Skybox F3 HD or Skybox M3 ?

Was about to finally buy the skybox f3 for £55, but then noticed another one below it called m3 for same price, says it has a dual core mips cpu and sharper tuner? otherwise looks similar in specs, is one newer or better ?

rp3X said:

Was about to finally buy the skybox f3 for £55, but then noticed another one below it called m3 for same price, says it has a dual core mips cpu and sharper tuner? otherwise looks similar in specs, is one newer or better ?

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id personnally go with the F3(i have one here atm for faffing lol) and the HD output via HDMI is excellent.. imo the M3 looks awfull although in operation they are probably identical with the sharp tuner on-board and the F3 seems to be the more popular model although the choice is yours but be advised that the EPG and channel managment is awfull on these boxs and really need a re-think from the people behind them as i for one would be happy to pay a extra £5 for a better channel managment system and some way of downloading a epg stream through LAN or sat feed

The F3 anyday. I like it size and the fact that the power supply is internal.

if you intend using wifi, I would go with the M3 its usb is on the rear

Some good points thx, wired lan am feeling F3 for now

But surprised to hear channel managment is poor, would have thought basic up/down/move around or favorites options would be there, perhaps in future software updates.

mdt just sent a PM

rp3X said:

Some good points thx, wired lan am feeling F3 for now

But surprised to hear channel managment is poor, would have thought basic up/down/move around or favorites options would be there, perhaps in future software updates.

mdt just sent a PM

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there are basic favourites ect but you cant re-name them unless you use a channel editor on your pc through rs232 and its a great deal of work especially if used with a motorised/multi-feed dish such as yours. i would recommend them and have a m8 who has installed them on jobs for a fixed 28.2e set-up but that said for the price you wont find a better HI-DEF PQ on a box for similar outlay,regards mdt

mdt said:

there are basic favourites ect but you cant re-name them unless you use a channel editor on your pc through rs232 and its a great deal of work especially if used with a motorised/multi-feed dish such as yours. i would recommend them and have a m8 who has installed them on jobs for a fixed 28.2e set-up but that said for the price you wont find a better HI-DEF PQ on a box for similar outlay,regards mdt

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I beg to disagree... you can definitely rename channels, favourites groups without the use of a channel editor or PC. You can rename from your remote control... see link for how to rename favorites...

https://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/index.php?threads/293602/

Check post number 25 if you do not want to read all the posts.....

ojola said:

I beg to disagree... you can definitely rename channels, favourites groups without the use of a channel editor or PC. You can rename from your remote control... see link for how to rename favorites...

https://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/index.php?threads/293602/

Check post number 25 if you do not want to read all the posts.....

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well i must have done something wrong then m8 because i spent 3 hours renaming favourites, add txp,s manually and after a re-boot they (favourites) reverted back to those that were there before although i didnt try renaming the channels themselves.. i also moved the channels in favourites to some sort of order(favourite group freesat) bbc1/bbc2/itv1/c4/c5/ ect and after the reboot they went to txp order starting with the lowest ones first IE.. 10.714. all was done via the remote control and saved(or so i thought) regards mdt

there is also the openbox x3 which is same size as f3 same dual core etc but has scart output if you need that for the same £50 ish price tag
i believe these boxes have now been superseeded by the f4 and x4 boxes which have slight diff specs with gprs and you tube feature about £75 to £80

thanks I rechecked some other sites and they listed the F3 as dual core cpu, so in end went with the prooven track record F3 it arrives just in time for the weekend 51 quid from ebay with next day delivery, I was gonna go mixeshop which had it for 31 quid (from us currency) but they put on a 20 quid delivery charge so only worth it when in bulk shipping I guess.

Anyhow hopefully this is my new main box, I gotta admit I liked the spiderboxes simplicity, hopefully this replaces it and does a good job

i wouldnt touch mixeshop with a barge pole personally m8.. the F3 isnt as good as the spiderbox was for features but it runs fine on both c**am and newcamd/mgcamd. your expections arent as high as mine m8 if your willing to use a F3 as your main box but each to their own i guess, good luck with it m8,regards mdt

I never had any issues with mixeshop fast and friendly and cheap but only one order so far.

Ive got the f3 box, loved the ease of use and quick setup, got usuals running already and blind scan worked ok.

tbh my expectations are not too high, I jut need a simple and easy to use box, PVR is nice but not a must and stability
and good performance with ok support is needed, I dont watch much telly 95% is from the net from myself lol

Its a nice box so far but Im not sure where the hidden menu or code is ? ive gone to setup>network and then tried 6666 but nothing appeared I dont think

rp3X said:

I never had any issues with mixeshop fast and friendly and cheap but only one order so far.

Ive got the f3 box, loved the ease of use and quick setup, got usuals running already and blind scan worked ok.

tbh my expectations are not too high, I jut need a simple and easy to use box, PVR is nice but not a must and stability
and good performance with ok support is needed, I dont watch much telly 95% is from the net from myself lol

Its a nice box so far but Im not sure where the hidden menu or code is ? ive gone to setup>network and then tried 6666 but nothing appeared I dont think

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if your not getting anything from the secret menu then you will need to flash your box with the latest patched firmware.. scooby snack is it called? i havent looked into the patches as mine come pre-flashed,regards mdt

Here flash with this its latest

Thanks getting to grips with this box, I installed the youtube november 2012 firmware, pressed 6666 under network and wallah all is well

Ive been trying scooby snacks and NG firmware/tweeked firmwares... there nice but on certain channels not working even simple ones like bbc 1 hd, so went back to youtube nov firmware since it looks like the latest one.

Also tried some channel list , seems quite limited and only 28e channel list, no other euro/worldwide ones appear to exist!?

I tried Ajs list which is the most popular, while its nice they got listed as fav group 1,2,3,4,5 and apparently they must be manually changed to entertainment or sports etc.... so ditched that right away lol perhaps did something wrong but that was the way it appeared.

Think ill just scan 28e and the 1-2 euro sats I visit via blind scan and test the hidden menu features later on, otherwise nice box all depends on the performance but quality is on par with my spiderbox/dreambox so cant complain for now.
But favorite/channel/satelite list could be better supported....

got the m3 skybox and think its a great piece of kit. only thing letting it down is the epg

bigredz said:

got the m3 skybox and think its a great piece of kit. only thing letting it down is the epg

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hi mate have you got a working channel list going on this? with fav groups movies sports news ect?

F3 New Channel Line up 14-11-12

Thanks for the new channel list mate

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

bigredz said:

Thanks for the new channel list mate

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

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your ok m8 cheers