DM500 or DM518

**ad5** · 25-01-10, 01:36 PM

I am looking at getting another Dreambox for a friend. I got a DM500 a while back (prob clone) but now notice the DM518 is around. What are the pros and cons of each model? in other words which one should I go for?

**allstarnz** · 25-01-10, 02:13 PM

well, is it even an official product?

isn't listed here

**ad5** · 25-01-10, 03:11 PM

Several listings selling DM518s on this site....

**urban_s0ulja** · 25-01-10, 04:12 PM

Its not a official dream product - none of them are.

Advantages of the DM518?
All in one unit (internal power supply)
Power switch on back of box
Component output on back of box (no scart - component cable required)
Nice black colour sleek unit.
Its the better , upgraded newer model.

Works exactly the same as DM500(images/flashing etc)

Just a new way of doing the same thing.

Had a play with the DM518's that came in today.
Pretty impressed.

Ill take some pictures if you guys are keen

**urban_s0ulja** · 25-01-10, 04:51 PM

External

**dibbz** · 25-01-10, 04:57 PM

I've heard reports back from a friend with a number of 500s clones that his new 518 he got recently from Fernbay has the best picture of them all.

Given the amount of different 500s clones it's hard to make a statement about the quality of their picture in general.

**theriddler_1** · 25-01-10, 05:05 PM

the only disavantage if it is one at all , no plugin tunner. Its part of the mainboard and is not removable. However one of the selling points are a more stable tunner so I guess it should have the problems that the DM500's have?
Mainboard looks like this

Upgraded - Motherboard
NEW Style Case BLACK - Same as DM 600 PVR
Power On / Off Switch At the Rear ( Very Handy )
.stable lnb TUNER on borad
Better sound quality
stable ethernet connection circuits
individual MAC address for each DM518
direct Component output
smooth synchronous picture and sound

**the1magoo** · 25-01-10, 05:16 PM

And no SCART or LNB out by the looks?

**theriddler_1** · 25-01-10, 05:22 PM

not sure why you would want to have scart out when the outputs you need are in rca format , and as for LNB out , thats pretty useless if you using the pay services as they switch between V and H depending on what channel you are on so the reciever plunged into the lnb out would drop out anyway

**jtc2005** · 25-01-10, 06:03 PM

Not much difference to the 500.
Pros: included PS Unit. Better Tuner. Also: Remote Control Sensor works further and is more sensitive..

But if you want a better box, go for the Mutant 200s.

**Fattious** · 25-01-10, 06:04 PM

I have one of Fernbay's DM518. Very happy with it and would buy one over a DM500.

To further explain picture quality, I have had several DM500's in the past. The DM518 I have offers better contrast and is more dynamic in colour saturation. The DM518 does not have over-exposure that is noticed with the DM500 on channels like NHK World on D2 where very light colours just come out as pure white. I really began to notice when channel 7 Brisbane was added to the C1/D3 bird, watching the 6PM news it seemed to be lacking in deep colour vibrancy on the DM500 when compared to the DVB-T box. At first the DM518 looked over-saturated but I have now become accustomed to it and it looks great.

The only downside I have found is that as the IR receiver is recessed further inside the box, the area which the remote control works is narrower. The LED's are also perpendicular too so they are not as easy to see. Have been considering changing the orientation of these, but I am following the "if it works" rule.

**bigboy** · 25-01-10, 11:51 PM

Does the cooling fan still run in standby mode on the DM500, DM518 and DM600 like my DM800 ?

**jimbo123** · 26-01-10, 05:38 PM

Question to those that have one,... when hooked up to a 16:9 display. How does it behave when displaying 4:3 transmissions ? Does it put up the black bars on either side like the 7020 or stretch it like the 500 ?

**urban_s0ulja** · 26-01-10, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by bigboy

Does the cooling fan still run in standby mode on the DM500, DM518 and DM600 like my DM800 ?

No inbuilt cooling fan, heatsink on the proc. though.

**Fattious** · 27-01-10, 10:18 PM

4:3 transmissions stretch out to 16:9 so they are out of aspect just like the DM500. School of thought is that this is a CPU limitation.

**LeroyPatrol** · 27-01-10, 10:39 PM

Got one here in front of me at the moment. It's like a DM500 with a small amount of performance enhancing drugs. As mentioned, inbuilt psu with aussie plug which would be easier to service if it failed (caps??), has power switch on back, component out so no need for scart to component lead and it looks sleeker than a std DM500.

Cheers,
Leroy

**Seymour Butts** · 27-01-10, 10:58 PM

I've just received two of these units (DM518) from Urban Soulja.
The first thing I've noticed is the speed at which everything gets done.
I use Dreamup and a Null modem cable, whilst I've never timed it, usually installing an image of PLI seems to take about 15 mins, these new boxes do it noticeably faster.
Once my preferred image is installed the time from power on to pictures is on the DM500 is usually about 40 seconds, again these new boxes fire up noticeably quicker.
I use one of the boxes as a subscription card reader for my PC server and while it hasn't yet been on 24hrs it does appear to run noticeably cooler, the other is being used as an internal client to my home network and initially (1st startup and I don't know why) it's channel changing especially when moving between the three servers was abysmally slow - like about 3 seconds, with the info screen taking even longer to come up. That all lasted about 15 minutes then it all just seemed to fall into place, channel switching is now as fast or possibly faster than the DM500 regardless of which server the client is accessing.
I'm running CCcam 2.13 on the Card reader and CCcam 2.10 on the client.
All in all I'm very impressed with these little boxes and especially impressed with Urbans pre delivery.

**Fattious** · 15-02-10, 10:04 PM

If you wish to use the SCART connector on your TV to send the RGB signal, you will need to provide 1-3 volts to SCART pin 16 (14 return) as this voltage is required to switch the TV input from Composite to RGB/Component.

This would not effect may people as most have the RGB component connectors in their TV, but in my case I have DVB-T using the component and Macbook using the single HDMI so the only other high-res input is RGB Scart.

**esky** · 30-03-10, 08:57 AM

There is 2 things I would comment about with these units:

Blue Lan led light, stays on in standby mode and in a dark room (my bedroom), I feel like I'm in a Blue Light Disco all night.
No Loopback LNB out.

Otherwise the fact it has component & fibre optic sound makes it aS good as a HD device.

**Fernbay** · 30-03-10, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by Seymour Butts

The first thing I've noticed is the speed at which everything gets done.
I use Dreamup and a Null modem cable, whilst I've never timed it, usually installing an image of PLI seems to take about 15 mins, these new boxes do it noticeably faster..

Not correct.

Both the dm500 and dm518 flash in about two ~ three minutes *IF* the network is set correctly.

If it takes 15 minutes, then you have flashed via RS232 null modem cable only and not via network at all.

the problem can occur if you have two dm500's on the same lan as you can get a MAC address conflict.

The DM518s have individual MAC addresses, so it doesn't become a problem with them.