Going down the dreambox route...

S

Speedy2206

Guest
I've decided that I'm going to go down the dreambox route - the dbox no longer poses a challenge to me.

I intend to perhaps create a few images and boost up the dreambox scene so that its in-line with the dbox... maybe create a few programs and write a few tutorials, etc.

My question is... does anybody know where I can pick up a cheap dreambox 500c? I know there are ones on eBay for £129.99 + p&p but that is just outside my budget - does anybody know of anywhere cheaper?

Thanks.
 
Price range outside of the UK is 150 Euro to 190 Euro plus p+p.
 
I like the 150 euros price.... is there a specific website/place for that or is that just the general going rate?

Cheers.
 
liamcrayden said:
I've decided that I'm going to go down the dreambox route - the dbox no longer poses a challenge to me.
I intend to perhaps create a few images and boost up the dreambox scene so that its in-line with the dbox... maybe create a few programs and write a few tutorials, etc.
My question is... does anybody know where I can pick up a cheap dreambox 500c? I know there are ones on eBay for £129.99 + p&p but that is just outside my budget - does anybody know of anywhere cheaper?
Thanks.

Liam,

It will be a sad day when you finally give up on the dbox but I will be very interested to here how you get on with the dreambox. I will keep my eye open for a good price and let you know.

de_deej
 
Liam, I also am going down the dreambox route, i am sick and tired of paying out money for boxes that dont work, prices now as welll are not far from £129, I would like to help you also if i can by using my dreambox as a test bench for you, i have a working dbox and want this dreambox to eventually replace it, but in the meantime it will be for playing and experimenting.
 
New Dreamboxes at IFA with plug & play tuner:
Lünen, 4. August 2005. Dream, the leading manufacturer of Linux-based Set-Top-Boxes, presents at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin the new generation of Dreamboxes. Thanks to the plug & play-tuner for digital satellite-, cable-, and antennas reception they provide a maximum of flexibility.

For the interested public Dream introduces for the first time the DM 7025 at the IFA. Beside an enhanced hardware (300 MHz processor, 128 MB DDR RAM, 32 MB flash) the DM 7025 has two pluggable Tuner (plug & play). Due to the twin-tuner and PVR-technology you are able to watch a program while recording another one on the hard disk, which can be provided upon request.

Newly made is also the DM 500 PVR. The smallest Linux-receiver in the world is now equipped with pluggable plug & play single tuner either for DVB-S, -C, and –T. On top of that the PVR-box is featured with a standard 2,5-inch hard disk and hence, becomes most probably the smallest Linux-based hard disk receiver worldwide.

Also the DM 5620 becomes a successor. The DM 6000 has a single-lined, graphic display and can be equipped with a hard disk just like the 7000 series. It also has a pluggable single-tuner and like all other Dreamboxes a 10/100 Mbit compatible Ehternet interface.
 
yes, i saw the hdd ready boxes, unfortunalely the prices charged for those are quite high £300+ and that is WITHOUT the hdd inside......having said that, christmas is near and i deserve a treat........i would want one capable of taking hdd (i have a spare 250gb) with ethernet and possibly with dual tuner......what do you recommend mgb ??
 
The new boxes are anounced for next year and only the 500 PVR offer a DVB-C tuner for cable.
 
If you want to use your cable feed only 500C or 500 PVR with DVB-C tuner are usable..
 
Oh well, i think i will treat myself to a liteon dvd recorder with built in 160gb hdd with the money i will save and just get the one you mentioned. I still think they are better value than the dbox and you can, from what i see, do the same with it.
 
loady said:
Oh well, i think i will treat myself to a liteon dvd recorder with built in 160gb hdd with the money i will save and just get the one you mentioned. I still think they are better value than the dbox and you can, from what i see, do the same with it.
You do realize that DVD recorders re-encode the video, meaning a considerable drop in quality and often an increase in file size, right? Dbox and Drembox record the raw broadcast stream with no recompression or loss of quality and can easily be put on a DVD-R using your authoring software of choice.
 
ah but is it a noticeable drop in quality ?......if i copy a dvd9 to a dvdr i use cce to do it, the quality obviously drops in that it has to fit onto the disc, but the quality is still better than tv......if it is grainy and shit then i wont get one but i dont think it is as bad as you are reporting unless of course you have actualy seen the output from one........remember that raw footage will come out at about 60mb per minute of footage if my memory serves me correctly....in any case the output quality will still be far superior than any video tape
 
I think i'll just get a cheap dreambox 500c and stick to my VCR :)
 
well loady i have to say that i record onto my panasonic dvd recorder and i cant see a big drop in quality.
 
I have been recording from dbox onto my philips dvd recorder for a long time now and cant see any drop in pic quality at all, in fact the quality is as good as from box itself.
 
loady said:
Oh well, i think i will treat myself to a liteon dvd recorder with built in 160gb hdd with the money i will save and just get the one you mentioned. I still think they are better value than the dbox and you can, from what i see, do the same with it.
Quality is very subjective, of course, I was just making sure you were aware of the inherently lossy nature of DVD recorders as opposed to a perfect 1:1 copy, and with the greatest respect to those who say the image quality after the DVD recording is as good as the original broadcast, that simply isn't true. It's better than VHS, though. :)

Anyway, back on subject, does anyone know the specific prices and release dates for the new Dreamboxes, particularly the 500 PVR? Any links?
 
I would dissagree with that, on my philips you can set the record quality of the recording, ie. 1 hr, 2 hr, 2 and half hr, 4 hr, 6 hr, 8 hr, each setting ditermins how much will fit on a dvd, ie. 1 hr mode fills dvd in 1 hr, i will admit there is a drop in quality from 4 hr setting upwards but would challenge anyone to see a difference in quality useing 1 hr or 2 hr or 2 and half hr modes.
 
derekwd said:
I would dissagree with that, on my philips you can set the record quality of the recording, ie. 1 hr, 2 hr, 2 and half hr, 4 hr, 6 hr, 8 hr, each setting ditermins how much will fit on a dvd, ie. 1 hr mode fills dvd in 1 hr, i will admit there is a drop in quality from 4 hr setting upwards but would challenge anyone to see a difference in quality useing 1 hr or 2 hr or 2 and half hr modes.
I could, and have, passed such challenges with flying colors, much to the dismay of my DVD recorder owning friends :)

I am particularly fuzzy about quality, and it's not like a 3-4 mbit broadcast is that great to begin with. Even on expensive DVD recorders with the highest quality settings I find there is a noticeable drop in quality, which means a softer picture (or digitally sharpened, urrrg), more compression artefacts and poorer color reproduction, and such recordings will often run up in 6-8 mbit to produce an inferior version of a 3-4 mbit broadcast.

As an alternative to VHS, DVD recorders are brilliant, but don't kid yourself about the lossy nature of consumer grade MPEG2 encoding.
 
My conclusion of this argument is that senor ding dong is the winner lol; end of story.

senor ding dong said:
Anyway, back on subject, does anyone know the specific prices and release dates for the new Dreamboxes, particularly the 500 PVR? Any links?

....................;)
 
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