8000's ( which handle DVB-S and S2, just fine), with the AZbox in the background for 4:2:2 feeds. Other than lack of DVB-S2 blindscan, I couldn't be happier.

 

[gmd63]

I use mine as a 4:2:2 box as well. It is slaved to my Pansat 9200HD. Sometimes my Pansat is too week to pull in a signal, so I input it into the AZBOX and the signal plays fine (seems to be a stronger board in it).

If it had blind scan it would be perfect.

ICE, what is the work around for the high bit recording work around?

 

[mr.crane]

I cant afford AZ box and Sathawk, I can buy one or the other!
Been Playing around for awhile do decide.
Guys if you had to choose one for yourself, which one would it be?

 

[zamar23]

How would one justify buying a Dreambox DM8000 STB for $1000+, when an excellent small factor Linux & Windows based HTPC with a newest DVB-S2 Tuner Card will cost self-assembled $300 - 350 and can do a lot more? The manufacturers are even working to add Blindscan to the cards in the near future.

 

[brentb636]

I cant afford AZ box and Sathawk, I can buy one or the other!
Been Playing around for awhile do decide.
Guys if you had to choose one for yourself, which one would it be?

Even if the Sathawk worked perfectly, it still wouldn't handle 4:2:2 video. If you want to watch feeds, many of which are 4:2:2, the AZbox is the best bet.
Much has been made of the "problems " of the AZbox, but it has been a great receiver I've gotten it, last April. The AZbox tries to do a lot of things that are not typical receiver things ( all the PVR functions, movies , u-tube, streaming video, etc ) . I doubt that all those "other" functions will ever be perfected, but that's not why I bought the box. It's a fine receiver because it tunes more different formats than any other, at the moment.

 

[mr.crane]

Even if the Sathawk worked perfectly, it still wouldn't handle 4:2:2 video. If you want to watch feeds, many of which are 4:2:2, the AZbox is the best bet.
Much has been made of the "problems " of the AZbox, but it has been a great receiver I've gotten it, last April. The AZbox tries to do a lot of things that are not typical receiver things ( all the PVR functions, movies , u-tube, streaming video, etc ) . I doubt that all those "other" functions will ever be perfected, but that's not why I bought the box. It's a fine receiver because it tunes more different formats than any other, at the moment.

I noticed on Ebay, it is now $289.00 + 20.00 for shipping.
Last week it was $279.00, there is no other distributor
in the States.

 

[Mr Tony]

ICE, what is the work around for the high bit recording work around?

I have a DVD recorder that has component input so I can record HD feeds to it.
Even if I record it to my "main" DVD recorder, the HD downconverted to 480i looks WAY better than some normal 480i feeds

 

[Mr Tony]

In fact now that Sathawk fixed the motor issue (wouldnt move on a H TP) I replaced the Coolsat as my "main" unit and now have a Sathawk as main and azbox for 4:2:2 and the high bitrate feeds (like My Network HD).

Since the Sathawk can blind scan S2, blind scans faster than the Coolsat and plays probably 98% of the HD feeds why would I keep the Coolsat as the "main" receiver?

 

[B.J.]

I noticed on Ebay, it is now $289.00 + 20.00 for shipping.
Last week it was $279.00, there is no other distributor
in the States.

If you're talking about the Azbox here, I'd suggest going directly to the store web page, instead of EBAY. It's $255 there, and has been for a while.

For viewing, the Azbox is the best receiver I've owned. I'm waiting for people to start selling the used ones on EBAY, so I can pick up a 2nd one to pull the tuner from. I'm assuming that after these "plus" versions come out that the eletes will get cheaper on ebay. I don't have that much interest in the blind scan, since I can find transponders by other methods if necessary, but I would like to feed C into one tuner and Ku into the other.
If they can fix the high bitrate recording issue, and get the thing to stream and play http streams properly, I don't see how any other receiver could beat it.

 

[zamar23]

B.J.

As I recall, it was discussed several times that AZBox Premium will NOT recognize 2 DVB tuners at the same time - only one tuner will be recognized and accessible via UI. It's not an issue whether you will use them concurrently or only one at a time, but rather the issue of intentional FW block to prevent non-performance complaints and chipsets damage via overheating. Even if AZBox uses the same firmware, the FW still reads particular device model. As an example, NVIDIA uses a single driver for all card models, but they are perfectly differentiated in features, despite at times have exact same hardware. Or did you mean something else?

 

[mr.crane]

If you're talking about the Azbox here, I'd suggest going directly to the store web page, instead of EBAY. It's $255 there, and has been for a while.

For viewing, the Azbox is the best receiver I've owned. I'm waiting for people to start selling the used ones on EBAY, so I can pick up a 2nd one to pull the tuner from. I'm assuming that after these "plus" versions come out that the eletes will get cheaper on ebay. I don't have that much interest in the blind scan, since I can find transponders by other methods if necessary, but I would like to feed C into one tuner and Ku into the other.
If they can fix the high bitrate recording issue, and get the thing to stream and play http streams properly, I don't see how any other receiver could beat it.

thanks, I have discussed this in the past with Iceberg, Sathawk has good reviews also, but I think the az is like the Cadillac of fta receivers. I will check into the main page. are u using yours with a motor, and is it accurate?

