Kodi, HDD, Channel List & Vu+ Solo 2 in general

[Celldweller]

Hi all,

Literally had the Vu+ Solo 2 (open vix) for less than a day and I really like it. It feels like a huge leap from skybox. Apologies if the questions have been asked before. I have looked through the forum but I am more concerned with doing damage to the box more than anything - so feel free to advise on not doing something.

Question 1: I haven't bought a HDD for the box yet but I am looking to get a second hand one later today (Western Digital Blue 1Tb 3.5" 64MB Cache Desktop Internal SATA Hard Disk Drive HDD). What this be ok to buy or should I be looking at something else for better performance?

Question 2: I have seen videos of Kodi playing on Vu+ boxes but is there any concern that loading this on could cause any damage or performance issues to the box? also, would it be possible to get on demand content from BBC, ITV, CH5, RTE etc?

Question 3: I would like the (Sky) Blue HD skin on the box, Am I right in saying that I cannot add the skin until I have a HDD (or could use a USB stick)? Where would be a trusted place to download the skin from and how do I apply it?

Question 4: The channels seem to be a bit all over the place. Is there any way that I can order channels or assign a number to channels? For instance make BBC channel 1


Question 5: To watch and record channels I take it I will need a second coax cable from the dish?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Andy_Hazza]

Q1/ Vu+ Solo2 can only take 2.5" internally.
Q2/ vuplus-kodi can be found in the feeds. It won't damage anything, but performance wise not as good as a dedicated media player like AFTV, Venz V10 Pro etc. No To the OnDemand plugins like BBCiPlayer, ITV Hub etc.
Q3/ You can add the skin without an HDD, but I hope you are not storing your EPG data to flash while you haven't got an HDD installed?
Q4/ ABM (AutoBouquetsMaker) can recreate a Sky Channel List, Freesat etc with proper numbering, will be a setup issue on your part thats all.
Q5/ That is correct.


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[Celldweller]

How would I know if I am storing EPG without a HDD?

[Andy_Hazza]

By default it is set to Internal Flash and that is bad. You would go to Menu > Setup > System > EPG and look in the settings.


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[Andy_Hazza]

Short term option would be to store EPG to a USB stick until you purchase a 2.5" HDD.


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[Celldweller]

52281

This is what I find when I go on to EPG settings. Will I need to change the top one?

[Celldweller]

The EPG is appearing already on my set top box - as in I am getting a TV guide for the next couple of days, I think it is only on terrestrial.

What will I need to do to correct this?

[Andy_Hazza]

Yes thats correct, but storing to Internal Flash is a bad idea. The sooner you get the HDD the better. EPG can easily spew and corrupt.


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[Celldweller]

Apologies if this is sounding stupid.

Will I be able to change that once I put a HDD in?

[obo110x]

Not sounding stupid we were all new to this at some point. Yes you will be able to change it to store your epg on the hdd.

[Andy_Hazza]

Yeah you would just highlight and scroll to the right and it will bring the HDD option up & then Green button to save.
You're not being stupid btw. Its all new to you, you've done well up to now. [emoji1360]
We are here to help you so don't hesitate to ask at all. [emoji4]


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[garryboy]

Once you install the hardrive you'll need to format it for use on the box. This can be done in the system menu under storage devices by selecting initialise and choosing the Hard disk.

Once that's completed you can then press the blue button and enter the Vix menu where you can then mount the HD. I usually set up as media/hdd

I also mount my USB pen as media/USB

Once the mounts have been set up you'll be able to change the location the EPG saves to. Either media/hdd or media/usb

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[cactikid]

thought someone might have said vu and other e2 boxes are fussy with the likes of make of usb used,kingston,cruzer,and integral i have used in mine and follow above guide for a working safe epg.:D

[Celldweller]

Thanks everyone.
Are there any step by step guides for installing a HDD and adding a skin?

[garryboy]

To add a skin. Press and hold blue button to go to plugins menu.

