Best low-cost SD STB?

[Ext User(Pete)]

Of the real cheapies, which is the "best"?

I'm looking for a SD STB to leave at a holiday house that (other than
over Christmas) doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I'm not inclined to
spend much money, but neither do I want to buy complete crap.

Thanks, Peter

[Ext User(TRG)]

"Pete" <pjetson@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:45551a63@news.eftel.com...
> Of the real cheapies, which is the "best"?
>
> I'm looking for a SD STB to leave at a holiday house that (other than over
> Christmas) doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I'm not inclined to spend
> much money, but neither do I want to buy complete crap.
>
> Thanks, Peter

Just buy a cheap $50 stb. If you aren't going to use it much then it will
not matter if it get's knocked off.

[Ext User(Nettle)]

"Pete" <pjetson@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:45551a63@news.eftel.com...
> Of the real cheapies, which is the "best"?
>
> I'm looking for a SD STB to leave at a holiday house that (other than over
> Christmas) doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I'm not inclined to spend
> much money, but neither do I want to buy complete crap.
>
> Thanks, Peter

The main thing is buy it from somewhere you can return it. I've bought two
$80 set top boxes, different brands. One worked beautifully, and the other
the reception was next to useless. The quality and sensitivity of the tuners
obviously varies a lot, and it will depend on your location what model works
for you.

[Ext User(Cerial Killer aka Coco the Monkey)]

DGTEC was the first brand of set top box in Australia and they have a lot of
models out. My brother-in-law bought a SD one from David Jones for $50 and
it works a treat.


"Pete" <pjetson@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:45551a63@news.eftel.com...
> Of the real cheapies, which is the "best"?
>
> I'm looking for a SD STB to leave at a holiday house that (other than over
> Christmas) doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I'm not inclined to spend
> much money, but neither do I want to buy complete crap.
>
> Thanks, Peter

[Ext User(Greg)]

"Cerial Killer aka Coco the Monkey" <you_may@remeber.me.org> wrote in
message news:455836c1$0$11968$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> DGTEC was the first brand of set top box in Australia and they have a lot
> of models out. My brother-in-law bought a SD one from David Jones for $50
> and it works a treat.

Saw a $50 xms Set top box in the latest strathfield car radios catalogue. I
haven't tried one myself so I have no Idea what they are like. But its worth
a try. Just for the price.

[Ext User(Kevin Hendrikssen)]

"Cerial Killer aka Coco the Monkey" <you_may@remeber.me.org> wrote in
message news:455836c1$0$11968$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> DGTEC was the first brand of set top box in Australia

No, they were the first *HD* box sold in Australia. And they sucked. The
first SD boxes available were Thomson ones. The DGTEC ones came much later.

Anyway that's ancient history. Aldi has Tevion boxes available this week
(Thursday) for $69. The previous ones were quite good, but this is a
different model so no way to know.

Otherwise check Woolworths/Safeway, Coles, Strathfield for cheap SD boxes.
You'll only pay $60-70 at any of them. Dickies/Tandy may also have something
in that range.

[Ext User(IRS)]

Bought a G1956 SD box from TrickieDickie at $79.97 last week.
Works like a charm so far.
Ivan

"Pete" <pjetson@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:45551a63@news.eftel.com...
> Of the real cheapies, which is the "best"?
>
> I'm looking for a SD STB to leave at a holiday house that (other than over
> Christmas) doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I'm not inclined to spend
> much money, but neither do I want to buy complete crap.
>
> Thanks, Peter

[Ext User(Emjaye)]

Nettle said....

> The main thing is buy it from somewhere you can return it. I've bought
> two $80 set top boxes, different brands. One worked beautifully, and the
> other the reception was next to useless. The quality and sensitivity of
> the tuners obviously varies a lot, and it will depend on your location
> what model works for you.

