Is ET7500 HD 2x DVB-S2 the right one for me?

[GezAndJaack]

My old Sky satellite is connected to my old home-made HTPC (Windows XP, hauppauge wintv-nova-s-plus PCI) which I am going to replace with a laptop (Windows 10) plus some kind of receiver. My budget is small. Rather than getting a laptop usb receiver, I think I'm going to get an Enigma2 box.

I have a newish 1TB 3.5" HDD from the old HTPC which I don't want to have to replace, so I hope to use that as storage. But I don't want to mount it via USB - I'd rather have internal. No current boxes have that (as opposed to 2.5"), but some have E-SATA - is that going to be as stable as internal HDD?

The GiGaBlue HD X1 1x DVB-S/S2 is currently down to £69 and has E-SATA. As has the Xtrend ET7500 HD 1x DVB-S2 Single tuner currently at £109 and the Dreambox DM500HD V2 1x DVB-S2 at £99. But I believe that of these three only the ET7500 has internal HDD support, which I might want in the future if my current HDD fails. I'm not sure how important that factor is, but then I saw that for only £10 more at the moment I could get a second tuner! I don't currently have two signals but I gather it's not super expensive to change that - which might happen in the near future. (Has to be Satellite since there's bad T signal here). Does it sound like the ET7500 HD 2x SVB-S2 is the right one for me? Or should I go the USB HDD route and get something else for similar budget?

[JonMMM]

Hi Gez, good to see you over here, its a bit more relazed as to what can be discussed.

Personally I would not get too caught up about the type of HD you use, USB esata it will work so dont worry.

I would be looking at tuners dual tuners are good modular is better this means that you can add a tuner or swap it out for a different type if for example you move to a cabled area. I got the Xtrend 8500 a few weeks back and am very happy with it. Bt I am sure others will give you some more advice

[Sicilian]

The ET7500 is nice spec, well built solid receiver. I'd recommend it all day long. The internal HDD is 2.5" though.

[GezAndJaack]

dual tuners are good modular is better this means that you can add a tuner or swap it out for a different type if for example you move to a cabled area.

Thank you. How do I know which ones are modular? Are there any at my kind of budget?

[Sicilian]

Thank you. How do I know which ones are modular? Are there any at my kind of budget?

The 2nd tuner on ET7500 is modular.

Xtrend ET8500 all tuners are modular.

What budget do you have in mind?


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[GezAndJaack]

The ET7500 is nice spec, well built solid receiver. I'd recommend it all day long. The internal HDD is 2.5" though.

Yes I think all of the current ones are 2.5" rather than 3.5" - but if I have to buy a new HDD in the future I can buy a 2.5" one. I just want to use my 3.5" one for now - so I'm trying to work out if that will be ok externally via USB - some people don't seem to like doing that.

[Sicilian]

Yes will be fine provided it's a powered cradle for the hdd. You could even use the rear esatap port.


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[GezAndJaack]

The 2nd tuner on ET7500 is modular.

Aha that's very good to know - thanks.

What budget do you have in mind?

My budget is just as low as possible for Enigma2 and OpenVix and a machine that won't break down on me.

[Sicilian]

Don't think you can go far wrong with the ET7500.


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[twol]

I would always use an external with power e.g. Caddy
I have both ET7500 and ET8500, long before people on this forum.
ET7500 is a dead solid, no thrills receiver, just does what it says on the tin....have had mine since availability....... absolutely no issues in that time with anything.
ET8500 is a better receiver, more capabilities, great coloured LCD which is dimmable and skinnable but often disliked because it doesn't look like a normal black AV box..... great engineering with easy slide in 2.5 HDD capability and you can take the lid off in about 5 seconds without tools ... compared to my SF4008 that needs 13 screw changes to get the HDD installed

[GezAndJaack]

Isn't the Technomate TM-Nano-SE M2 PLUS (with 2x DVB-S) pretty much the same spec as the ET7500? And at the moment they are the same price. Are there differences I have missed?

[Sicilian]

Yes similar spec, no front display though.


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[GezAndJaack]

And if I'm going the USB PVR route then there's the Edision OS MINI 2x DVB-S/S2 - which has wifi. Not sure why I'd need wifi though. I've seen people here like the Edison.

[Sicilian]

Yep that too.


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[GezAndJaack]

My short list - twin tuners

£100 Mutant HD1500 HD H.265 HEVC Linux Enigma2 Twin Tuner DVB-S/S2
£100 Edision OS MINI 2x DVB-S/S2 ... has wifi ... and bluetooth, I just noticed
£130 OCTAGON SF228 Linux Enigma 2 2x DVB-S/S2
£130 ET7500 HD 2x DVB-S2 ... has internal HDD
£130 Technomate TM-Nano-SE M2 PLUS (with 2x DVB-S) ..... no front display but .... has internal HDD

Is there at least one modular tuner on all of these?

Now that I'm losing my obsession with SATA or Internal HDD, I'm much more undecided than I was before. Maybe I'll sleep on it!

Gez