Hello,

Sorry for the long story...

Being a Geek I have been pretty selective about the DVB system I go for. Im not convinced I will get a decent DVB-T signal at my place and dont want to sink $500+ into something that may not work. So I opted for a DVB-S setup.

I have been on the hunt for DVB-S set top box with HDMI or DVI as my component connection is used by my Sky box.

Last week I found and won a DVB-S box on Trademe. The box is second hand and has all the connections one could wish for including DVI and VGA. Its some European brand I had never heard of.

While the box works (somewhat) I keep getting a "No Signal" message. Its scans the channels fine and the EPG even works. However if Im watching something it comes up with the message after a few seconds (10-30s). If I change the channel its fine for another short period of time but then the message comes up.

I thought it may be my dish alignment but I went to a mates house who has a DSE set top box (with 100% signal) and it does the same there. I tired to tinker with the LNB settings but there is a distinct lack of options and it only allows me to select an LNB type (eg universal, single 1-5, etc)

Even stranger, last night I was trying it yet again and the box locked up (wouldnt respond to the remote etc) and the signal didnt drop out.

This leads me to think its a software issue, which is another oddity as the screens in the manual dont resemble the screens on the box at all.

Is it worth risking a firmware upgrade since the "manufacturer" has firmware available on their website.

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?

Trevor