what satellite reciever to go for?

gazzam

hello there guys,
Very new to this area but i am hoping you guys can help me.
I am looking to get rid of my upc at home and replace with a linux satellite reciever.
what i am lookin for is pretty basic, pretty much as close to a sky+ box as possible with sky channels etc.
I have narrowed down to either the amiko alien 2 or the vu+ solo2, but i am open to other suggestions.
I was leaning towards the solo2 as it seems to be a very good machine from what i have read but all i am lookin for is record one channel and watch or pause another which as far as i can tell the amiko alien is capable of too.
I have upc broadband at the moment but will be changing to vodafone broadband.
my dish is just your standard sky minidish.
I guess what my main question is, for someone totally new, what reciever would you reccomend to carry out these functions?
Gary

watty

A Humax Freesat + HDR for Freesat PVR use.

or if you have a Sky sub a Sky box.

The Linux boxes (actually probably ALL boxes run Linux, but I know what you mean) are more for Non-UK FTA or PayTV. Sky would cancel your sky card if they thought it wasn't in a Sky box. Even if a Sky sub card works in non-sky box today it might not tomorrow.

If you have no Sky sub you need an Aerial and Saorview for Irish channels. None of the Linux boxes entirely do Saorview + Freesat properly. You'd need TWO PVRs (or nearly as good a custom media PC) to really have true PVR on satellite and Terrestrial with ALL features of both platforms.

Sky channels require a Sky subscription and really a Sky Box (you get one free with a new sub and you own it from day 1, but it will not play/record without a sub thus when sub cancelled it's crippled).

You are mad to change from UPC broadband (you don't need to have the TV sub) which is coax to Vodafone which uses Eircom phone wires and massive Telephone line rental.

gazzam

Thank you for the reply watty,
From what i understand the vodafone broadband is 35euro per month and that includes line rental, the upc broadband is about 45 per month. Upc is wired to our house but is fed back to an aerial in our town so its really just standard broadband not fiber, saying that ive had it nearly 2 years and no problems. Ive been speaking to a neighbour of mine and he finds the vodafone broadband quite good, im not 100% on which way i will go yet but thank you for your input
What i am hoping to achieve from the vu+ or amiko alien 2 box is sky channels without sky sub, but i think i cannot discuss that here.
Thanks again

necstandards

Hi Gazzam

Since its been 3 years, what did you opt for and how has it been working for you?

gazzam

Just stuck with the saorview/freeview in the end, zgemmastar reciever are good for recording one channel watching another, same as the older sky box, good selection of channels. Gets us by