i have to agree with you, the echostar is far superior to the humax hdr in terms of picture quality and ease of use, the interface is far better.

i took my echostar back the other day and purchased the humax yesterday, well the humax has gone back already. most of the usual issues that people complain about of the humax didn't even bother me, it was the picture that i couldn't put up with its just too soft, even on hd channels. i tried everything 576i-576p-720p-1080i and scart as well but just couldn't get e picture i was happy with, the echostar was miles better.

the only options left for me now is either go back to sky, they have offered me a new hd box and £50 credited to my account. or wait a while and see how echostar get on with their updates and then if successful buy another hds-600rs, they got a lot right with this box if only they had tested it properly first.

New forum member.

I've recently cancelled sky HD and bought the Echostar box for it's sling functionality - will install tomorrow and connect to my new BT Infinity broadband. I hope the issues members have highlighted will soon be resolved.

Noting the last post from Z3man - won't moving back to sky require a new 12 month contract? Is the Echostar box so bad that the faults won't be resolved before then?

I was getting a few failed recordings and other issues with my Thompson sky box.

hi and welcome to the forums.

yes moving back to sky will mean i will be entering a new 12 month contract, if i take out say a fairly basic £21 per month package, after the £50 deduction from my bill it will only cost me £202 for the year and for that i will get a brand new hd box and the extra channels so it is quite tempting. but i dont like sky so don't really want to go back to them.

i think echostar will try to sort out the problems fairly quickly, they have to as their reputation relies upon it as this is a new venture for them and they could make a good name for themselves, but who's to say they will get these problems put right at the first attempt, ive seen it many a time where manufacturers try to resolve issues with software updates and end up introducing new problems. i really hope they get it right at the first attempt as these boxes could be fantastic.

the only other gripe i have is the box is a bit noisy, but if i was to buy another one in the future it might be quieter with a bit of luck. i haven't mentioned it up to now but mine also had a lot of vibration noise, the outer plastic casing was vibrating against the inner metal casing near the fan housing, but i manage to stop it by wedging a bit of paper thin plastic between the two. i think there could just be one or two quality issues on early production models.

i really liked mine, its a shame i had to return it.

I think you can bet on it. Echostar's only previous own brand UK product was the T101. They started selling them in about late 2003 and the last went into the stores in 2005. In 2008 when the split NIT problem showed up they came up with a software upgrade and in addition to running a number of over air downloads, they upgraded boxes that were sent to them for free and returned them at their own expense. They're still providing that same service now for boxes that are up to seven years out of warranty.

It beats me how it can have taken some people years to have figured out that the channels are in the wrong order, but the fact that Echostar are still fixing them FOC with a friendly smile says everything about their commitment to their customers.

Echostar have been in business making satellite receivers for over 25 years. In the old analogue days they had a very good reputation & 20 years ago I would have loved to own an Echostar SR-4500 or SR-5500 receiver/positioner but couldn't afford it.

Installed my Echostar box yesterday. Fairly straight forward and all working well after upgrading the software. Am connected to BT Infinity broadband and getting good performance from iPlayer in HQ. Most of my problems have been with programming my Harmony One remote (a lot of teaching to do) to work with my set-up which includes a Pioneer plasma and Onkyo receiver plus DVD and Apple TV.

Only made one timed recording - Dr Who.; worked fine except it ended a minute or so before the credits. I've changed settings to add a minute before and three after - see how that goes. Have set up slingplayer and quite impressed. Should be fine to watch TV on laptops in other rooms. Have downloaded the iPhone app and again seems OK. Will try on wifi when out and about but doubt I'll be using 3G with my mean O2 data allowance.

So far happy with my decision to switch from skyHD.

No, they have different uses. Sure, official catch up services offer better image quality, but advantages of Echostar / Slingbox:

1) Covers all channels that you can receive, through a single interface
2) Watch live, or during recording
3) Schedule recordings remotely, which you can watch home or away
4) Integrated home and remote viewing - no hunting around for what you want to watch, delete what you've watched as you go, etc.
5) No time limits on availability for what you've recorded
6) Can be viewed worldwide (without VPN solutions)

So whilst the official catch up services offer better picture quality, and can work without installing additional software, there will always be distinct advantages to have Sling functionality - particularly if you travel a lot.

