Newbie advice on tuner and images

tommycahir

Hi all

I am just looking into replacing my skybox with another suitable alternative, the basic requirement is dual sat tuner (DVB-S2) and internal HDD for recording.

I have been looking at the Edision Optimuss OS 2 Plus from freetv.ie or similar dual tuners from world-of-satellite.co.uk
Any recommendations on this would be greatly appreciated..

However I am getting a bit lost on trying to understand what the difference is between openvix,openpli, openatv and blackhole are and how they impact on my choice of receiver.

I want this to be as non techy wife friendly as possible so was looking at skins like sky and they all seem to reference the above plugins (are they even plugins/addons or are they images?)

tommycahir

Just to be clear the other options I am looking at are:

Xtrend ET9500 2x DVB-S2 Linux Enigma 2 Linux HD Digital Receiver - £129
Xtrend ET8000 2x DVB-S2 Linux Enigma 2 Linux HD Digital Receiver - £159
Vu+ Solo SE V2 Twin Tuner DVB-S/S2 Linux HD Satellite Receiver - £159

A bit out of the budget but could possibly stretch to it
VU+ Duo Twin Tuner HD PVR DVB-S2 Enigma2 Satellite Receiver - £189

THE ALM

Got rid of sky and changed to the Optimus O3+ back in February and all going well.

The various images you have listed are all based on Enigma 2 and, barring a variation on there layout, are all fundamentally the same. Some might have different plugins as standard and the menu layout can be slightly different, some might be configured to favour the country they are developed in, but all can be set up and configured to run here.

Once it is set up then how it looks will be down to the skin that you apply. I have tried dozens although I have stuck with the one I am on now for quite a while. There are skins that make it look like the sky box layout if that is your thing, although I think there are better ones.

You will want to look at how well supported the box you are considering is. The OS3+ and the OS2+ seem to be best supported with Openatv and HDFreaks images and these are continually updated to iron out any bugs that crop up from time to time. I have been running HDFreaks for several months and it has been fairly rock solid and I use there XionHDF skin.

The basic image that you decide on should have all that you need to get set up and running and you may decide to download and install additional plugins once you are set up. I have found that some plugins can cause issues so best to keep it as simple as possible. The main plugin that may be required is the CrossEPG one which will be used to populate the EPG.

tippguy2

THE ALM wrote: »

Got rid of sky and changed to the Optimus O3+ back in February and all going well.

The various images you have listed are all based on Enigma 2 and, barring a variation on there layout, are all fundamentally the same. Some might have different plugins as standard and the menu layout can be slightly different, some might be configured to favour the country they are developed in, but all can be set up and configured to run here.

Once it is set up then how it looks will be down to the skin that you apply. I have tried dozens although I have stuck with the one I am on now for quite a while. There are skins that make it look like the sky box layout if that is your thing, although I think there are better ones.

You will want to look at how well supported the box you are considering is. The OS3+ and the OS2+ seem to be best supported with Openatv and HDFreaks images and these are continually updated to iron out any bugs that crop up from time to time. I have been running HDFreaks for several months and it has been fairly rock solid and I use there XionHDF skin.

The basic image that you decide on should have all that you need to get set up and running and you may decide to download and install additional plugins once you are set up. I have found that some plugins can cause issues so best to keep it as simple as possible. The main plugin that may be required is the CrossEPG one which will be used to populate the EPG.

I use a skin named abc , I find it very nice and simple, works on any image and any box I've ever used, it will have to be uploaded by ftp to tmp then installed through local extensions

tommycahir

Thanks for all the responses, I have been doing a lot of research since the above post and have decided to go for the xtrend et8000 (2x dvb-s2 and option of later adding another tuner if desired) and run an openvix image on it.

I won't be ordering it till the new year but in time being have ordered a wetek play with dual dvb-s2 tuners to play around with and will run pbnigma on it to just try it out and see if herself is comfortable with that instead of sky GUI...

amikoalien2

tommycahir wrote: »

Just to be clear the other options I am looking at are:

Xtrend ET9500 2x DVB-S2 Linux Enigma 2 Linux HD Digital Receiver - £129
Xtrend ET8000 2x DVB-S2 Linux Enigma 2 Linux HD Digital Receiver - £159
Vu+ Solo SE V2 Twin Tuner DVB-S/S2 Linux HD Satellite Receiver - £159

A bit out of the budget but could possibly stretch to it
VU+ Duo Twin Tuner HD PVR DVB-S2 Enigma2 Satellite Receiver - £189

Changed mine some time ago got the alien 2 first
A great lerning curve the box performed well but trying to record was a bit frustrating as the drive is usb mounted

I spent come cash :eek: and got the vu+duo 2 a twin s2 sat tuner and single dvbt for sourview
so i can record 2 sat programmes and watch rte
i ripped the old HDD from the sky box and put it into the vu+
Wifey is happy
Im happy no more recording issues

You can chop and change until you find an image you like its as easy as plugging in a usb and reboot

use dreamboxedit and copy you channel line up and transfer it to the different images you try