# Slightly OT - Panasonic TU-DSB31



## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

Sorry for the slightly OT post, but

I need to find a replacement for my Panasonic TU-DSB31 Sky box and I was wondering what the "going rate" was!

There are a few on eBay, I'd just like to know how much I need to budget

Many thanks

Phil G

PS Well, it IS connected to my Tivo, so not THAT OT


----------



## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Is there a particular reason it has to be a TU-DSB31? I only ask for there are now better boxes for the purpose, depending on the purpose...


----------



## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

Better in what ways? All I want is a (Tivo friendly) STB for basic Sky subscription channels

The reason I was being so specific was that I want to replace like with like. My cabling doesn't like to be messed with, so I was hoping to take the old box out and just slip the "new" one in, in it's place. And, of course, I wouldn't have to make any changes to Tivo either to tell it about a new STB

I think the one I have is dieing - I have intermitten pixellation and sound/picture dropouts. The LNB has been replaced and realigned which has made things better, but not right. Replacing the current Panasonic with an Amstrad one cured the problem completely (despite the Amstrad "seeing" a weaker signal than the Panasonic)


----------



## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

All the sky boxes use the same codes, so that isn't an issue. The Panny is good with weak signals, unless it experiences a total signal loss, in which case it can totally lock up and need a manual reset via the socket...


----------



## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

Perhaps I should have added that the picture breakup only ocurrs on a few channels (which is what pointed me to an LNB issue). With a new LNB, there are now even fewer channels breaking up, but it's not 100%

Channels 360 and particularly 361 are amongst the worst

With the engineers Amstrad all the problems went away (aparrently)


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

The Panny TU-DSB 31 tends to die due to overheat issues so it would be foolish to get another one as that will now be 3 or 4 years old.

Better to get say a 1 year old Pace DS430N which has the fastest tuner and processor in a Sky Digibox. The very latest Sly Digiboxes, which all share a common outside carcass design, seem to be rubbish so I wouldn't get one of those.


----------



## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Pete77 said:


> Better to get say a 1 year old Pace DS430N which has the fastest tuner and processor in a Sky Digibox.


Yup, a vote for them from me, too.


----------

