SkyHD - Whats the difference between Thompson and Pace Box?

ianh · 30 Apr 2009 at 22:49

As per the title really, on SkyHD whats the difference between Thompson and Pace Box? Is it worth upgradi9ng to a Pace box?

I've an older thompson (with HD component out - yeap that old!) which hasn't really had any problems, not even after I upgraded to a Samsung 1TB drive (only went wibble once requiring a copy+ reformat) but I see lots of posts raving about the Pace box's!

My only complaint is that while the HD picture is very good the SD pictuire is shocking, the worst is match of the day (football footage, not the studio stuff) which looks terrible.

PS excuse the spelling, I've got fat fingers and no patience to correct everything!

Kearney_1988 · 30 Apr 2009 at 23:07

thompson boxes are a bit flakey and tend to crash a fair amount, that being said i love mine for its component out

Nymins · 1 May 2009 at 01:41

Pace boxes have better SD quality than most of the boxes next to Samsung. They are also a bit more quicker and more responsive than the Thomsons so I have read.

Tom84 · 1 May 2009 at 13:08

Kearney_1988 said:
thompson boxes are a bit flakey and tend to crash a fair amount

Quote for truth, at the very least mine goes once a month

I just cant justify spending near £300 on the same bit of Hardware that I've already got on the off chance that it might behave itself better than my current one though

turtle1000 · 1 May 2009 at 13:14

My Samsung box does completely lock up now and again and won't do anything until I switch it off at the wall.

Jez · 1 May 2009 at 17:13

Tom84 said:
Quote for truth, at the very least mine goes once a month

I just cant justify spending near £300 on the same bit of Hardware that I've already got on the off chance that it might behave itself better than my current one though

Just call sky and tell them it crashes every day and you would like a maintenance call. The installer will have a selection on his van.

BeeP · 2 May 2009 at 00:27

I have an amstrad box, quite new to sky hd (had virgin for ages tho) are amstrad really as cack as everyone says?

Caged · 2 May 2009 at 01:38

Their HD boxes are actually pretty decent if you can ignore the contrast issue, which is likely to get fixed anyway. At least I've not heard of any widespread issues with them.

Tom84 · 2 May 2009 at 11:21

Jez said:
Just call sky and tell them it crashes every day and you would like a maintenance call. The installer will have a selection on his van.

It's well out of the 12 month warranty though.....

Jez · 2 May 2009 at 17:31

Tom84 said:
It's well out of the 12 month warranty though.....

Doesnt matter, you can get a service call at any time.

pdw8 · 2 May 2009 at 19:46

Jez said:
Doesnt matter, you can get a service call at any time.

True but at a cost of £65 and if they replace the box then its usually a refurbished box and only has 3 months warranty.

Jez · 2 May 2009 at 19:48

The warranty is irrelevent, as sky will maintain any subscription hardware regardless of age. The "fee" has been waived every single time i have ever had a callout after simply asking for it to be - and ive had a fair few over the course of many many years of sky subscriptions and many many boxes at various houses.

pdw8 · 2 May 2009 at 19:57

Jez said:
The warranty is irrelevent, as sky will maintain any subscription hardware regardless of age. The "fee" has been waived every single time i have ever had a callout after simply asking for it to be - and ive had a fair few over the course of many many years of sky subscriptions and many many boxes at various houses.

you must be extremely lucky then as everyone I know and have read about gets the charge if the box is outside its 1 year warrenty. I spent an hour arguing last time with Sky talking to various "supervisors" but they would not budge, and I am a 15 year customer paying £70 per month.

Jez · 2 May 2009 at 20:14

I disagree, everyone of whom i have known has managed to get a free callout as soon as the words "this is utterly ridiculous, i am paying for this service and expect it to be maintained, may i be put through to cancellations". We even had a thread about it on this very forum a few years ago.

Regardless, its only £65, and the engineer usually has a good selection of boxes.

elroberto · 2 May 2009 at 20:31

Failing that, buy a Pace box off fleabay, only £99 that's what I did.

Jez · 2 May 2009 at 20:34

elroberto said:
Failing that, buy a Pace box off fleabay, only £99 that's what I did.

Woah, i didnt realise they were so damn cheap now :eek:

Tom84 · 4 May 2009 at 14:47

elroberto said:
Failing that, buy a Pace box off fleabay, only £99 that's what I did.

Jez said:
Woah, i didnt realise they were so damn cheap now

Nor did I, the Pace box mentioned in another thread on this forum was £269 the other day

Jez · 4 May 2009 at 23:09

Well, it isnt now. They are ~£100 on ebay.

-Ad- · 4 May 2009 at 23:16

Jez said:
Regardless, its only £65, and the engineer usually has a good selection of boxes.

Installer plugger in man

Mine had only one type of box in his van, not a great choice at all. Got stuck with the selection of PACE or PACE

Thomsons do get bad rep, but there are many happy owners out there who have probably never had a single problem. Plus there are plenty of boxes out there that haven't had their capacitors go up in smoke with nuclear mustard type effects.

Jez · 4 May 2009 at 23:20

I am one of those owners, original (4) Thompson with component, never had a single issue. Crashes perhaps once every 3-4 months and is used heavily.

I dont know why people worry though, if the box goes funny the absolute worst case is £65 for a callout and a swap for another box.