Set Top Boxes

[Sutek]

Hey folks,

I am thinking of buying a set top box, just so I can say i've got one etc...wanker.
There are a few out there for $180+ and then they shoot up to $900+. Can someone please explain in plain english what the differences are, and for someone on a budget (read - only spends serious on bikes) will the cheapies be ok. I don't want to see what colour undies Koshie has on Sunrise, but if I can angle up Natalie Barrs skirt that might be worth the clams.
Thanks dude/ettes

[LordNikon]

The difference is in the definition.

The cheap ones are not HD and will generally only have composite outputs. The more expensive ones are HD and will have digital audio outputs and SVIDEO / Component Video outputs.

Only bother with an expensive one if you've already shelled out the money for a High Def TV, otherwise you're wasting your time.

[Fat_Ride]

You want to angle up Natalie Barrs skirt ay?? pay the extra dosh and get the smellovision... Just don't scan onto Mel Doyles goodies, she just had that kid and all so you might get a bit more than you bargained for!!! Like a leg of lamb with the bone pulled out!!

[ona rampage]

...or like throwing a banana up a hallway... :lol:

There are some set top boxes around the $600 to $800 mark that can record onto an internal hard disk as well, which I think is pretty fantastic (makes the video recorder redundant, with fantastic quality to boot). The more expensive models have the time slip functionality as well, so if you come home half way through a show that you are taping, you can watch the bit that has already been recorded whilst the remainder is recording....now THAT is good technology!

[wombat]

We've got one of the cheapy ones running through a normal TV and it's fine. Really, the only reason we got it was because our resident technician was too bloody lazy to fix up the aerial properly, so when the suppliers were clearing these out they were a cheap, quick fix.

Other than improved picture quality (it is lots better than analogue) the only real advantage that I can see at the moment are the on screen TV guides, they're faster and easier than teletext. I use the weather channel a little, but I can't say that I spend a lot of time watching Sydney's traffic cameras or listening to the parlimentary sittings.
I'm waiting for the stations to make good use of the multitide of channels, and offer us something like alternative camera angles, or a constant update channel for events like Bathurst.

[Sutek]

Wombat,

What brand have you got dude? And if/when the multi angle thingy happens, will all boxes be able to take advantage??
FatRide, Nat Barr is a Fox!! Bet that's tighter than a fishes asshole - unlike Mel. Koshy is prolly loose too......but he's a funny bastard.
He made a great comment this morning when Denyer had a snake hanging around his neck doing the weather. Denyer said the snake appeared to be looking at his 'nether region' and smooth as you like, Koshy mouths 'nothing to worry about, the snakes has two eyes' (unlike the one in Denyers undies...hahaha) It was Gold!!!

[Fat_Ride]

Have to agree there... Nat Barr gets me 'barred' up... nothing like a stonka with breakfast either. Mel has definately piled on the KG's since the baby, i'd still hit it though!!

I was watching this morning too and did you here when Berreta was reading some letter and they guy that wrote it had the surname Willy?? Good ol' Koshy said something like "get your hand off it Willy"!! He's a funny bastard!!!

[scblack]

I live in a complex of townhouses, and the aerial is on my roof, which feeds also to the next two houses. There is a booster in my roof, so that the signal is strong enough to feed the furthest house. Also, the tv guy fitted a FM filter too.

My TV is good except channel 9, which has lines from the amplifier in the VCR, doubling up with the roof booster.

If I get a set top box, would this improve ch.9 reception, or would it be working from the same aerial? And, I have a Denon amplifier receiver for 6.1 sound - do I need the HD set to take advantage of good sound?

[wombat]

Wombat,

What brand have you got dude?
Geez, well make me get up why don't ya? :P
Ours is an "IKUSI" some generic brand. All I know is that it was going cheap (from WES I think...) and meant that I didn't have to hang off the roof to help the old man sort the antenna; when it dies, get another one, no big hassle. By that time we'll probably want a HD one (although HD ones have popped up pretty cheaply of late too...) It's about 12 months old though, and so far no dramas at all.

As for the angle adjustability stuff, I'd hope it'd be compatible. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I'd be expecting that insetad of having 5 indentical channel 10s, like we do at the moment, they'll all be showing different things. At least that's what I think.

