Panasonic Digibox repair possible ?

[miaviv]

I bought a second hand Panasonic TU-DSB30 last year without being able

to test it in the UK beforehand although was assured it worked. 

It had card with house on etc.  I plugged it in here in France

(already have a Free to Air system aligned to required satellite) and

it worked for 30 seconds - got Channel Five and before I could shout

"hooray" it completely died !  I can't get anything on the machine

now, just the red light to say that the power is on but that is it.....

I have been offered another second hand digibox - the same make and

model as previously and I'm dubious about making the same mistake.....

I have a few questions...1) could this box have not worked because Sky

detected something dodgy about the card etc and frazzled it ? 2) Would

this box work in the Uk and perhaps not here in France ? 

I live near Toulouse and wondered if anyone knows a place were I might

possibly get it repaired if this is indeed possible.  Thanks in

advance

[Will]

No it's nothing Sky did. A working digibox will be able to receive BBC and many other channels (though not channel 4 or five) even without a card. Apart from the licensing question, a digibox will work anywhere where there is a good enough signal available, which includes France as well as UK. As long as the box is not connected to a phone line Sky will not be able to tell where it is.

Unless you can find somebody who knows specifically about Sky digiboxes I think the chances of getting it repaired locally are pretty slim. The www.satcure.co.uk site has a lot of information about the various boxes, including troubleshooting and repair details.

[Baz]

I had a similar problem with a panasonic box and they are not worth repairing. 

 Satcare says "We have received lots of reports from TU-DSB30 owners about "freezes" and "crashes". These faults seem to be worse in areas of poor signal outside the UK. It seems possible that a software fault is the cause but nobody seems certain. Consequently, we recommend that TU-DSB30 owners buy a different model and don't waste time or money on repairs."

For more details look at: http://www.satcure.co.uk/panasonic.htm

Baz

[ChezShells]

Hi

I have one of these Panasonic boxes and this freezes, don't use it much but seems to be okay after a while.

Never had any problems with the old Pace boxes.

[Esperaza]

This year I have had problems with two Panasonic DSB30 boxes, both began locking up and eventually failing with psu problems, both were five years old.

I was advised against having them repaired and have purchased two Pace boxes, one for UK and one for France.

[Brilec]

Since you can buy new digital boxes in France for peanuts, it is certainly not worth trying to get it repaired.

[Esperaza]

I have a cheap French box that was very good value, however, the wife likes the EPG, hence the Pace box.

[Will]

You also need a Sky digibox if you want to watch channel 4 or five, as you can't receive them via the boxes available in France. I agree too about the Sky EPG which we find invaluable. We also use the BBC interactive text a lot, which I have been told is not available via French satellite receivers, but I don't necessarily believe that - can anybody confirm it?

[miaviv]

It is true that you can't access BBC digital etc. via a standard

satellite receiver (non-Sky) only subtitles can be accessed. 

[andyh4]

Will

our German digital box cannot do the interactive things because the button controls are programmed to do different things - red button for example pulls up your personalised menu.  I could imagine that the French boxes are similar (or indeed identical)

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="Will "]You also need a Sky digibox if you want to watch channel 4 or five, as you can't receive them via the boxes available in France. I agree too about the Sky EPG which we find invaluable. We also use the BBC interactive text a lot, which I have been told is not available via French satellite receivers, but I don't necessarily believe that - can anybody confirm it?[/quote]

Will  You cannot access BBC interactive or ITV interactive in the same way on  French box as on a Sky box by the red button, you can however get the broadcasts, they show up as streams BBC stream 1, 2 etc.  When there is an interactive broadcast you can also get the multiscreen but you have to select the right stream ( channel)  to watch a particular screen, you cannot access it from the multiscreen, its not anything as easy as a SKy box but it is possible. I have not yet found a way to access the BBC i  text service on a French box.

The other thing with French boxes is that you cannot get the full range of UK FTA channels,  ITV 2 and SKY 3 are blank screens and say that they are scrambled even though they are not, so they may be linked to the Sky system or card still in some way.

[miaviv]

Ron Avery - I have a FTA French box too and I can get ITV2 so you should be able to get it too.

[Ron Avery]

Mia

It would be helpful to know how you got ITV 2.  Did you get it by doing a satellite scan or did you do it manually.

 I can get ITV 3 but not ITV 2.or Sky 3, can you get Sky 3?

 What does ITV 2 show up as on the French channel listing, given that ITV 3 was originally channel 1054[:)]

[miaviv]

Ron, I got ITV 2 at the same time as the other ITV channels came

available for free.  I was actually on this forum one morning and

somebody had mentioned that they are now available, as they weren't

coming through automatically I just did another scan for the available

channels and ended up with them all.  I wouldn't actually know how

to do it manually !! To be honest, you aren't missing out on much, it

is just repeats on there from ITV1, I don't watch it much.