i had sky installed 8 months ago now and now this is the 2nd faulty amstrad drx-550 the first one kept saying the batteries were dead all the time now the 2nd one the front light keeps going off and it turns it self off
I'm in dire need of a new Sky box - I haven't had one in my room since the summer!! I'm not willing to go second-hand anymore, and wanted the Amstrad DRX-550, but unfortunately it is no longer available from new, and as I have already tried the Thomson DSI 4214 which was dreadful, my only choice is to get the Pace DS440N.
Before anybody says that I should go buy the old Pace DS430N, I've had one of those and wasn't impressed. The unit had a major problem with the RGB output which resulted in horizontal lines around curved red, green and blue objects and graphics, making the outlines appear jagged instead of smooth which messed up the detail!! Why people say this is the best box I'll never know. :rolleyes:
digitalsatman, can you please list all the problems with the new Pace DS440N? Thanks.
Before anybody says that I should go buy the old Pace DS430N, I've had one of those and wasn't impressed. The unit had a major problem with the RGB output which resulted in horizontal lines around curved red, green and blue objects and graphics, making the outlines appear jagged instead of smooth which messed up the detail!! Why people say this is the best box I'll never know. :rolleyes:
Simple, out of all the boxes they are the most robust (I think you were just unlucky). Also, if I'm not mistaken, they have very selective tuners.
The Pace ...... suffers from a very annoying 'whistle'.
Certainly some early batches did - I think it reasonable to consider that later batches probably don't. If that isn't the case, then their Field Returns and Quality Control systems are up the creek.
Certainly some early batches did - I think it reasonable to consider that later batches probably don't. If that isn't the case, then their Field Returns and Quality Control systems are up the creek.
Considering they are made in CHINA - I doubt they have any 'quality control system' in place.
Last I heard Pace were denying there were any problems, the fact the dealers were refusing to accept Pace boxes and returning hundreds of whistling ones seems to have escaped their notice?.
A Sky dealer on eBay told me today that the Thomson is no longer being produced. Anybody know if this is correct? This would mean only Pace flow boxes currently in production.
Garbage! Pace, Thomson and Amstrad are still in operation.
Thought so.
digitalsatman, as you seem to know a lot, can you please tell me why the Amstrad's are nowhere to be found at the moment? Have they temporarily stopped producing them? And is the rumour that Samsung manufacture them, true? If so, this could be why the Amstrad DRX-550 is the best flow box, as Samsung are a good manufacturer.
Markelliott: The Pace's suffer from problems such as reboots, and most likely what you say above. The Amstrad is the one I would personally recommend for the most reliable digibox at the moment, but no, Samsung may only manufacture the hard drives in the Sky+ boxes. The latest Sky+ boxes seem to be good, but the earlier revisions of the PVR3 were appalling. Samsung and Amstrad are completely different manufacturers, but may work together on some things.
Can someone please help. Yesterday, I purchased an Amstrad DRX-550 Sky Digibox off eBay, which was stated as brand new and sealed. I had an e-mail earlier from the seller, and they say that they have to break the seal to put the remote in the box, as they are now supplied seperately. Is this correct?
That is a very good question. The answer is that boxes and remotes now get shipped seperately, and it is impossible to get the remotes inside the box, so they just make sure the installer picks some up before going out to do the installs.
That is a very good question. The answer is that boxes and remotes now get shipped seperately, and it is impossible to get the remotes inside the box, so they just make sure the installer picks some up before going out to do the installs.
Happy New Year.
Tom
Cheers for that digitalsatman. Happy New Year to you as well.
I'll confirm as well - Sky digiboxes come without remotes, the remoptes and batteries are supplied seperately - we unpack every box and insert the remotes.
As for the lack of Amstrads it's simply because everyone wants them - they are the best Flow box available - and I REALLY hate to say that!.
We had a delivery of Amstrad's last week - we're refusing to accept Pace ones, but accept Thomson if pushed!.
I'll confirm as well - Sky digiboxes come without remotes, the remoptes and batteries are supplied seperately - we unpack every box and insert the remotes.
