Echostar: T105

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Your responses

Paul, Kent on December 10th, 2006
I have had exactly the same lockup problems as described, but I have now managed to reduce them to about 1 "unplug at the mains" reset a week. I did this by putting something on top of the device, the effect of this was that the unit got warmer. I know that sounds bizzare and wouldn't recommend cover the vents etc, but since putting firstly my DVD player and now the Centre channel speaker on top of the T-105, it has been remarkably stable!!! I work in the IT industry and know that heat normally kills electronic equipment, but if I put the T-105 back on top of the video/dvd player etc it goes back to locking up a couple of times a day! I also make sure that the unit is switched to Standby when not in use.

Zorg, Yorkshire on December 7th, 2006
Rubbish!!! This unit should have a compensation slip with it as standard!!! Purchased two of these units and they are both with the same faults....frozen unit every random hour and now a permanent Rescue....(2 hours) which is actually for 2 lifetimes instead. Avoid them. If Echostar aren't prepared to give out a firmware upgrade then they deserve to have their names removed from this field of electronics.

John, Berkshire on October 18th, 2006
I made an expensive mistake by buying four T-105s. Big mistake, as 3 out of the four suffered same lockup failure problems and another has poor red button function, all within 9 months, so 100% rubbish. On the positive side, picture good when it’s working, but that’s all. Sound poor, seems to roll off at about 8kHz on all units. Channel display cumbersome with no re-ordering facility. Little chance of refund at this time - guess I will have to write-off cost to lack of research and get a better unit. Avoid at any price!

Mark, Oxford on March 10th, 2006
I finally managed to get to speak to a human being at Echostar in the Netherlands recently. I told them exactly what I thought of their so-called 'help desk' in the UK, and was informed that this function had been moved to another provider. So no more of that rude Scottish woman to deal with!!! I was also told that the new help desk would either help me to resolve the problem, or arrange for the replacement of my box. I wasn't told how the box replacement would work, who would pay the carriage charges, or how long it would take and, of course I wouldn't have access to the Top-Up TV service I was paying for while all this was happening. I tried the new help desk number and, low and behold, it just rang and rang and rang. Anyone else tried the new help desk or got a box replacement from them?

UK on February 19th, 2006
This is the worst appliance ive ever bought. We regualrly have to unplug the unit from the wall to regain control of the menus and channel changer. It usually locks up with in five minutes of being switched on. I have been eagerly awaiting several months now for a firmware upgrade, alas nothing.

Bernard, London on February 14th, 2006
Locks up sometimes 3 or 4 times in an evening. Only does this on certain channels. Have to unplug at the wall to re-boot. Very annoying. Channel sort options limited compared to others. Popping & crackling sounds sometimes heard when changing channels. Often get 'No Mediaguard right to this channel' message appearing with loss of picture. No sign of updates. Apart from that, fine!!

Mark, Oxford on January 18th, 2006
Ian, London wrote "A revised software package was (finally!!!!) released in the middle of December 2005." If this true, then someone needs to tell 'Stonewall Sally' on the Echostar 'Help' (pause for a fit of the giggles) desk. As of last week she was still insisting that no fix had been produced, was unlikely to be produced, and recommended taking the box back to the retailer for a refund. I called again last Saturday and spoke to a marginally more understanding lady who could only tell me that a fix was due in three to four weeks. This is exactly what I was told in October last year!!! This company has got a serious communications problem. The people on the 'Help' (more giggles) desk claim they can't provide the name, telephone number, or a contact address of anyone at Echostar who might be able to help. I'll re-tune my box one more time in the vain hope that this supposed fix will solve the problem.

Tom, London on January 11th, 2006
This box has good picture, and quick to change channels, but it does not have a now & next display. To see what is next you have to go to the EPG and that can take ages to load so is useless. More importantly this box gets STUCK ON CHANNELS and you have to uplug it to reboot it, it happens at random times, but very annoying. AVOID THIS BOX!!

Ian, London on January 11th, 2006
A revised software package was (finally!!!!) released in the middle of December 2005. This seems to have cured my lock up problems, including teletext, and has a better ECGuide which no longer blanks out sound and picture when in use. Not perfect but much better than it was.

