Dismay

[The Soulman]

Well folks my eagerly awaited Open Media 500cs arrived today,
wasting no time I unpacked the unit and proceeded to connect it via scart lead to a spare TV that I have, I connected the mains power cable and switched the plug socket on, at this point I had not yet connected either a Satellite input nor a cable input (I have both) as my intention was to simply have a browse of the various menus and familiarise myself with them.

The box powered up ok going straight to the Green power light and the "Open Media" screen appeared, I navigated through a couple of the menus just to see what the various settings, etc looked like, as I was working my way through the menus the box stopped responding to the remote control and appeared to have frozen / locked up.

I proceeded to power down / disconnect the box from the mains for a couple of minutes before powering back up again, upon re-applying mains power the box did not power up or show either the stand by or power LED's, I tried powering the box on / off numerous times over the next Fifteen minutes or so, only to find that sometimes the box would either not power up at all, power up into stand by mode or power up and go straight to the Green "ON" status, during all of this the unit only gave a picture output to the TV Three times.

Also the unit when it did manage to power up only responded to the remote twice, first time was the initial out of the box power up and once more after that, both times the unit eventually locked up / froze and stopped responding to the remote as I navigated my way through the menus.

I contacted Skywonder were I purchased the box from and spoke to a guy who recommended that I e-mail there support team to organise a replacement, I did that straight away explaining all the problems I was experiencing just as I have above.
(Still awaiting a reply but I only e-mailed them this afternoon)

I have to say I wasn't particularly impressed with the build quality but having said that and being a realist for the price you should not expect too much, if the replacement unit works as it is supposed to I'll be happy enough to live with the less than Rolls Royce finish.

Question is, has anyone experienced anything similar with their OpenMedia 500cs either when new or after a period of time ?,

Regards,
The Soulman.

[badboy123]

Well every so often if I turn the box of from the mains and then turn the mains back on again, the box doesn't turn on, i.e no green light or anything...to solve this I have to turn the mains back off and then on again and all starts working as per usual...Other than that, nothing too major...

[The Soulman]

Well every so often if I turn the box of from the mains and then turn the mains back on again, the box doesn't turn on, i.e no green light or anything...to solve this I have to turn the mains back off and then on again and all starts working as per usual...Other than that, nothing too major...

During the time that I was trying to get the unit to power up I must have turned the mains switch / socket on and off Five or Six times before it eventually came on (Still not responding to remote control / appearing frozen / locked up).

Why would a set top box (Or any other electronic device for that matter) not power up or show any sign of mains power being applied when mains voltage is being supplied to it ?.

[wilf]

I havent experienced any of the problems that you have, i did however read every thread about this box before i purchased it. no it doesnt have the looks or the build of as you say a rolls royce but remember it is a cloned box and for around the 100 quid mark for 2 boxes in one it was as much as i could have expected. If there was 1 thing i would definately remember from my 2 weeks of research it was to make sure that the box was fully switched off at the mains prior to changing from the sat to cable side or viceversa and have read numerous times where peeps had crashed the box by not doing this, i did however copy 1 of the other posters (metalkettle) and i cant for the life of me find the thread it was in but who had a great idea of putting a switch from an old table lamp into the mains cable so that i didnt have to keep pulling the plug each time and its so much easier. also with this box i have noticed that it gets warm, so would make sure that it is well ventilated.

[The Soulman]

I havent experienced any of the problems that you have, i did however read every thread about this box before i purchased it. no it doesnt have the looks or the build of as you say a rolls royce but remember it is a cloned box and for around the 100 quid mark for 2 boxes in one it was as much as i could have expected. If there was 1 thing i would definately remember from my 2 weeks of research it was to make sure that the box was fully switched off at the mains prior to changing from the sat to cable side or viceversa and have read numerous times where peeps had crashed the box by not doing this, i did however copy 1 of the other posters (metalkettle) and i cant for the life of me find the thread it was in but who had a great idea of putting a switch from an old table lamp into the mains cable so that i didnt have to keep pulling the plug each time and its so much easier. also with this box i have noticed that it gets warm, so would make sure that it is well ventilated.

I agree 100% Wilf with regard to the build quality, I'm a realist and for the price the Open Media 500cs appears to be a very tempting option / alternative , as I've said I would be more than happy to live with the build quality if the unit as they say "Does what it says on the tin".
(I'll have to await the replacement to find out if it does.)

