Best Vast Box

[_Dam0_]

there are however some triple tuner models of stb around
eg, the Golden media Triplex -> 1 x dvb-t(terrestrial) 2 x dvb-s2(sat) receivers

however im not sure of its compatability with the VAST system.

D.

[Smacca]

As long as the tuners are DVB-S2 and has a CI slot for a CAM, it should be compatible.

[LeroyPatrol]

The cam would need to be a multi service versiOn to fully utilize the twin sat tuners

Leroy

[browdie]

The cam would need to be a multi service versiOn to fully utilize the twin sat tuners

Leroy

Leroy, what decoders work with the cams. I have one but have never been able to get the audio working on ABC.

Thanks

[CONAXLE]

AV-Comm in Sydney are selling the Cams for Vast, but they cost a bit,someone here mentioned they are for operators box only.

[Tassie Devil]

Interesting thread. I agree the "perfect" VAST unit is yet to appear. But to be fair the "perfect" terrestrial units are thin on the ground. The best I've discovered for my purposes so far is the MAGIC but it has had a few hiccups and is no longer sold in Australia + there is no likelihood of a VAST model, which would be crippled by Freeview anyway. But come the summer this place becomes a potential black spot so terrestrial becomes unreliable.

But I've just installed a Satking so will be able to report on how it compares to the Humax in a few days time. For $230 + use your own HDD it is certainly an inexpensive door into VAST although once the convenience of a twin tuner has been experienced you would not want a Satking single tuner as your only recorder.

So, between the Humax and Satking, the Humax is the better choice, purchased as a STB & install your own HDD as has been described earlier in this thread. I should not comment on the UEC as I've not had one here but the negative experiences of other owners turned me in favour of the Satking as a second unit despite the downside of it only being a single tuner. But the Satking will record two of the ABC or two of the SBS channels at once but not two if the channels are on different frequencies. So it does have limited 2 channel record capacity. However UEC might have ironed out earlier problems by now so they could be competitive again.

John

[gordon_s1942]

After some 2 years of VAST being available, just what features do people want in a receiver to make it 'Perfect' for them?
Sensitivity would be high on the list as well as the ability to pass the received signal in the best possible quality and so far I think the UEC's I have appear to achieve that but whats next and in what preferred order?

Sensitivity is partially determined by the atmospheric conditions of which we have no control over and picture quality depends on the material being broadcast.

I have 2 VAST stb's and so far I am not interested in recording any programs but I could with a HDD recorder via AV if needed so twin tuners are not high on my priority list.

[Tassie Devil]

After some 2 years of VAST being available, just what features do people want in a receiver to make it 'Perfect' for them?
Sensitivity would be high on the list as well as the ability to pass the received signal in the best possible quality and so far I think the UEC's I have appear to achieve that but whats next and in what preferred order?

Sensitivity is partially determined by the atmospheric conditions of which we have no control over and picture quality depends on the material being broadcast.

I have 2 VAST stb's and so far I am not interested in recording any programs but I could with a HDD recorder via AV if needed so twin tuners are not high on my priority list.

The ability to record is fundamental to me for time shift viewing. The obvious advantages are to FF through ads (and on the commercial channels these can take up to 5 minutes & the promos on ABC are to be missed by us)
So allied with this are 2 tuners, reliable EPG and crucial to all that is reliable recording.

Ease of playback & deletion are the next priority.

Yes sensitivity can be an issue and is here for terrestrial but I've struck no problems with that on satellite. As for video quality, again I've not struck a bad receiver. The quality depends more on broadcast quality you refer to (meaning the quality of the material being broadcast, and it does vary) and also on the quality of the display - they vary a lot. Similarly the quality of the audio depends on what is broadcast + the amps and speakers being used at reception end. Having got into A/V via 40 years of audio only there is an emphasis on audio quality in this house. There is some superb audio being broadcast along with video which most people are unaware of because all they use are the limited TV speakers.

John

[aaeon.1]

easy dm8000 with 3 sat tuners one terrestrial tuner, vast cam with time differential from state i,m in, tspanel, dvd player and 2tb hard drive, running openpli
stream movies directly from any computer or download it directly to the hard drive for the kids. easy to use, easy to record, easy to delete, and one remote control for the lot

[Sunshine Coast]

Okay, I have to buy my VAST box now.

1. Any new developments I need to know (since January this year)?
2. Has the Humax 1003s had a firmware upgrade yet?
3. Should I buy a PVR with or without a built in HDD? Is it better to buy a separate HDD and add it in yourself? Any HDD that's better than the one Humax puts into its units?

Thanks!

[Tassie Devil]

Okay, I have to buy my VAST box now.

1. Any new developments I need to know (since January this year)?
2. Has the Humax 1003s had a firmware upgrade yet?
3. Should I buy a PVR with or without a built in HDD? Is it better to buy a separate HDD and add it in yourself? Any HDD that's better than the one Humax puts into its units?

Thanks!