Mark Pearson, Oxfordshire on December 8th, 2005
I've had my T105 for about 8 months. To start with it was fine, looked nice, and despite not having a now/next facility, I was generally pleased with it. Then came E4's move to freeview, and the box started to lock up almost continuously. After many calls to the world’s worst customer ‘support’ desk. The problem did seem to resolve itself. Then came More 4 and the channel re-organisation, and the locking up started again, only this time much worse. I called the ‘support’ desk once more, only to be informed that the boxes were considered to be faulty, there were no fixes being prepared, and that I should return it to the retailer for a refund. The following Saturday, I packed up my box and prepared to return it to Argos for an exchange or refund. I then decided to give Echostar one last chance to offer me a chance to keep the box, and called the ‘support’ desk again. This time I spoke to a man rather than the rude Scottish woman who seems to handle the calls during the week. He denied any knowledge of customers being advised to return their boxes to the retailers, and stated that a fix WAS being prepared, and would be available in three to four weeks. He then took my phone number and said they would contact me when the fix was ready. That was about EIGHT weeks ago, and still no phone call.

Phil Sleaford on December 6th, 2005
I bought this box some months ago, but for some reason, the channels freeze up, so you have to keep on un-plugging it from the mains when you want to change channels. I phoned Echostar, who assured me there would be a software download to fix this problem, i am still waiting!!!!

Daniel, Bath on November 30th, 2005
I agree with most of the other comments. This box is crap, and it's been getting progressively worse. Requires factory reset (which probably does the same as pulling the power cord) all the time at the moment, especially after trying to watch a TUTV channel. I'm about to try to return it to Argos 11 months after purchase. Sales of Goods Act gives you remedy (although not neccessary a full refund) if a good is faulty at purchase and this includes design flaws etc. You have up to 6 years to make a complaint so we'll see what Argos says as I would suggest it's the software that is faulty (especially as they're working on a software upgrade) and so the fault must have been present when purchased. We'll see how we go!

Liz Roberts on November 5th, 2005
I have to agree with all the other comments,, this box is crap,, its getting worse,, we had if for nearly a year and we have to keep turning it off and on,, locks within about 5mins,, dont touch it! go and get a cheap one!

Paul, Reading on October 31st, 2005
We purchased the box with the TUTV offer about 8 months ago on the basis of some positive comments here. It was easy to set up despite the lack of a manual and the picture quality was very good with our standard aerial - CH5 was as good as BBC for the first time ever. However, we seem to get a lot of picture fragmentation, loud clicks and fairly regular lock-ups which prevent us changing channel. The Echostar support is non-existent. When it is working, it is fine but there are so many clicks and lockups that I trying to decide whether to disconnect it an abandon digital or to buy another box.

Keith, East Yorkshire on October 31st, 2005
Don't even touch this box with a barge pole. I noticed what appeared to be an excellent deal at Argos but decided to get expert advice first. I phoned the sole official Echostar distributor in the UK (they are made in the USA) and was told that they had returned all their stock of T105 back to the manufacturer as there was a known software issue causing the box to lock up regularly. It appears that Echostar have no immediate plans to rectify the issue.

Tom, York on October 30th, 2005
Further to my further comments of 30th Sept. My wife sensibly retrieved the box from the bin and contacted Argos Direct about a refund. They very kindly agreed to refund the cost in vouchers as it had been a few months since purchase. Interestingly, when I took it back to a local Argos (as advised by Argos Direct), the chap behind the counter said he had received nothing but complaints about it! I notice they have reduced it to £39 in their catalogue. Frankly, I wouldn't take one off them if they gave ME £39. So Allan B, above, keep on at them and mention this website. Plenty of proof here that you are not alone in having trouble with this piece of crap. Good luck!

Allan B on October 18th, 2005
Had the Echostar for a few months now and their customer service keep saying there will be a fix to this 'known fault'. Complete rubbish. Argos say there are no known faults and reluctant to give refund. I don't want another box from Argos so I'm stuck. Keep away from this electronic nightmare at all costs!!! Quality has a name - and Echostar T-105 box has another name.... I'll let you decide.

Ian on October 16th, 2005
Yes I took my box back to Argos after several months of the box crashing, refusing to change channels and generally misbehaving. Very glad to see the back of it. Best of all it's classed as not repairable so I got a full refund in Argos vouchers, half of which I used to get the new Sagem box (which works perfectly) and the rest I get to spend on something else!!