I bought a $70 Kross STB from Safeway a year or two ago. It's still
working fine. Only problem with it is that its timer function doesn't
work. As I work shiftwork I have to get the missus to manually change
the channel on it so that the DVD/HDD recorder can record the right
show...

Now that the Topfield twin SD tuner PVRs are getting under the $600
mark, I'll be looking at getting one of them, possibly as an Xmas
present to myself (my wife wants to get me something else).

[Ext User(The Family)]

I'm looking at buying one for my mum from Coles Supermarkets. $50 at
present and money-back if not satisfied.

"Pete" <pjetson@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:45551a63@news.eftel.com...
> Of the real cheapies, which is the "best"?
>
> I'm looking for a SD STB to leave at a holiday house that (other than over
> Christmas) doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I'm not inclined to spend
> much money, but neither do I want to buy complete crap.
>
> Thanks, Peter

[Ext User(Pete)]

The Family wrote:

> I'm looking at buying one for my mum from Coles Supermarkets. $50 at
> present and money-back if not satisfied.

I picked up one of these on the way to work this morning, in case they
sold out quickly. It's an MTV model MSTB767, with composite video out
only (ie no s-video), and no aspect button on the remote.

Not sure how well (or whether!) it works yet, that'll have to wait until
I get home tonight.

Peter

[Supe]

Recently wanted a SD set top for my exercise room tele and obviously
didn't want to spend much as I only use it for 30 mins a day roughly.

Bought 3 different cheapy Sset tops and found that the Teac from Dick Smith
and the AWA from BIG W were very good. DO NOT buy the Bush brand from
Dick Smith, it was about the most demented piece of electronics I have ever
seen....

[Ext User(DJT)]

On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 09:43:42 +1100, Pete <pjetson@pobox.com> wrote:

>The Family wrote:
>
>> I'm looking at buying one for my mum from Coles Supermarkets. $50 at
>> present and money-back if not satisfied.
>
>I picked up one of these on the way to work this morning, in case they
>sold out quickly. It's an MTV model MSTB767, with composite video out
>only (ie no s-video), and no aspect button on the remote.
>
>Not sure how well (or whether!) it works yet, that'll have to wait until
>I get home tonight.
>
>Peter
I just bought one of those from Coles on Monday. It is going Back as
the sound is very low and I need to increase the volume of the TV 3
fold when I switch to the STB. Also I cannot remove the subtitles. I
press the subtitle button it shows as off but when the scene changes I
get the subtitles come back.
I thought I would try one but it was not sucessful.


DJT

[Ext User(Pete)]

DJT wrote:

> I just bought one of those from Coles on Monday. It is going Back as
> the sound is very low and I need to increase the volume of the TV 3
> fold when I switch to the STB. Also I cannot remove the subtitles. I
> press the subtitle button it shows as off but when the scene changes I
> get the subtitles come back.
> I thought I would try one but it was not sucessful.

Mine, on the other hand, seems perfect.

I have to admit that when I turned the subtitles on, I had a little
difficulty working out which remote control keypresses turned them off
again, but they definitely stayed off once turned off.

Also, the volume was a *little* lower on the STB compared to normal TV
channels, but that was easily fixed by raising the STB volume with the
remote control.

Signal strength and quality shows as 99% on all channels, which is a
little higher than with my other STB, which is a Kross. I'm in the
Dandenongs in outer east Melbourne, with no VHF signal available at all
- everything here is via probably one of the worst UHF translators in
Australia (Upwey - vertical polarity, low power, and the translator
itself does not have line of sight to the VHF towers - and that's not to
mention all the gum trees in the way between the translator and me!).

In the few hours I watched it (it's destined for another site), I didn't
notice any dropouts or "pixeling". We don't have rain in Melbourne any
more, so I'm not yet sure about how well it will work if the trees ever
get wet again.

If this unit had s-video output and an aspect button on the remote, I'd
definitely vote for it as "best in the ultra low cost class". Even
without those two features, it's still fantastic value.

Peter