Is the AB IPBox 9000 HD a good Dreambox replacement?

rlogue

Does anyone have experience of the AB IPBox 9000 HD? I'm giving serious thought to getting a HD replacement for my Dreambox 7025. The 800 is single tuner and prone to overheating and the 8000 is just too damn expensive.

I'm not interested in hacking or cardsharing but I would like it to be able to read a paid for Sky card. It would need to be able to drive a USALS motor as well.

TVDX

The IPBOX 9000 has had a nice bit of development so far. Heating up complaints have been mostly levelled at the IP BOX 900 which is the single tuner version. Then came a slight revision in the 910 HD with fan.
While the 9000 doesn't suffer badly from it with proper ventilation, some people have decided to replace the stock fan with great results.
There is a 3000 model now, not sure what the differences are if any.

The other two alternatives you have are the AZBOX HD which comes in two flavours. Both are dual tuner capable, Elite and Premium version.
Premium case is slightly different and has inbuilt Wifi and space for HD with Elite using an external instead.
Box is shipping slowly to shops now but sotware is in very early stages.
It plays MKV in 1080p, has a great PS3 style interface, read up about it, its very promsing and will do two tuners at 289 euros, premium is 359.

Also, there is the Qbox HD as well, three tuners possible on this with two included in the package. Not out yet apart from beta models but again promising technology.

The Azbox absolute latest software has motor driving problems but supposed to be resolved in new firmware.

That's the lowdown really, it's a pity that Dream have priced themselves out of the market by retailing DM8000 at 999. It's a mistake at a time like this.
I could boot Linux from another HD and with a HD Sat card I have a custom DM800 but a box is very nice for convenience.

For a box that has had good dev work and will work for what you want to do it for the 9000 should serve well.

jhegarty

Given the upcomming sky card change no one really knows which boxes will work in two months.

TVDX

Give the software developers a month tops and they will have that issue fixed.

byte

Probably best to wait awhile WRT AZBox. Some images show it having a 2-line VFD display, whereas others show it having a more basic 1-line VFD.

Specs state it can output HD resolutions of 1080i or 720p, no mention of 1080p.

TVDX

byte wrote: »

Specs state it can output HD resolutions of 1080i or 720p, no mention of 1080p.

Yes there is, http://www.southernsat.co.uk/index.php?l=product_detail&p=401
And lots of people on various forums are playing 1080p mkv with no problems.

For final design pictures, visit hm-sat.de
The product will look like the pictures shown.

watty

There is no 1080p transmitted in europe, if I had an HD device that didn't do decent de-interlacing I'd return it. Preferable is one that can do 1080i and 1080p natively.

1080p is twice the transmission bandwidth for no increase in vertical or horizontal resolution. It doubles the temporal resolution, which only matters much on USA 30i from 24fps film and on 25i for very fast movement. But your eye can't resolve detail on fast moving scenes.

There is ZERO resolution difference between 1080i and 1080p on slower moving or static scenes.

A server in the attic can play 1080p, 1080i or 576i to the TV via extender cables, so I'd not be put off any Satellite receiver if 1080p was the only issue.

TVDX

Yes, but I wasn't talking about broadcast signals.
I was talking about 1080p files. There are plenty of fast moving scenes in the movies I shall be watching, no worries.
I believe in what I see on the screen and with a good 1080p LCD, I can definitely se a difference between 1080i and 1080p.

watty wrote: »

There is no 1080p transmitted in europe, if I had an HD device that didn't do decent de-interlacing I'd return it. Preferable is one that can do 1080i and 1080p natively.

1080p is twice the transmission bandwidth for no increase in vertical or horizontal resolution. It doubles the temporal resolution, which only matters much on USA 30i from 24fps film and on 25i for very fast movement. But your eye can't resolve detail on fast moving scenes.

There is ZERO resolution difference between 1080i and 1080p on slower moving or static scenes.

A server in the attic can play 1080p, 1080i or 576i to the TV via extender cables, so I'd not be put off any Satellite receiver if 1080p was the only issue.

gtg60

rlogue wrote: »

I'm not interested in hacking or cardsharing but I would like it to be able to read a paid for Sky card. It would need to be able to drive a USALS motor as well.

