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DVX Set Top Box with HD option $69

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DVX Set Top Box with HD option $69
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[Deactivated] on 15/09/2007 - 14:34 strathfield.com.au (3122 clicks)

An interesting SD set top box, to which you can add a hard drive for recording of TV shows, for not much more than the cost of a set top box on it's own.

Link is to catalog - see the 5th page (one in centre)

Has time shift function of 1 hour so you can check back on any show if you are interrupted.

adding the hard drive is fairly simple. It has a latch which you unscrew and you find the power and connector. Supports IDE drives

Comes with remote and automatically tunes to all broadcast stations. Also has a USB plug so you can play music from any USB card.

Just bought one and the quality of the reception is good, although the signal strength shows to be lower than my existing Set top box, so if you are in an area where reception is marginal this may not be the unit for you.

In my case I used an old 80gb Hard drive that was not being used. this will give me 55 hours of recording. I can also remove the drive and copy the recordings to my computer. Although this does require removing the drive and is not something I would do often, it is possible.

Some technical specs

100-240v
SD 4:3 16:9 Switchable
MPEG Layer 1&!! 32/44 1/48Khz
CVBS (RCA) S-Video YCbCr
Full Frame, Pan scan Letterbox, widescreen
USB 1.1 Port

Other
comes with Remote control
Supports Subtitles
Recall - last station selected
7 Day recording
15 recordings schedled
Sleep timer
Parental setting
Timezone setting
favourite channel list/button
EPG Electronic Program Guide - from which you can select a program to record - sort of one touch selection

Suggest you call ahead to the store to see if they have stock. Would guess that this deal will be repeated. But no guarantee.

enjoy

(Edited by scotty: Neerv has written a review on DVX-555U SD Digital Set Top Box and it has provided great information to help potential buyers making purchase decisions.)

Electrical & Electronics Recorder Set-Top Box TV TV Tuner

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closed Comments

  • kojack on 15/09/2007 - 18:54

    Any way of copying the files off the hard disk without removing it??

    • [Deactivated] on 16/09/2007 - 07:37

      Not that I can see. You could add your own Ribbon cable and a power cable extender and set up one of those hot swappable units.

  • siuol on 15/09/2007 - 23:07

    Does this box have vga or dvi output?

    • [Deactivated] on 16/09/2007 - 07:43

      No just standard RCA SVideo or YCbCr

      It is a SD Box. If your monitor has VGA or dvi, it probably will display HD or better.

      They have a HD STB for $149 (but this does not have record capability) - I dont know if this is competitively "cheap", but it seems to be better than prices were a few months ago

  • [Deactivated] on 16/09/2007 - 08:01

    I just recorded my first show - V8 supercars of course!!

    Quality is crystal clear vs the old VCR.

    Also recording was a real breeze. There is an EPG function (Electronic Program Guide), where you can see all the shows for the day in a bar type function. This is broadcast by the television stations so its upto date.

    Here is a sample display

    http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/downloads/favoritechannelpro…

    (This is from another country with another recorder but it gives you the idea how it looks)

    You can then highlight the program you want to record, then it copies all the details into the recoding function and all you do is switch this on, and it records at that time. Even the wife thinks she can do that!!!

  • [Deactivated] on 16/09/2007 - 08:10

    If anyone wants to see the manual you can download a copy here

    http://rapidshare.com/files/55997513/555u.pdf

  • kojack on 16/09/2007 - 13:25

    ozpete - you are certainly doing a great job selling these things! :) Anyone else bought one? I'm tempted to get one for the wife to record on (as I already have a Tuner in my PC)…

    • [Deactivated] on 16/09/2007 - 18:53

      Seems like that. Just liked the unit. I thought it looked like a good buy, but wasn't sure. You know it was cheap but sometimes thats a bargain, sometimes its money wasted. If it was the latter then I wouldn't have had anything to post ;-)

      Likewise I had a tuner in a PC for recording, and that still has advantage that I can burn to DVD. Also i can compress using Divx, but its harder to setup and record with. I have to plan ahead more.

    • mawinmawin on 17/09/2007 - 22:27

      I bought one this evening from near by strathfield as inspired by Ozpete's detailed writings :-).

      With in a hour got this up and ready. The TV signal is bit week (on analogue) at my home, but this unit is pretty well displaying the signal. Just one glitch though, i cannot see ABC/ABC2 on this (but it comes if i connect direct to my TV). Not sure why this is. SBS News channel and plenty of parliment channels are coming though.

      I didnt have any spare disk yet to test the recording. I noticed a 39$ or 49$ SD Set top box there, but nonthless bought this one though i will not think of recording on HDD. Overall, it is a good unit for the price.

