Amstrad: DRX-550

Your Views

Comments (21)

l072uk, London on February 28th, 2006
I recently had to say goodbye to my Thomson box and after trying two PACE boxes, I ended up with this "stylish" designed box. There has at least been some thought about the functionality aspects of the box and human factors requirements. How long did it take Sky to insist to the manurfacturers to make the card slot covered? The DRX-550 does this but cable boxes were doing it years before... Having control panels on the top which you can actually press without feeling like you are pushing to the core of the earth is an improvement. But on the design side, who ever in Sky decided to sign off having an illuminated logo (mine is blue) which only gets brighter when the box comes out of stand-by needs to be told how boxes work and where they are. It is so bad that when I had it in the bedroom I had cover the front of the box over so I could sleep without this beam of blue light lighting up the whole room. The technical side of the box is similar to that the Amstrad range - I have DRX or DXR 400 and from an end user view point there is little different in operation or input at the back. A couple of things though were interesting to ring back mine had to use pulse rather that the 400 box using tone - nice backwards step there and the signal strength page shouldn't be taken too literally as I was told that up to the middle is about their best ever and dont go beyond it. My 400 box has a strength level that goes all the way across.

ADK, Hants on March 4th, 2006
I to got this box when my old one died. I find it to be an excellent box both design and performance.Has for the blue logo mine stays the same brightness all the time it certainly doesn't illuminate the room at all, comes with matching colour remote too.

Wightking, Isle of Wight on March 9th, 2006
I have gone back with sky and got the new Amstrad DRX-550, because my old digibox was old and slow. The design of the new digibox is very good and I love the blue sky logo. I think the only thing that is lacking on skyDigital now is scrolling text for the radio channels which would be a good idea, ie newsflashes and traffic information.

RH06, Essex on March 27th, 2006
I just recently subscribed to sky for the first time and recieved the AMSTRAD DRX550. my family have, in the past, had horrible looking square boxes, so on the design side, i give m thumbs up to this box. i have a 4 year old nephew who likes to grab things, so the idea of covering the viewing card behind a well concealed flap was brilliant. unfortunately, within the first two weeks of having sky, a message came up on screen telling me thhat there was a problem. i could not recieve any channels, and sky have yet to determine as to wether it was a problem with the box or the viewing card. i also have my box in my bedroom, and yes i had noticed that the the neon blue sky logo on the front fades in and out whenever you turn the box on or off, i cant say it affects my sleeping. if the room is completely dark when you turn it off then it does appear to be extremely bright but it does fade back out again, then there is just a kind of softer blue colour emitting from it. but overall, i have to give sky a thumbs up for this box, after my first problem, i havent had one since! good on you sky, nice to see you finally moving on with the times.

Roland, Manchester on March 29th, 2006
It has got to be one of the better designed sky boxes, the new HD boxes are going to be similar from what I have seen.

Dean, London on March 30th, 2006
A little cheap looking but then I suppose it is cheap but apart from that it's a great little box. Like the others the blue sky logo can be a bit annoying think there needs to be an off switch for it.

Midsguy, Midlands on April 2nd, 2006
I think it's lovely. The only thing I ain't keen on is that it does look a little like a Freeview box - something I'd be embarrassed to have if friends noticed it!

Skyguy2003 on April 11th, 2006
i recently resubscribed to sky after a lengthy absence from the service after moving out of my mums, i had an excellent silver grundig which caused us zero problems and this time i have this amstrad / thomson box ( as the sky engineers informed me ), looks wise id say very trendy and up to date and the sky illumination is very smart as it goes with the blue led on the front of my bush tv. a definate improvememnt on the box design front. well done sky.

Andrew, Newcastle on April 22nd, 2006
Got this box of the internet when my Grundig box was getting old and slow. So i ended up buying This stylish AMSTRAD DRX550. The sky logo makes it look modern, aswell as the design. This box is better for interactive then my other as it harnly crashes. Overall good little box.

Paul on May 2nd, 2006
Neat Sloping design is a godsend, and is perhaps a design feature insisted on by SKY to prevent customers placing things ontop of the receiver that could cause a reduction in ventilation around the box, hence reducing overheating and call outs to swap over boxes that have been damaged in this way. If SKY can save a few pence they will find a way.

Peter Hiscoe on May 31st, 2006
i think this box looks more like the xbox 360,the build is poor and the thing keeps sticking on certain channels,i have to keep reseting the damn thing to get it working.

Alan, Stafford on June 2nd, 2006
A nice looking digibox it responds fast and has good picture and sound.

Jon, Cheshire on June 3rd, 2006
Feels cheap and nasty and it is. Poor quality product build to a price no as good as the old Panasonic boxes.

Harvey, Almeria, Spain on June 14th, 2006
Nice looking box. I've had one on test and seen another tested, so not monday morning boxes. weak tuner will not look at channel four nor five down here. Hope new style Pace will be as good as 430N.

Dave, Bristol on August 10th, 2006
You have to hand it to SKY. This is'nt just another box with buttons on the front. It's a sculpture with sweeping curves and rounds,the buttons form part of a graceful circular depression on the top and the softly lit SKY logo on the front is a delight. Along with their brilliant design for the remote it sets it apart from all the run of the mill boxes. And it performs faultlessly.

djr, Colchester on August 18th, 2006
This box is fast and responsive, it is one of the better designed Sky boxes. Really pleased.

Chris, Glasgow on September 6th, 2006
This box is brilliant, the blue sky logo that glows is not to bright anymore i think they have changed the led's or somthing. anyway this boz is brilliant, its super fast, super stylish and it never has any problems. go for this one not the other one that has the same design. remember it must be AMSTRAD. 10/10

Will Griffiths, Wales on September 24th, 2006
This is the best box by Amstrard, Looks really cool with the sky logo on the front. One problem is that it makes a irritating buzzing noise because of the transformer for the Sky Logo. But The box is very quick and has not crashed once!

Darren, Devon on September 29th, 2006
great box, got a few days ago, no problems so far, very quick and no crashing yet, great box for my first time on sky digital, light on the front dims down so not bright on mine, causing no problems.

F on December 31st, 2006
Got Sky Digital in August and with the new Amstrad drx-550 box. The box sits in my living room so the Sky logo light doesn't affect my sleep - But if people get bothered by that little like, you should see my large display, Blue LED alarm clock on my bed side table: Now that turns my room blue at night ;-) The box is great, it's fast and has a great matching remote - which is also very well built. The multi-remote feature to work with my TV even works with my VERY old Panasonic TV (20 years old) so that is impressive! Great box... Just looks out of place sitting on top of that old 20 year old ITT VCR :-D

Kenmac, Inverness on October 17th, 2007
Got Sky installed on 24/09/07,I have had nothing but trouble with the DRX-550.Kept getting No satellite signal received,did the usual switch off for a couple of minutes,switch on again it would work ok for an hour or so,it kept doing this until last Thursday when it would not switch back on.All I get is the No sat signal or Scanning for lists.It also shows different numbers on the error sign,they are 36,29 or 25.anyone know what they mean.Service is terrible ,have been waiting a week for engineer to call,incidentally I pay forty five pounds per month,surely I should get a better service than this.Got the loan of a Panasonic digibox from a friend,it works perfect.