Bargain Alert: New Ferguson HD DTT/Sat Combo Box - €63 before postage

comet

STB wrote: »

Better codec support - most boxes dont play video files at all. this is pretty good given its price.

Ah but surely the expectation was it could play these videos back. Sure there are lots of things this box can do that other boxes at same price can't do, that doesn't mean they shouldn't fix the bug.

theShire

Just decided to have a quick look around on the ferguson site to see whats there...

Anyone else see this as a bit strange to be advertised as a feature on a device manufacturers website?

Youtube & youp**n

not something you'd expect

philahern

galait wrote: »

Anyone see this twat reveling in our misfortune

http://www.tvtrade.ie/ferguson-ariva-120-combo.html

Not sure if the guy is twat. I find the instructional videos he does very helpful and he's just trying to make a living. I am quoted there though and I think it misrepresents my opinion on the box so I have asked him to remove it or link back to the entire discussion.

Vince Cable

philahern wrote: »

I find the instructional videos he does very helpful

The one about masthead amps is (unintentionally) hilarious.

Lack of understanding at the most basic level.

seligehgit

After using this box for a day or so I must say it is excellent value for money.The picture quality is superb,I am able to record onto my 1TB Iomega Screenplay Plus Multimedia Player/Hard drive.I can play the recordings on my laptop using VLC player,excellent quality.I think the timeshift feature works.The favourite channels is a bonus although tempermental.Lip synch is a tad annoying although not insurmountable.Certainly it is not as user friendly as my old Thomson Skydigibox.It was really nice to be able view the channel menu up to a week in advance and set autoview/serial links.

channelsurfer2

like any first editions it has its teething problems.. that will be sorted with updates for the software...and for someone to come on and say they had reservations about the lip sync issues before they even knew about them? I wont go on but at least Tony dosent blow his own trumpet....

Macy0161

darth_maul wrote: »

Amazing from a man that stocks the Triax ST HD 537 with all its problems, has he actually road tested this, it has far far more issues still than the ariva 120e had on its first firmware revision

And the edision, which has the same saorview programme information issues as the ferguson! However, lifted quotes and mystic meg foresight claims aside, if he's getting hassled on supplying it you could see why he wants to say why not.

Tony

Yeah I agree, have it as a feature is fair enough but to openly advertsise that way I think is wrong.

theShire wrote: »

J

Youtube & youp**n

not something you'd expect

swoofer

I wonder would there be lip sync problems with the you tube p***n??!!

Tony

GBCULLEN wrote: »

I wonder would there be lip sync problems with the you tube p***n??!!

Thanks, thats given me a good laugh.

STB

galait wrote: »

Got 2 from Satsklep and lip sync issue via scart very apparent on DTT , Also did anyone manage to connect it to a network , Tried Static and DHCP and no joy , The cable is fine as Xbox Live works fine.


Anyone see this twat reveling in our misfortune

http://www.tvtrade.ie/ferguson-ariva-120-combo.html

It is sad to see the childish antics that are going on between suppliers with claims of Audio & Video Sync Problems "being well founded" on certain products. I loved some of the commentary, the truth in the matter is that most combo boxes have been sourced from this discussion site if the trade supplier doesnt have an open line to suppliers! I dont mind this but I have a problem with the I know better/I have a better product brigade of suppliers who steal their homework from here anyway, then use it to diss other suppliers because they are sitting on a load of more expensively priced boxes. There is no need for gloating. I dont sell anything so I have no reason to feel agrieved by better/cheaper products, unlike stupid comments posted elsewhere at TVtrade.

The simple truth in the matter is that the said supplier is using the same said boxes rebadged with the same chipset as Globo/Truman/Yumatu/Opticum/Edision/Ferguson. Indeed the firmware is written according to the chipset by the same guys in Yumatu/Globo/ILTV. There is no need for any laughing down sleeves.

The common chipset in all of these latest cheap end combo boxes is the Ali 3602 chip. Thats why the problems are common (Apogee has asked a question about this in the edision problem thread which is common to the Fergusons and many others in the Ali chipset range).

- Edision Argus Mini 2in1
- Amiko STHD-8800
- Golden Media Uni-Box 9060
- Opticum HD X402p
- Opticum HD X403p
- Ferguson Ariva 120 HD Combo.
- SAB Titan II
and plenty more.

