Review: Azbox Elite HD FTA Receiver

[Scott Greczkowski]

I took the plunge and ordered one yesterday from Ricks. I hated buying it from a non sponsor, but I checked with our sponsors before ordering and they had nothing like it.

I can't wait to get it.

 

[Lak7]

ebay, $349 with free shipping

Of the sponsors, only GoSatellite carries an HD receiver, let alone a DVB-S2 4:2:2 receiver.

But you can't go wrong buying from Rick's.

 

[SatinKzo]

When is this unit expected to come out of beta?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I would rather get it from Rick then some no name off ebay.

Rick has been around for a long time and I trust him and his service.

 

[babcea]

I took the plunge and ordered one yesterday from Ricks. I hated buying it from a non sponsor, but I checked with our sponsors before ordering and they had nothing like it.

I can't wait to get it.

there are some on ebay for about 30.00 cheaper

 

[Lak7]

Rick has been around for a long time and I trust him and his service.

I agree, though the guy on ebay has been selling fta equip for a little while.
If I didn't already have one, I would have no problem buying the units on ebay.

When is this unit expected to come out of beta?

Never, I'd guess.

 

[vfrjim]

does anyone know if HDCP is enabled on the HDMI?

 

[Lak7]

does anyone know if HDCP is enabled on the HDMI?

What is it, and how would one tell?

 

[brentb636]

there are some on ebay for about 30.00 cheaper

Some things money can't buy ! Rick's dedication to this hobby commands a certain amount of loyalty. Same reason as I shop at our Gold Sponsors whenever possible.

 

[babcea]

Some things money can't buy ! Rick's dedication to this hobby commands a certain amount of loyalty. Same reason as I shop at our Gold Sponsors whenever possible.

I agree 100%,when i save up the money rick's is where I am going,the guy on ebay his feed back% is around 97,anything less than 99 and I wont buy.:up

 

[pro96]

So when will a true blind scan be available for this AZBOX elite?

 

[stogie5150]

So when will a true blind scan be available for this AZBOX elite?

No one knows even IF there will be one. It is supposition that there WILL be one, because it has been said on some sites in Europe that it is coming. We will just have to wait. I can tell you what, the Azbox folks are fixing issues pretty well, we have gotten meaningful updates in the past few weeks, especially with the opening of the DVB-S2 4:2:2 HD signals that we couldn't do before, and removing the need to set the HD flag to view a feed.

As an aside, after a couple weeks with the Azbox, its still impressing me with its everyday brilliance compared to what we had before, its execellent picture quality, and decent, if not good, general useability. Yes, it could be made more user-friendly, yes the PVR could work better, but this isnt Directv or Dish Network. Asking a receiver to cope with all the different formats and bitrates and codecs flawlessly is just unrealistic, IMO.

I continue to recommend it, heartily. :up

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I hear there is an ATSC tuner coming soon for the AZBox. I wonder if they will be sold here in the US.

Anyone using a hard drive on their AZbox? if so hows it working?

I can't wait to get mine. I rush home every night from work to see if Mr UPS stopped over with a gift for me.

 

[pro96]

No one knows even IF there will be one. It is supposition that there WILL be one, because it has been said on some sites in Europe that it is coming. We will just have to wait. I can tell you what, the Azbox folks are fixing issues pretty well, we have gotten meaningful updates in the past few weeks, especially with the opening of the DVB-S2 4:2:2 HD signals that we couldn't do before, and removing the need to set the HD flag to view a feed.

As an aside, after a couple weeks with the Azbox, its still impressing me with its everyday brilliance compared to what we had before, its execellent picture quality, and decent, if not good, general useability. Yes, it could be made more user-friendly, yes the PVR could work better, but this isnt Directv or Dish Network. Asking a receiver to cope with all the different formats and bitrates and codecs flawlessly is just unrealistic, IMO.

I continue to recommend it, heartily. :up

Thanks for heads up.. might be ordering one for Father's day gift to myself

 

[ghia]

I don't have a hard drive hooked up but for fun one day I put a video and a few FLAC files on a USB flash drive and had no problem playing them.

 

[stogie5150]

I hear there is an ATSC tuner coming soon for the AZBox. I wonder if they will be sold here in the US.

Anyone using a hard drive on their AZbox? if so hows it working?

I can't wait to get mine. I rush home every night from work to see if Mr UPS stopped over with a gift for me.

Seeing how the USA is the only country in the world that uses ATSC, I'd say yes. Right now though, the developers are concentrating on squashing bugs. Since Cardsharing, while illegal here, is so big in Europe, they are spending a LOT of time on that. But I will put up with that as long as they throw us a bone every now and again...


I have a 1 TB WD Elements external drive hooked to mine Scott, with about 400 Gig of Divx files, mp3, pictures and the like, and it plays them all without issue. It will play .mkv files also, but the FAT file setup that the azbox requires precludes the larger files to be put on the drive, thus not being able to play them.

One cool thing is that once you have it networked, you can open the drive from your computer, and place files on the azbox drive very easily, using fileZilla, drag and drop. Easy.


I love it. Hell, my WIFE even likes it, and she has never liked ANY of my FTA boxes...LOL

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

But how does it run as a DVR? I would like to record some Retro Jams.

 

[Lak7]

It records, anything particular you are looking for?

 

[Babadem]

Thanks for clarifying things, guys!
BTW, there are two models on the market: AZBox Elite and Premium. The second tuner slot mentioned above - is it occupied by DVB-T tuner in Premium or empty in both? Will they add a second tuner as an option? ATSC Tuner would be a good one. Do they plan to develop it, or someone else will?

Premium has internal space and connection for SATA drive, and wireless ethernet.

Is there a chance we can get a detailed comparison between the Elite an Premium Versions of the AZBox? BTW, which of the two more features?

 

[Lak7]

Welcome to AZBOX