New small HD box - 250gb hdd standard

davemulheran

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Hi all

my sky engineer is going to replace my rubbish amstrad box today. He says he has no new samsungs, just a grades.

However.. He says he has a new smaller HD box that is brand new out!? With a larger 250 hdd. He reckons it's really fast and great quality!

Is he full of sheeite??

Has anyone heard of these boxes?? Are they any good?

Cheers

Dave
 
There's lots of threads on here about them, supposed to be good.
 
would you mind posting the links please? i've searched but 'small and amstrad' yeild no results...
 
However.. He says he has a new smaller HD box that is brand new out!? With a larger 250 hdd. He reckons it's really fast and great quality!

Is he full of sheeite??
He is perfectly correct! Brand new with 500Gb drives (but only 250Gb available for the user!)

Reports have been really good - but I have not seen any from people trying to upgrade the HDD yet!
 
I got one of these 'small boxes' yesterday after my old HD box packed up.

My first impressions are that the the picture does not seem so 'vibrant', is that just me?

The sound is different as well, on my old box the HD channels were a lower volume, ie if I switch from 106 to 170 (sky 1) for example, the volume was lower on 170.

Now its the other way round, HD channels are louder!

The box operates a LOT faster, and seems to run quieter as well.
 
Now its the other way round, HD channels are louder!

Are you using an optical (or digital coax) connection to your amp ?

If so, and this goes out to "experts" ... I'm confused :confused:

We hear about audio problems like this all the time - but surely, with a digital signal, the series of "1s" and "0s" that is sent to the amp doesn't have "a volume". Why would the "1s" and "0s" from Box A produce a louder sound that the "1s" and "0s" from Box B ?

I'd hate to think that the boxes were doing some sort of processing (e.g. compression - shudder) before passing the digital signal to my amp.





Regards
 
Are you using an optical (or digital coax) connection to your amp ?


Regards

It is optical!

Also the box has crashed (locked up!) twice now, and sky have said it now needs REPLACING....

They say its a static issue..
 
surely, with a digital signal, the series of "1s" and "0s" that is sent to the amp doesn't have "a volume". Why would the "1s" and "0s" from Box A produce a louder sound that the "1s" and "0s" from Box B ?
I'd hate to think that the boxes were doing some sort of processing (e.g. compression - shudder) before passing the digital signal to my amp.

The 1's and 0's you refer to have encoded from the original analogue audio both the level (volume) and the frequencies transmitted. It's called PCM (Pulse Code Modulation.) First used by telecom companies many years ago and later by CDs, DVDs etc, etc. Do a search on "quantisation" as well, if you are interested. It's a fascinating subject !
 
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I think they have engineered the HD boxes to be this way. They latest sky adverts say that sky HD has superior sound!

Now over a standard SKY box with a scart socket, totally agree. But then so should an sky+ box!

Now when someone wants to demostrate sky, and they change from SD to HD they a get a better picture and 'louder' audio which some people may perceive as better..

I've had a number of these new boxes now (I have an issue New (Standard) Sky HD Box + Solo 5.1 woes.. - AVForums.com) and I can confirm they are all the same!
 
I too have just had one of these installed
the sound is rather good
but the sd pq is awful the way i found round the pq is too use a scart as well as the hdmi its a pain but what can we do
 
Now its the other way round, HD channels are louder!

Same here.

I now have the Sky+HD 1TB box and the difference to me is that SD sound through an Onkyo 607 AV is not as loud. I have to use the remote control to adjust volume much more often than previously.
 
The 1's and 0's you refer to have encoded from the original analogue audio both the level (volume) and the frequencies transmitted. It's called PCM (Pulse Code Modulation.) First used by telecom companies many years ago and later by CDs, DVDs etc, etc. Do a search on "quantisation" as well, if you are interested. It's a fascinating subject !

Yes, I do know what PCM is (I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not).

But you've inadvertently made my point for me.

As you say, "The 1's and 0's you refer to have encoded from the original analogue audio both the level (volume) and the frequencies transmitted". So why, when the same "1s" and "0s" come out of Sky Box A do they end up sounding louder than the ones from Sky Box B ? Surely it should be the same digits going into the same A/V amp ?





Regards
 

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