Whats the latest vu equivalent box?

micks_address

Hi folks,

I have a VU plus solo 4k with dual satelite tuner for free to air satelite channels and a digital tuner for soarveiw. Very happy with it. I've a friend looking to setup something similar. I've my VU box a few years now - just wondering what folks are favouring these days for free to air satellite and soarview reception with recording.

Cheers,

Mick

Gerry Wicklow

The Zgemma H7S is the current favourite in terms of best bang for buck.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057971250/zgemma-h7s-guide/p1

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058308907/whats-the-latest-vu-equivalent-box

Ive had two H7S die on me with swollen caps , one was a take the lid off to install hard drive model , the other was the SSD slot into the back hard drive model.

Zgemma do the job as well as anything else , when they work , but reliability and build quality , as with so many chinese budget products , just is not there.

Ive recently bought this ,

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/VU-Duo-4K-SE-BT-Without-hard-drive/dp/B08HJJR6PD/ref%3Dsr_1_3?crid=3TU8XJKFK9HWE&keywords=vu%2B%2Bduo%2B4k%2Bse&qid=1691827658&sprefix=vu%2B%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-3&th=1

The latest of the VU+ boxes and its running openvix , built like a tank and hasnt put a foot wrong , hoping it lasts longer than the Zgemmas

I paid 369 , but inflation is nuts these days , also " gigablue" are another mid price offering of similar build quality. A little cheaper than the VU+ but still better than the Zgemma.

Dont attempt to buy from England , you wil be hit with extra customs and handling charges that will almost double the price.

horse7

Probably silly to say but you can get dual tuner TV,s

micks_address

The auto timer recording function on the Linux boxes and the various skins etc make it bit more user friendly.. I've found with dual tuner TVs they generally don't combine the satellite and terrestrial epgs either

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120968420#Comment_120968420

All of them have massive problems combining saorview and satellite EPGs and recording is hit and miss.

Ireland has specific requirements that no manufacturer caters for.

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975283#Comment_120975283

Can I ask what the specific requirements are?

goldiefresh

They won't manufacture a specific box that works out of the box doing what a Freesat box does with a terrestrial compatible tuner built in as well and added to the same epg. We are only a small nation it wouldn't generate sufficient revenue for any company to manufacture.

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975710#Comment_120975710

the UK have freeview and freesat so typically don't need to combine the epgs.. in the republic we get uk channels from freesat/free to air satelite.. and irish channels from saorview.. all the tvs ive had.. at best they have satelite tuners and terrestrial tuners have them on different inputs.. so you need to change input on the tv remote to see rte 1, versus satelite input for bbc2.. also there's messiness around freesat doesnt have all the uk channels in their epg... you get the best of both worlds with the linux based boxes.. a single epg/tv guide to change channels/record.. to be honest we only use ours for recording love island, britains got talent, strictly come dancing.. most of our tv time is via apps.. that said - would have to pay sky or virgin probably 30 euro a month for the privilege of watching/recording free to air channels.. a linux box for a year probably covers the cost of it..

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975618#Comment_120975618

We need Saorview and FTA satellite on one combined EPG

The only smart TV that does that as far as I know is a Walker TV , and the problem with those is that they are walker TV's , sub par at best.

All the good smart TV's , LG , Panasonic , Sony , etc. have the same issues , choose a UK setup and FTA is nice and neat with Saorview scattered randomly over about 700 empty slots or set it up for Ireland and Saorview is neat but satellite is scattered all over the place.

You can set up favourites , but they dont hold , and are usually lost on software updates which are regular.

The best option in this country , assuming you dont want to pay sky or some other provider , is a linux combo box , there are many to choose from.

DukesDad

In your opinion(s) what is the best Linux based combo box out there at the moment. It’d be nice to be able to pause and record TV as well. Is the Linux based box the same as an enigma box?

Gerry Wicklow

Yes Enigma is the name of the type of Linux used in TV boxes.

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120987165#Comment_120987165

I laid out my experience of these boxes in post 3

Cheapest and most popular is Zgemma , Ive had two , both died just over a year old , ( out of warranty and too much to ship back to england these days anyways )

Now I have a VU+ , twice the price but the build quality is so much better.

Before brexit , the place to buy was world of satellite in the UK , but you cannot do that now without getting hit with multiple import and handling charges , so germany is the place to buy if you cannot find an Irish site.

I linked to the VU box in post number 3

swoofer

Any is right but that box is very very expensive and like all the enigma 2 boxes to set it all up is a steep learning curve.

With an engima2 box you can make it do exactly as a sky box but even more. The Zgemma H7S while cheap is a good place to start. There is a meaga thread on here with all the kind of setup questions you could ever need. The box has 2 sat tuners and 1 saorview tuner.

If you know your way round in setting up these boxes, flashing, epg, mounting HDD, storing epg, creating bouquets and using a skin, makes it look like sky, then you are good to go. The best HDD to get is and SSD.

It may be cheap but its good, I have set up quite a few and no complaints. I use AMAZON DE.