Technomate TM-1500 CI+

[stevenjonas]

It's nearly 10 years since I bought this machine for my wife to watch German, Italian & French TV. (She's a translator & watches/listens to keep her languages up to date.). As you may have seen elsewhere, our old CRT has gone & a new digital TV bought. As the TM-1500 CI+ has no HDMI socket or HD, I assumed that I would need to replace it. My wife has indicated that she feels no need to watch any of her foreign channels in HD & that SD will do. I see that there are scart to HDMI converters/upscalers) about, clearly cheaper than a new satellite receiver.
The complication is that we are also having a house extension & this will involve all our AV equipment being a long way from the living room & kitchen TVs.
To deal with this I propose buying an HDMI to Cat6 matrix.
The 3 feeds are intended to be terrestrial TV, Blue Ray discs & satellite TV.
The satellite TV feed will need to be converted from its ****ogue scart feed to a digital HDMI one.
Does anyone have any views/experience of these converters/upscalers?

[digicon]

For the price of a half decent one it may be prudent to change the receiver to a new one which will already come with HDMI, some of the cheaper ones come in at around ?40

[stevenjonas]

Many thanks. Which cheap ones do you recommend that I look at first?

[digicon]

Assuming where you dish is located at the moment which i assume with the languages would be 19.2? east then even for the FTA channels something like the Skybox F3/F5 etc.. from ebay should set you back about ?50

[stevenjonas]

Thanks. I've never been a Sky subscriber, so I'm showing my ignorance here too. Yes, the German, Austrian & Swiss FTA channels are based at 19.2? east but I understood that Sky boxes were limited to Sky channels. When I have looked at my mother's Sky box, I cannot find a way of finding non - Sky channels?

[digicon]

No sorry your getting confused with the official receiver the Skybox F5s or F3s are HD FTA receivers as standard have a look on Ebay for an example

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKYBOX-F3s-Replacing-F3-Black-100-Original-free-sat-/221482250275?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_TV_Receivers&hash=item33915ef023

[ramjet]

its either a badly chosen name , , or a ploy to mislead people into thinking these third party boxes are official (they were called the openbox once)

forget the official amstrad and panny and thompson boxes etc, these are alternatives, like your old technomate , another alternative you may like is the spiderbox 6000 or tm5402 but they cost more

[stevenjonas]

So is everyone advising me that scart to HDMI converters/upscalers don't work?

[digicon]

So is everyone advising me that scart to HDMI converters/upscalers don't work?

No Certainly not but for the cost of a decent one you can pick up a brand new HD satellite receiver

[stevenjonas]

So much has happened since I was researching this end of the matter that I'm having to dredge up files from the 'never likely to be needed again' memory banks. My recollection is that, just as Sky satellite receivers will not pick up foreign satellite channels, neither will FreeSat boxes such as the Humax 1000S series or some of the Manhattan boxes. Am I correct? I'm also amazed at the number of receivers being sold new which do not have HDMI outputs. I note that, on eBay there are many very basic Golden Interstar HD FTA satellite receivers for ?39.95. I suspect that my TM-1500 CI+ is a better machine but the big question is, if that is correct, whether it is still better when connected to a scart/HDMI converter/upscaler? Or whether I the end result would be better buying the cheapest digital device? The message I seem to be getting from this forum is to buy the cheap digital box?

[ramjet]

So much has happened since I was researching this end of the matter that I'm having to dredge up files from the 'never likely to be needed again' memory banks. My recollection is that, just as Sky satellite receivers will not pick up foreign satellite channels, neither will FreeSat boxes such as the Humax 1000S series or some of the Manhattan boxes. Am I correct?

no, its just that they have limited capabilities like the transponders they can scan whereas the other boxes including the tm1500 can scan with various transponder details so can pick up channels the official sly box cannot. the official box is also clunky when trying to add extra channels as its so dependent on the bespoke software it uses for 28e. it also has no diseqc capabilities either; I believe some freesat boxes allow for multiple satellites but may have limitations similar to the above

however, some modern tv,s like my sony smart tv can be set for 4 satellites using simple diseqc and so can be used for freesat purposes and also for "foreign" channels from suitable dishes and lnbs, so it all depends on your setup in the end, and what item can do what purpose (or not)

I note that, on eBay there are many very basic Golden Interstar HD FTA satellite receivers for ?39.95. I suspect that my TM-1500 CI+ is a better machine but the big question is, if that is correct, whether it is still better when connected to a scart/HDMI converter/upscaler? Or whether I the end result would be better buying the cheapest digital device? The message I seem to be getting from this forum is to buy the cheap digital box?

the tm1500 is a basic SD box with serial cable updating , no usb and no ethernet so has a lot of modern features missing (I have one in the loft somewhere) and even these cheap HD boxes have far more to offer including HD , ethernet , usb updating and other options. they also have hdmi outputs built in so no conversion required

if you think about it, a tv like mine doesnt even need the box attached if going for freesat as its built into the tv (scanning , diseqc , hd output), plus it has built in wifi too

whilst the tm1500 was good 10 years ago, there is no way I would use it in these modern times at all compared to my HD boxes or HD smart tv

I havemt commented on your original question as I have never used them at all, I also never would as I prefer a box or tv in the place being used with cables to it (satellite , ethernet etc)

I think the point I and digicon are making is you are over-complicating the issues and also the more tech you have, the more problems you can get, so I dismiss your converter idea as being in that category (you are free to decide for yourself and decide to override other members views as its your prerogative) . I have never seen any upscaled picture looking better than native HD from a bespoke HD device either

so my advice is and always will be to stick a HD box near the tv and cable to it with cat5 or cat6 (or use wifi) and also have rf aerial and sat cables available for terrestrial and satellite

[stevenjonas]

Many thanks. Very helpful, like all the responses. I think I'll go for the basic Golden Interstar HD FTA satellite receiver for ?39.95 on eBay.