There are 2 seperate loaders under this chipset, the Loader M3602A and B.

The Edisions themselves have undergone significant firmware changes to sort similar problems. The Fergusons will be fixed on the same basis (its been done already). Same common problems with all in this chipset group.

Infact the channel lists are easily exportable from those in the same Ali chipset range. .ABS files......

What someone needs to do is get to the root of the problem with data not being loaded from the EIT/DVB-SI headers being broadcast in the Mux for this chipset - Ali 3602.

swoofer

I have emailed RTENL again and it should be relatively easy for them to go back to the broadcast stream before the official launch and resolve our problem.

Why knock out so many boxes? I have emailed edision as well.

gbc

STB

Apogee wrote: »

Why you have crossposted and bolded my quote from another thread directly under the TVTrade one (as if to insinuate that I have some connection with them)?

Not at all. I know you have no connection. That wasnt my intention either!?!

My point is that the problems are common to Edision and Ferguson and their same chipset, hence cross posting. Nothing untoward.

I dont want a my product is better than your scenario going on and being missed in different threads when the issues are common.

Ronnie Raygun

Vince Cable wrote: »

The one about masthead amps is (unintentionally) hilarious.

Lack of understanding at the most basic level.

Straight from the Willy Wonka school of electronics, bit off topic though . . .

joeyoey

Does anyone know if this box will take and read a sky sub. card.

Kristopherus

joeyoey wrote: »

Does anyone know if this box will take and read a sky sub. card.

No. Insert a Sky card & the box will go crazy:D

joeyoey

Thanks. Was hoping to get one when they're sorted for the mobile during our wonderful summer. Do any combo boxes read cards?

Tony

joeyoey wrote: »

Does anyone know if this box will take and read a sky sub. card.

The 100E did read a sky card so the 120 may do also but might need third party firmware. You will most ikely have to put the sky card back ina sky box now and then so it updates correctly.

joeyoey

The box would be solely for the mobile and rather than disconnecting and re connecting the digibox it would be handy to just bring the card down the odd weekend.(even sky cards need a little break:))

Kristopherus

@ Joeyoey. I stuck a UK FTA card in and it read it:). Now if I could tune in the Fiver etc channels I'd be able to tell you more. Anyone know what transponder they are on?

Apogee

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/skyuk.html

12422 H DVB-S SR 27500 FEC 2/3 - 5*, 5USA
12266 H DVB-S2 QPSK SR 29500 FEC 3/4 - Channel 5 HD

Kristopherus

Kristopherus wrote: »

@ Joeyoey. I stuck a UK FTA card in and it read it:). Now if I could tune in the Fiver etc channels I'd be able to tell you more. Anyone know what transponder they are on?

Yipee :D:D I can confirm that a Freesat from Sky card works:):):). Stuck my card in @ 5 USA & it worked. Took it out a got a "Scrambled" message on screen. Now what about a full Sky card ..........

Did'nt fix the synch problem though;)

hibble

Got my box yesterday after ordering from Tony late Thursday! Set up box in the kitchen first as I had to run the cabling from new aerial to the sitting room.
All Terrestrial stations scanned straight in , great picture - no problems with Lip Synch.
Scanned 2A no BBC Streams or Sky news - Lip Synch was out slightly on ITV HD and BBC HD as previously reported.This was running through scart into an old CRT Sony.

Finally plugged box into sitting room last night into the Phillips 32" LCD analogue bought around 4 years ago.
Re-ran scan to get RTE+1 on terrestrial. Ran scan to get BBC3 BBC4 on 2B. Also picked up Sky news and BBC streams on this scan.
No Lip-synch problems on BBC one HD last night - there was a distinct difference between different ITV HD channels from barely noticeable / ok, to unwatchable. Channel 4 HD perfect which surprised me as on the Freesat Goodman’s box I was using in here the picture and sound was fragmented?
Overall, I am very pleased with this product picture quality is excellent and the wife is delighted everything can now be done on 1 remote. I have yet to try out the PVR features.
Just like to finish by saying that this is the first time I have dealt with Tony but I am more than impressed with the quality of his service. He even mailed to ask me if I wanted to go ahead with the deal after the first reports of synch issues on the boards.