  • scheps on 16/09/2007 - 15:41

    whats the usb plug for? also whats the remote response like? e.g. digicrystals are quite problematic. What format does it record in?

    thanx for your help :) certainly looks like a good deal!!

    • [Deactivated] on 16/09/2007 - 18:47

      USB plug is for playing audio -Mp3 on the system - A tick off box in my opinion, not really one that will be used often, but then I have an MP3 stereo system already.

      It can also be used to update the firmware. Where from I have no idea. Searching under DVX 555u gives limited reference to the product and most are in Australia

      The remote seems ok. Was a bit sluggish at first, but that was while I used some old AAA batteries (so not to open sealed batteries that came with the unit - in case I wanted to return it). Seems ok with newer batteries.

      Format is MPEG2

      • inkerking on 31/10/2007 - 06:33

        I have just purchased a DVX 555u from scr after reading ozpete's great review. However I believe that the comment that the format is MPEG2 is not correct. Perhaps Ozpete may be able to enlighten me with how to get the recorded file off the H/D or perhaps point me in the right direction. I have tried many times to get additional info on the format as recorded to the H/D but as yet I am coming up with a blank
        Regards
        inkerking

  • Phild01 on 25/09/2007 - 17:33

    Bought 3 DVX-555U for myself and friends. Each was fitted with a Seagate 320gb though one was reconfigured with an 80gb seagate. All units record well though lack suitable title information that has to be entered manually via remote. LG tuner is slightly weak and remote is terrible with a narrow transmit angle. Nothing to do with batteries either.

    Has time shift function of 1 hour so you can check back on any show if you are interrupted. Like to know how this was discovered as the time shift function did not work on any of the three I bought although there is a menu option to allow it?!?!?! Can anyone advise if time shifting works as I was hoping for a firmware upgrade to correct this?

    USB port is great for viewing photos on the big screen.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/09/2007 - 18:06

    The Time shift works this way.

    When watching the broadcast just press the rewind button, go back to where you want to start from and press play. You can then press fast forward thru the ads to catch up if necessary. But that was discovered by chance. It's not documented in the manual.

    You're right about the angle of the remote. Just tested it at wider angles and its not as good as the TV remote. It wasn't something I noticed during my use.

    I still use a 80gb drive that i had lying around and that seems to work ok.

    Havent yet worked out how to title the recordings, would have liked it to pick up the details from the EPG. Still so far I have been happy with it for the price.

  • Phild01 on 25/09/2007 - 19:54

    Thanks ozpete, just tried your suggestion and I was blown away..had no idea it was recording the current channel setting. I actually thought I had to start the recording process like I would on my Strong PVR before time slip would work. This is fantastic! Value for money is exceptional, but if only there was a channel and recording indicator on the front panel, but even so I don't care.
    Thanks again as this will really change the way I use the unit.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/09/2007 - 19:56

    When did you buy the units? While the brochure says it's ended usually SCR keeps selling at the same price afterwards

  • Phild01 on 25/09/2007 - 20:24

    No, I bought these a while back when they first hit the shelf and I noticed last week that the local Hornsby store no longer has it available.

  • Phild01 on 26/09/2007 - 16:32

    Just checked my receipt. It was the last week in July and I got these from Artarmon. One major reason I liked this unit was because many cheap PVR's only have composite or RGB output. I really needed high quality component or HDMI. This had the component output.

  • mikem on 04/10/2007 - 10:18

    I bought one of these set top boxes on the weekend and am very happy with it. But I put a 40Gb hard disk in it and tried to record, which worked for about 15-20 minutes and then I got a lot of interference in the picture quality to the point that I was unable to watch the tv and the recording came out with the same interferance.
    Has anyone else experienced this problem? I am not sure if the HD is not fast enough to keep up or the extra work on the system caused the quality of signal to degrade.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/10/2007 - 11:34

    Not sure but you might want to check this site out for "technical" assistance

    http://www.austech.info/showthread.php?t=152899&page=1

    There are some knowledge people there who might be able to assist

    One thing comes to mind - is the hard drive connector properly attached - if its not, then this may be causing interference

  • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2007 - 15:22

    There back in the latest Strathfield catalog expiry date 4 nov

    • Bigpete on 16/02/2008 - 13:01

      Ozpete :- How do we see the recorded files on the Hard drive once we’ve connected it to the PC? Doesn’t show the drive at all, suspect that the PVR format is not recognised by windows etc. Help please. Any help would be great Cheers Big Pete

  • marty50 on 23/10/2007 - 09:21

    I purchased two of these STBs. One for my elderly mother and thats the only one I have set up. But I cant set the time as it seems the broadcast stream is setting the timezone so I cant set it manually. That would be fine but it seems to be setting it to EST? How do I get aorund this? Is this the WA broadcasters sending this?

