Upgrade from the amiko mini combo extra receiver

Pacman2D

Hi,

I currently have an “amiko mini combo extra” receiver but I want to upgrade.

I want a better receiver that can get saorview & satellite channels from Ireland & the UK. I also would prefer if it was able to record and had a hard drive.

What would anyone recommend?

Gerry Wicklow

The Zgemma H7S is the current favourite https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057971250/zgemma-h7s-guide/

Pacman2D

Hey Gerry, thanks for your suggestion.

the H7S can get both saorview & satellite channels? Also, would an external hard drive work with it?

Gerry Wicklow

Yes you can mix Saorview and satellite in any order you want. The box has a slot at the rear where you plug in a standard 2.5inch HDD/SSD

Pacman2D

I think I’m going to go with the H7S as it’s been recommended to me a few times. I hear the set up initially can be difficult but apart from that it’s decent? How many channels does it have like my amiko combo boasts 5000 channels including radio

Gerry Wicklow

I'm not sure of the official limit but it is far more than you will ever need. I have two other European satellite constellations configured with a total of ~4000 channels. Naturally many of these are encrypted for use in their target countries such as Germany, Poland, Spain and France. The UK satellites carry roughly 850 in total when counting regional variations and encrypted Sky channels etc.

Pacman2D

Do you have the H7S yourself? What do you think of it?

Also, would you recommend any accessories to get with these receivers that are necessary such as WiFi dongles, hard drives etc?

Gerry Wicklow

The box does all I need. The biggest complaint is that the remote is not very sensitive so you have to aim it at the box. The logo on the front is also very bright. A quick rub of a sharpie will tame it down or even some black tape if it really bugs you. The hard drive slot takes a standard laptop 2.5 inch. You may even have a spare lying around to suit. WiFi rarely works well with any of these boxes. A wired connection would be preferred. Once connected to your home network, you can stream live or recorded to any other device on your network with a web browser. It will also allow you to control the box, set timers, search EPG etc from a web browser.

The first time you fire it up there is a wizard that will take you through setting up the network and scanning channels. The hardest, most tedious bit is creating a list of your favourite channels in the order you like. However this only needs to be done once. As with all computer devices, it is a good idea to make backups of the settings when you are happy with them. This only takes a few seconds and can save many hours of swearing.

When you order the box, most suppliers offer a choice of operating systems known as images. The most popular here is called OpenVix. OpenATV is another common one. In practice there's very little difference between them. It's fairly easy to change image later on if you want to experiment.

Don't get put off by all the jargon. It may seem like a steep learning curve at first, but when you realise just how powerful and versatile these things are you will be glad.