DB500 Pants

[fuji]

I've been out of action for 5 weeks now. My 500 stopped working so I've returned it to the dealer. Its only 6 months old. The dealer tried to repair it but no luck, so its had to be returned to Germany for repair. The tuner has gone. And I thought the Germans are supposed to be efficient. WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG TO SORT OUT???. The dealer can't do anything about it other than e-mail to chase them. It seems that the 500 is renowned for having tuner problems, if so why the hell do they sell them? They should make sure that they are reliable before selling them. If anyone is thinking of getting one think again.

Not Happy!!!!!!

[dannybcfc]

It happened to my mates. Never had tuner problems with mine (touch wood) and I have had it for nearly a year. I just suppose it is the luck of the draw so to say of which batch of Dreambox you get.

Saying that, Rather than mess around sending to Germany etc etc, You can pick one up on that well known auction site for as little at 115GBP now.

[digger556]

of very little consolation to you now m8.... but i tried to read-up on them and picked the db7020s, gets better reliablility reviews..... in case you might consider another model ?

having said that.... theyre all just a heap of chips ???? only as strong as the weakest item. so tis pot-luck, me thinks?

[hda5]

Saying that, Rather than mess around sending to Germany etc etc, You can pick one up on that well known auction site for as little at 115GBP now.

Just a word of warning...

The DM500 receivers being offered cheap on e*** are clones mate.
The HK manufacturer of these clones offers no warranty on these boxes what so ever. So if the box goes down your dealer won't be able to have it replaced or repaired so don't expect any customer service at those prices.

The clones are hard to spot without looking at the main board
See here for more details _http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/images/DM%20500%20original_copy%20150dpi %20A4.jpg

[Dreamlife]

Just a word of warning...

The DM500 receivers being offered cheap on e*** are clones mate.
The HK manufacturer of these clones offers no warranty on these boxes what so ever. So if the box goes down your dealer won't be able to have it replaced or repaired so don't expect any customer service at those prices.

The clones are hard to spot without looking at the main board
See here for more details _http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/images/DM%20500%20original_copy%2015 0dpi%20A4.jpg

It's a pitty I never read this earlier. It clearly states on the auction that the boxes come with a 1 year warrentry. What can they do now?

[dajam]

Check on the box for a hologram, check the underside of the reciever for another hologram, the tuner can be seen through the grid slots on top, if it has a cut out at the end (just visible) you can be sure it's the real thing, you could take the top off, but if it's genuine you will invalidate the warranty!
Also the new db500s come with a grey topped remote, I got mine off fleabay for £100 + postage, only after checking the pics with the dreambox website.

[hda5]

It clearly states on the auction that the boxes come with a 1 year warrentry. What can they do now?

M8 if you got it off e*** the dude you bought it from probably won't be around in 1 month let alone 1 year then again maybe he will thats the risk you take buying on e***.

By the way the fakes now all come with all the right holograms
If your paying £100 or under for a brand new DM500 I'd be inclined to say it's a fake sorry. It's just not possible to sell at £100 on e*** taking into account the e*** listing and final selling price fees & paypal fees and VAT and still turn a profit, In fact it's impossible.

I've just had a look on e*** and out of all the 500S receivers listed about 3 are genuine the rest are all HK clones.

[Peckish]

Hello everyone.

@hda5

You cannot judge that any receiver is fake or not solely on the purchase price you have paid for it. I have seen 'official' DM500s receivers for sale in Germany for 146 Euro and if you convert that to UK pounds you will find that there is not much difference. The shop that was selling it for that price was still making a profit so why could the sellers on *Bay not do the same?

Just over 1 year ago I purchased a second DM7020 from Germany and that was £50 cheaper than the price I could get it for in the UK and that receiver was not a fake either. Out of curiosity, I too purchased one of the '£99' DM500s receivers from *Bay and compared it to my friends official one that he had recently purchased at a well established retailer in the UK for a price of £160 and guess what? ; it turned out to be identical in every respect except that the one that I purchased from *Bay had a 2 pin 'euro' plug instead of the 3 pin UK type.

I would tend to agree with you however that not everything listed on that site is the genuine article and buyers should be wary when they see prices that are a lot lower than expected.

Regards to all.

Peckish.

[Dreamlife]

Just to update on this, the box was delivered today and appears to be ok. On the green outta box it has the holagram and ID, MAC codes, then there is a holagram under the dreambox itself with ID's. As far as looks are concerned it's hard to tell. I looked at the picture hda5 put up and the right side of the box is open as on the original picture. Also iv'e had a look with a torch inside the top vents and there don't appear to be any orange/yellow chip on the top left hand side. One thing I noticed tho with the instruction manual is that it shows the black original remote and not the silver one I had with it. _http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/en...0_copy_eng.php

It does look original but i'm no expert and without taking the lid off and comparng everything it's hard to tell. Iv'e just this very mintute plugged it in and it's booted up ok, so time will tell I guess. I'l keep you updated.