    Marty

  • martin619000 on 31/01/2008 - 14:30

    Can anybody help please.??? I bought the DVX 555u and am very happy with it.
    however, I would like to know if it's possible to get the digital signal to pass through my Tevion DVD recorder so I can record tv in high quality.
    any advice will be appreciated.

  • uncle joe on 11/02/2008 - 19:00

    I bought a DVX 555u last September and it works well with a Seagate 80gb drive I had not being used. I have found the times shown as available for recording are double actual available. e.g If 30 hours shown and a recording of one hour is made the balance is now 28 hours not 29 as expected. Any ideas what is happening here?

    In ozpete's original posting he says "I can also remove the drive and copy the recordings to my computer. Although this does require removing the drive and is not something I would do often, it is possible."

    How do you do this? I have removed drive and connected to computer where nothing will recognize the format. I formatted a 60gb drive in FAT32 inserted in box and recorded a few minutes. Took out, connected to computer and all file system had been removed and not recognised by WinXP, Paragon Partition Manager and three or four undelete programs. No one at local SCR knows how to transfer from disk to computer.

    In a word: HELP!

    Any ideas from someone who had actually done the transfer would be appreciated. Thanks.

  • Bigpete on 16/02/2008 - 12:59

    Uncle Joe or Ozpete :-
    How do we see the recorded files on the Hard drive once we've connected it to the PC?
    Doesn't show the drive at all, suspect that the PVR format is not recognised by windows etc.
    Help please.
    Any help would be great
    Cheers
    Big Pete

  • uncle joe on 19/02/2008 - 22:20

    Bigpete - I was hoping ozpete may reply to my entry of 11/2. I can't get recorded files off hard drive yet.

    PCUSER magazine has a write up on page 92 of March 2008 issue. Have spoken to editor who is getting reviewer to get back to me. Will post details here if they are any help. Cheers Uncle Joe.

  • marty50 on 09/03/2008 - 15:14

    Hi guys, I sorted out the clock problem with the STB where the station transmits eastern Std Time for the west coast of Australia. Strathfield supplied me with new firmware which now allows you to manually overide the auto time set function. This means you can program to record. Contact Strtahfield or myself if you want detaisl.

  • neerav on 16/03/2008 - 20:42

    Hi Guys

    I was given a product sample of the DVX-555U and have written a detailed
    DVX-555U SD Digital Set Top Box (STB) PVR Review to help you decide whether to buy it or not

  • marty50 on 16/03/2008 - 20:24

    so what did you say about it?

  • neerav on 16/03/2008 - 20:43

    I said over 3000 words - read the review to find out (the link is in bold))

  • marty50 on 16/03/2008 - 21:19

    Thanks….did you mention the clock problem. I had to obtain new firmware in order to disable the auto clock setting from the streamed data. They only send east coast time so on any other time zone you cant set to record a program.

  • neerav on 16/03/2008 - 21:30

    What state are you in Marty?

    Might be best if we continued this conversation at http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=55229

  • marty50 on 16/03/2008 - 21:38

    western australia…we are two hours behd eastern states and most tv channels transmit only the east coast time.

  • frankdamage on 25/12/2008 - 23:18

    I saw one comment somewhere that it will have been good if the green light will flash during recording. I was able to modify by simply adding a LED and resistor that flashes rapidly during record/playback of the hard drive. My modification requires opening the DVX555U voiding waranties and is ONLY recomended for competent electronics people due to mains voltages. If you like further info ill be happy to help.

    • WhiteEvo6 on 15/01/2009 - 23:11

      Freakdamage could you please give me details on what you did to install the LED, my father in law wants to do this to his and he is pretty handy with electronics unlike myself.

  • marty50 on 16/01/2009 - 18:59

    Frankdamage I would be interested in that info as well. My boxes are well out of warranty and I an elron engineer so no worry about messing round inside.

  • frankdamage on 19/01/2009 - 20:48

    Hi there Hotzone @ Marty50, Its a little difficult to explain how I did the modifications, I originaly just installed A LED @ resistor on 1 of the lines on the Harddisc, however the LED was not very bright while working, so I made a simple circuit using a operational amplifier to drive the LED. I also used the same opamp to drive the second LED for remote signal indication. If you like Email me on [email protected] and be sure to put in comments the subject (DVX555) otherwise i might miss you email. I can send you the circuit and how to connect it.

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  • PJC on 01/04/2017 - 12:44

    Vendor in title please.

  • PJC on 01/04/2017 - 12:46

    I miss Strathfield Electronics. They were good for buying kids' birthday presents and their blank CDs were cheap and functional.

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