Best Enigma 2 boxes?

snaps

I'm looking to replace a few enigma 1 boxes in my house (Bedrooms). Mainly because a few of the TV stations we watch have gone mpeg4 (DVBS2) only. I'm looking at Linux Enigma2 because of the following reasons:

Channel lists/Bouquets are very easy to edit and maintain
Web streaming to laptops and devices is a must (We watch a lot of TV in the summer house during the summer)
General use of plugins is easy
Great support

I'm looking for suggestions please, Best value (Cheapest), I wouldn't rule out a combo (DVBS2 and DVBT)

Obviously I'm aware of the DM800's (Getting a bit long in the tooth now) and the Amiko Ailen 2.

I don't really need an STB like an Ailen, as these receivers will be just used in the bedrooms, So basic suggestions welcomed.

There seems to be a lot of choice out there now compared to a few years back.

snaps

Thoughts on:

Amiko Ailen Mini

SAB F+Solo

VU+Zero

Golden Interstar Xspeed LX2

STG.Otaku

snaps wrote: »

Thoughts on:

Amiko Ailen Mini

SAB F+Solo

VU+Zero

Golden Interstar Xspeed LX2

As a very happy Vu+ Solo 2 owner, I'd say go for the Vu+ Zero, or a Vu+ Solo SE. Especially if setup and streaming etc work on the same basis as the Vu+ Solo 2 et al.

We use the streaming extensively both around the home and on the road. The official app is superb for this with the built in player, or with VLC if you are trying to play anything tricky.

Apologies for not being able to offer any other help than being a satisfied Vu+ customer.

STB.

snaps wrote: »

I'm looking to replace a few enigma 1 boxes in my house (Bedrooms). Mainly because a few of the TV stations we watch have gone mpeg4 (DVBS2) only. I'm looking at Linux Enigma2 because of the following reasons:

Channel lists/Bouquets are very easy to edit and maintain
Web streaming to laptops and devices is a must (We watch a lot of TV in the summer house during the summer)
General use of plugins is easy
Great support

I'm looking for suggestions please, Best value (Cheapest), I wouldn't rule out a combo (DVBS2 and DVBT)

Obviously I'm aware of the DM800's (Getting a bit long in the tooth now) and the Amiko Ailen 2.

I don't really need an STB like an Ailen, as these receivers will be just used in the bedrooms, So basic suggestions welcomed.

There seems to be a lot of choice out there now compared to a few years back.

So they are for bedrooms. So its a cheap enigma 2 box then.

You are quite right, there are lots of cheap E2 boxes on the market. There is no need to buy clones. Besides cost,

1. What teams supports them would be the first thing I would look at.

2. Specs. The processor speed, ram and chip type would be second. Please note that Amiko boxes do not have Broadcom chips which E2 is largely written for, hence it is a ported version!

3. Manufacturer dependability.

So in the cheap bracket.

Octagon SF8 HD-XP1000 - (Twin DVB-S2) 751Mhz MIPS, 512MB DDR3 RAM/128MB flash (OpenPLi/OpenATV/ViX) £89.

Golden Interstar XPEED LX2 Combo (DVB-T/ DVB-S2) 751Mhz MIPS, 512MB DDR3 RAM/512MB flash (Egami/OpenATV/ViX) £129

Technomate TM-Nano-SE (Single DVB-S2) 751Mhz MIPS 512MB DDR3 RAM/256MB flash (4D/OpenATV/ViX) £99

You can google others but I would stay away from those that dont have an english speaking team (like Vix) as they will not have the same priorities regarding support.

Vu+ products are massively overpriced for whats in them.

Mallagio

Technomate Nano for a good quality box that's relatively cheap. Nearly 2 years with mine and never any problems.

Quick start up and plugins/cams work flawlessly for me.

Big Wex fan

I've bought 4 in total cloud ibox 2plus boxes, 2 sold on, kept 2 for kitchen & livingroom.
I find them a very solid E2 box. There is a cloud ibox 2 plus SE version out now which is smaller than the previous version.
They're about 90 Euro now with the exchange rate being bad from UK.
You'll see people complain about the remote being bad & bad batches from China.
But I didn't find this the case. Remote field is narrow but range is fine.
And only bought from ebay where the seller feedback was good & current.

snaps

Thanks for all of your input guys. I've also came across a popular "modded" box here in Poland running enigma 2. Its a modified nc+ box nbox 5800sx. Its as cheap as chips here about 40euro!