Also Wilf remember this unit is brand new out of the box today and considering my initial experiences / problems with it, coupled with the build quality, I must admit this has left me wondering if I've maybe made a mistake in opting to go down the Open Media 500cs route.

[wilf]

i pretty sure when you get new one you will be impressed with it soulman, you were just unlucky to get the bad one of the batch, at least skywonder have a good reputation with posters on here for getting these probs sorted out. good luck and hope your soon up and running

[The Soulman]

i pretty sure when you get new one you will be impressed with it soulman, you were just unlucky to get the bad one of the batch, at least skywonder have a good reputation with posters on here for getting these probs sorted out. good luck and hope your soon up and running

Ok Wilf, thanks for that.

So guys, has anyone else had anything similar to what I have described happen to their unit, in your guys experience, do the symptoms that I have outlined point to anything imparticular being at fault,

Regards,
The Soulman.

[cloudnineuk54]

mines working perfectly,and for the money its real value,picture quality is spot on,in fact the best box ive had,and i thought my dbox would take some beating,but this just edges it,im very happy with mine

[EAMO 2]

[QUOTE=The Soulman;253995]Ok Wilf, thanks for that.

So guys, has anyone else had anything similar to what I have described happen to their unit, in your guys experience, do the symptoms that I have outlined point to anything imparticular being at fault,

Send it back
I bought 2 units flashed both with Dk 1.1 cable/sat
1unit was fine, had to replace CAP. in other (froze after flash)
The replacement cap. was far superior quality to origin. cap.
Basically you are buying a clone(inferior.quality) but priced reasonably
Better option get a Dream500c +a Dream500s, both are clones but quality
seems OK.& are so compact 2 DREAM not much bigger than 1 O.med.
Big drawback with O.med.; you must unplug unit to change cable/sat
and there is no power switch on unit. Sat/cable change switch is at rear of unit, not always ideal.

[The Soulman]

E-mailed Skywonder support yesterday afternoon and as of yet I'm still awaiting a reply, it does mention on their website that it can be 24 to 48hrs to receive a reply but I was sort of hoping that they would deal with this quickly as the unit was faulty straight out of the box.

Would there be any members on here connected with Skywonder who I could contact and maybe hurry things along a little as I'm eager to send this unit back and hopfully get my hands on a fully functional box ?,

Regards,
The Soulman

[EAMO 2]

[QUOTE=The Soulman;

Would there be any members on here connected with Skywonder who I could contact and maybe hurry things along a little as I'm eager to send this unit back and hopfully get my hands on a fully functional box ?,

Not connected with S.W. but will be talking to Pritz on monday & will ask
him to check his mail. You could re-send e-mail & put after title
"Att. Pritz" that should speed it up. I would already have posted that box
to them, or if you're in Manchester area bring it round to them & pick up
replacement

[The Soulman]

[quote=EAMO 2;254991][QUOTE=The Soulman;

Would there be any members on here connected with Skywonder who I could contact and maybe hurry things along a little as I'm eager to send this unit back and hopfully get my hands on a fully functional box ?,

Not connected with S.W. but will be talking to Pritz on monday & will ask
him to check his mail. You could re-send e-mail & put after title
"Att. Pritz" that should speed it up. I would already have posted that box
to them, or if you're in Manchester area bring it round to them & pick up
replacement[/quote]

Ok mate, thanks for that, I've re-sent the original e-mail with the "Att Pritz" heading, hopefully he'll be in touch soon, I haven't sent it back yet as I don't have their address, (Not on the website) and it says on their website to contact them first to raise an RMA number,

Regards,
The Soulman.

[EAMO 2]

[QUOTE=The Soulman;255130][quote=EAMO 2;254991]

Ok mate, thanks for that, I've re-sent the original e-mail with the "Att Pritz" heading, hopefully he'll be in touch soon, I haven't sent it back yet as I don't have their address, (Not on the website) and it says on their website to contact them first to raise an RMA number,

Sure you'll be looked after. P.M. me if not.

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

Hows the story gone?

[EAMO 2]

Hows the story gone?

Soulman P.M.'d me last night to say Skywonder had contacted him about
replacing his faulty openmedia.