[Sutek]

Fat Ride you dirty fucking sloth....onya mate!

I'll be watching sunrise tomoz, with my own sunrise, waiting for Ms Barr to Barr me up. (Now I know Dilemma is gunna read this and belt me at wk) :wink:

I just went out shopping for a bit and besides no bastard actually knowing anything useful about the products, hardly anyone had el cheapo's in stock. Moite hit good guys tomorrow night if the financial controller allows... :D

[dilemma]

I'll be watching sunrise tomoz, with my own sunrise, waiting for Ms Barr to Barr me up. (Now I know Dilemma is gunna read this and belt me at wk) :wink:

Ahhhhhh Sutek... [shakes head] :wink:
Well at least we know who's up to date with the news! Or is she really just saying your name over and over?!

[SOB]

Does anybody get SBS on their set top box? I can't seem to get mine to work but then again i don't even know if SBS is broadcast in digital.

[wombat]

Does anybody get SBS on their set top box? I can't seem to get mine to work but then again i don't even know if SBS is broadcast in digital.
Well at the moment we seem to have 4 SBS digitals, 2 SBS HD, and 2 SBS EPG channels, as well as 3 SBS digital radio channels. So yeah, it is available.

[Rik]

http://www.sbs.com.au/transmission/transmission.html

Digital Services

The SBS digital television service consists of one High Definition digital TV service, one Standard Definition digital TV service, two SBS digital radio services, SBS Essential and a World News channel

Brisbane, Currumbin, Gold Coast, Gympie, Nambour, Noosa/Tewantin, Sunshine Coast
channel: 36
frequency: 585.625Mhz

Getting SBS in digital would be one of the major reasons for me to get a set top box, analogue reception is pretty poor around here.

[scblack]

Rik wrote:Getting SBS in digital would be one of the major reasons for me to get a set top box, analogue reception is pretty poor around here.

Rik, thats what I'm trying to find out - does the digital box improve reception for sure? - for me, if channel 9 is crap.

[wombat]

Rik wrote:Getting SBS in digital would be one of the major reasons for me to get a set top box, analogue reception is pretty poor around here.

Rik, thats what I'm trying to find out - does the digital box improve reception for sure? - for me, if channel 9 is crap.

Well our reception up until about 2 years ago was absolutely spectacular across the range (good position, good, well tuned gear) but about 2 years ago channel 10 lost the plot a bit and started to fuzz out. Not too bad at all, but bad enough to give me the shits.

With digital though everything is crystal clear again. The tradeoff however is the way it breaks up though. With analogue, when your reception starts to drift you'll get a bit of snow and fuzz, but it's still watchable. When digital go's, it crackles, breaks into squares for a second, then blacks out; it's not as forgiving.

Having said that, the only breakup I've had at all has been on ABC, and if it does happen we just switch to another ABC channel (slightly different freq. I pressume) and all is good again. Like I said before, the reception issue was pretty much the sole reason for us getting a set top box, and it definately solved the problem in this case.

[scblack]

Thanks Wombat, just what I wanted to know, and I reckon I'll get one then.

[MasterOfReality]

Sutek,

My parents have a samsung standard definition set top box. I think it costs about $299, but Domayne ended up throwing it in when they plonked down the 10 grand odd for the HD plamsa :P . They are getting a HD box soon 'cos the prices are dropping.

By the way, reception is fine in Wollongong, and picture quality is unreal.

[apsilon]

I bought a digital TV card for my PC a few weeks ago and I have to agree with the others that picture quality is amazing.

It won't necessarily fix reception problems though. I had an old (~25 years) antenna and cable install. I'd almost lost ch7 reception completely and never was able to get SBS so I thought I'd give it a shot in the hopes it would fix my reception problems. Didn't work. On digital I could only get ABC, 9 and 7 and lost 10 completely.

Ended up installing a new antenna and all new cabling and now I have good analouge reception on all free to air channels and outstanding digital reception on all channels. I'm happy enough with digital quality that I'm going to buy a set top box for the main TV by the end of the year.

Anyway just be aware that old antennas may not be up to the task of receiving digital signals.

[scblack]

Thanks for that, Apsilon, as you know I also live in Baulkham Hills, and my place is brand new, so the aerial should have no problems.

