Hi, I am new to the forum, and I am looking for a little guidance to back up some research I have done with regard to the Dreambox Dm800 HD.

Firstly I have a dm500 which has been setup for me and I can use to a fashion, lets say it was bought (Plug and Play) all ready to use.

I use it with a 1.1m motorised dish and mainly use it to watch football. Infact it is all i have watched on it due to quality issues.

I have looked at alternatives i.e Sky+HD (£80 odd a Month ) and Virgin (Non Cable Area).

Then I found the DM800 HD. My main issues are, is the quality of picture any better on the non hd channels with the 800 compared to the 500?

Can I use an external hdd, or is it more beneficial to use a hdd made for purpose? and other than bouquets, is there a way/skin/theme that I can use to make it look, or at least feel a bit more like the Sky menu or at least be a bit easier to use (for the Mrs ofcourse :D) Is it easy to pause record rewind, or is it just a record facility?

I have a CC and will work my way around setting the box up myself, with tutorials etc, however I cant find the answer to any of these questions.

Any help is appreciated

Thanks