 

[B.J.]

thanks, I have discussed this in the past with Iceberg, Sathawk has good reviews also, but I think the az is like the Cadillac of fta receivers. I will check into the main page. are u using yours with a motor, and is it accurate?

I generally use my Azbox slaved. Accuracy isn't an issue with diseqC-1.2, since it's all done in the motor. Accuracy is an issue with USALS, but the Azbox doesn't say what angle it's moving to like some other receivers do, so you can't really tell for sure. But I really haven't run into a receiver that was off by enough to make an observable difference.

 

[pedrogarcia]

Well that has woken everyone up. The 8000HD pvr is expensive but the 800 HDpvr is around the same price as the AZwith a better build quality and far more support.
As I see it the AZ has been imported into the US and the end user is the quality control. the manufacturer would do well to read this forum and take advice for future development.

 

[stogie5150]

I don't know where to buy a Dreambox in the US, I have never seen one offered for sale, so as far as I am concerned the dreambox is below the azbox in that regard. ANY box you buy you are on your own when it comes to warranties, also. Expecting anything else is pie in the sky, IMO.

If it can't do 4:2:2 I am not interested. The Azbox just WORKS for me. Give it feed info, it displays it. I am happy. No receiver I have ever had does that.

I struggled with a PC card for a year or so and NEVER got it to work as well as the Azbox does out of the box. After 1k of computer, replacing the video card in that brand new computer, buy PC DVB card, buy software to make the pc card work, it STILL doesn't match the PQ that the azbox spits out.

We buy Azboxes because they work. I don't give a damn about recording, dual tuners, single tuners, quad tuners, or launching the space shuttle. I just want to watch TV. Cheaply as possible. There's no box on the market that beats the Azbox at the same price that I am aware of.

 

[zamar23]

pedrogarsia

How Dreambox 8000HD PRV and 800HD PVR are different in features? Of course you right, the more good receiver models are imported to NA the better the prices and support should generally be, unless overall sales volume is very low to make it worse while for a reasonably capable company.

 

[Mr Tony]

We buy Azboxes because they work. I don't give a damn about recording, dual tuners, single tuners, quad tuners, or launching the space shuttle. I just want to watch TV. Cheaply as possible. There's no box on the market that beats the Azbox at the same price that I am aware of.

so true.

I just want to watch TV. I dont care about 95% of the other options on the azbox like RSS feeds and youtube

 

[zamar23]

Dreambox 800 / 8000 DVB-S2 HD PRV

Designed in Germany STB Dreambox is extremely popular "model" receiver throughout Europe, which is hardly known in NA. Recent model lineup includes:

800 HD PVR:
single DVB-S2 tuner, MPEG 2 & 4, 300MHz MIPS Processor, 2.5' SATA / eSATA HDD, 2 USB 2.0, 10/100 mBit/s Ethernet, DVI, S/PDIF, 64MiB Flash & 256MiB RAM, DiSEqC 1.0/1.1/1.2 and USALS

8000 HD PVR
dual DVB-S2 tuner, 400 MHz Broadcom BCM7400 advanced dual Processor, two 3.5' SATA / eSATA HDD & SlimLine DVD, 3 USB 2.0, MPEG 2 & 4, 128 MiB Flash & 256 MiB RAM, DiSEqC 1.0/1.1/1.2 and USALS

Available in NA from Dreambox USA and their iShopDream webstore, also on Ebay. Its very capable contender in AZBox category, but compare to AZBox has multiple continuously updated firmware versions with advanced features from various vendors. Anyone has experience in using these boxes in North American reception conditions?

 

[AcWxRadar]

so true.

I just want to watch TV. I dont care about 95% of the other options on the azbox like RSS feeds and youtube

Ice,

Your statement reminds me of something very humorous that I read in the cartoon section of the Omaha World Herald... You know the comic strip "ZITS" I am sure.

Anyway, the teenage kid was explaining to his Dad all the features of his new cellular phone, like taking pictures, texting, emailing, downloading songs and getting weather reports and road conditions, etc etc etc... Then the Dad asked him if he could use it to call anyone! LOL! I think that everyone can understand this point. It seems as though we might have a vegetable peeler that does everything but peel vegetables!

I could personally do without all the fancy features on the AZBox. I think it is rather nifty that they are there, but I don't use them. I just want to be able to scan all the FTA channels and be able to record the shows that I like. Same concept with my cell phone... I only want a phone that calls someone. If I want a camera, I'll buy one. I don't really need a phone that takes pictures or a camera that makes phone calls!

I also want a car or a truck that I can fix in my garage and not have to take it to NASA for every repair.

Maybe it is just me that is outdated, I don't know.

RADAR