Hello Guest, if you are reading this it means you have not registered yet. Please take a second, Click here to register, and in a few simple steps you will be able to enjoy our community and use our OpenViX support section.
Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 35

Thread: Newbie needs recommendation for a receiver

  1. #16

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Thanks once again for the very helpful replies! One more question...

    8) I saw a video today showing an Enigma 2 box and I got the impression that these boxes need to go online in order to download EPG data. In other words, they are not able to extract Freesat EPG information from the TV signal alone. Is that correct, or have I got this wrong?

  2. #17
    ccs's Avatar
    Title
    ViX Beta Tester
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    5,836
    Thanks
    554
    Thanked 1,276 Times in 1,089 Posts
    already answered....
    Quote Originally Posted by Huevos View Post
    Having local network access or temporary internet access will be helpful when setting the box up, but is not essential for day to day operation. EPG for Freesat channels works direct from the satellite without any need to download anything from the internet.
    Why is internet access such an issue? WiFi/Homeplugs are an easy way of setting up a network to awkward places within a house.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to ccs For This Useful Post:

    Sicilian (06-09-17)

  4. #18

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by ccs View Post
    Why is internet access such an issue? WiFi/Homeplugs are an easy way of setting up a network to awkward places within a house.
    A few reasons...

    1. First and foremost I don't want to use WiFi. I don't like WiFi at all and it's so early days, I don't know if it's safe or not but I don't like microwaves in general. I would never use a mobile for example. I've read bad things about that stuff. Maybe it will turn out to be safe but I have no interest in it anyway... a cable is perfectly good for internet connection IMHO.

    2. Even putting that aside, I don't want to have to plug a router in just to watch TV! When I sit in front of the TV I don't want to have to think about internet or computers. Like for example I may want to switch on the TV late at night. I don't want to have to go and switch on internet just to get the TV working.

    3. I'm not interested in networking. I am the only computer user who lives in my house. If I want to go online, I will connect.

    4. And saying that, where I live there is no internet at the moment because I'm only living there short term and getting a contract would be a complete waste of money.

    5. Finally, I really do not like the idea of having a living room appliance being connected to the internet... I just find that a little creepy. I like to think I am alone when I'm watching TV, not hooked up to the internet. Going online is kind of like "going out" in a way - it's not a personal, private thing, it's a public thing. I like to know my computer is not connected to the internet unless I specifically choose to go online. Maybe that won't make sense to most people but it's how I feel..
    Last edited by Lee James; 06-09-17 at 16:46.

  5. #19
    ccs's Avatar
    Title
    ViX Beta Tester
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    5,836
    Thanks
    554
    Thanked 1,276 Times in 1,089 Posts
    You've lost me with both those answers, don't you have a broadband router permanently connected?

    Edit:

    You've completed changed your last post, so my reply now makes little sense.

    I can't really believe what you are now saying, but they are your views, I guess.
    Last edited by ccs; 06-09-17 at 17:07.

  6. #20

    Title
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Posts
    248
    Thanks
    47
    Thanked 24 Times in 23 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Lee James View Post
    A few reasons...

    1. First and foremost I don't want to use WiFi. I don't like WiFi at all and it's so early days, I don't know if it's safe or not but I don't like microwaves in general. I would never use a mobile for example. I've read bad things about that stuff. Maybe it will turn out to be safe but I have no interest in it anyway... a cable is perfectly good for internet connection IMHO.

    2. Even putting that aside, I don't want to have to plug a router in just to watch TV! When I sit in front of the TV I don't want to have to think about internet or computers. Like for example I may want to switch on the TV late at night. I don't want to have to go and switch on internet just to get the TV working.

    3. I'm not interested in networking. I am the only computer user who lives in my house. If I want to go online, I will connect.

    4. And saying that, where I live there is no internet at the moment because I'm only living there short term and getting a contract would be a complete waste of money.

    5. Finally, I really do not like the idea of having a living room appliance being connected to the internet... I just find that a little creepy. I like to think I am alone when I'm watching TV, not hooked up to the internet. Going online is kind of like "going out" in a way - it's not a personal, private thing, it's a public thing. I like to know my computer is not connected to the internet unless I specifically choose to go online. Maybe that won't make sense to most people but it's how I feel..
    Radio waves/microwaves are around 24/7 so your logic is beyond reason. I believe you need to do more research and decide what it is you are after. Freesat does not need a internet connection. You can get a Freesat box or TV with Freesat it built in.

  7. #21
    abu baniaz's Avatar
    Title
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    East London
    Posts
    23,337
    Thanks
    6,421
    Thanked 9,146 Times in 6,224 Posts
    It has already been clarified that you do not need the device connected to a network (LAN or WAN) to operate.

