VU+ Uno Newbie Questions

[Remrem]

Hi All

I’m about to buy a VU+ Uno but has some question about the product that some of you might easy answer.

First I’m totally new to boxes as VU+, so please bear with me for asking stupid questions :)

The boxes I’m consider buying is the VU+ Uno with a DVB-C tuner as I’m getting my signal through a cable provider. I have a NAS (readyNas) where movies are stored in different files types.

My questions to the VU+ Uno are:

#1: What kind of files type would the VU+ Uno as a Media Player “out of the box” be able to play? I can read in the manual that it will play JPG, MP3, AVI, etc. but is this all?!?

I need it to play some of the formats like .MKV, .mpg, .avi, .wmv, .divx, .vob, .tp, .ts, .trp, .dat, .iso, .ifo, .m2ts, .mov, .flv, .rm, .rmvb, .asf, .mts, .mpeg4 - Will the VU+ Uno do this, or how many of these formats are supported?

#2: I have read a lot about different Firmwares that you can install to your VU+ Uno (like VTi), but what do I gain by installing a different Firmware, and if upgraded can you go back to the firmware that was installed from factory?

#3: The reason for buying a VU+ Uno is to get rid of the old HD recorder and get a box that could play movies from my NAS, and be able to record tv programs to one box only. Will the VU+ uno do this job, and what is your long time user experience with this box?

Thanks for your time, and your feedback

Best Regards

Remrem

[judge]

1) The VU will never play all file formats but is getting seriously better at supporting different formats on each new driver/kernel release, it all depends on the encoding used.
2) You can always go back to factory default but you will end up with less features. Can't speak for VTI images, but once you get used to VIX images (& yes I am biased) you probably won't want any other image...
3) Any VU box will do this perfectly.

[basilyoung]

I can't answer fully about the media player side of things, but the unit can play various formats without a problem
There are various images, pli,black hole,vti, and of course vix, ( us ) which image you use is really up to you, here most would recommend vix
Out of the various units, I would favour the duo, but if you only have cable available, then the solo, although to be honest, I am not sure what services you are likely to get, but others might be able to offer a more complete answer

[Remrem]

Thnak you Judge & Basilyyoung – Great feedback!

But this rises some more questions, hope that’s okay :)

I think I will go with the ViX image, and I guess this will work with a DVB-C tuner aswell? I live in Denmark and my TV Cable provider is Yousee (Not sure this information is of any use - but here it is) :p

Regarding The ViX image – is there anywhere on the web where you can see what the ViX interface can do (whats included), and how does it looks?

Another important issue is the “Wife factor” :eek: – How difficult is the Media Player and the PVR to use with the ViX image?

Best regards

Remrem

[Rob van der Does]

Regarding The ViX image – is there anywhere on the web where you can see what the ViX interface can do (whats included), and how does it looks?

Another important issue is the “Wife factor” :eek: – How difficult is the Media Player and the PVR to use with the ViX image?

'How it looks' is very much dependant on the skin used; several ViX-compatible skins are available.

About the mediaplayer: it's a matter of navigating to the correct location (which can be made easy by making bookmarks/shortcuts) and pressing 'OK'.

About the DVR: trying to explain it is more difficult than actually using it......

When using the box as MediaPlayer: be aware that video-playback is dependant on the in the hardware built-in codecs. Any file not (fully) codec i.a.w. those codecs won't play. An STB has no CPU-power to be able to use software codecs (and this applies to all present STB's). Especially many files 'found' on the internet are not 100% compatible.
An alternative in case of problems is to re-encode a file on a PC.

[Remrem]

Okay - Thanks for your input Rob!

Another question regarding internal harddisk - I would consider buying a Solid State Disc (reduce the noise) and install this into the VU+ Uno, but anyone in here having expirence on this?

I would proberly buy a 120GB and this should only be used as storage for what the PVR would record. My plan is not to use the disc inside the VU+ as a permanant storage, so I will delete freqently what will be recorded or move it to my NAS - Yes I presume that I can move recorded files off the box to an NAS?

But when recording using the PVR how much space will an hour of recording (as an example) take on the hardddisk?

Regards

[Maxwell]

yes you can move recordings to your NAS, space required for recordings for an hour is approx 1.5 to 4GB depending on what you are recording - SD/HD and audio

[Rob van der Does]

I think it to be a waste of money to use a SDD-HDD. Using a dedicated-DVR 3.5" HDD or a normal 2.5" HDD you will not hear anything at all.

[Remrem]

You Might be right on the HDD Rob - had a Tvix box once and here I could hear the low noise from the HDD.

Then to another question, as the VU+ Uno doesn't have a DVD but severeal USB connections, can you connect a USB DVD to the box and play DVDs this way?

[Rob van der Does]

Then to another question, as the VU+ Uno doesn't have a DVD but severeal USB connections, can you connect a USB DVD to the box and play DVDs this way?
Yes, works flawless. Only make sure the player is not bus-powered. And also ISO-DVD-files can be played.

[Remrem]

Gents!

Thanks for all your help - Preciate your feedback which has been very helpfull. Will go out and buy the VU+ Uno so I might be back with loads of stupid questions :-)

Regards!

[Sicilian]

Dont forget your forum member discount ;) http://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?12662-%A35-discount-off-any-satellite-receiver-we-stock-to-forum-members-only!&p=91591#post91591