[simonuk]

I've just bought one of fle**** item number xxxxxxxxxxxx

Wonder if I've bee had??

[Dreamlife]

I've just bought one of fle**** item number xxxxxxxxxxxx

Wonder if I've bee had??

Same person I bought mine off m8, so it would be interesting to see what you make of it.

[simonuk]

Same person I bought mine off m8, so it would be interesting to see what you make of it.

How long was delivery? I bought mine this morn. I feel a possible paypal claim coming on

[Dreamlife]

How long was delivery? I bought mine this morn. I feel a possible paypal claim coming on

Ordered yesterday, delivered 10am this morning m8.

Also it seems strange as there seems to be a pre-installed image on mine. When you go into Info it states this,

Dream-Multimedia-tv
DM500
Processor: STBx25xx 252MHz
Frontend: Satellite

Software version:
1.0.9 25.03.2006

Then it has a logo on the bottom right which reads, Powered by Plinux.

Then when you press the Radio button there is a brown picture with some bloke and a hammer hitting a dreambox. Also the info banner stays onscreen. The background image is from _www.dream-zone.info.

It could be that they have patched it before selling it but I never asked them to.

Any ideas what the best thing is to do?

[hda5]

Guys read the forum rules posting e*** item numbers here is against the rules. It comes under the no advertising rule.

The clones now come with silver remotes and are hard to spot the difference. The price gives it away as it's not possible to sell a genuine DM500 for £99.99

try this... look at the hologram on the cardboard box and move the box about under a light and look inside the window in the w izard's hand and it should display "Dream on Valid" inside the hologram.

You get what you pay for in this life, if you want to deal with monkeys pay peanuts
If you want an official product which is 100% genuine then expect to pay £149.

[Dreamlife]

Guys read the forum rules posting e*** item numbers here is against the rules. It comes under the no advertising rule.

The clones now come with silver remotes and are hard to spot the difference. The price gives it away as it's not possible to sell a genuine DM500 for £99.99

try this... look at the hologram on the cardboard box and move the box about under a light and look inside the window in the w izard's hand and it should display "Dream on Valid" inside the hologram.

You get what you pay for in this life, if you want to deal with monkeys pay peanuts
If you want an official product which is 100% genuine then expect to pay £149.

All I can see are the words "Dream on", can't see the word "Valid" on it.

[hda5]

Dreamlife I'm sorry to say you have bought a clone m8.

[Dreamlife]

Dreamlife I'm sorry to say you have bought a clone m8.

Any ideas on what I can do please ?

Also without sounding dumb here but there has to be about 20-30 different people that have bought these boxes and not one has left negitive feedback. So I take it that these people either know they are buying fakes or they are not checking? Maybe it's me, i dunno.

[simonuk]

Any ideas on what I can do please ?

Also without sounding dumb here but there has to be about 20-30 different people that have bought these boxes and not one has left negitive feedback. So I take it that these people either know they are buying fakes or they are not checking? Maybe it's me, i dunno.

File a paypal claim now. I am gonna do the same. If u havent left a neg do it now. He's left me positive feedback but think i'll neg him

[xanadu]

The only place to buy a genuine Dreambox is from an authorised/trusted dealer such as Goldwafers.

If it's too cheap then it has to be fake, and a DM500 for £99 on an auction site, you can guarantee it will be fake, and will probably not last a year as hda5 has already said.

[echelon]

The only place to buy a genuine Dreambox is from an authorised/trusted dealer such as Goldwafers.

If it's too cheap then it has to be fake, and a DM500 for £99 on an auction site, you can guarantee it will be fake, and will probably not last a year as hda5 has already said.

have to agree here ppl

whilst I feel sorry for anyone scammed by any dealer or by sellers on fleabay , I am also appalled that so many ppl disrespect this site funded by a retailer who sells the official dm500 by openly discussing fleabay and other retailers and cloned boxes , and even copying and pasting item numbers from there etc

this site is not here for that purpose , and to those who have bypassed the sponsor of this site and gone elsewhere , then all I can say is take it up with the relevant ppl , which isnt this forum and isnt our sponsors either

and anyone expecting dream.de to sort out issues with a cloned box made in the far east is living in cloud cuckoo land

so for those with a paypal account etc , take it up with them using the reason as a cloned receiver ie:- a fake !!!!!!!!!!!

ps:- I will leave this thread here for now as it contains valuable information regarding cloned boxes , scammers on fleabay etc

let this be a warning to those ppl who buy cheap , and then find they have bought a fake , happens to anyone travelling to turkey , egypt and many other places , never mind your local car boot , this site and its previous names have always asked ppl to support the sponsors , especially when wanting reliability and warranties etc