Looking forward to doing some comparisons EB, pics and all.
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Looking forward to doing some comparisons EB, pics and all.
yep i would like to see what one of the new clones look like my self.
I think this should be very interesting to see the findings in the coming weeks. :bigthumbup:
The following is our official statement in regards to this clone issue explaining all events that occurred since early 2012:
- In early 2012, we at AzBox Canada were informed by a business associate that GTA Electronics (aka. Worldwidesatellites.com) was planning to attack the markets of its rival competitors and our authorised dealers Angel Electronics and Dr. Sat by engaging in various unethical business practices and suggested to keep an eye on them. Angel Electronics and GTA Electronics have historically always been fierce competitors as their retail stores are both located in the same city within 8.9 km (5.6 miles) from each other.
- Shortly thereafter, GTA Electronics added AzBox to the list of carried brands on their worldwidesatellites website without any prior contact to AzBox Canada. However, no products were listed under this brand but a message stating: Coming in March 2012 was posted. At this time, we did not take any action in order to allow the opportunity for GTA Electronics to contact us on their own in order to become an authorised AzBox Canada dealer.
- At around March of 2012, AzBox Canada ordered some AzBox Premium HD Plus units through our regular OpenSat shipments. These units were identical to all the other AzBox Premium HD Plus units we previously ordered with two rows of ventilation holes on the top cover. These were the last authentic AzBox Premium HD Plus units available from OpenSat as this model ceased being manufactured in late 2011.
- As GTA Electronics still had Coming in March 2012 posted on their worldwidesatellites website in May of 2012, it was believed that they had abandoned their intent to carry AzBox products and had simply forgotten to update their website. They eventually removed the date reference and simply stated Coming soon.... At this time, we believed that they had abandoned their intent of carrying AzBox products and simply wanted to improve the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking of their website by keeping the AzBox keywords on their website as it is a popular search engine keyword.
- In August of 2012, AzBox Canada discovered that production began in China of AzBox Premium HD Plus counterfeit units. Many competing companies in Shenzhen, China quickly began producing this unit as listed on trade websites such as alibaba.com. As all AzBox Premium HD Plus units were made in South Korea, it is clear that any unit made by a Chinese factory is a clone. Furthermore, authentic AzBox Premium HD Plus units are no longer being made as manufacturing of this model ceased in late 2011.
- On October 3rd, 2012, GTA Electronics added the Premium HD Plus on their worldwidesatellites website. As Chinese companies began production of AzBox Premium HD Plus counterfeit units about 2 months earlier, we strongly suspected that they had directly imported these units from China. Shortly after GTA Electronics began selling these units, one of our business associates purchased one in order to analyze and compare to our authentic units.
- After inspecting and comparing the GTA Electronics unit with one of our authentic units from our March 2012 shipment, we immediately noticed many differences between the two units with some of these described below. Please note that with all these pictures, the test unit being analyzed is on the left while our reference authentic unit is on the right:
- The test unit clearly has differences with the layout of ventilation holes on the top cover above the tuners as shown below. The reference authentic unit only has two parallel columns of 16 holes each while the test unit has three parallel columns, the first one with 16 holes and the last two with only 6 holes each.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]- Differences in the ventilation fan attached to the back panel of the unit as shown below. The test unit uses a different fan than our reference authentic unit. With the core of the fan being larger on the test unit, we can clearly see the white and blue sticker on the fan through the ventilation holes. As well, the wires leading up to the fan are at a different location as indicated by the red arrow. By using a fan that is too large to fit inside the unit's ventilation holes, the test unit may have ventilation issues down the road as the fan blades are partially obstructed by the unit's chassis.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]- As indicated by the arrows in the picture below, we can clearly see that the test unit is missing two plastic "dimples" on each side of the CAM slot visible when opening the front panel door on the left. These dimples are found on all authentic AzBox models which have a CAM slot and includes the Elite HD, AzBox Premium HD and AzBox Premium HD Plus units. Please note that this same difference was also reported by OpenSat with the now discontinued AzBox Premium HD (non-plus) clone units.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
- Shortly after GTA Electronics began selling these units, we then identified other unauthorised AzBox Canada dealers in the Canadian market selling the same units. At this time, we had to take action in order to protect our Canadian market so we contacted every one of these unauthorised dealers in order to provide them with 48 hours as a courtesy to voluntarily stop selling all AzBox products and to remove all references from their online and/or retail store. At least one of these retailers collaborated with us and ceased to sell AzBox products but all others either refused to take action or failed to reply to us. After about 72 hours, all retailers who refused to take action or failed to reply to use were listed on our website at [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] as unauthorised AzBox Canada retailers in order to advise the general public. This tactic is also used by other FTA receiver distributors such as [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] On their clone seller master list, they even identified [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
- A few people from Canada contacted AzBox Canada concerned that they had purchased an AzBox Premium HD Plus unit from an unauthorised AzBox Canada retailer. We then had them take pictures of their unit in order to compare the same differences that we identified earlier on in order to confirm the authenticity of their unit. AzBox Canada then provided these people with a detailed analysis report outlining the differences identified between their unit and our authentic unit we received from OpenSat back in March of 2012 and all units analyzed had the same differences.