Does anyone know if you need the HD box for surround sound, or is the HD simply in regards to the picture?

[Sutek]

Master,

Where in the 'Gong are you? I am in Shellharbour, but shouldn't be any different. I'm gunna lob into Warrawong and check em all out tonight.

Off to the States this weekend for a week, so no need to hurry, I'd be pissed that I couldn't watch it while not home anyway.

Next stop, Bootleg Canyon, Boulder City, Nevada for some 05 riding...yeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaa!

[RCOH]

Does anyone know if you need the HD box for surround sound, or is the HD simply in regards to the picture?

Set Top Box will give you digital sound on the digital channels but not surround sound.

[MasterOfReality]

As far as I am aware, the Samsung box does have its own Dolby digital decoder, so yes, you can watch tv in surround sound if you wish.

Sutek, I am 'wk08' on the 26inches forum. We had some correspondence a while back. I reside in Mangerton.

[scblack]

I'm now getting that warm and fuzzy feeling - I'm getting a new toy!!!

Great pictures, and 5.1 sound - thanks for the answers guys.

[scblack]

I know this is a bit of a grave dig, but I at last did get a set top box - a high definition one. I just wish I had done it sooner, it is PERFECT pictures (channel seven occasionally has some lines disrupted), some added channels (ABC2, teletext, HD channels) as well as program guides. They really are worth it.

And I get my plasma this week so I can make real use of it -woohoo!

[Wattsy]

As long as you have reception, doesnt matter if you got a bitta fuz or ghosting, you will still get a perfect picture when you run it through a set-top box. Well worth it.

[PINT of Stella, mate!]

Does anybody here have one in inner city melbourne?

We get an absolutely shite tv reception (ironic really, ABC and Channel 7's HQ's are within 200m of the aptmnt and SBS are only about a kilometre away) so the body corporate gave us a set top box.

For some reason though we can't pick up Ten. It also happens to have the worst signal when we use the aerial.

Wouldn't be too bothered but I miss The Simpsons!
Anyone else have this problem?

[scblack]

Does anybody here have one in inner city melbourne?

We get an absolutely shite tv reception (ironic really, ABC and Channel 7's HQ's are within 200m of the aptmnt and SBS are only about a kilometre away) so the body corporate gave us a set top box.

For some reason though we can't pick up Ten. It also happens to have the worst signal when we use the aerial.

Wouldn't be too bothered but I miss The Simpsons!
Anyone else have this problem?

As far as I'm aware, a set top box needs only 15-20% of a full signal from the aerial to construct a complete picture. So you must just be getting a terrible signal from the channel ten aerial.

[wombat]

As far as I'm aware, a set top box needs only 15-20% of a full signal from the aerial to construct a complete picture. So you must just be getting a terrible signal from the channel ten aerial.
I know of a few people getting bad digital drop outs in Sydney (Hunters Hill). 10 and 7 seem to be the worst offenders for them.
I can't remember having a single drop out on any stations save for the ABC. "Channel 2" which is ABC1 is god awful for us, with constant breakups, but if we use "Channel 22" which is just another ABC1 it's completely fine.

The problem with digital drop outs is that when they happen the broardcast is completely unwatchable. With analogue you get the fuzzy sound and picture and some lines across the screen, whereas with digital you get fragmented and frozen pictures with broken sound at best, and absolutely nothing at worst. Digital is all or nothing; when you get "all" it's awesome, when it drops out though it's time to switch back to analogue for a bit.:)

[Wattsy]

I know of a few people getting bad digital drop outs in Sydney (Hunters Hill). 10 and 7 seem to be the worst offenders for them.
I can't remember having a single drop out on any stations save for the ABC. "Channel 2" which is ABC1 is god awful for us, with constant breakups, but if we use "Channel 22" which is just another ABC1 it's completely fine.

The problem with digital drop outs is that when they happen the broardcast is completely unwatchable. With analogue you get the fuzzy sound and picture and some lines across the screen, whereas with digital you get fragmented and frozen pictures with broken sound at best, and absolutely nothing at worst. Digital is all or nothing; when you get "all" it's awesome, when it drops out though it's time to switch back to analogue for a bit.:)


I'm still using an aireal so channel 2 blows, and 7 only ever doesnt work when 24 is on, the fuckers.