Brendan, Hungerford on October 12th, 2005
Further to my previous comments: Like everyone else it has gotten worse and worse. Start watching a channel, when you want to flick after 10 minutes or so it has locked again. Blocking the TopUp channels, no EPG etc. All the same problems voiced above. I rang the helpline and was told "we are aware of the problems with this model and our engineers are working on a fix." So when will this happen I wonder - 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years? This from a company (DISH) that manages to put satellites up in space and wants a US town to rename itself after them. I suggest to whichever town wins the competition, rename yourself "Echostar-crapville". Off to Curry's tomorrow to buy a replacement. I'll go with the Matsui recommended above by collieman.

Tom, York on September 30th, 2005
Just to let you all know that I finally lost patience with this piece of crap and threw it in the bin today! I had to reset it 17 TIMES this week and had had enough. I am obviously not the only one who has suffered with this box. I thought at first that I had been unlucky and got a bad one, but it would appear that they are all bad. I would write to the company to complain but I think it would be a waste of time and effort. This is without doubt the worst piece of electrica equipment I have ever bought.

collieman Stevenage on September 5th, 2005
I bought one of these and found exactly the same problems as everyone else. Try to access channel 9 text, box locked every time constant locking for no reason, locking on topup tv, I must add I have a high gain good quality arial.Took it back and got a refund. Went out and bought a Matsui topup tv1 from currys about three months ago. This has given absolutely no problems at all. Not one lock up, either on main channels or topup tv which was very easy to install. Can highly recommend.

Andy, Lancashire on July 29th, 2005
Had one of these for a while (from Argos). I wanted the option of TUTV and there was only this, the Thompson (which was dearer) and the one at Dixons. I decided to go for this one... WHAT A MISTAKE. I had all sorts of problems with the picture locking up and/or the box losing all the signals!? After the 1st time, I thought I'd just been unlucky, but after a few times (4, 5, 6?), I was tearing my hair out. What a piece of cr@p this is:( AVOID AT ALL COSTS PS I got my money back at Argos, but am now stuck without Freeview at the mo:(

Clive, Durham UK on July 24th, 2005
Locks up all the time. Utter Crap, No support from Manufacturer. Going back to Supplier ASAP.

Tom, York on July 20th, 2005
I must add some further comments to my submission of 4th June. This box is not just poor, it is complete crap! I have to unplug and reset roughly once every 90 minutes. The sound drops, the picture blocks and it crashes constantly. The epg frequently has no, or wrong info. I am very soon going to put it in the bin. Rubbish, pure and simple. Don't buy it, you may as well throw your money away. Crap, crap crap.

Brendan, Hungerford on July 14th, 2005
This was my third STB in as many months. I had a Thompson and some other brand that failed. The Echostar was fine to begin with. Yes the EPG is a pain, and slow. I also now have to unplug it a few times a week to re-boot. Has anyone else found that in 16:9 this STB actually stretches the picture top and bottom, so heads are too close to the top of the screen and graphics often line up with the bottom of the screen, occasionally dropping off altoghther.

Bryan, Ayrshire on June 8th, 2005
I exchanged a Thomson box for an Echostar as I was not impressed by the performance of the Thomson unit. Initially I thought that the Echostar was OK but it has taken to crashing rather too regularly for my likeing. You can be watching a programme and decide to change channel - the thing has crashed without any warning. The only way to fix it is to disconnect & reconnect to the mains thereafter it will work for a time. I looked at the Echostar website for updates but nothing is currently available for the T - 105. Echostar is not easily contactable by way of their website - you are required to fill in loads of information including Name, address, telephone & email details, Serial Number etc etc before you can state your case. I also tried emailing an address shown on their Website but that does not exist any more. In conclusion not a terribly good product with pretty awful after sales and / or online support.

Tom, York on June 4th, 2005
I have to agree with Paul from Reading. Any more than 2 channels via the up or down keys and the whole thing locks up. I do not like the EPG either. What a nuisance to have to use this separately from the viewing screen. Not impressed.

Paul, Reading, Berkshire on May 24th, 2005
Poor manual, poor setup process, uninformative support desk which simply failed to respond. EPG is a pain to use and slow. browsing quickly through it .i.e rpeated use of the downor up keys, causes the box to lock. We get lots of fragmented pictures (pixelation?), popping and clicking. As conumer electronics go, I think its pretty poor.

Ian, London on February 16th, 2005
I agree with the other comments. Reception has been very good, but I also have a problem with teletext locking up the unit. EchoStar's web site is not very informative and I'd like to know more about the software update to resolve this. I bought the unit as I wanted to future proof as much as possible ( I don't have the Top up TV option but wanted the card reader in case other services become available) and have heard of lots of problems with the Thompson STB which seems to be the only avaiable alternative at the moment. As a convert from cable, I'm very disappointed with the on screen displays. I'm used to having them available as an overlay to the TV picture without having to change channel to see what's on others. Perhaps this can be resolved with a software change?

