Skybox F3: PVR Compatible USB Sticks

[Lazarus]

Following on from the general Thread about the F3, I haven't been alone in finding my existing USB 2.0 sticks unreliable for implementing PVR functions.

Another Member mentioned the far high speed of USB 3.0 sticks, even when used in backward compatibility.

Please use this Thread to report what does and does not work.



Starter for ten: Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8GB is inconsistent, so is a NO.

 

[Lazarus]

I've just ordered a Verbatim V3.0 16GB Stick for less than £9.

Should be much faster than earlier technology Sticks even in backwards compatibility with the USB 2.0 Port on the F3.

Will report back on success or otherwise once I have exhaustively tested it.

 

[Costactc]

I use a kingston dt109, 4GB when dumping my channels and sat info and for firmware upgrades. I haven't had any issues with it, should I be looking for something more specific?

 

[PaulR]

Tivu is trying to get a list of pen drives that have read/write fast enough for HD record and playback. Have you tried using it for that?

 

[Ghostleader]

I like Verbatim, a good make, never had any bother with the 250Gig USB powered drive and the 8 Gig stick I have of theirs, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Tivu mate.

 

[Costactc]

Tivu is trying to get a list of pen drives that have read/write fast enough for HD record and playback. Have you tried using it for that?

Can't say that I have, just using it for feeds and channels at the moment.

 

[Lazarus]

I like Verbatim, a good make, never had any bother with the 250Gig USB powered drive and the 8 Gig stick I have of theirs, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Tivu mate.

I had in mind getting a 2.5" Portable HDD (80 or 120 G, but really only want three or four hours Record capacity plus Time-Shift (The Foxsat HDR does 99% of the work and this is an overflow/conflicts/bedroomspare box) so as pennies are short, thouth £9 on a USB Stick would be a sound investment.

Of course, if it doesn't do the business, then I'll get the Portable HDD (Those are £30, which is two-thirds of the base price of the F3 itself!).

 

[aceb]

My only memory stick isn't fast enough to record too so I'm not able to test many of the PVR options. How much memory does recording HD use per minute and what format does it use. The manual seems particularly vague on this and I can't decide whether to go stick or hdd. If the format is something I can play in VLC for grabbing afterwards I'll chose a stick, if not then the larger capacity of a hdd is probably the way to go.

 

[Lazarus]

I did get a few minutes of successful recording onto my pre-existing stick and can confirm it will play happily on a PC with VLC.

That said, I prefer to use Media Player Classic (No longer supported, but a small and effective player for .ts files that you can get legacy versions of quite easily).

Expecting my new USB Stick mid-week (I declined to pay for faster postage!)

 

[Rolandh]

I did get a few minutes of successful recording onto my pre-existing stick and can confirm it will play happily on a PC with VLC.

That said, I prefer to use Media Player Classic (No longer supported, but a small and effective player for .ts files that you can get legacy versions of quite easily).

Expecting my new USB Stick mid-week (I declined to pay for faster postage!)

There is MPC-HC that's supported as the Dev started working on it after the Dev of Media Player Classic stopped support for MPC.

Roland

 

[Lazarus]

Well I'm slightly peeved: I ordered my new Stick from OYYY.co.uk based on price, reputation AND the Item being shown as "In Stock".

Chased it up today and they are "Awaiting Stock". Avoid.

 

[Lazarus]

New Stick just arrived and does all one would hope.


Now got Live Pause and Recording without glitches.


A "Yorkshire" solution costing less than £9

 

[Stew.art]

Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 - Works Perfectly

Received mine (16gb) this morning less than 24hrs after making the order from CCL Computers £12.70 inc. p&p
Does everything the F3's (6 days old, no regrets ) PVR is able to do and no problems with audio sync.

On paper it's suppose to be able to do the following: USB 3.0 up to 70MB/s read, 30MB/s write and USB 2.0 up to 30MB/s read, 25MB/s write.

 

[PaulR]

Stew.art - have you specifically tried recording HD content and playing it back?

 

[Stew.art]

Yes, played them back on the Skybox with no problems so far.

 

[Ghostleader]

Just some friendly advise for my fellow forum members regarding USB sticks, in the name of all that you hold dear DO NOT be tempted by any of the "Intenso" USB sticks on offer in Maplin and elsewhere they are complete cr*p and perform no where near there badged USB 2 spec. I tried one in my daughters Eaglebox 800HD, recording a sd channel was fine, but upon trying a HD channel (Discovery HD) I was greeted by the on screen message "USB drive to slow! Attempt recording anyway?" I did "attempt recording" lol, and it was a waste of time. During playback the recording would glitch every 8 seconds or so, I remembered my TM 5402 HD had a USB speed check function in the PVR manager menu, the result was "very poor" , your telling me mate!, yip utter cr*p.

 

[Lazarus]

Yep, that's representative of my earlier problem.

 

[Lazarus]

In:

Kingston Data Traveller Elite 3.0 16GB (£12.70)

Verbatim Store n'Go V3 16GB (£8.52)

Out:

Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8GB

Anything marked "Intenso"



The advice would seem to be to get USB 3.0 Sticks.

 

[John Lander]

Have been using Kingston "Elite" 16GB USB stick with no issues whatsoever with record/playback etc in both HD and SD. Wondering if I can go up to "Elite" 32GB? So far, Skybox F3 has been great unlike the piece of CRAP that the Openbox S12 was with nothing but issues, issues, issues. Of course hesitated before buying another Openbox/Skybox item but reviews had nothing particularly bad to say about it, no freezing/overheating/lousy firmware reports. Knock on wood. Now if I could find out if a 32GB USB high speed stick will work without issues, or even better an external HDD (without fiddling with eSata conversion cables, etc). Anyone tried higher capacity 32GB USB flash drives on a (specifically Skybox F3/Openbox X3?

 

[Lazarus]

We are pioneering a bit, so rather than answering your question about the 32GB KIngston, we rather hope you'll tell us the outcome!

As for Ext HDD, we have established that the F3 can power one properly from the sole USB Port.

You can get slimline portable drives for £29 (80gb) to £33 (120G .... and bigger ............. from fleabay.

No nasty cabling, just a USB to miniUSB that comes with the drives.

I myself have a failing 250GB from the wife's lappy that I am going to try in a SATA to USB Caddy (£2.45 del!) in a day or three.

I've not seen much criticism of the F3 at all .... for fifty sovs it does so much, so well.