    Freesat EPG is enabled on ViX by default, so it will be absorbed as you watch. There is no need for internet downloads. Alternatively, you can use CrossEPG Downloader (OpenTV option only, not xml stuff). The internet EPG downloads do not apply to you.

    I have a receiver setup at work for the FreeToAir services on 28.2 (Freesat), 13.0 and 19.2. It is not connected to any network.

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to abu baniaz For This Useful Post:

    Sicilian (07-09-17)

  9. #22

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Thanks again for the answers!

    Quote Originally Posted by ccs View Post
    You've completed changed your last post, so my reply now makes little sense.
    My apologies, I wasn't expecting anyone to reply so quickly.

    Quote Originally Posted by Emulated View Post
    Radio waves/microwaves are around 24/7 so your logic is beyond reason.
    The issue is proximity to the transmitter. This is why there are guidelines and regulations concerning human proximity to radio transmitters. If you look up 'Specific absorption rate' on Wikipedia, you will see that proximity is relevant to safety. You may also Google the report made by Sir William Stewart concerning mobile phones and human safety. All mobile phones come with safety warnings about not spending too long talking on them, and restricting children's exposure to them. Whether these cautions are unnecessary or not, I don't have any interest in taking gambles with my health when I see no personal benefit to using wireless devices

    Quote Originally Posted by abu baniaz View Post
    It has already been clarified that you do not need the device connected to a network (LAN or WAN) to operate.
    That is great. I wasn't sure because I saw a video on YouTube called "Cross EPG on Enigma 2 Linux Receivers" and from what I could understand it seemed as though the boxes weren't able to extract EPG information without going online. But I've probably misunderstood something. The subject is still all very new and confusing to me.

  10. #23
    Huevos's Avatar
    Title
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    38.5N, 0.5W
    Posts
    13,576
    Thanks
    2,004
    Thanked 4,925 Times in 3,259 Posts
    There is not scientific evidence of WiFi being dangerous to your health. It is just a few milliwatts of non ionising radiation.
    Help keep OpenViX servers online.Please donate!

  11. #24

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Huevos View Post
    There is not scientific evidence of WiFi being dangerous to your health. It is just a few milliwatts of non ionising radiation.
    No, but right now this technology is all still relatively new and no one can say for certain, and I have read reports which seem to indicate a risk. So personally I'm not interested in taking risks. Bear in mind things like mobile phones are huge industries, so any evidence which links it to bad health is bound to have *huge* money invested in covering it up. Many of the reports which declare these things safe are directly or indirectly funded by the industries which rely on them.

    You may call my scepticism undue, but that's my prerogative. I'm not even interested in using the technology so it doesn't really matter to me either way. I find cables just as easy as wireless, and more satisfying because then I know when I'm plugged in.

    But then there's also another issue. I happen to be hypersensitive to electrical fields, so things like that tend to affect me more which is another reason I wouldn't want to install a radio transmitted in my home. Close proximity to electrical objects and EMFs *do* hurt me badly, for example I can't hold a mobile phone in my hand without it really hurting my hand - it burns and it's really painful. Likewise I can't put a landline to my head or I get severe pain from the EMFs - phones made me feel ill all my life but it wasn't till I got online that I was able to figure out it was the EMFs. I am also sensitive to the most common types of light bulbs and I cannot use them either.

    So there are some of us for whom 'modern life' is not suited. Nevertheless I manage OK so long as I don't get too close to electrical things. Touching a normal keyboard is OK, although I tried a laptop once and that was a 'no'!

  12. #25
    abu baniaz's Avatar
    Title
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    East London
    Posts
    23,337
    Thanks
    6,421
    Thanked 9,146 Times in 6,224 Posts
    You don't have to use Wi-Fi with the receiver. Are there any other questions about the receivers?

  13. The Following User Says Thank You to abu baniaz For This Useful Post:

    Sicilian (13-09-17)

  14. #26

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by abu baniaz View Post
    Are there any other questions about the receivers?
    I think all my main questions have been answered thank you, but I do have a couple more minor questions if anyone wants to give a reply...

    1. So apparently the playback/rewind/pause performance is generally quite good on these boxes (dependent on the model). What about how long it takes when you, say, try to record something? With my Topfield, if I tell it to record something it can take up to about a minute before the box starts responding again. Is it better with these Linux boxes?

    2. The model that Huevos linked to looks good. Though I notice you can have 2 satellite tuners and only 1 terrestrial. I am someone who keeps moving and don't always have access to a satellite dish so for me personally it would be great to have a box that allowed 2 satellite + 1 terrestrial for when I have a dish, and 2 terrestrial, for when I don't have a dish. Is there anything available like that?