Kristopherus

hibble wrote: »

Got my box yesterday after ordering from Tony late Thursday! Set up box in the kitchen first as I had to run the cabling from new aerial to the sitting room.
All Terrestrial stations scanned straight in , great picture - no problems with Lip Synch.
Scanned 2A no BBC Streams or Sky news - Lip Synch was out slightly on ITV HD and BBC HD as previously reported.This was running through scart into an old CRT Sony.

Finally plugged box into sitting room last night into the Phillips 32" LCD analogue bought around 4 years ago.
Re-ran scan to get RTE+1 on terrestrial. Ran scan to get BBC3 BBC4 on 2B. Also picked up Sky news and BBC streams on this scan.
No Lip-synch problems on BBC one HD last night - there was a distinct difference between different ITV HD channels from barely noticeable / ok, to unwatchable. Channel 4 HD perfect which surprised me as on the Freesat Goodman’s box I was using in here the picture and sound was fragmented?
Overall, I am very pleased with this product picture quality is excellent and the wife is delighted everything can now be done on 1 remote. I have yet to try out the PVR features.
Just like to finish by saying that this is the first time I have dealt with Tony but I am more than impressed with the quality of his service. He even mailed to ask me if I wanted to go ahead with the deal after the first reports of synch issues on the boards.

How did you get Astra 2B? Its not listed in the Satellite List on my box

willyb007

Kristopherus wrote: »

How did you get Astra 2B? Its not listed in the Satellite List on my box

I think its called Astra 2 28.5 E. Or something like that! Will check again when finished work later.

hibble

How did you get Astra 2B? Its not listed in the Satellite List on my box

Listed as Arabsat @ 30.5E - should have been wearing my glasses!!!!:o
Anyway it worked for me - mind I have an 80 cm dish - whether or not that makes a difference?

channelsurfer2

stil wont pick up sky news for me... or cnn for that matter.. wonder why?

STB

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

stil wont pick up sky news for me... or cnn for that matter.. wonder why?

You can force it to load the transponder using the clarke tech channel list editor which loads all the channels from the king of satwebsite. You the export it to the Ali generic channel list type and load onto the box via USB. I have asked Tony to check that it works in case it inadvertently kills boxes.

darth_maul

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

stil wont pick up sky news for me... or cnn for that matter.. wonder why?

just search for the TP for those channels on lyngsat and add the to the TP list then do a scan on that TP,

channelsurfer2

darth_maul wrote: »

just search for the TP for those channels on lyngsat and add the to the TP list then do a scan on that TP,

did that 12207 etc and it shows up as that TP says sky news and then says no signal being received.....anyway i might do a re-install to see will it work tomorrow..

STB

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

did that 12207 etc and it shows up as that TP says sky news and then says no signal being received.....anyway i might do a re-install to see will it work tomorrow..

weak transponder. What signal levels are you getting for your channels in general ?

channelsurfer2

STB wrote: »

weak transponder. What signal levels are you getting for your channels in general ?

will check tomorrow and let you know as its in my mothers house and am gone home now...

emo72

hi lads, would this do the same job of my WD-TV player? its the first gen one. you know, play all my mkv files and stuff? hope yous understand the question!

lucernarian

Quite probably even Ferguson themselves wouldn't know. MKV support in particular is a minefield as the standard has been modified frequently (too much in my opinion to make it properly effective), it is a container format that handles a myriad of different video and audio codecs which the Ferguson may or may not support. The PS3 for example can deal with main profile H.264 video but only up to Level 3.2 IIRC.

Also the problem with testing is that in all likelihood people will have .mkv content that is copyrighted and even if they are entitled to have a stored copy of it, they can't upload that online... Otherwise someone who owns it could test a few samples.

Divx and XVid support is made awkward by the report in this thread that the box will only play the HD versions of these codecs. Looking at all the .mkv files I have, I would expect the majority to work based on the manual and here and my own experience, but not every last one.

channelsurfer2

just checked the signal level and yes its weak.. signal strengh 42% and quality not registering below 10%... so thats cnn, sky news and c4Hd that I cant pick up...is is because the dish is too low( its at the back of the house just below bedroom window) or just in general weak?

