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View Full Version : Best box for a single wire LNB, HD, media player, streaming etc


kunmun23
31-07-12, 19:49
Not sure if this should be in another forum but my best guess is this is the right one ....

A friend of mine is looking to get a new E2 box.
He has only one wire running from the dish LNB to his living room.
He does not want to run a second wire for the time being.
He would be watching HD channels.
He does want all the media center features (to use the internal HDD for videos, music, pictures etc)

If he gets a ET9x00 can he watch one channel and record another (on the same transponder)?
He may also want to stream one channel (on the same transponder) to a smartphone/laptop.

Should he consider another box ET5x00, ET6x00 or Vu+Uno or Dreambox or Qbox Mini HD etc?

What do the experts recommend?


Cheers.
kunmun23
31-07-12, 19:52
Or may be those bladeboxes? I'm ruling out Technomate given my past experience with them....no streaming, poor support on my TM800HD...love my ET9x00...another friend who has a DM800 is also happy...so confused here...help pls :)
kunmun23
31-07-12, 22:50
Should he consider another box ET5x00, ET6x00 or Vu+Uno or Dreambox or Qbox Mini HD etc?

Cheers.

I meant Vu+Solo and Vu+Uno ..
kunmun23
03-08-12, 16:23
no replies? seems everyone's watching the Olympics ;)
Sicilian
03-08-12, 16:44
ET5000,6000, 9x00, Qbox are discontinued in the Uk.

What sort of budget do you have?
kunmun23
03-08-12, 16:58
Can go upto 300-330 max...i.e. upto an Xtrend 9x00
Sicilian
03-08-12, 17:23
Can go upto 300-330 max...i.e. upto an Xtrend 9x00

Xtrend discontinued.

Hate to recommend something when someone asked for this: -


He does want all the media center features (to use the internal HDD for videos, music, pictures etc)

Remember your buying a satellite receiver, not media player. Imo no satellite receiver is as good as dedicated media player.
kunmun23
07-08-12, 06:49
Xtrend discontinued.

Hate to recommend something when someone asked for this: -



Remember your buying a satellite receiver, not media player. Imo no satellite receiver is as good as dedicated media player.

Is Xtrend discontinued everywhere or only in UK? If it's only in UK what are the consequences? No hardware support for the ET manufacturer?

Regarding the comparison of media players and STB, given that both run on Linux is there a reason why one should be able to do something the other can't?
Ideally I would want just one piece of hardware for my home media entertainment system. E2 based STBs approach this by excelling in satellite TV features but need to evolve in media player capabilities.

On the other hand, the so called media players excel in decoding almost all AV formats but lack in satellite TV capabilities.

Unless the STB's evolve and improve the media playing capabilities, I think there would soon be android based media players that would have a USB pluggable tuner+apps for bouquets/services that would take over the place that is currently held by Vu+, ET9x00, Dreambox etc.

So, it's in the interest of this community to push ourselves to perfect the media playing capabilities of this box !!
Larry-G
07-08-12, 07:47
The media player capabilities rely directly on the hardware of the receiver not software codecs, there really is very little ( nothing in fact ) we can do to remedy this within the image it self.
Sicilian
07-08-12, 07:52
Is Xtrend discontinued everywhere or only in UK? If it's only in UK what are the consequences? No hardware support for the ET manufacturer?

From what I understand there are no more being manufactured at this stage, what is available around Europe is last remaining stock.


Regarding the comparison of media players and STB, given that both run on Linux is there a reason why one should be able to do something the other can't? Ideally I would want just one piece of hardware for my home media entertainment system. E2 based STBs approach this by excelling in satellite TV features but need to evolve in media player capabilities.


E2 Linux receivers are a good compromise for both, but at the monent are not fully fledged media players. You should regard whatever media files it plays as a bonus to your satellite receiver.
kunmun23
07-08-12, 21:59
The media player capabilities rely directly on the hardware of the receiver not software codecs, there really is very little ( nothing in fact ) we can do to remedy this within the image it self.

Thanks for the explanation. What I fail to understand that my NMT (Network Media Tank) with Ralink RT2880 MAC/BB/MIPS CPU 266MHz processor running linux is able to play the files smoothly. But my ET9000 with a Broadcom 7413 Mips 400MHz processor inside the STB is not capable of doing so. If it is not software codecs, is it drivers? Or is it because of the audio/video chipset on the box?

Sorry, I'm a bit of a newbie on the subject so would really appreciate if I can enhance my understanding...

Thanks !!