  15. #27
    Andy_Hazza's Avatar
    Title
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Derbyshire, UK
    Posts
    7,287
    Thanks
    2,855
    Thanked 2,126 Times in 1,752 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Lee James View Post
    I think all my main questions have been answered thank you, but I do have a couple more minor questions if anyone wants to give a reply...

    1. So apparently the playback/rewind/pause performance is generally quite good on these boxes (dependent on the model). What about how long it takes when you, say, try to record something? With my Topfield, if I tell it to record something it can take up to about a minute before the box starts responding again. Is it better with these Linux boxes?

    2. The model that Huevos linked to looks good. Though I notice you can have 2 satellite tuners and only 1 terrestrial. I am someone who keeps moving and don't always have access to a satellite dish so for me personally it would be great to have a box that allowed 2 satellite + 1 terrestrial for when I have a dish, and 2 terrestrial, for when I don't have a dish. Is there anything available like that?
    1/ Pretty much instant.
    2/ You may be best looking at the Octagon SF4008 >> https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk...-2x-dvb-c-t-t2

    With this receiver you can swap from 2x Satellite & 1x Terrestrial or 1x Satellite & 2x Terrestrial.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Vu+ Ultimo 4K with 3TB HDD, Dual FBC (Sat) tuners, 1x Twin Hybrid DVB-C/T/T2 tuner
    Vu+ Solo 4K with 1TB HDD, Dual FBC (Sat) tuners, 1x Hybrid DVB-C/T/T2 tuner
    Vu+ Solo 2 with 1TB HDD 'White Edition', 2x DVB-S2 tuners
    Mut@nt HD2400 with 1TB HDD, 4x DVB-S2 tuners
    Fixed 28.2E Technomate 65cm Mesh Satellite Dish with Inverto Unicable II/JESS LNB and Inverto Unicable Splitter
    Fixed 28.2E Sky Zone 1 45cm Satellite Dish with Octo LNB
    (All receivers installed with the latest Dev build)

  16. The Following User Says Thank You to Andy_Hazza For This Useful Post:

    Sicilian (13-09-17)

  17. #28
    Huevos's Avatar
    Title
    Administrator
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    38.5N, 0.5W
    Posts
    13,576
    Thanks
    2,004
    Thanked 4,925 Times in 3,259 Posts
    Agree with Andy. Got an SF4008 here. To makethe change you have to open the case and move the terrestrial tuner to the first slot and the satellite tuner to the second.

    But you have misunderstood the specs of the OS Mega. It has 3 sat capable tuners, one of which also is terrestrial capable at the same time without changing the config.. If you want more terrestrial tuners you can just plug in a USB tuner. For me 3 tuners is minimum. Allows to record one watch one and one extra to handle overlaps.
    Last edited by Huevos; 13-09-17 at 06:26.
    Help keep OpenViX servers online.Please donate!

  18. The Following User Says Thank You to Huevos For This Useful Post:

    Sicilian (13-09-17)

  19. #29

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Thanks again everyone for the replies! Really helpful

    I'm definitely going to get one of these Linux machines, they seem really good. It was only by fluke I heard about them - everywhere I asked, I was told that you simply cannot re-order the channels on a freesat box and there is no box which allows it! (I would find that SO annoying and would never touch a box that had channels in the default Freesat order) I guess most people haven't heard about these great boxes!

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy_Hazza View Post
    1/ Pretty much instant.
    2/ You may be best looking at the Octagon SF4008 >> https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk...-2x-dvb-c-t-t2
    Thanks for the recommendation!

    Quote Originally Posted by Huevos View Post
    OS Mega [...] has 3 sat capable tuners, one of which also is terrestrial capable at the same time without changing the config.. If you want more terrestrial tuners you can just plug in a USB tuner.
    Oh. I haven't heard of USB tuners. Is that expensive, or limited in some way? If not, it would seem like the OS Mega is a cheaper option if I want 2 satellite + 1 terrestrial (or sometimes just 2 terrestrial).

    Apart from the difference in tuners, what does the Octagon have any major advantages over the OS Mega?

  20. #30

    Title
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    12
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Hello, I'm back with a couple more questions...

    1. So I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these Enigma 2 boxes, but there seem to be a few different types of software systems ("images"?) that can run on them. So my question is: Is there any place where I can see, like, a comparison of all the different systems, ideally with screen shots? So I can choose one I like the look of? If not - is there a list anywhere of all the different ones, so I can go and check them all out?

    2. I'm also a bit concerned about the remote control. It seems that these boxes come with universal remote controls. I tend to hate universal remote controls. For one thing, they can use a lot of power, which kind of annoys me. But they also tend to be really heavy, and I like remotes that are really lightweight. So my question is - what are the remotes like on these boxes - do any of the brands come with lighter remotes?

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
This website uses cookies
We use cookies to store session information to facilitate remembering your login information, to allow you to save website preferences, to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners.