Which box for my needs

Panrich

I posted on the Gigablue Quad thread that I was looking at this box as a replacement for Sky.

Not interested in subscription channels or motorised dishes etc.
One box and one remote a must.
EPG for all the major channels RTE, BBC etc.
Pause, Rewind, Record
No monthly charges

Nice to have would be players, internet tv etc.

I was advised to look at the VU+ Uno as an alternative but that requires the addition of another box and it seems to be an older box with lesser specs and not significantly cheaper (but might still be more suited to my needs). I like the fact that the Gigablue seems to have everything I need in a single package and may have more development mileage.
Are the VU+ Uno and Solo2 trading in the same pool as they seem to be fill very similar needs?

druss

Panrich wrote: »

I posted on the Gigablue Quad thread that I was looking at this box as a replacement for Sky.

Not interested in subscription channels or motorised dishes etc.
One box and one remote a must.
EPG for all the major channels RTE, BBC etc.
Pause, Rewind, Record
No monthly charges

Nice to have would be players, internet tv etc.

I was advised to look at the VU+ Uno as an alternative but that requires the addition of another box and it seems to be an older box with lesser specs and not significantly cheaper (but might still be more suited to my needs). I like the fact that the Gigablue seems to have everything I need in a single package and may have more development mileage.
Are the VU+ Uno and Solo2 trading in the same pool as they seem to be fill very similar needs?

Why do you need an additional box with the Vu+ Uno? If you mean for Saorview, you can get a USB DVB-T stick.

None of the boxes you mention come with everything you want in the base package, as far as I'm aware.

The Quad, you need to order or add the additional terrestrial tuner, as it generally comes with a base of a 2 x DVB-S/S2 , with another two free slots.
Do you mean the GiGaBlue HD 800 UE+ Plus 1x Satellite DVB-S/S2 + 1x Hybrid DVB-C/T ?

Panrich

druss wrote: »

Why do you need an additional box with the Vu+ Uno? If you mean for Saorview, you can get a USB DVB-T stick.

None of the boxes you mention come with everything you want in the base package, as far as I'm aware.

The Quad, you need to order or add the additional terrestrial tuner, as it generally comes with a base of a 2 x DVB-S/S2 , with another two free slots.
Do you mean the GiGaBlue HD 800 UE+ Plus 1x Satellite DVB-S/S2 + 1x Hybrid DVB-C/T ?

Yes, that was the plan to add the extra tuner. I am a bit concerned that a DVB-T stick (or play TV as was suggested) might not be as good a solution as an in-built tuner from the manufacturer. It just feels that it might have more potential for incompatibility or stability issues.

steveon

Panrich wrote: »

Yes, that was the plan to add the extra tuner. I am a bit concerned that a DVB-T stick (or play TV as was suggested) might not be as good a solution as an in-built tuner from the manufacturer. It just feels that it might have more potential for incompatibility or stability issues.

The Vu Uno has only one tuner you want either the Vu Solo2 or as you suggested Gigablue quad. You can put a hd inside the quad but cannot with the solo

swoofer

ok what you need is a budget, so 94 x 12 = 1128 per annum = a lot.

The box you should get is a VU+ UNO with a twin tuner and an internal HDD. Then you buy a Play TV usb DTT tuner, and the next bit is the image that is important so the best image is Blackhole and the latest is 2.0.7.2. With this setup you have the ideal anything else is a compromise. You may ask why, and these are the reasons.

1. It has a twin sat tuner so you can record one and watch another( in actual fact you can record a lot more but thats when you get serious)

2. The usb play tv is a twin tuner so now with the 2 muxes on saorview you can record one and watch another( in fact you can record nearly all of them at same time)

3. It is the best supported box on the internet.

4. It has 3 usb sockets, so one for flashing ie loading firmware in front of box) 2 at rear, one for storing epg stuff and the other could be used for an external usb HDD if needed.

5. It has double the memory than most boxes so is fast and has 500mhz chip.

6. You will have a box with 4 tuners. 2 x sat and 2 x dtt.

When you have done the above, takes about an hour, you can sit back and relax. After a month you can read up and then realise this box has endless potential.

Where to buy , world of sat, and they will even load image for you, its £309 with a 500gb HDD = 370 EURO, the Sony PS play tv is on ebay for about 30 euro or so.

So for 400 give or take euro you are set fair.

google vu plus community, and just uno for support. If you had lots of money you would get the Vu + Duo2.

I have the uno, its awesome.

gbc--

swoofer

panrich, I have moved my thread now and deleted it from the gigablue one. I gave you a very comprehensive option but as they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

What will happen now is you will get wrong information but stick with it.

eg the uno can be sold either with a single tuner or a twin, I gave you the link for the twin. The play tv tuner is tiny, size of a cigarette packet.

The gigablue has one sat tuner and one dtt tuner and you can only have an external HDD. This means you can only record one channel and may watch another on same transponder. same applies for dtt.

My option gave you everything but you will get there.

Panrich

GBCULLEN wrote: »

panrich, I have moved my thread now and deleted it from the gigablue one. I gave you a very comprehensive option but as they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

What will happen now is you will get wrong information but stick with it.

eg the uno can be sold either with a single tuner or a twin, I gave you the link for the twin. The play tv tuner is tiny, size of a cigarette packet.

The gigablue has one sat tuner and one dtt tuner and you can only have an external HDD. This means you can only record one channel and may watch another on same transponder. same applies for dtt.

My option gave you everything but you will get there.

I suppose that I am wondering what advantages the UNO has over the Solo2 for a similar price. As you say it really is a learning curve. World of satellite offer an internal hd option on the gigablue on their website by the way.

alastair

steveon wrote: »

The Vu Uno has only one tuner you want either the Vu Solo2 or as you suggested Gigablue quad. You can put a hd inside the quad but cannot with the solo

You can put a hard drive inside the Solo2. Or you can buy one with a hard drive pre-installed. I bought a Solo2 last week and put a drive in myself. Not a problem.

alastair

Panrich wrote: »

I suppose that I am wondering what advantages the UNO has over the Solo2 for a similar price. As you say it really is a learning curve. World of satellite offer an internal hd option on the gigablue on their website by the way.

I'm curious too, why anyone would opt for an UNO over a Solo2. It's twin tuner, allows for Play TV etc USB, is faster than the UNO, has twice the flash memory of the UNO, has the same number of ports, faster Ethernet connection...

What's the price differential these days?

Zardoz

GBCULLEN wrote: »

3. It is the best supported box on the internet.

Not being nasty but I seriously doubt that .

swoofer

pray tell me the one that is better, make model, image and a link please. And yes you are been nasty. And if you cant tell me that, then delete your post please.

alastair

GBCULLEN wrote: »

pray tell me the one that is better, make model, image and a link please.

The Solo2
http://vuplus.com/productSolo2.html

Handy comparison table in link above.

swoofer

no alistair its not you, the VU box covers the lot ie uno, ultimo, solo2 duo2, solo, all those are derivatives.

its the throwaway remark with no back up that got on my goat.

alastair

GBCULLEN wrote: »

no alistair its not you, the VU box covers the lot ie uno, ultimo, solo2 duo2, solo, all those are derivatives.
.

The point is that not all the Vu boxes are equal. The Solo2 is demonstrably better specced than the UNO, albeit for a small price premium. The Duo2 is better again, but only with regard to multiple dish set-ups or subjectively worthwhile extras like the LCD panel or better transcoding (neither that compelling tbh).

I've replaced a Duo with a Solo2, and the difference in performance is easily noticed.

Panrich

Thank you for all your replies so far. Is the ground changing slightly for satellite receivers though (before I spend €500 on a device, I want to be sure it's future proofed). I ask, because I visited my brother at the weekend and he has an android player with quad core processor that he can get Netflix and all the players on as well as more IP channels than you can shake a stick at (all for €100).
Are the android devices serving a different market segment entirely or is it a converging market that will soon be covered by a single device?

alastair

Panrich wrote: »

Thank you for all your replies so far. Is the ground changing slightly for satellite receivers though (before I spend €500 on a device, I want to be sure it's future proofed). I ask, because I visited my brother at the weekend and he has an android player with quad core processor that he can get Netflix and all the players on as well as more IP channels than you can shake a stick at (all for €100).
Are the android devices serving a different market segment entirely or is it a converging market that will soon be covered by a single device?

The ground is certainly shifting on the card-sharing side of receivers. As in it may not have much time left as a viable strategy. It's pretty uncertain what could be considered a future-proof technology, if you're interested in 'more channels than you shake a stick at' - particularly if you're particularly focused on the highest quality available. IP broadcasting (in some form) would 'seem' to be where most of the attention is directed at the moment.

Zardoz

GBCULLEN wrote: »

pray tell me the one that is better, make model, image and a link please. And yes you are been nasty. And if you cant tell me that, then delete your post please.

I didnt mean to be nasty honestly.
The Vu+ Uno isnt a very common receiver and I just dont think its fair to say its the best supported box on the internet,which is a sweeping statement.
Its a good box yes but its user base is far smaller than other Vu+ receivers and Dreamboxes and the range of images for it is far less than for example the Dm800 or Dm800se.