What are good reliable easy to use and not slow Sat boxes...

[PJD]

I have had a Openbox for the past 11 months which for the money has been very good, the only negatives i found with it are, it is not very user friendly (I have been a Sky user for the past 15 years)
Also you cannot record on the box either.

My old Sky box I was hoping to use as a freesat recorder box which I unpluged before its end date in January but this did not work so I either want to buy a freeSat recorder box OR another Sat box

I currently have the basic Sky Package with HD and am happy with that which has a 500GB HD
So something similar would be good

I have looked at Freesat boxes and for around ?200 you can get a Humax twin tuner which seems quite good

So what are my options for a Sat box for around ?200 I would like a twin tuner and around 500GB HD
It needs to have a user friendly menu and EPG and not be slow to operate

Also what ever I buy needs to be plug and play

I have 2 spare Coax from my Sky dish and also an Ethernet cable.

[PJD]

Looking at some of the threads the Zgemma H.2s seems to be a good choice, are these user friendly as in speed of it when in use?

[martin035]

Yes, they are user friendly once setup. Setting up can be tricky for the newbie but there's plenty of guides and backup images about that will help you, once setup the box requires very little user maintance.

The H series zgemma are also very quick compared to the older original zgemma and with the ability to put skin packs on the menus/EPG can resemble a sky box.

[Hadron]

I have had a Openbox for the past 11 months which for the money has been very good, the only negatives i found with it are, it is not very user friendly (I have been a Sky user for the past 15 years)
Also you cannot record on the box either...

You can record from an Openbox via an external HDD. If you buy a Zgemma, you will also need an external HDD.

If you are considering a Freesat box, then that indicates that you are not that interested in the premium channels. So it depends on what your needs are. A FTA Freesat box with built in HDD & no setting up whatsoever, or a box like a Zgemma H.2S which requires some setting up & needs an external HDD, but with the ability to watch "extra" channels.

There are some boxes, such as the VU range, that have room inside for an internal HDD if you want it "all in one".

[PJD]

I am not really that bothered about any extra premium channels, it is simply a box to record some junk on that I can watch in the bedroom before I go to sleep (I am not a fan of watching adverts so would like the ability to fast forward them)
I already have an external HDD that is surplus to requirements so could use that, the reason I do not like the Open box is because of the channel layout, and although it works I am too used to using Sky

I do like the idea of the Humax Freesat box as I bought my parents 1 last Christmas and it was simple to use although I did notice there was a bit of lag when using it.
But if I can get a Zgemma H.2s for similar money it will be worth it in the long run as I can have a 'Sky' looking skin and the user menu will be very similar to what I am already used to and also maybe so extra channels.
I also need to buy 4 x extra remotes for what ever box I buy as I have it set up to be viewed on all the other TV's in the house the remotes are coming in at ?2.99 each on fleabay which is another bonus, there twice the price for the Humax

I have not yet looked at the VU range, Ill have a quick google now and have a gander...

[PJD]

The VU range seem quite pricey compared to the Zgemma H.2s, I have noticed that you can purchase the Zgemma already setup on Fleabay so I am thinking that may be the route that I take, I love the fact that the setup is very similar to Sky, It will make it more pleasurable to use.

[Hadron]

The VU range seem quite pricey compared to the Zgemma H.2s, I have noticed that you can purchase the Zgemma already setup on Fleabay so I am thinking that may be the route that I take, I love the fact that the setup is very similar to Sky, It will make it more pleasurable to use.

Be careful if it has an OpenVix image installed, as they cannot be updated without bricking the box.

When I bought my H.2H on Ebay, I bought the cheapest I could find. I wasn't bothered about what image it came with as the first thing I did when I got it was to flash it with martin035's excellent OpenATV backup image:-

http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/523284-Zgemma-H-Series-(H-s-H-2s)-Openatv5-3-Backup-Image

[PJD]

Thanks for the advice, I will keep that in mind

[PJD]

The time has to to get my new box, I'm almost certain I will go with the Zgemma,
I have an external hard drive I want to use with it, can I set the timers on it to record and leave the box in standby mode (Like you do with any recorder box) or does it have to be switched on and on the channel that I want recording to be able to record on the box

[tonyc59]

I would recommend the Edision OSmini twin tuner it will run you about ?100 but is a really fast reliable box or if you have a bit more cash the OS Mega triple tuner great spec on it and has an added cable tuner