STB.

snaps wrote: »

Thanks for all of your input guys. I've also came across a popular "modded" box here in Poland running enigma 2. Its a modified nc+ box nbox 5800sx. Its as cheap as chips here about 40euro!

Its a Sh4 box running a "patched" version of E2 like the Amikos. Be careful what you install on it and make sure it has duoboot installed.

Big Wex fan

snaps wrote: »

Thanks for all of your input guys. I've also came across a popular "modded" box here in Poland running enigma 2. Its a modified nc+ box nbox 5800sx. Its as cheap as chips here about 40euro!

Where's that advertised?

snaps

Big Wex fan wrote: »

Where's that advertised?

http://allegro.pl/nbox-5800s-bska-enigma2-v8-6-splitter-10-off-bsla-i5183685363.html

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/251866150793?nav=SEARCH

Zardoz

STB. wrote: »

Its a Sh4 box running a "patched" version of E2 like the Amikos. Be careful what you install on it and make sure it has duoboot installed.

Well at 40 euro ,its a no brainer .
You'd get 3 of them for the price of a Vu Zero if you can get them for that low price,which does seem a bit low,make sure its modded .

The nbox5800s does have an SH4 chipset but Enigma 2 runs better on it than the Alien 2 .
I have a couple of Alien 1 receivers and they are bulletproof running Hyperion 4.5 ,every bit as stable as my Mips receivers and do everything I use the Mips receivers for .

The Sh4 receivers also have a superior SD picture quality to Mips .

Vu+ products are massively overpriced for whats in them.

Agree ,but Vu+ seem to have priced the Vu+ Zero at a very good price point.

snaps

Zardoz wrote: »

Well at 40 euro ,its a no brainer .
You'd get 3 of them for the price of a Vu Zero if you can get them for that low price,which does seem a bit low,make sure its modded .

The nbox5800s does have an SH4 chipset but Enigma 2 runs better on it than the Alien 2 .
I have a couple of Alien 1 receivers and they are bulletproof running Hyperion 4.5 ,every bit as stable as my Mips receivers and do everything I use the Mips receivers for .

The Sh4 receivers also have a superior SD picture quality to Mips .



Agree ,but Vu+ seem to have priced the Vu+ Zero at a very good price point.

It seems to be the going price over here. The more expensive ones have hard disks in them and twin tuners.

Big Wex fan

If you go with the Polish stb, would love to know how you get on with delivery cost & setting up box.
It is a fantastic price for an E2 box.

snaps

Also 9 capacitors have been upgraded in the box.

snaps

Yes I may well take a gamble.

STB.

Zardoz wrote: »

Well at 40 euro ,its a no brainer .
You'd get 3 of them for the price of a Vu Zero if you can get them for that low price,which does seem a bit low,make sure its modded .

The nbox5800s does have an SH4 chipset but Enigma 2 runs better on it than the Alien 2 .

I have a couple of Alien 1 receivers and they are bulletproof running Hyperion 4.5 ,every bit as stable as my Mips receivers and do everything I use the Mips receivers for .

The Sh4 receivers also have a superior SD picture quality to Mips .

Agree ,but Vu+ seem to have priced the Vu+ Zero at a very good price point.

This is just my opinion. I dont go infor all the bashing of Sh4 vs MIPS, but there is a reason that some OE teams dont do it and its not all about shifing more MIPS boxes.

It seems that enigma2 has become a super buzz word. E2 is written for MIPS, not SH4. Sh4 boxes running the ported versions of E2 are just that, a hack. Whilst I appreciate that many people find this satisfactory (and the price point is fantastic), it wasnt at the start as people hadnt a clue what they were doing and bricking their Spark boxes. Its not a good introduction to real Enigma boxes. Thankfully the cheap price point has invited in programmers with time on their hands and the mods have improved. BUT, a distinction needs to be made between E2 boxes and Sh4 boxes running ported E2.

SH4 boxes running Spark do have great picture in that environment. That is because they have the proper kernels and drivers as provided by the manufacturer for the onboard STi chipset. Compare that to the kernels and drivers available for E2 or even ported E2, which is more like for like.

As regards the modded Nboxes, again they are an Sh4 chipset, so the images are restricted to those hacked images set to run E2. I have no idea without googling what speed or ram is in these Nboxes. Thats my other gripe about boxes tweaked to run E2, they may be sluggish, as the were not designed to do anything other than run a broadcasters software. It is after all a 6 year old box albeit with a STi 7111 chip.

BTW these Nboxes themselves are a hack to run these images and would originally have had to have the flash on the NAND disabled in order to get uboot on it. There were huge security vulnerabilities in the ITI5800S, ITI5800SX, ITI2850ST and ITI2849ST which gave root access to thse boxes easily.

If that has been done and it is imaged and can be updated with other limited set of ported E2 images for Sh4, does not crash, then its a good price.

greasepalm

i thought the xp1000 hd is single tuner,unless there is a newer version,i would say if you want a single tuner box look at the tm nano se very fast single tuner and runs kodi,newer version out soon i read is the combo using same image.i replaced an old solo with the nano and well pleased.
dont have to worry about image support as per clone boxes or ones with lack of support.
new images on older boxes make them run slower.

STB.

greasepalm wrote: »

i thought the xp1000 hd is single tuner

It is (and its too late to edit). Confused it with the 2018.

greasepalm

and Octagon SF8 HD-XP1000=both single tuners,hmm 2018 closed sourced one?

STB.

greasepalm wrote: »

and Octagon SF8 HD-XP1000=both single tuners,hmm 2018 closed sourced one?

The XP1000 is single alright and MIPS.

Octagon started doing MIPS boxes from the Formuler series.

2018 and 2028 were Sh4 boxes with ported e2.

Zardoz

STB. wrote: »

This is just my opinion. I dont go infor all the bashing of Sh4 vs MIPS, but there is a reason that some OE teams dont do it and its not all about shifing more MIPS boxes.

It seems that enigma2 has become a super buzz word. E2 is written for MIPS, not SH4. Sh4 boxes running the ported versions of E2 are just that, a hack. Whilst I appreciate that many people find this satisfactory (and the price point is fantastic), it wasnt at the start as people hadnt a clue what they were doing and bricking their Spark boxes. Its not a good introduction to real Enigma boxes. Thankfully the cheap price point has invited in programmers with time on their hands and the mods have improved. BUT, a distinction needs to be made between E2 boxes and Sh4 boxes running ported E2.

SH4 boxes running Spark do have great picture in that environment. That is because they have the proper kernels and drivers as provided by the manufacturer for the onboard STi chipset. Compare that to the kernels and drivers available for E2 or even ported E2, which is more like for like.


As regards the modded Nboxes, again they are an Sh4 chipset, so the images are restricted to those hacked images set to run E2. I have no idea without googling what speed or ram is in these Nboxes. Thats my other gripe about boxes tweaked to run E2, they may be sluggish, as the were not designed to do anything other than run a broadcasters software. It is after all a 6 year old box albeit with a STi 7111 chip.

BTW these Nboxes themselves are a hack to run these images and would originally have had to have the flash on the NAND disabled in order to get uboot on it. There were huge security vulnerabilities in the ITI5800S, ITI5800SX, ITI2850ST and ITI2849ST which gave root access to thse boxes easily.

If that has been done and it is imaged and can be updated with other limited set of ported E2 images for Sh4, does not crash, then its a good price.

I am aware of the Havana project from Sti but I still consider the picture quality in E2 on an SH4 receiver to be better than E2 on a Mips based receiver.
Its quite noticeable on sd channels ,especially sport .

The Sh4 receivers running E2 addressed a hole in the market ,the low price smart receiver.

Up until their arrival you either had your clone receivers like the Dreambox 800 and Vu+ Solo or else you paid through the nose for an official receiver especially a twin tuner .
Clones had issues ,limited warranty and threats of timebombs by the official manufacturers.

When the Alien 2 came out it was the only triple tuner on the market under 300 euro and it was ~150 euro.

Yes E2 on an SH4 receiver is patched and it was full of teething issues ,it took well over 18 months for E2 to become anywhere near stable but the developers did a good job and the end result now is a very stable platform.

The entry of the SH4 receivers was a good thing for the market and for the end user,it drove down the cost of receivers.
Without them and the clones ,manufacturers like Vu wouldnt be selling the Vu+ Zero for 120 euro ,they'd be looking for 180-200 euro .

I've had numerous E2 and E1 receivers and I find the Sh4 receivers very stable,I hardly ever get a green screen .

Now you can get Mips chipset receivers for fractionally more than an SH4 receiver so SH4 isnt as attractive anymore.
For a novice I'd always recommend a Mips based receiver .

On my main plasma I will be sticking with an SH4 receiver ,primarily for the improved sd picture quality,I wouldnt be able to go back to a MIPS based chipset on a large set,most of them have a dreadful picture.

snaps

Zardoz wrote: »

I've had numerous E2 and E1 receivers and I find the Sh4 receivers very stable,I hardly ever get a green screen .

Now you can get Mips chipset receivers for fractionally more than an SH4 receiver so SH4 isnt as attractive anymore.
For a novice I'd always recommend a Mips based receiver .

On my main plasma I will be sticking with an SH4 receiver ,primarily for the improved sd picture quality,I wouldnt be able to go back to a MIPS based chipset on a large set,most of them have a dreadful picture.

So have you had experience with these nboxes?

Zardoz

snaps wrote: »

So have you had experience with these nboxes?

No ,not personally.
I've used the Alien 1 which has the same chipset though (Sti 7111)
I thought about getting an nbox a few years back but they were more expensive over here than in Poland so a newer Sh4 receiver was more logical.

I know a guy who has had the nbox and both Aliens and he found the Alien 1 and nbox very reliable,more so than the Alien 2.

snaps

I took the plunge and brought one yesterday. Its out for delivery this afternoon. I paid 180zl delivered about 45€.

snaps

Ok, so been playing around with this box tonight. Had it all set up in 30 minutes (Bouquets, hard drive etc)

SD picture quality seems better than my Dm800 on a 42".
Web streaming working fine


Only problem I am having is I cannot see the attached USB hard drive on my home network? The hard drive seems to be mounted and working correctly on the nbox, its time shifting and recording ok. I cannot map it on my Pc's or my other dreambox.

Ive a hard drive connected to the dreambox and that is mapping fine on both my home network and the nbox!

Zardoz

snaps wrote: »

Ok, so been playing around with this box tonight. Had it all set up in 30 minutes (Bouquets, hard drive etc)

SD picture quality seems better than my Dm800 on a 42".
Web streaming working fine


Only problem I am having is I cannot see the attached USB hard drive on my home network? The hard drive seems to be mounted and working correctly on the nbox, its time shifting and recording ok. I cannot map it on my Pc's or my other dreambox.

Ive a hard drive connected to the dreambox and that is mapping fine on both my home network and the nbox!

Very good Snaps ,you are making good progress.
What image is on the receiver ,Hyperion 4.5 is probably the best .
You can use alot of the Sh4 plugins in the Alien 2 threads ,they are compatible .

The sd picture quality on the Sh4 boxes is vastly superior to a Dm800 .
Much sharper and clearer.
Its better than any Mips receiver I have seen .

snaps

Yes so far so good. I can access the hard drive via filezilla and its working fine on the box for timeshift and recording, I just cant map it to my laptops (Like I can with my dreambox hd (using \\192.168.*.*\harddisk)!

As far as I know it came pre installed with open pli freebox v8.6.

The main things are working well, like web streaming to laptops, epg, picture quality is great and also the bonus of using dreambox edit to edit my channel lists.

Diseqc is working well (13, 19, 23.5, 28 east).

The only thing I have noticed is the signal quality and strength is not accurate, but that's a minor thing.

Big Wex fan

I was wondering how you got the stb so quick until I saw you're living in Poland. I stuck website where you bought it into Google translator & looks like they don't ship internationally. Do you know is there anyway around it? e.g. parcel motel between Britain & Ireland. Also don't see paypal as an option to pay, how do they manage payments.

snaps

look on ebay.ie and adverts.ie. My box is just a basic single tuner. You can get twin tuner with an installed 250g HD for 120e.

greasepalm

on my sat boxes i needed to setup samba or nfs to allow networking.

snaps

greasepalm wrote: »

on my sat boxes i needed to setup samba or nfs to allow networking.

Yes I think that's the problem.