Budget Box: 500s or Openbox/Skybox ?

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  • olly330
    Newbie
    • Feb 2011
    • 9

    #1

    Budget Box: 500s or Openbox/Skybox ?

    I have had a few different enigma 2 boxes, dm800hd se and a VU+ Duo which is sweet, these are all gone now as I have had to sell my VU+ Duo to fund a Humax HDR T2.

    Im back in the market for another box, got to be cheap, HD doesn***8217;t matter but I would like it to record, preferably to usb drive.

    My main aim is to line up say 10 movies a week to record to a USB drive, set the record timer and then let the box do its business over the week. I would also watch some sports on the box too, but wouldn***8217;t need to record these.

    First option is a dm500s from dealextreme, but I have heard that they cannot record to USB, but only to a network drive. I have a USB drive plugged into my router, so this may work.
    Questions regarding dm500s:
    - Will it record to a 1TB drive mounted on a router (orange brightbox router)
    - is the box stable and usable, in reality does it record well or is it pretty slow and laggy
    - what are the quality of the recordings like
    - how slow/laggy does are these old dm500s compared to a dm800se, in terms of channel changeover etc


    My other option is to get a Skybox/Openbox variant. I don***8217;t know much about these, there seems to be so many and its confusing, S9, S10, S11, Skybox F3 ???? So many. I have read these don***8217;t have an EPG ? Just now and next. The plus is I have read that they can record directly to a USB drive plugged in, which is the best option for me really as in theory this should be simpler and more stable than a network drive.

    Questions regarding Openbox/Skybox:
    - Which is the best one to get !
    - I know they dont have a proper epg - but say you click on a channel, then it brings up now and next - does it can you keep clicking next to see whats on for the rest of the day or next few days?
    - When you record a programme, will it bring up the programme information/title in the recording?
    - Can you make a bunch of autotimer's and then turn the box into standy, and the box will wake itself up and do the recordings?



    So if you wanted to line up a list of movies to record over a week, which box would you get? Would you choose another over the 500s or Openbox/Skybox variants ?
    Which is the faster box say for channel changeover, and which has the better remote as I know from experience the dreambox remotes are pretty crap and too stiff.

    Or lets say I give up on the idea of recording altogether, would you get a dm500s or a Openbox/Skybox ?

    Cheers in advance.
    Last edited by olly330; 22 March, 2013, 14:53.
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