Select download plugins. Then go to skins section and choose a skin and download to box.

Once downloaded go system menu and user interface and skin setup where you will be able to install the skins you have downloaded.


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[Celldweller]

I have put a Lexar 8GB usb stick into the front of the box.

I have gone to Menu (on remote) > Setup > System > Storage Devices > Initialisation > Did what it had to.

I then held the blue button to mount but not sure what I am doing here.

I also tried changing the EPG from internal flash to USB but still won't let me do it.


- What happens to the box if I don't get this sorted quickly?

[Andy_Hazza]

Once initialised you need to Blue button > ViX > Mount Manager > highlight your usb flash drive and setup mounts (can't remember the colour button off hand), then it will ask to restart your receiver. Once rebooted try changing EPG path to your newly mounted usb flash drive and Green button to save.


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[Celldweller]

Even though I have used the box for two days, will the EPG being set to internal for that time have any effect on the box?

Other than that, thanks all.

I am just in the process of putting a second coax cable in from the dish so I may be back asking what to do on that :cool:

Even though I have used the box for 2 days, w

[Andy_Hazza]

Long term it will eventually spew and corrupt the flash drive, and you would then need to reflash the receiver so it is back to a new state and you would setup as new like when you first got the receiver.


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[Celldweller]

Have the aerial in and so far I have 80+ for both signal strength and signal intensity.

How would I go about tuning in tuner B?

Thanks again in advance :)

[Andy_Hazza]

You don't need to tune in Tuner B, just go to Menu > Setup > Service Searching > Tuner Configuration & then enable Tuner B.


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[Celldweller]

Thanks again dude - Pretty much all sorted.

I have bought a 2.5 1tb HDD - are they easy to install?

Going to have a go at sorting the skin, kodi and hdd and I'm all good to go.

Looking forward to seeing what this box is capable of...I only know the functions as mentioned so far.

[Andy_Hazza]

Yeah HDD is easy to install. You should have the HDD screws and power n sata cable already in the receivers cardboard packaging.
Some good Skins about. Give Bello, Confluence, iSkin Dark, YouViX-Blue a try to name a few.
Kodi works well, but not 100% like a dedicated Droid box, but by all means give it a go and see what you think.


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[Celldweller]

Whenever I hold down the blue button I get the plugin browser but nothing specific for skins.


I have CrossEPG Downloader, EPG-Importer, Firmware Upgrade, Media Scanner, OpenWebif, Picture Player and Transcoding Setup

[Ashley69]

Press menu on remote. Come down to plugins menu and press ok. Then green button to download plugins. You will then see the plugins menu.

[Celldweller]

I went to skins - I went to the execute menu and then I did a GUI restart and it is taking a while to load. Is this normal?

[Andy_Hazza]

What Skin? Not Blue HD by any chance is it.....


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[Celldweller]

It was yeah.

That sounds bad

[Andy_Hazza]

No its not bad. You will just need to issue a couple of commands via Putty (telnet) to update packages etc. Just hang fire and someone will tell you what commands to issue.


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[Andy_Hazza]

Just look here and use the command Abu posted using Putty.
Mutant HD51 well that didn't last long

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_fid=12108&share_tid=55236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eworld-of-satellite%2Ecom%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Ft%3D55236&share_type=t


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[Celldweller]

Tried the http://192.168.?.??/grab?format=jpg (box IP address taken from the router settings page. But nothing is happening - just says can't reach this page

[Andy_Hazza]

Tried the http://192.168.?.??/grab?format=jpg (box IP address taken from the router settings page. But nothing is happening - just says can't reach this page

You've installed Putty on your computer?


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[Celldweller]

Just downloaded it...not a clue on what I am doing on it

[Andy_Hazza]

You would put in the ip of the skybox. Username is "root" and the Password is left blank. Then you would run the commands as per the link I gave you.


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[Celldweller]

Phew. Cleared it all. Thanks yet again.

