Cheap STB

[Ian Mitchell]

Looking to buy a standard def stb, only criteria is picture quality. Are the
products at the low-priced end of the market worth considering ? ie "Hot
Chip" etc.

[The Gadget Shop]

Some cheapies don't have digital sound out.... worth checking, esp if you
have an amp for it. I've only tried a Wintel and it did the job but only
has L-R RCA audio outs... I can do these for $250 delivered if you don't
need the digital sound outputs...

Cheers, Jason (remove === to reply)

Macrovision disablers
http://gadgets.shorturl.com

[Phil Sweeney]

Ian Mitchell wrote:
> Looking to buy a standard def stb, only criteria is picture quality. Are the
> products at the low-priced end of the market worth considering ? ie "Hot
> Chip" etc.

Check out the aus.tv.digital newsgroup.

The Teac DV-B300 is a great unit.

Phil

[Imolator]

I could also recommend the strong str5200 as they support optical and coaxial dolby digital 5.1, thats if they ever transmit anything other than dobly stereo on the standard definition channels.

[The Gadget Shop]

So there's no DD broadcasts yet? Just stereo?? I know foxtel is rolling
out hardware soon for DD audio, so it shouldn't be long for free to air?

Cheers, Jason (remove === to reply)

Macrovision disablers
http://gadgets.shorturl.com

[Imolator]

I've had the strong for about 3 mths now and other than the occasional movie with dolby digital stereo there has been no broadcast of any native 5.1 content. They might decide to only broadcast those on the HD channels.

Most of the time you just get pcm stereo although the abc has one channel that offers you the choice between a digital sound source or the pcm source.

[Kevin Hendrikssen]

"Imolator" <Imolator.y73je@no-mx.forums.eyo.com.au> wrote in message
news:Imolator.y73je@no-mx.forums.eyo.com.au...
>
> I've had the strong for about 3 mths now and other than the occasional
> movie with dolby digital stereo there has been no broadcast of any
> native 5.1 content. They might decide to only broadcast those on the
> HD channels.

Last Sunday the ABC broadcast the Australian Ballet's Wild Swans in DD5.1 on
SD. It's the second time ABC have broadcast in 5.1 on the SD channel - none
of the other networks have, although Ten and ABC have DD2.0 in Sydney (maybe
elsewhere as well).

Even on the HD channels I think there's been no 5.1 since McLeod's Daughters
finished on Nine.

[Imolator]

Thanks for the heads up Kevin not being a ballet fan I would never have known, it would be good if they did the same with their movies though.

[Kevin Hendrikssen]

"Imolator" <Imolator.y8vfo@no-mx.forums.eyo.com.au> wrote in message
news:Imolator.y8vfo@no-mx.forums.eyo.com.au...
>
> Thanks for the heads up Kevin not being a ballet fan I would never have
> known, it would be good if they did the same with their movies though.

I wasn't about to watch it either, but it was purely a chance to actually
witness 5.1 on SD, and see that it worked on my STB.

I really don't know why they don't transmit 5.1 more... the only reason I
can think of is that 5.1 was never a broadcast option before, and all the
source content up to now has only has Dolby Surround at best. makes you
wonder why they don't just throw a DVD in and play that.

[Imolator]

That would be just too simple, but honestly its got more to do with the fact that there are only about 200,000 of us out there. And of that amount who knows how many actually have boxes that can do 5.1.

[Kevin Hendrikssen]

"Imolator" <Imolator.yapn9@no-mx.forums.eyo.com.au> wrote in message
news:Imolator.yapn9@no-mx.forums.eyo.com.au...
>
> That would be just too simple, but honestly its got more to do with the
> fact that there are only about 200,000 of us out there. And of that
> amount who knows how many actually have boxes that can do 5.1.

I think most SD boxes being sold now are DD5.1 capable -- and all HD ones of
course.

The Teac DVB300 (SD) didn't when it was released, but they have since
released a firmware upgrade to enable this feature.