Still very happy with my Echostar box. Only one failed recording despite the fault admitted by the manufacturer.

iPlayer working well with BT infinity BB and very reasonable SD quality in HQ mode.

Slingplayer works very well on laptops (Macs) around the house and on iPhone in WiFi when away from home, but not 3G.

glad your happy, i am back in the market for a freesat box, its between this or one of the panasonic units.

when you say only one failed recording, how many is that out of?

have you heard anything from echostar as to when the update might be released?

Have you figured out how to get some support from either Echostar or Sling Media to get iPhone/iPad app fixed so that it works over 3G?

I'd say around 15-20. It recorded just 6 seconds of Aliens.

Not heard anything yet but haven't made direct contact - just keeping an eye on the website.

I haven't made contact with Echostar regarding the 3G issue. To be honest I'm not too worried as my O2 contract only provides 500MB data. I'll most likely use it when I have wifi.

Just tried mine and its working fine on 3G,
Over the last few days I have had a technical issue with the Ipad App, when it couldnt find the PVR, after checking the network, switching the box on manually and checking the settings on the PVR I decided that the app was at fault and reported it back. It now seems to be working fine so I still do not know if it was an app issue or user error!

New software version 117R is now available for download.

Hello all

I have just picked one of these units up, all working well now 117r is installed, but with one issue

I currently cannot log onto the slingbox via the Internet, I get the message

'sling player connection lost, please make sure your phone and slingbox are connected to the Internet and try again'

I recall when I had a sling box before I set port forwarding up through the slingbox setup wizard, I have tried the wizard but it's not compatible with the echostar.

I know how to set port forwarding on my router but am unsure how to set up on the echostar.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks in advance

Edit: All working fine over my IPad 3G, but still won't work over the iPhone 3G

As they are on different networks, would this be the issue?

The price has now dropped to £299 on both Amazon and John Lewis.

hi all,

can anyone tell me what improvements have been made with the new 117r software release. as you may have noticed from reading this thread i have already owned one of these and returned it due to the recording issues, it was running the 112r software at the time.

i have since tried the humax foxsat hdr and panasonic dmr-xs380, but as a pvr i think the echostar is the best due to its easy to use and impressive interface and speed as well, and also its excellent picture quality.

so can anyone tell me what improvements have been made, are recordings now reliable?

have there been any improvements made to the library, when i had one it didn't show you which channel you had made a recording from or mark which recordings you had watched, i just wondered if they had made any changes to these.

also my box was a bit noisy, what do you guys think of yours.


thanks.

http://www.myechostar.com/Support/Downloads.aspx[LIST][*]Improvements in handling of pre-set recordings (including timing issues)
[*]Improvements to the signal reception indicator
[*]Other general software improvements and enhancements[/LIST]

thanks for the link but i was the one that announced the release on here two days ago.

i am looking for some owner experience please on reliability and the software improvements and enhancements that were announced.


thanks

The only change I've noted so far is an increase in signal quality/strength on the indicators for both LNBs.

My box has never been noisy and generally worked very well from day one. I had a couple of timed recording failures so will wait to see if I get any more after the upgrade to 117R.

There doesn't seem to be any change to indicate "watched" recordings.

thanks for that.

please let me know if you get any failed recordings, i think i will give one of these another go as long as they have sorted the failed recordings thing properly.

I got the box last Tuesday, and the majority of my recordings failed.

I updated to 117r on Friday and have been running it for two days without any failures, it seems to have resolved the recording issue

thats good news, 117r seems to have worked then.

please let us know if you get any problems, i am going to give it a few more days before i order another one just to be on the safe side.

everyone else out there finding it reliable since the update?

has anyone give it a really good test like say, recording two programmes back to back on one channel whilst recording another programme on a different channel.

I did that last night. I'm using the timed recording setting (adding a minute at the end) as I've previously had recordings made using the Auto setting stop just before the end.

At the junction of the two back to back recordings I got a warning and suggestion to record the next programme at a later time - which I did. I suppose the back to back programmes were overlapping slightly requiring both tuners but I was watching another programme.