Recommendations for a second box guys

[Slammed Mind]

Hey guys,

Currently I have an orignal duo (living room) and orignal solo (bedroom) and am looking for aother box for another bedroom.

Heres what I want from the box:

*HD
*Enigma 2
*Vix compatible
*7 day EPG
*Must support the remote stream converter plugin
*Good media player & Networking capabilties (My Vu Boxes plays ANY type of media file including mp4, MKV, IOS, AVI etc)
*Single Tuner is fine
*Good support

I've decided not to bother with a clone and have my choice narrowed down to the following boxes:

MaxDigital XP1000
Broadcom MIPS powered single core 500MHz
512MB DDR Ram
128MB Flash
Price £139

Technomate TM-Single-OE
Broadcom MIPS powered DUAL core 405MHz (same cpu as VU+ Duo)
384MB DDR Ram
256MB Flash
Price £169

(Ive heard this Technomate doesnt play certain media formats, is this true?)

GiGaBlue HD800UE
Broadcom MIPS powered single core 333MHz
256MB DDR Ram
128MB Flash
Price £169

The only thing that worries me about these boxes is that there doesnt seem to be much supports online for them.

Which of the 3 boxes above would you go for any why?

Do any of the boxes above have any bugs or known issues?

Will all 3 of the above boxes meet my requirements?

Thanks in advance guys

Alan

[Stanman]

maxdigital - better hardeare and cheaper

[marty]

Max digital CPU is single core, TM-Single CPU is duel core and the TM media playback problems are being worked on ;)
One thing to bear in mind about the maxdigital is the fact it only has 1 USB port :eek: and the TM-Single can take an internal hard drive while none of the others can :)

[s1m0nw]

Ive got gigablue 800 se in my bedroom does the job for me as I dont have any need for recording.

duo in livingroom
solo in bedroom 2
gigablue in bedroom 1

[marty]

Ive got gigablue 800 se in my bedroom does the job for me as I dont have any need for recording.

duo in livingroom
solo in bedroom 2
gigablue in bedroom 1

Just curious, how does the solo compare to the 800se?

[s1m0nw]

I dont see any noticable differences if honest does the job for bedrooms both single tuners both cant have hdd unless you get usb hdd. Both have 2 usb ports. Obviously if your used to duo remote you may want to go for solo

[Slammed Mind]

Marty are the media playback problems with the technomate Vix issues or technomate issues?

Anyone else have an opinion on which of the above boxes they would choose?

Cheers

[Sicilian]

Bedroom box, go with the XP1000 ;)

[Rob van der Does]

Don't look at the specs to much, but how a box behaves: the xp1000 is rather fast. And why would you need two USB-ports (or any at all)?
And why bother about an internal HDD for a secondary box: you'd rather use one box in your home with a drive (or none at all when using a NAS).

TM media playback issues are driver issues.

[marty]

And why would you need two USB-ports (or any at all)?

Wifi and DVB-T ;)

I think the TM is the better specced box but the XP1000 has to be without question the best value for money :thumbsup:

[Rob van der Does]

Wifi and DVB-T ;)
Ahhh, WiFi...... No chance for a cable? Then you don't need any tuners at all, but use the main box for live-TV and playback.

[dfdream]

I agree with Rob.

I use one usb port on the solo I have for usb flash drive for epg and picons.
I save all recordings on drive of DUO over wired network.
So as a second box 1 port would generally be enough...


Don't look at the specs to much, but how a box behaves: the xp1000 is rather fast. And why would you need two USB-ports (or any at all)?
And why bother about an internal HDD for a secondary box: you'd rather use one box in your home with a drive (or none at all when using a NAS).

TM media playback issues are driver issues.

[Slammed Mind]

I'm swiging towards the TM solo,

just been looking on various sat forums and there are hardly any support threads for this box though

tutorials are very limited too

do you guys think this box will be supported long term?

[Mr. Mister]

I think you mean the TM Single.. as their is no such thing as the TM solo..

That could be why you think there is no support.. ??

There is plenty of support for the TM Single.. and they are great boxes.. I got one of these myself.. very very good Single tuner box..

Has never given me a seconds trouble since i got it a few months ago..

[white_westie]

Hi

Similar question to OP, except I am looking to replace my trusty E1 Technomate TM9100, which is beginning to fail again (have kept it alive by changing different capacitors over the years)

My main box is an ET9000 with dual DVB-T usb tuner and hdd.

Requirements for new box will be similar to OP, but it also needs to run popular OnDemand plugin with no problems, as well as a softcam.
Ideally it would also replace my WDLive Media Player for non recorded media playback.
Good quality Remote Control is also important - don't want a cheapo small remote control.

Budget constraints have restricted me to following 3 boxes (don't want to go down clone route)
MaxDigital XP1000
XTrend ET4000
Technomate TM-Single-OE

From reading around
XP1000 and ET4000, have same single core fast MIPS chipset, with ET4000 having an extra usb port on front.
TM-single has slightly older dual core MIPS chipset, extra usb ports, internal psu, and space for an internal hdd.

Common differences between all 3, will be hardware drivers (assume they are from different manufacturers!), looks, size, remote control and price. Since they are all relatively new to the market, how long they will last is another thing.

Would appreciate comments on the following:-
- Is there any benefit in having a dual rather that a single core chipset for the required workload?
- Can you use a programmable remote control eg: Harmony, to replace the boxes remote control (box is not for a bedroom so will be looking to reduce the number of remote controls)?

WW