Newbie receiver and general advice

[tommycahir]

Hi All

I am just looking into getting a linux based receiver, the basic requirement is dual sat tuner (DVB-S2) and internal HDD for recording.

I have been looking at the below boxes:

Edision Optimuss OS 2 Plus - €201.33 (~£145)
Xtrend ET9500 2x DVB-S2 Linux Enigma 2 Linux HD Digital Receiver - £129
Xtrend ET8000 2x DVB-S2 Linux Enigma 2 Linux HD Digital Receiver - £159
Vu+ Solo SE V2 Twin Tuner DVB-S/S2 Linux HD Satellite Receiver - £159


A bit out of the budget but could possibly stretch to it
VU+ Duo Twin Tuner HD PVR DVB-S2 Enigma2 Satellite Receiver - £189

However I am getting a bit lost on trying to understand what the difference is between openvix,openpli, openatv and blackhole are and how they impact on my choice of receiver.

I want this to be as non-techy wife friendly as possible so was looking at skins like sky (blueHD I believe is the best available).

Any recommendations on this would be greatly appreciated..

[Sicilian]

Xtrend ET8000 less expensive than VU+ Duo, loads faster and new technology, that would be my choice.

[mann]

For me i would always go for a VU+ box.
I have used them for many years all versions and never had a problem always super reliable...
Plus use vix image by far the best out there.

[Sicilian]

For me i would always go for a VU+ box.
I have used them for many years all versions and never had a problem always super reliable...
Plus use vix image by far the best out there.

Openvix available for all Xtrend models too. Et8000 much better spec then both the VU+ models mentioned in the original post.

[abu baniaz]

The Vu Duo is about 7 years old. Waste of money buying it brand new. Black Hole only rus natively on Vu receivers. The Solo SE V2 does not have an internal HDD, you would have to go for the Solo 2 if you wanted an internal HDD.

The Edision is not supported by Vix. Shame it's sister company, which is supported, does not reduce price.

The Xtrend 8000 is the most economical option at the moment. It aslo accepts 3.5 inch HDDs. Most PVR HDDs are 3.5 inch. The 8000 has a 1300 MHz cpu compared to the 9500. It is worth spending extar for the newer receiver.

[Sicilian]

The Xtrend 8000 is the most economical option at the moment. It aslo accepts 3.5 inch HDDs. Most PVR HDDs are 3.5 inch. The 8000 has a 1300 MHz cpu compared to the 9500. It is worth spending extar for the newer receiver.

Yes good point, can actually use either 2.5" or 3.5" HDD.

[twol]

With the ET8000, a newbie couldn't buy a more rock solid, boringly simple, E2 receiver :)

[tommycahir]

Thanks everybody for the feedback and advice, it certainly looks like the ET8000 is the winner, I have just ordered a wetek play to mess around with so if herself approves of the look feel etc of that I will be proceeding with the ET8000.

[Sicilian]

I have just ordered a wetek play to mess around with so if herself approves of the look feel etc

Wetek play running Enigma 2 does not do Enigma 2 justice. No way you can compare Wetek to an ET8000.

[tommycahir]

Wetek play running Enigma 2 does not do Enigma 2 justice. No way you can compare Wetek to an ET8000.

I am not going to compare the wetek to ET8000, I am using it to get familiar with enigma features, functions and different layouts. I am 100% clear that this is a €65 box compared to a more full featured ET8000 and they do not compare performance or function wise.
I am planning to use the Wetek to replace my raspberry pi in the bedroom for kodi and streaming TV from the ET8000 once I am finished tinkering with it.

[twol]

I am not going to compare the wetek to ET8000, I am using it to get familiar with enigma features, functions and different layouts. I am 100% clear that this is a €65 box compared to a more full featured ET8000 and they do not compare performance or function wise.
I am planning to use the Wetek to replace my raspberry pi in the bedroom for kodi and streaming TV from the ET8000 once I am finished tinkering with it.
A few things you should be aware of :) Assuming you will run an E2 image plus Kodi.
As much as I love the Wetek, it is not an ET8000 and using Arm architecture it is very different.
The flash process is totaly different and you will need a Windows machine to setup the Sdcard (I would suggest a 8 GB micros sdcard)
The current (new) kernel is not functioning (in my view) with stuttering channels.
So I would go with OpenAtv (I hate the pbnigma image) as its close to Vix.
Although things like backup manager work, Image manager is not supported for the Wetek Architecture.
Although on my box most channels stream using either RCSC or Fallback tuner, both BBC1 & 2 SD give me a problem:)
Also using Openatv you will not have the benefit of the Vix functionality :)

Having said all that, the Wetek does give you a great 2nd receiver running a full 15.2 Kodi :)

[tommycahir]

Hi, Thanks for the advice on the openATV image, I had seen alot of updates, nearly daily updates and fixes on the pbnigma image as I researched more about this box and it slightly worried me. I have a windows machine and some 16gb microSD cards lying around so no worries there.
In regards backup/image manager not overly worried about that as will be pushing this to be a pure openelec kodi box to replace my pi in the bedroom in a few weeks anyway (@65€ it was almost as cheap as a new pi2, case and shipping).