Virtually ANY sat receiver with a CI slot and a Dragon (T-Rex) CAM will allow you to watch Sky channels with a paid for card so that's not really a big deal (although worth seeing what happens with the new Sky cards).

byte

TVDX wrote: »

Yes there is, http://www.southernsat.co.uk/index.php?l=product_detail&p=401
And lots of people on various forums are playing 1080p mkv with no problems.

For final design pictures, visit hm-sat.de
The product will look like the pictures shown.

Well, the image I see on hm-sat seems to be the same one on Southersat, and if these are the proper images for the Premium, then it's a fine looking machine. Additional tuner module for 60eur isn't too bad, whereby you'd then have 2x DVBS and 1x DVBt tuners. And of course internal room to fire in a HDD

Nice!

gtg60

What does 'HDD LAN via Samba' mean?

Does it mean that I could have a NAS HDD that it could save/ read files from? And if so, does that mean I could have 2 of these boxes on my network that could share storage and watch each others recorded programs?

fat-tony

gtg60 wrote: »

What does 'HDD LAN via Samba' mean?

Does it mean that I could have a NAS HDD that it could save/ read files from? And if so, does that mean I could have 2 of these boxes on my network that could share storage and watch each others recorded programs?

SAMBA is the open source implementation of the SMB file sharing protocol used by Windows. It allows disk shares on a (e.g.) Linux box to handled pretty transparently across your Windows LAN. I use a small Linux NAS box to hold backups of important files from my Windows machines. Can also use the box to stream audio / video depending on network speed and ability of the processor in the box.

gtg60

Thanks fat-tony, you're a mine of information!

So, assuming my network and receivers are capable then I could have a central storage NAS that both receivers record and play from? Could they play a file that is being recored like the way you can start to play a 'recording' file on some receivers?

fat-tony

That's not likely as the file will be "locked" by the operating system while writing. Don't forget that these are just network file servers. If you want to stream video data, it's very much down to the capability of the source box to decode the transmission and display it and also transmit it across a network to a remote data store. I would just use my Linux box as a repository of video files. It doesn't really have the grunt to stream to several video outputs at once - you need to be building dedicated VOD servers for that.

TVDX

Apolgies, this is the final design of the premium.

http://www.goldwafers.com/cart/product.php?productid=207&cat=0&page=1

byte

TVDX wrote: »

Apolgies, this is the final design of the premium.

http://www.goldwafers.com/cart/product.php?productid=207&cat=0&page=1

Ah thats a shame. It's cheap looking, compared to the nice 2line VFD images. Still, specs seem good, unless they turn out to be exaggerated.

gtg60

byte wrote: »

Ah thats a shame. It's cheap looking, compared to the nice 2line VFD images. Still, specs seem good, unless they turn out to be exaggerated.

Agreed, other pictures made it look like a premium bit of kit

TVDX

byte wrote: »

Ah thats a shame. It's cheap looking, compared to the nice 2line VFD images. Still, specs seem good, unless they turn out to be exaggerated.

They have removed the flashy light up display.
I suppose they had to cut costs somewhere to keep the price low.
It's 359 on some websites which is a steal.
Actually, many of the specs have been proven so far.
Is there anything in particular you were wondering about?.
Nobody has been able to try out two tuners yet as the extra tuners are not available for a few weeks yet.

watty

TVDX wrote: »

Yes, but I wasn't talking about broadcast signals.
I was talking about 1080p files. There are plenty of fast moving scenes in the movies I shall be watching, no worries.
I believe in what I see on the screen and with a good 1080p LCD, I can definitely se a difference between 1080i and 1080p.

Then your LCD isn't deinterlacing properly and is progressive only, or even only repeating 540lines (simplest deinterlace for USA to avoid pull down artifacts.).

On static images they are IDENTICAL. On very fast moving images the 1080i blurs by 50% vertically reaching 1920x 540 resolution for objects moving quickly.

You don't need a Sat box to play 1080p movie files. It would be lowest on my list of priorities.


How many tuners does it come with?
How many can it have?

I'd never pre-order a new product like this. I'd wait to see how many arrows in the back other pioneers get.

TVDX

watty wrote: »

Then your LCD isn't deinterlacing properly and is progressive only, or even only repeating 540lines (simplest deinterlace for USA to avoid pull down artifacts.).

