Advice On Satellite Receiver / Pvr Devices

[avander]

Later this year I will be moving to Thailand with my Thai wife to set up shop and home near Pattaya in a multi-level property we have there.

As such I am starting to think about our A/V setup but I am not yet familiar with what is available in the area for Satellite / Cable or Internet Access for that matter. I expect we will set up a satellite service such as "True" along with cable internet access of some sort?

In out current home we have everything networked with wireless streaming from the internet and our PC (mainly) to the AV receiver as a hub connecting the Smart TV, Blue Ray player and an Xbox and Wii.

I would like to get a heads-up on decent Satellite Receiver/PVR devices available in Thailand that I could incorporate in the new home. Not keen on getting some locally obscure or unsupported hardware.

I like the idea of one box doing HD/SD satellite reception, with multiple tuners for recording more than one program at a time with series linking and a decent internal hard disk space (1tb plus?). Ethernet or wireless is a must so content can be streamed wirelessly to the AV receiver as I do now.

Does anyone have any recommendations along with features and pricing for purchasing locally in Thailand? Maybe I don't need to consider this too much if the providers in Thailand such as "True" have good boxes? Foxtel in Australia rents a decent one with their service which they call an "IQ unit" and this has most of the features I mention.

[Langsuan Man]

Only PVR that I have heard about here in Thailand is marketed by True. I would suggest a Search here at TV about them but my memory recalls that most were not happy with them

[astral]

True ties their box to the smart card,

so you have little option.

[avander]

Thanks for the replies. It looks as though it may be a case of True(th) or Dare.

Will see if I get any more responses and do the search recommended while researching the local Sat/Cable providers for English language content and hardware they offer.

cheers

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Don't bother, download everything, Thai sat TV (TRUE) cuts out every little bit of sex and obscures all pointy objects and wine.

Game of Thrones, just ruined.

[rixalex]

True's HD receiver has input for an external drive. Once you plug one in and enable PVR services (extra 99 baht charge per month) you are good to go. It's a very good service and works very well, unlike True's earlier PVR system.

[avander]

Don't bother, download everything, Thai sat TV (TRUE) cuts out every little bit of sex and obscures all pointy objects and wine.

Game of Thrones, just ruined.

Been offline line for a while but just found the above. Gotta ask cause I am into Sci-Fi/fantasy and GoT is my current favourite so more info on Thai censorship of cable/sat channels would be appreciated?

cheers

Andrew

[avander]

True's HD receiver has input for an external drive. Once you plug one in and enable PVR services (extra 99 baht charge per month) you are good to go. It's a very good service and works very well, unlike True's earlier PVR system.

Thanks Rixalex and others,

Been offline for a while but back and on reviewing the other forums this afternoon it looks like the best options is actually the True HD box unless I want to rely on torrents and other download services for all my viewing. That's OK for some but not really convenient a lot of the time.

I checked out the True HD box on the interweb and saw it has a USB port in addition to the SATA/eSATA port.

Is it too much to expect that maybe, just possibly.. that USB port supports PVR recording as I have a WD 500gb drive ready and waiting if it does? Probably just a firmware upgrade interface but you never can tell.....? Anyone tried this?

If it has to be e/SATA are there specs somewhere on the HD box connector/cable and suitable drives as I would have to buy some hardware and maybe it's cheaper to here in Oz?

cheers

Andrew

[rixalex]

True's HD receiver has input for an external drive. Once you plug one in and enable PVR services (extra 99 baht charge per month) you are good to go. It's a very good service and works very well, unlike True's earlier PVR system.

Thanks Rixalex and others,

Been offline for a while but back and on reviewing the other forums this afternoon it looks like the best options is actually the True HD box unless I want to rely on torrents and other download services for all my viewing. That's OK for some but not really convenient a lot of the time.

I checked out the True HD box on the interweb and saw it has a USB port in addition to the SATA/eSATA port.

Is it too much to expect that maybe, just possibly.. that USB port supports PVR recording as I have a WD 500gb drive ready and waiting if it does? Probably just a firmware upgrade interface but you never can tell.....? Anyone tried this?

If it has to be e/SATA are there specs somewhere on the HD box connector/cable and suitable drives as I would have to buy some hardware and maybe it's cheaper to here in Oz?

cheers

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I think your only option is buying an external case and putting a drive in it. That's what i did. The case was about 1200 baht and the 1TB drive a few thousand. You need quite a bit of memory if you are going to record HD of course. The external case has two cables, one USB that takes power from your receiver, and the other for the data - e/SATA. First time you plug in you get the option to format the drive and click yes. After that it's plain sailing.

[joncl]

Grab a DM8000 or the likes multi tuner STB (but buy an original not a clone and get OpenPLi installed on it) from your country and bring it with you and PM me when you are here. It will do all the requests you have made above and we use them here all linked into a JSAT Pi system powered by XBMC so all devices i.e. smart phones / tablets / pc's / xbox etc all talk to the same source / system.

Happy moving ..

Edited May 2, 2013 by joncl

[chris2004]

I use True's PVR system and i have to say it's very good. True's censorship is annoying though. If it's a film you really like better to buy a proper version. What's also annoying is all the logos that True shows on the screen, sometimes in all 4 corners.

[animatic]

If you really want to see Game of Throwns properly,

get iTunes and buy the HD and run a Mac/PC linked to the TV.

The torrents suck, size and quality wise.

The True version is censored ridiculously.

Sorry MICT and culture ministeress, you tastes in paternalistic national mind control

are geriatric at best and impossible to stomach for most westerners.

You are an anachronism.

[avander]

Thx,

Sounds like the Thai censors suck....

Here in Sydney I download the HD version of GoT through an online Subscription service, WRZKO. Quality can be great as long as you choose carefully.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[longball53098]

I download GoT from EZTV and the quality is just fine