Advice on a receiver.

[cactikid]

be wary of someone selling a clone version.

[redondo5]

be careful on here about mentioning broadcasters (suggest you EDIT your last post)

I think you mean freesat on 28 east LOL

if using on satellite then more than 1 tuner allows more than one recording to take place at the same time

or you can watch bbc1 and record itv1

there are also some possibilities in recording even more channels when the same transponders are in use

so no the T or C tuners are no good to you, but all the S for Sat tuners are, and so the Solo2 is a good choice with twin sat tuners and I said so in my first reply too

following on from ramjets sound advice, the extra tuners can be useful on e2 receivers if you like streaming to mobile/tablet devices around the house or even moreso from outside with the solo2.

also PIP picture in picture uses two tuners up, not that you would use it for a long time. personally, i like the pip function to have something like cricket on in the corner while missus watches her stuff.

basically extra tuners are useful for multiple recordings, streaming and pip functions simultaneously. and if you want to mix and match various types, e.g. terrestrial, cable or satellite flavours. although two sat tuners are usually more than enough for most peoples usage.

if you were on a real budget and you get uno for cheap, then withthese twin plug in tuners now available, it might be an option converting uno to a twin tuner. but considering uno is not that cheap and solo2 is so far ahead in terms of spec, you best choice would be solo2 and for extra tuners maybe GIgablue quad

[Swanny32]

I suppose the main question really is how the EPG works and how easy it is to use. Is there somewhere you can go that has pictures/videos on these?

[Swanny32]

be wary of someone selling a clone version.

Roger that.

[ramjet]

many of those other boxes mentioned in a previous post I discounted due to them not having the facility of an internal hdd, I actually own some of them or have had dealings with them, but eventually most people want a reliable epg and internal hdd which tend to be the linux boxes like the dreambox and vu

the streaming over ethernet and plugins for external streaming and other aspects tend to weigh in favour of the linux boxes, and the epg download by internet is also preferable

the vu boxes do these things with general ease, and their video and mp3 playback from hdd or nas are also impressive

as for preloading, the box needs loading with the image of choice like blackhole or vix and isnt hard to do, should be done by you the end user so you can fix things if they go wrong. learn to do it yourself and you can fix it or upgrade it yourself, especially as a vu just needs the files on usb stick, and most plugins can be downloaded in the image or by installing tspanel if its not already in there

I like my older single tuner boxes, but boxes like the vu range tend to tick all the boxes of what you want now and what you may want in the future

I wouldnt buy a clone, and so the ones on flea bay could well be clones despite what they say

[Swanny32]

What is an "image" though? To me that's a picture. I'm assuming it's a fancy word for software? In which case, are there different EPG's around that you can install, some being better or more user friendly than others.

[Swanny32]

And yes, an internal hard drive is a must really, the less boxes on my TV stand the better!

[ramjet]

What is an "image" though? To me that's a picture. I'm assuming it's a fancy word for software? In which case, are there different EPG's around that you can install, some being better or more user friendly than others.

image , firmware , software , operating system (os) - call it what you like m8 (linux is an operating system)

I did mention 2 of them , vix and blackhole , but there are many more depending on the box in question
they are images because the suffix is img , ie:- image - somebody made it and imaged it and uploaded it to the net

for linux boxes you have various internet based epg`s , like coolman , crossepg and probably quite a few more

you do realise there is a dedicated VU section on this forum dont you ? and a dreambox section too (a lot of the stuff is dual purpose like channel editors and some plugins)

[ramjet]

online definition of the word IMAGE (same as we mean here)

9. Computer Science

An exact replica of the contents of a storage device, such as a hard disk, stored on a second storage device, such as a network server.


now if I make a hdd copy as an image using norton ghost on my laptop, I make a ghost image of the hdd

[Swanny32]

Your help is much appreciated, I realised there was individual sections on the site but didn't want to start a thread about what box to get in a specific section in case I opted for something different.

So basically, if I get a Solo2 then it doesn't matter about being user friendly as I can just mess around with different images to see which is best suited to us?

[ramjet]

Your help is much appreciated, I realised there was individual sections on the site but didn't want to start a thread about what box to get in a specific section in case I opted for something different.

So basically, if I get a Solo2 then it doesn't matter about being user friendly as I can just mess around with different images to see which is best suited to us?

its actually reasonably user friendly, but as you can backup your OS to the internal hdd , and easily restore it, you can install one image after the other, try them , back them up, then restore the one you like best

you can also try out different plugins like 1channel or moviestream for streaming , and crossepg or coolman or similar epg downloaders as you wish

you could ftp your recordings over your lan to a nas or laptop for storage or processing

you can add your nas to the mix and stream videos and mp3`s from it

its the versatility over the other boxes mentioned that are a good reason for getting one, backing up being one of many additions to their repertoire

[Swanny32]

Let the saving commence! I don't think I'll bother waiting for the Duo2 I don't think it's going to offer anything extra that will be massively beneficial to me and my family. The Solo2 sounds like it will definitely do the job and hopefully make streaming movies from my laptop a bit easier as well, been waiting to do it for ages as it's almost impossible to suss out using an Xbox and Windows Media Centre.

[ramjet]

Let the saving commence! I don't think I'll bother waiting for the Duo2 I don't think it's going to offer anything extra that will be massively beneficial to me and my family. The Solo2 sounds like it will definitely do the job and hopefully make streaming movies from my laptop a bit easier as well, been waiting to do it for ages as it's almost impossible to suss out using an Xbox and Windows Media Centre.

I just ftp the movies to the internal hdd and use mediaplayer to play them straight off the internal hdd

[digicon]

All this box is going to be used for is freesat on 28 east, what benefit would the other tuners be to me. If they aren't of much benefit to me then I'm guessing the Solo 2 is going to be more than enough for me?

Assuming your above statement is correct and your only buying a receiver for as you say Freesat on 28.2? east then why invest in a linux receiver at ?300 when an Official Freesat receiver with Hard drive built in and official Freesat EPG which will allow you series record at probably a cheaper price.

[cactikid]

its the extra things mentioned on an earlier post if you get the drift