We recently installed a satellite dish, and hooked it up to a Openbox satellite receiver. All works fine; but not too happy with the Openbox, main issues are:

Buttons on remote are a bit small and fiddly.
On screen overlay UI is a bit ugly.
Limited programme information available (and multiple button presses to get it up).
Overall UI experience, just okay, not great.

It's this one on amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Openbox-V8S...llite+receiver

So, looking for advice, on which alternative STB to get...

Will a sky box work? Probably could get one on eBay.

Also, is it possible to have some kind of setup where the receiver takes 2 inputs from the dish, and one of those is sent over local-network WIFI to another box in another room (to play on a TV in another room).

Thanks.

Linky no worky.

That link is broken.

A Sky box will receive various free channels without any subscription. However if you want the ability to record you either have to pay Sky a monthly fee for the function or pay a one off fee for a Freesat box. There are channels on the Free Sky service that you might not get on Freesat but all the main channels are on both.

There is a box that can connect to a dish and connect to other boxes in other rooms over a network connection. It's called Sky Q. But obviously you have to subscribe to that service plus it will almost certainly require the LNB on your dish to be swapped out.

I am not aware of any free (as in non-subscription) device that does anything remotely similar. The nearest you would get, assuming you want the second TV to be able to watch independently of the first is to have two boxes and a video sender of some sort. And if you are going to install two boxes may as well run the cable to the second TV location and install the box there.

Shame you have already bought this but a Humax freesat listed below is a really good set top box 500gb.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HUMAX-HB-1...gAAOSwT6pVy2ix

Hi All,

Sorry about the broken link; it's an Openbox v8s (latest model I think). Anyhow, will be returning that and have already ordered a Humax HB-1000 S ... which looks very nice (saw someone navigating around the UI on YouTube). Apparently, it's also a proper Freesat box, which the Openbox isn't. Not sure what that means exactly, any ideas?

Thanks again.

It's a good choice, I have had several Humax boxes over the years for different rooms and I always like to keep a Humax Freesat in the lounge since giving up SKY because I can get regional programmes such as Sportscene in Scotland and my wife likes keeping in touch with news from her area in Teeside especially when the steel crisis hit.

Humax also consistently roll out software updates.

The Openbox is usually sold with a gift to recieve sky channels but the box is slow and poor and EPG is only now and next most of the time.

I've never had an issue with my Openbox, if you accept that you're getting something relatively cheap , do not expect it to come with loads of features. It's a very basic box yes but it actually has a nifty tuner, I use mine with a motorised dish and it picks up low signal feeds that a Technomate and Enigma2 box couldn't. OK yes I agree with you that the UI is poor but if you know what channel you want to watch and when, it's fine. I tend to use online TV listing websites to find out what's on, on various satellite channels.

Saying that, If you are looking for something to replace a sky box and to be used on a fixed dish at 28.2e, I appreciate that the Openbox is probably not a good replacement. You would want something with a full 7 day EPG.

Fine for a bedroom or kitchen maybe i wouldn't want to use it as a main box
I recently got an Edison OS Mini which is working great after some teething problems.
I was coming from a VU+ Solo2 but they are not worth the price nowadays.

From what I can see, it doesn't record... Am I missing something?