Some basic info & advice on the Openbox S10 please

[spacemanc]

Hi guys - all this stuff is very new to me - but very interesting

I've had a quick look into "the scene" and as theres so many options, I don't want to look more indepth into things right now, until I know what route I decide to take.

I'm on a very tight budget, so obviously the Openbox has caught my eye. But I have a few very basic questions.




1) I don't want to pay for ANYTHING apart from buying the box, and paying for my broadband. I know that there are "service providers" on other websites, that you can pay a very small amount for, but I also understand that these are also available for free. I imagine the free options require more searching, but my main question regarding them is reliability - do the free services suffer from a lot of disconnections or other problems? Once a good free "service" is found, how often could I expect to have to change settings or providers?

2) How user friendly is the box? I'm fine with these sort of things, but I'm just wondering how easy it would be for other members of the family - is it a case of installing whatever EPG that you want to use, or are you stuck with whatever the Openbox provides? How far ahead can the EPG see - is it just now and next or 7 days? Is there series link and manual record?

3) How reliable are the PVR functions? I've currently got a FreeSat box, and even companies like Samsung and Humax seem to struggle with basic PVR reliability as there are many bugs - is it just a case of plugging in a USB HDD and then its good to go?

4) Is the box any good for streaming media to and from my PC. I presume streaming to my PC is easy via ethernet - but what about from my PC? If its possible, does it support alot of formats, can these be updated, and is there support for things like subtitles files?

5) Can this record in HD? Is the picture quality perfect, or are there any kind of problems?

6) Dreamboxes cost way more than the Openbox - I realise that they are probably more powerful, but what does that actually mean in day to day use? Does it mean that the Openbox lags on menus etc or are there other compromises? If not then would would anyone even bother with a dreambox?

7) How "futureproof" is this?

8) There seems to be quite a bit of variation in price for the S10. I've seen it for £65 incl. postage on an auction site, which apparently is not a clone. Anything to be careful of at all? Are there different versions of the S10 or are official boxes the same?




Sorry for all the questions, and I'm sure they get answered here often, but theres so much info around that its hard to find simple answers! Hope you guys can help!

 

[Exos]

Wow, i think you may be expecting a little to much for £60.

1) Free services are free for a reason, generally because the world and his dog are using them, and they are crap. You can setup your own free services, but you would have to investigate that yourself as there are limitations to open discussions on the forum.

2) Depends how tech-savvy you are, I would say its very basic but there can be at times some fiddling, depends on peoples willingness to learn and spend a little time researching/updating/changing channel lists etc. The openbox is a what you see is what you get. No plugins etc and the EPG isn't really anything of consequence as it doesn't really give you a lot of info (there has been an ongoing problem with the UK EPG)

3) Generally pretty good, never had any issues with timeshift or recordings.

4) No streaming.

5) It records what ever your watching.

6) Openbox is one end of the spectrum, dreambox is the other. Primarily comes down to flexibility, development and support.

7) Not sure what you want to get from this, the Openbox has gone from S9 to S10 and now S11 (which is a clone hybrid). Longevity isn't something associated with this scene as there are constant updates, tweaks and changes from both hardware and software perspective.

8) Difficult question to answer, the market has become flooded now so it's hard to define which is/isn't a clone box other than the test you can perform after you have purchased it. Try to buy from a reputable source rather than "ebay"

 

[althom40]

Spacemanc. Exos summed it up correctly.

This is a 50 quid basic box with a succession of firmware flaws. The manufacturers have introduced the S11 without sorting out all the niggles in the
previous versions.

 

[spacemanc]

Ok, thanks for the help - that much answers my questions. Obviously I'm not expecting too much, but the price does not necessarily indicate that - like I mentioned, a lot of FreeSat boxes manufactuered by Samsung etc also have a multitude of flaws and firmware issues despite costs £100's, so price doesn't always buy quality and vice versa.

After a bit more research, I'm now leaning towards building a very cheap HTPC with twin tuner and c/s - maybe using mythTV. Surprisingly there seems to be far less info and support for the PC based route - alot of what I've found is warnings not to bother - but I like a challenge! If I go PC based, then it should be far more upgradable and flexible with a lot more features too. Obviously it will be far more work too - but I like to tinker. :Biggrin2:

No offence, but this forum seems to be much more focussed on support for STB's. Anyone know a good site for info on the PC side of things, so I can look into it a bit more? I've founds loads of scraps of info here and there, but no main site with loads of info.

 

[spacemanc]

I've decided to get a cheap PC card for the time being. I already use my main PC as a HTPC connected to my HDTV, so its perfect for experimenting and seeing what is possible. I'll try it on windows to start, and then maybe set up a linux VM with MythTV and C/S - if that works out (which will be a long road due to my inexperience with linux) then I will look towards building a low power dedicated MythTV type system.

If it ends in tears then I'll probably get an Openbox.