Current Sky Decoders

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Current Sky Decoders

dimebag

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#11109 3-Jan-2007 13:04

Hi Guys,

im about to upgrade my decoder as mine is old and crusty! that and the other day the remote short circuted, the batteries heated up and mlted the thing - safe eh?

anyway, i need a sky decoder with audio optical output - the analogue section on my amp is screwed, only optical will give me proper sound. does the new pace decoders do this? or just the motorola's?

does anyone know what the current decoders are?? its costing me $40 to upgrade and the guy is due here friday- wanna make sure i get the right one!!!

also - does sky actually broadcast anything in 5.1 audio??

cheers!

Lipex666

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#56796 3-Jan-2007 15:08

Hello and welcome

all been covered in this post somwhere in there is all the current decoders

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=34&TopicId=9668

"The only way to learn some- thing is to do it"

dimebag

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#56802 3-Jan-2007 17:39

cheers. i did have a read through that. it mainly deals with video. i just need a decoder with spdif - whch i think is the motorola..
cause i wont be shelling out cash for the stinkin mysky box - it remains property of sky!? next!

cyril7

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#57205 8-Jan-2007 08:42

None of the standard STB's support spdif out (electrical or optical), only the MySky supports this. Currently there are no DD5.1 transmissions on Sky, they have indicated DD transmissions early this year.

Personally I think $600 is a couple of hundred too steep for the MySky, that said I have used both the MySky and panasonic DVR's, and for me the MySky is a prefred solution, when you add in the fact that a DVR or PVR may not be a long life product and potentially high maintenance, then paying a one of fee for life supply/maintenance seems reasonable.

Cyril

grant_k

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#57238 8-Jan-2007 17:31

cyril7: ...the MySky is a prefred solution, when you add in the fact that a DVR or PVR may not be a long life product and potentially high maintenance, then paying a one of fee for life supply/maintenance seems reasonable.

Thanks for pointing out that it is a "life supply/maintenance" arrangement Cyril. I didn't realise that and thought we would be up for another similar fee each time Sky decided to upgrade their PVR platform.

In the 12 months since we installed MySky I consider that we have well and truly got our $600 worth. Recording is just so easy. You can enable the Series Link and go away on holiday. When you come back, everything you wanted is there so long as you don't choose too many programmes and run out of Hard Disk space...

There is the occasional issue with rewinding programmes recorded on Prime where the video doesn't change, only the counter goes backwards, but other than that, I don't have any complaints at all about MySky. It's a great product

cyril7

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#57239 8-Jan-2007 17:39

The only question both I and others have had, is does the $600 already paid contribute toward the upcoming HD PVR, ie will current MySky customers get a reduced upfront cost to upgrade. We wait and see.

Cyril

ajobbins

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#57242 8-Jan-2007 18:36

We have one of the little new Pace decoders and it's not very good really. Quite often it will change channels all on its own or you press something on the remote and it just does something totally different. Hopefully they will bring out some new firmware to fix.

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cyril7

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#57253 8-Jan-2007 19:26

The DS-230 is a good little unit, however early ones had an issue with the alignment of the IR receiver which causes the exact issues you talk about. Get Sky to come and replace it as it is a known issue.

We have a late model DS-230 that came with this problem sorted from manufacture, the whole unit works well.

Cyril

steve98

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#57315 9-Jan-2007 11:09

dimebag: the analogue section on my amp is screwed, only optical will give me proper sound. does the new pace decoders do this? or just the motorola's?

There is another workaround for this. Treat yourself to a shiny new DVD recorder and have your Sky decoder connected to it's line-in sockets. Then watch Sky through your DVD recorder with optical or coaxial digital out as the audio output.

Of course, the sound quality won't be 'digital' because it will only be as good as the analogue connection between your Sky decoder and your DVD recorder, but it will fix your problem of your amp not dealing with analogue inputs.

Steve