As for the lack of Amstrads it's simply because everyone wants them - they are the best Flow box available - and I REALLY hate to say that!.
We had a delivery of Amstrad's last week - we're refusing to accept Pace ones, but accept Thomson if pushed!.
Cheers for that Nigel.
I've managed to get an Amstrad DRX-550, and have a huge smile on my face.
When I was looking on various digibox Web sites a couple of weeks ago, the Amstrad's were out of stock on every site I visited, but taking a look today, I can see some of them are now starting to get stocks again. Nigel, what site you work for? Hope you don't mind me asking.
What I don't get is if they can make such a good flow digibox, why are their Sky+ PVR3 boxes the worst. In theory, their Sky+ box would be of the same high standards, but the Thomson one is much better, with Pace on top.
I haven't got my Amstrad flow box yet, but previously tried one of the Thomson flow boxes. The build quality of the thing was superb (you could chuck it off a block of flats, and it wouldn't break), pitty it's internals weren’t up to the same standard!! :mad:
We had an Amstrad (think it was the DRX300 model) when we first went on Sky almost five years ago. Just after the year's warranty had ran out, we started to get major problems with the picture freezing on every channel and the only way of resolving it was to switch to another channel and back again. when a picture froze, if we did nothing it would still be the same picture in two hours time!
We went out about bought a new Sony Digibox which we have had almost 3 years now and the only problem is that we occasionally (every few weeks/months) have to reset it by unplugging and plugging it back in because the picture just goes blank.
So in my opinion the worst boxes are Amstrad, after our trouble with that Digibox, I don't think we'll ever get anything made by Amstrad again.
Comments
Before anybody says that I should go buy the old Pace DS430N, I've had one of those and wasn't impressed. The unit had a major problem with the RGB output which resulted in horizontal lines around curved red, green and blue objects and graphics, making the outlines appear jagged instead of smooth which messed up the detail!! Why people say this is the best box I'll never know. :rolleyes:
digitalsatman, can you please list all the problems with the new Pace DS440N? Thanks.
Unlucky? I don't think so. The RGB problem on the 430N has been reported on here by many other users, not just me.
Considering they are made in CHINA - I doubt they have any 'quality control system' in place.
Last I heard Pace were denying there were any problems, the fact the dealers were refusing to accept Pace boxes and returning hundreds of whistling ones seems to have escaped their notice?.
The Thomson DSI 4214 suffers from these problems -
1. Horizontal lines in the video.
2. Ugly blue letterbox bars instead of black.
3. Picture shifted excessively over to the left.
So you are saying that the Pace DS440N suffers from these as well?
I just want to confirm that this is correct, as I haven't seen any reports of these issues on the Pace.
Thought so.
digitalsatman, as you seem to know a lot, can you please tell me why the Amstrad's are nowhere to be found at the moment? Have they temporarily stopped producing them? And is the rumour that Samsung manufacture them, true? If so, this could be why the Amstrad DRX-550 is the best flow box, as Samsung are a good manufacturer.
Tom
Any advice would be great.
Thank you.
Perhaps digitalsatman or someone else can explain why the Sky remote controls now come seperate to the digiboxes.
Happy New Year.
Tom
Cheers for that digitalsatman. Happy New Year to you as well.
As for the lack of Amstrads it's simply because everyone wants them - they are the best Flow box available - and I REALLY hate to say that!.
We had a delivery of Amstrad's last week - we're refusing to accept Pace ones, but accept Thomson if pushed!.
Cheers for that Nigel.
I've managed to get an Amstrad DRX-550, and have a huge smile on my face.
When I was looking on various digibox Web sites a couple of weeks ago, the Amstrad's were out of stock on every site I visited, but taking a look today, I can see some of them are now starting to get stocks again. Nigel, what site you work for? Hope you don't mind me asking.
I can only imagine it was an accident?
We went out about bought a new Sony Digibox which we have had almost 3 years now and the only problem is that we occasionally (every few weeks/months) have to reset it by unplugging and plugging it back in because the picture just goes blank.
So in my opinion the worst boxes are Amstrad, after our trouble with that Digibox, I don't think we'll ever get anything made by Amstrad again.