Premier

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

just checked the signal level and yes its weak.. signal strengh 42% and quality not registering below 10%... so thats cnn, sky news and c4Hd that I cant pick up...is is because the dish is too low( its at the back of the house just below bedroom window) or just in general weak?

If i remember right , Go to the satellite setup and pick eurobird 1 , scroll down to 12.207v and see if you have a signal, if so scan that transponder and sly news should be there.

s_gr

Any update on when the new software is being released to fix the lip sync issue?

Vince Cable

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

...is is because the dish is too low( its at the back of the house just below bedroom window) or just in general weak?

A dish will work on the ground if there are no obstructions.

It might be undersized, or probably just poor alignment/LNB skew/connection etc., etc. . .

Btw, where's the terrestrial element gone from this thread?

user1842

Does anyone know how to export a channel list onto a USB stick.

I have setup all my channels to my liking and now want to make a backup copy so I can setup another box without any hassle.

Any ideas?

Tony

If you download the editor from ferguson theres a how to guide included I think. This was mentioned earlier in the thread

thfcem

Would a hdmi to a rgb component cable work with this box, as I only have one hdmi port on my tv and would like to use this component cable to enable pip on my tv


Thanks

swoofer

Is not that simple, the hdmi outputs in digital format so you need an hdmi converter as well.

1. HDMI cable from receiver to hdmi component converter then

2. HDMI - component cable from converter to HDTV.

Cable is cheap but converter may be difficult to get. whole lot about 80 euro

gb--

groom

Tony wrote: »

Yeah I agree, have it as a feature is fair enough but to openly advertsise that way I think is wrong.

I don't know if anyone else noticed but the PDF manual attached elsewhere in this thread has some very small but dodgy images under the Media section. Very strange thing to see in such a document.

Tony

Indeed it is, perhaps this is ok for the Polish market but not here I think

groom wrote: »

I don't know if anyone else noticed but the PDF manual attached elsewhere in this thread has some very small but dodgy images under the Media section. Very strange thing to see in such a document.

Lpfsox

another vote of thanks to Tony for his first class customer service from me; my receiver arrived on Friday but I haven't had a chance to unpack it yet, never mind set it up! I think I'll hang on until the mooted firmware to address the lip sync issue is released.

Cheers Tony

invpat

Lpfsox wrote: »

another vote of thanks to Tony for his first class customer service from me; my receiver arrived on Friday but I haven't had a chance to unpack it yet, never mind set it up! I think I'll hang on until the mooted firmware to address the lip sync issue is released.

Cheers Tony

Received my receiver last week have'nt upacked either waiting for mooted firmware as well.A little disappointed as I had a Satellite installer ready to install, will have to wait.Dying to get rid of Chorus/UPC.

user1842

invpat wrote: »

Received my receiver last week have'nt upacked either waiting for mooted firmware as well.A little disappointed as I had a Satellite installer ready to install, will have to wait.Dying to get rid of Chorus/UPC.

The lip sync issue is not as bad as people are making out, well at least not on my box connected via HMDI. Its only really noticeable sometimes on ITV1 HD.

It would in noway stop me from connecting my box.

My dad was so impressed with-it, he is throwing his sky box out the window (his words)

Tony

Thanks for the kind words but I must apologise that the lip sync issue was not spotted by me before we shipped any receivers.

Lpfsox wrote: »

another vote of thanks to Tony for his first class customer service from me; my receiver arrived on Friday but I haven't had a chance to unpack it yet, never mind set it up! I think I'll hang on until the mooted firmware to address the lip sync issue is released.

Cheers Tony

To be fair I think its affecting boxes to different degrees and really it should not be happening at all . Its visible on Astra 1 which can be received in Poland so this should have been noticed.

dmclean1842 wrote: »

The lip sync issue is not as bad as people are making out, well at least on my box connected via HMDI. Its only really noticeable sometimes on ITV HD.

I

Harcrid

I'll get my first chance to set mine up this evening when I get home from work so I am interested to see how it goes.

Just curious Tony, have you put a hold on shipping these boxes due to the sync issues or are they still available to purchase from you at the moment?

Tony

Yes I have a hold on shipping until we get the new firmware . There is a facility on the page to be notified by email when they are available again if thats any help.

Celtxx wrote: »

Just curious Tony, have you put a hold on shipping these boxes due to the sync issues or are they still available to purchase from you at the moment?