On static images they are IDENTICAL. On very fast moving images the 1080i blurs by 50% vertically reaching 1920x 540 resolution for objects moving quickly.

You don't need a Sat box to play 1080p movie files. It would be lowest on my list of priorities.


How many tuners does it come with?
How many can it have?

I'd never pre-order a new product like this. I'd wait to see how many arrows in the back other pioneers get.

What are you talking about?. I don't need to analyse what my eyes see.

Maybe it would be lowest on your list of priorities to get 1080p file playback but it is a priority of mine and I'm well aware I can play them on a PC, don't tell me what I need based on your opinion.

I never said I was going to pre-order either, but the current info says two tuners.

kaisersose77

got the azbox hd premium yesterday, delighted with it so far. Am just as interested in the media playing as the tv watching. Have a home server with all my movies etc, and they stream fine. Tried a 720p mkv and that worked fine too. More of a toy and not something i'd recommend to someone who was looking for the finished article. Hopefully in the next few months it improves a lot (twin tuner support is not out yet). Plugin wise it could be great, with the lines of apple trailers etc possible. And all the popcorn hour plugins should be ported over to it at some stage. So plugins with coverart for movies, tv shows etc should be out at some stage.

Think the elite version is great value considering its just like a popcorn hour with the added bonus of tv tuners.


btw the photo of it on a lot of sites is just a photoshop of some sony amp/blu ray player

gtg60

Hiya, would be great if you could answer a few questions as it's an item I am seriously considering buying:
1. Does it come with a DVB-S2 and DVB-T tuner? I have heard mixed reports and what do you mean twin tuner support isn't out yet?
2. How much including delivery did it cost? And where from?

Actually you've already told me a lot of stuff I didn't already know, how about doing a mini-review? :cool:

kaisersose77

only dvb-s2 tuners out atm, dvb-t and dvb-c meant to be out this month. Read somewhere that they hope to have twin tuner support by middle of this year (but read somewhere else that beta fw will support is much sooner than that).


i got it from goldwafers for about about 400e delivered (for premium), but its cheaper in germany. But it wasnt in stock in any german sites so didnt bother waiting to save a tenner. Ordered Friday, had it yesterday.


check out the videos on youtube on it. Don't know what else to say really.

cool feature is gogo channel lists. it'll download the latest channel lists in a few seconds in the settings menu. Youtube is cool too. Has a web browser but seems too slow and not useful. Maybe it will get better with newer firmware.

No channel editor yet so no ITV HD, but hopefully theres one out soon.


Think it has a lot of potential as its something different than the likes of ipbox since its using the same chip as the popcorn hour which no other satellite receiver is using.


It's still really in beta, so its more of a toy/hobbyist receiver atm.


Oh and you can download new firmware directly from the internet on it which is cool.

gtg60

kaisersose77 wrote: »

only dvb-s2 tuners out atm, dvb-t and dvb-c meant to be out this month. Read somewhere that they hope to have twin tuner support by middle of this year (but read somewhere else that beta fw will support is much sooner than that).

Thanks very much, so the 'ANT IN / TV OUT' pictured below isn't a DVB-T tuner just a loop through for the TV modulator??

kaisersose77

ye would says its a modulator, never read anywhere saying it came with a dvb-t tuner

fat-tony

gtg60 wrote: »

Thanks very much, so the 'ANT IN / TV OUT' pictured below isn't a DVB-T tuner just a loop through for the TV modulator??

Vindicated eh

gtg60

kaisersose77 wrote: »

btw the photo of it on a lot of sites is just a photoshop of some sony amp/blu ray player

Which photo's are you refering to? Does yours look like this?

kaisersose77

thats the photoshopped one, the correct one is in the link at the top of the page. The cheap looking one!

dxhound2005

I read on the Alsat forum that the AZ Box can decode 4:2:2 feeds.

kaisersose77

ye i've seen that mentioned on a lot of forums but havent tried any feeds myself yet.

Think this receiver is going to become a big rival to dreambox.

dxhound2005

Kaiser

Can you try it on 4:2:2, have you got a motor? I'm sure you know this site for feeds already, lots of 4:2:2 which I can see with my QualiTV box but a one box solution would be great.

http://www.satelliweb.com/index.php?section=livef