1. I'm unaware of any new developments but maybe someone else is.
2. No it is not out yet. I'm guessing they are triple checking all problems (and there are a few) have been sorted before they do. I really hope so because there are 5 of them in this house and I've recommended a friend buy two. It should be released any day now.
3. You can get a Humax without an HDD for between $270 & $300 if you shop around. Then buy a hard drive to fit it into the STB in yourself - a no brainer as they give you the cradle. All you have to do is screw the drive in and insert it into the STB. Ive put a variety of HDDs in mine and all work OK but to be careful I purchased this one for my friend - he insisted on getting a 1TB unit : Toshiba 2.5'' SSHD MQ01ABD100H SSD Hybrid 1TB Hard Drive $128 on e-bay.

Good luck

John

[Tassie Devil]

Okay, I have to buy my VAST box now.

1. Any new developments I need to know (since January this year)?
2. Has the Humax 1003s had a firmware upgrade yet?
3. Should I buy a PVR with or without a built in HDD? Is it better to buy a separate HDD and add it in yourself? Any HDD that's better than the one Humax puts into its units?

Thanks!

Just rang them to find out when and that is the reply received. As the process can take up to half an hour it would be nice to be forewarned so any programming is not interrupted. All timers will need resetting after the update.

Touch wood, it actually might be about to happen. The guy said "it had been delayed" - sort of an understatement when it was promised nearly 3 months ago! But all will be forgiven if they have actually fixed the glitches.

John

[viewer]

Don't know what you really want, but the original uec 4121 with an external hd runs well, has had bugs ironed out, and runs well for me.

[Tassie Devil]

Don't know what you really want, but the original uec 4121 with an external hd runs well, has had bugs ironed out, and runs well for me.

Yes the UEC DSR4639 is an alternative and has an advantage of an external 12V supply. A quick survey suggests a cost of $415 delivered from e-bay which makes it slightly more expensive than the Humax 105 at $299 + $58 for hard drive from another source. Of course you can pay more for 500 GB HDDs than this but whether there would be much difference is debatable. And you do have the choice, at greater expense. of fitting a 1 TB HDD to the Humax although 500 GB it plenty IMHO. But I guess it depends on whether or not you wish to retain programs on hard drive. I've been transferring anything I particularly want to keep onto DVD with a DVD-R but the Humax and most other new releases now omit s-video output so that makes file transfer a bit more challenging.

BTW I also have a SatKing here but would not recommend it for recording to HDD. It is a great little STB but limited as a recorder and not nearly as user friendly as the Humax.

John

[Sunshine Coast]

Thanks, Tassie Devil! I'm lazy, so I'll probably just buy a Humax with built in Humax HDD then ... only costs $390.00 delivered.

Unless you think the hassle of buying and fitting my own HDD is worth the $30 saved?

[Tassie Devil]

Thanks, Tassie Devil! I'm lazy, so I'll probably just buy a Humax with built in Humax HDD then ... only costs $390.00 delivered.

Unless you think the hassle of buying and fitting my own HDD is worth the $30 saved?

It really is no hassle - the Humax STB comes with a cradle and 4 screws to attach the HDD. All you need is a philips screwdriver and 10 minutes of spare time. Once assembled it just slots in from the front.
And it does give you the choice of a 1TB HDD if you think you might accumulate a lot of files you want to keep. Here is where I got the 1TB unit for my friend: And it works with no hassles. The SSD feature might be an advantage but probably more for PC than video use.

John

[Sunshine Coast]

Thanks, Tassie, I bought a Humax STB for $260 and the 1 Terabyte Toshiba for $128, total $388. This is better than the 500GB Humax box for $390.

[gordon_s1942]

Just rang them to find out when and that is the reply received. As the process can take up to half an hour it would be nice to be forewarned so any programming is not interrupted. All timers will need resetting after the update.

Touch wood, it actually might be about to happen. The guy said "it had been delayed" - sort of an understatement when it was promised nearly 3 months ago! But all will be forgiven if they have actually fixed the glitches.

John

I think you will find that any OTA upgrades are done over the whole day if not several to ensure the decoder receives them which is why they ask the decoder be left plugged in and at least on standbye.
Years ago Austar used to send something between 4 and 5am each day as I found when I was trying to record a movie in the early hours of the morning, I dont know if that still happens today.
From memory when UEC did the long awaited OTA upgrade to convert their Decoders to accept a PVR device etc , that ran for a month at least but you had to go into the Menu to allow the upgrade to happen.

[Sunshine Coast]

Here is where I got the 1TB unit for my friend:

Hi John

I installed the Toshiba above and it works fine. It had to be formatted first, and ended up with 930GB of space and 70GB reserved ... does that sound right?

Secondly, can you check your system information on your Humax please? My seller told me he downloaded an update to my new Humax, and I'm wondering if this is the long awaited Humax HDR1003s update?

System Information shows:

Software version: AUSIAA1.01.02
MICOM version 15.1

[Tassie Devil]

Hi John

I installed the Toshiba above and it works fine. It had to be formatted first, and ended up with 930GB of space and 70GB reserved ... does that sound right?

Secondly, can you check your system information on your Humax please? My seller told me he downloaded an update to my new Humax, and I'm wondering if this is the long awaited Humax HDR1003s update?

System Information shows:

Software version: AUSIAA1.01.02
MICOM version 15.1

I doubt it. They had already released one firmware update last year and there are units floating around which have the very first release firmware in. One I purchased for my friend was like that and it took ages to install the first update. The grand update is yet to surface.

Off to retire now but I'll double check tomorrow for you.

John