Ally, London on January 15th, 2005
Overall I'm pretty pleased with this box - it's a nice looking unit and I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent picture/sound quality and reception, since I only have a set top aerial. The TV guide and timer are both straightforward to use and I had no problems in setting up TopUpTV. As a non-techy, however, I would have appreciated a fuller instruction manual; in particular, some advice on setting the box up when you have a VHS/DVD. I was initially confused by the blank panel on the front of the unit, and the manual gave no help - thought the box must be faulty, but eventually worked out that this was the remote receiver. The remote itself's a bit cheap and plasticky and the buttons you use most frequently (volume and channel skip) are frustratingly small, but this is a minor gripe. The only major problem so far has been with Teletext, which doesn't load properly and locks the box. However, Echostar are apparently working on a fix for this.

Martin on January 13th, 2005
I was looking for a replacement for my old Philips OnDigital box but which one to go for? In the end it came down to looks and features and one of the things I liked about the Echostar T-105 is that it is a 'proper' box i.e. one that is the same size as your video or DVD player and would stack neatly with the other stuff under the TV. The final selling point for me was I live in a marginal area for Freeview and I had read that Echostar had a good reputation with weaker signals and the final (final) selling point was it's currently on offer at Argos with £10 off! This includes a Top-Up TV promotion - you get the sign up fee and one month subscription in the box - and purely as a future proofing exercise, I went for a replacement box with a card interface. Unpacking it the first thing you notice is the colour which is a sort of dull silver but it looks good and the unit feels solid in construction. Looks-wise it has a large 'window' in the centre of the facia and basic operational buttons on the front panel and on the back are twin SCART connections and hi-fi audio outputs. The supplied remote is a slight, flimsy looking unit and some of the buttons are (too) small but you do get a set of batteries for it and a supplied SCART lead to connect the box to the TV. So let’s get it set up and see what it goes like. I am one of those that actually read manuals so the first thing I have to say is that the instructions that come with the Echostar are unusually poor. It is a very thin booklet style publication and the first thing I would expect to see on page one is a wiring diagram for connecting your TV/video/DVD combination - but not here, which for someone who hasn't set one up before may add to their confusion. So the plugs are all in and we're ready to go. Turned on I'm expecting the large central window to show something - channel number, the time, anything but nothing. Ah, check the manual. ‘If there is nothing in your central facia panel: Possible causes: domestic power failure or mains power supply not connected.' I check both are OK(!) and still nothing but strangely the STB seems to be working OK. The TV has found the box and the auto tune function seems to be kicking in so what's the problem? Let's leave that for the time being. The installation is finished so I'll check for the latest updates. The 'auto update' option doesn't seem to do anything but the 'rescan' sends the box into a long-winded manual scan but with no explanation as to why I’d want a manual rather than auto scan or why the auto didn’t respond. Anyway, we're up and running. The manual has turned into a dog-eared mess and I'm still not sure whether my 'window' should show anything or if I've successfully scanned for upgrades. I check the web site which is nice enough but didn't answer my query. I rang the helpline and a slightly confused young lady explains that the window is blank and nothing should appear there and the updates are notified on screen when available. So what is the window for? 'It's the remote window' she says, which would be fine but living with the box since I notice that the remote is very easily prevented from working by the smallest barrier between you and the box so in this case anyway size isn't everything! Annoyingly the box has the brightest standby lights I have ever seen. They are bright to the point of distraction and are visible across the room, across the room that is across the hall and I suspect from across the street. On the other hand the TV picture seems to have settled into a very nice quality image and the sound is top notch. In operation channel changes are snappy and the channel guide appears quickly which brings me to my biggest gripe. I like to channel hop and to do this to best effect I like my channel guide to appear as a list which I can quickly browse through whilst still listening/watching the channel I'm currently on. With the Echostar this isn't possible. Pressing the guide button changes the channel to a dedicated EPG (which can be very slow) showing details of just the channel you’re watching and to browse uses the up/down buttons to go channel by channel which is possibly the most un-user friendly system I have seen on a STB. In summary: the Echostar is a nice product, conventionally sized and easy to live with it puts up a great picture and the sound quality is excellent. My problems with red dots and picture freezing are a thing of the past and it's only let down by some quirky design features, a cumbersome EPG and a less than fulsome manual.