I am going to stay away from the sky skin and stick to the other skins you recommended :D

[Andy_Hazza]

Just try different ones. I personally like iSkin Dark at the moment. [emoji3]
Beauty of these boxes we can customise to our tastes, unlike the shitty sky receivers......


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[Celldweller]

Thanks for the help and advice, I just tried the confluence once and it looks very clear but whenever there are bars its crosses over into the text which is slightly frustrating but then how often am I going to be looking at the menus :D

How would I go about adding picons? I might as well go all out and have everything :D

Also, is there a way to get the channel number to appear in the epg/quick epg box?

[garryboy]

I have my picons on my USB stick. They go in folder called "picons" on the USB stick.

There is an option somewhere to display the channels numbers. I'm not at my box the now but will check when I'm home


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[Celldweller]

Is it possible to put them on an internal hdd? And is it the same process as adding a skin?

[Andy_Hazza]

Menu > Setup > System > User Interface > GUI Settings & change a couple of things in here; enable infobar fade-out > Yes & Show channel number in infobar > Yes and Green button to save. Exit back to your main TV, press EPG > Menu and change the following; Service Title mode > Service Number and Service Name and green button to save. Now exit back to your main TV.
As for the Picons I use the MK 400x240 ones which can be found here >> http://www.openvix.co.uk/index.php/downloads/picons-channel-icons/
The Solo2 will not have sufficient flash to store these directly to root so I advise to use a USB flash drive (do not use HDD for Picons unless you have PTS enabled, PTS being Permanent Timeshift). Easy to do download the Picons to your desktop, format your USB flash drive to fat32. Create a folder called "picon" and put all the Picons inside that folder to the root of the USB flash drive. Once done insert the USB to the rear. If you have PTS enabled, on the HDD ftp the "picon" folder over. Then a Restart GUI should do the trick to get your Picons showing.


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[Celldweller]

Just waiting for picons to download.

Tried adding the channel number but it isn't appearing anywhere. Could it be because of the confluence skin?

[ccs]

....... deleted

[Celldweller]

Picons aren't appearing either.

I downloaded the MK 400×240 SNP Picons list. Drag and dropped the file onto a USB stick (formatted to FAT32) and into a folder named picon, plugged into back of the vu+ box and restarted GUI. Loaded it all back up and nothing

[Celldweller]

Think I know the issue with picons

[Andy_Hazza]

Picons aren't appearing either.

I downloaded the MK 400×240 SNP Picons list. Drag and dropped the file onto a USB stick (formatted to FAT32) and into a folder named picon, plugged into back of the vu+ box and restarted GUI. Loaded it all back up and nothing

Nope. All the Picons (images) need to be in a folder called "picon" to the root of the USB flash drive. No other folders or anything. So structure will be usb/picon/(all individual images)


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[Andy_Hazza]

Just waiting for picons to download.

Tried adding the channel number but it isn't appearing anywhere. Could it be because of the confluence skin?

If you press the Ok button to bring your infobar up this will now show the Channel Number?
Also while watching TV and you press the EPG button this will now show the Channel Numbering to all the relevant progs?


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[Celldweller]

That's what I did wrong. Unzipped them and then put images in individually and it is now working :D

Just channels - I haven't deleted anything off the box. But the number doesn't appear. I looked at examples but nothing appearing.

[Celldweller]

Nothing is appearing - only the name of the channel.

Is there any way of getting BBC to channel 101 etc?

[Andy_Hazza]

Did you follow my instructions to put channel numbers on infobar and graphical epg as per my post #40?


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[Celldweller]

It worked there for a moment but whenever I go on to it, it automatically goes to all channels rather than the channel list

[Andy_Hazza]

In my ABM I don't have "Main Bouquet" as I prefer "Section Bouquets" and this gives me the proper numbering and the individual sections.


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[Andy_Hazza]

How is your ABM setup? Use WebIf if you want to upload any pictures to show me your settings etc?


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[Celldweller]

How would I get into webif?