- We then sent pictures of these differences to a few representatives from OpenSat for analysis. None of these people were able to recognize the differences identified as being legitimate. Later on, we even had a meeting with an executive member of OpenSat and when asked about the differences we identified, he stated: other one you show is definitivly a clone (sic)
- Recently, we published a picture showing one of these differences associated with the ventilation holes on the top of the unit. Shortly after this occurred, Rick Caylor posted on his discussion forum admitting that he has been the one supplying these units stating that he purchased these receivers from Opensat. We at AzBox Canada were surprised by this revelation as none of our authentic AzBox Premium HD Plus units have any of these differences, even the ones from our last Premium HD Plus shipment ordered in March of 2012. Up until Rick Caylor's revelation, we had no idea that the units he is currently carrying were physically different than our authentic units nor did we know that he was supplying units to GTA Electronics (aka. Worldwidesatellites). Furthermore, the picture that Rick Caylor had on his website of the AzBox Premium HD Plus before he made his post did NOT show any of these differences and [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
- Based on the above, our claims of AzBox Premium HD Plus clone units were well founded. Please note that using the unit's serial numbers by itself as a means of validation is generally not sufficient in determining if a unit is a clone as the serial numbers of AzBox Premium HD Plus units are sequential so the series can easily be reused.
Best regards,
PwrSurge
AzBox Canada
These are merely exterior features, how about interior? By the way, my premium+ is identical to what you deem to be the authentic unit(all 3 pics on the right). It will be interesting to see what type of unit is sent to EB.
Really? Then please explain why the pictures that Opensat had on their [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] website shows otherwise?!?Quote:
Originally Posted by iq180 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Even though azbox.com is currently under construction, the site can still be accessed as it was in the past [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] which is a website archiving most websites over time around the world. The following are pictures of an authentic AzBox Premium HD Plus unit straight from the source, Opensat's AzBox.com website as of October of 2012 and the entire website can be viewed at [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Source: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Source: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
If you look closely on the top left of the unit in these pictures, you can clearly see two identical rows of ventilation holes. Furthermore, the fan in rear panel picture clearly matches our authentic units.
So far, it appears that all the Premium HD Plus units with 3 rows of vents came from Rick's. We even contacted all authorised European AzBox distributors and from who we have heard from so far, none of them have ever heard of a new version of the Premium HD Plus with 3 rows of vents.
Regards,
PwrSurge
AzBox Canada
Oh, I am so damn easily confused. In post #38, worldwidesatellite states that they get all of their stock from Rick Caylor. If Rick caylor is an authorized seller and wws gets their stock from Rick, where is the freakin' issue? After reading all of this garbage I don't personally care if an AZboz does 4:2:2, 8:4:4 or 16:8:8, I wouldn't touch one. Furthermore, if they are now being produced in China, what is to really set them apart from my OpenBox S-9 other than 4:2:2. Sounds like one distributor trying to put another one down. We called that jealousy when we were kids. JMHO and I just fell off my soap box.
The PDF you attached only applies for the now discontinued Premium HD (non plus) unit and NOT the Premium HD Plus unitQuote:
Originally Posted by ViP3R [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
easily confused, right on.
That's the conclusion I've come to as well.
The hell with it. The company has been bought out and doesn't plan on continuing any of the old models except for the mini.
Wow, PWRSERGE really has some big cahonas! I love how everywhere you look he keeps referring to Dr Sat as a separate entity when it is plain as day that they are both him, as was pointed out at digital home. Yet he keeps denying it. I think he really stepped into a big pile of dung and that stench will never fade. If I had ever harbored a thought of purchasing an AZBOX in the past that has changed now.