Help Novice! where what best DtvBox

[stifofthedump]

Hi everyone I am a complete novice at this and new to this site but fed up with being ripped off by V....n on my tv broadband and phone. Well 12 month contract is up i next few weeks and I think a new box is required.

I have 2 V boxes installed by V (ex telewest), 1 in bedroom and 1 in lounge (live in a bungalow).

Bascially we are not great sport watchers but want more from movies dramas scifi horror n stuff. So I guess I am going to need to buy 2 new boxes so we can watch diff channels in both rooms.

Q1 Will I need to keep the most basic tv package with V and keep their V boxes connected?

Q2 I am disabled and dont want to get ripped off by a third pary chipped box whatever they are! Told they are £130 from someone who knows someone blah blah. What is recommended to be best box and should I buy 1 first and see how it goes or should I go for the two now?

Q3 Where is best place to get these - reliable etc . I was told to just buy off ebay but hey, Ive ended up with crap DVDs off there from far east that dont work well.

Q4 Given V put in the orininal cable and boxes in both rooms.... how do I connect the new boxes

Q5 I said I was stupid when it comes to tech stuff...wellif they dont "plug n play" how do I get going.........I read all sortof stuff aboutsig strength etc and jargon........ I need a drink

PLEASE PLEASE be patient with me but I need help. By the way I live in Motherwell Scotland

Thank you in anticipation for all the help Iam going to need

Stig (stifofthedump should have been stig of the dump - stupidme)

[reddiesel]

Your probably best off to keep basic package, its not a good idea to mod your subscribed box but as you have two maybe you could get away with one, or you could buy a pace or sammy box and mod it, or another option would be a eurovox or similar which just need flashing, to do the v box you would need an unlooper and a programmer with phoenix mode,have a look in private fta section for link to downloads where there are tutorials, have a read through the posts as well theres lots of faq and answers.

[lincsat]

It's best to keep subscribing to something so they keep your feed live - maybe the free TV with the phone package, or even the Internet service.

The Eurovox boxes come with a F adapter, so you unscrew the cable from the V box, screw on the adapter and push it in to the Eurovox, you then disconnect the scart connector from the V box and connect that to the Eurovox, then scan for channels - Quite Easy really.

Some ex TW area's are having problems with Sky Sports 1 currently, but there should be a fix before too long. Experienced users my be able to manually fix a file to sort this, but as you're not a Sport watcher, it shouldn't be a problem for you.

You will find the Eurovox boxes considerably cheaper than £130 and mine now come with some basic instructions to get you started

[stifofthedump]

Thank you Lincsat

Technomate TM5200D USB only ? Do you rate this as good and reliable as Eurovox MAX V's. I have been told whatever box I get I still need to get it chipped (cost another £50) to get all the channels. Is this true?

Because I have 2 current V boxes so we can watch diffent tv in the 2 rooms, if I give one box back (you still get free V TV with phone) will V turn off the other cable or is it just split somehow as it comes in the house. Use V for broadband 2mb paying £18 for that but new customers are geting it for £4.99.

How would you conect the Technomate?

[stifofthedump]

Stupid me just realised the other is for saterlite - there is a dish outside but not sure about it - never seen it work

[lincsat]

Yes the Technomate is a Satellite box and it's not for Sky.

You don't need to "chip" a Eurovox, that is the term for modifying a Virgin box (Pace or Samsung). The Eurovox may need new software installing from time to time, but the current software is already installed. Software updates are dead easy, you connect the Eurovox to your PC with a null-modem (RS232, Serial) cable. If your PC does not have a serial port, you may need a USB to Serial adapter.

If you sent back one V Box and kept the other, the feed into your house would stay live. You get one feed which is split for however many outlets you have. When you send the box back, keep the White connecting cable that goes from the wall socket to the box and the scart lead, you will need these for your Eurovox

[jimbo]

stifofthedump not often id post a thing like this, but trust lincsat to help u out even by private messaging.

[Stigofthedump]

Just got a new Eurovox max 2008 with software loaded. It only picked up
32 channels on first powerscan with 219 programes. 307.000MHz to 691.000MHz.......6952 QAM64 83%

Changed frequency from 200.000 and it brought back 34 tps with 235 programmes many with about 15 blank and several duplicated. How can I be sure I have got all the channels. Living in Motherwell Scotland I do not know how many I should be getting