[Andy_Hazza]

On your pc and open your browser you would type in your Vu+ Solo2 ip address and this opens WebIf. From here you can also control the box from the menu options etc within WebIf and can also take pictures, so handy if you wanted to upload a picture with your settings or even pictures where you want channel numbering etc so we can try n grasp what you are after etc. [emoji1]


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[Andy_Hazza]

So if you ip is for eg 192.168.1.55 that is what you would type.


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[Celldweller]

That would be all of them.

This is raising more questions - sorry for constantly asking other questions, you seem to know your stuff.

- Can I access webif from outside the wifi network?
- Is it possible to get Irish channels?

[Andy_Hazza]

You could access the box outside the wifi network. You are probably best with VPN to make it secure.
What is your current setup for your channels? Do you use Sky UK in ABM to get your list or is it just Freesat?


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[Celldweller]

Sky basic package

[Andy_Hazza]

In your ABM settings do the following; So Menu > Setup > Service Searching > ABM > Configure and where it says Include "not indexed channels", change this to Yes and the press the Green button to save and the Start Scan. When the scan has finished, press the TV button at the bottom left on the Vu+ remote.
But before you start the scan, can you go in Providers and change your region to "xxxxx Custom". Doing this gets rid of the unwanted HD channels we can't access and includes some Irish channels for ya. Also I Enable swap in here so 101 is BBC 1 HD, 103 is ITV HD etc.


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[Celldweller]

I don't think it worked.

Do Irish channels need a full subscription?

[Andy_Hazza]

Yes my bad, they do.


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[Celldweller]

Is there any way I can reverse that? Everything has started to go a bit off on the epg - for example before BBC one was 1 on the menu and now it is 4001 :D

I don't suppose there is anything for the box for irish channels? I know of mobdro but not sure if anything like that can be loaded.

[Andy_Hazza]

Yes just revert the changes I said to do in ABM and rescan and will be back where you were.


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[Andy_Hazza]

BBC 1 should be 101 surely? Not 1 or 4001, so something not quite right. How did you create the original Sky Channel listing you had?


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[Celldweller]

All I did was download a channel boutique

[Andy_Hazza]

Just disable ABM then by reverting them changes I told you. And within ABM you should see a delete bouquet option, this will delete anything that has been created by ABM.


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[Celldweller]

Whenever I want to use the one boutique it always changes to another boutique when I load the channel menu using directional buttons. Is there any way to change this?

[Celldweller]

I have used a guide to update the EPG daily on a 7 day basis. Is it necessary to update every day? As it has been said that EPG's are unstable and would it use a lot of space on hdd?

I have a few bouqets, would it be possible to delete the ones that are not necessary and have the existing updated?

[Andy_Hazza]

1/ I think its important EPG has a scheduled scan everyday as changes are made to EPG on a daily basis. And where have you heard that rubbish about being unstable and uses a lot of space. EPG is perfectly fine being stored to your HDD and you don't need to worry.
2/ you can highlight on the Bouquet, press the menu button & remove entry to delete Bouquets. Using just ABM (AutoBouquetsMaker) gives you an identical Sky/Freesat/Freeview Channel lists, whichever you choose and again you can schedule this to run daily just before the EPG daily update and any changes that Sky have made will be automatically updated. Using a manual Channel list (your own list) involves you having to constantly update it, changing it as and when channels get moved.


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[Celldweller]

Been without Internet.


How would I set them up Andy?

[nanakofi]

Andy_Hazza, I can see you are quite knowlegeable about these boxes, I need advise. I got a used Vu+ Solo2 Blackhole 0.1. I flashed with Blackhole 0.6 when I got stuck. Reading the forums it appears there is a lot more said about Vix than Blackhole. Please, in your opinion, as a beginner should I use Vix on this box instead of Blackhole?

[nanakofi]

Is it possible to change from Blackhole 0.6 to a Vix image? If it is, what image do you recommend. My Vu+ Solo2 (as far as I have checked) is genuine.

[Celldweller]

Should I change the location of the recording or does it not matter?

52489