My TM-Single review

[marty]

I've been playing with a TM-Single for the past few days and decided to post my thoughts on it

I flashed the lastest version of VIX (why use anything else ) and after initial setup I was pleasantly surprised of the picture quality, I sorry to say IMHO PQ is defo better than my much dearer GB Quad and also better than a VU+DUO (both much dearer receivers)
Another thing that struck me was the speed of the TM-Single, same BCM7335 405 MHz dual core Broadcom MIPS CPU as used in the excellent VU+DUO and also 384MB memory (but 256MB flash, double that of the DUO's 128MB)
When running auto bouquet maker it was alot faster than running the EXACT same config on a DUO Booting etc etc was also faster. Remember most other single tuner units are 333 Mhz like the GB 800SE and VU+SOLO.
For a great value single tuner receiver I think this is the one to go for.
There are other receivers more or less in this price range but none as well speced. No other has internal SATA (or eSATA) and the TM have 3 USB ports too.
The TM I tested also works with many USB WiFi dongles (inc 11n, 300mbps)
The build quality seems to be the same as most other makes on the market (GB, VU etc etc) and the remote is quite nice too, again I think better layed out than that of the GB Quad (I find the play/stop/FFW/RW buttons way too small on the GB remote)
I've been using the TM as a bedroom box for a few days now and have had no real problems as such for day to day use, I forgot to say I had added an old 160GB laptop drive to it which also works with the TM perfectly.

However not all is a bed of roses
There are a few things that need sorting out, remember this is a fairly new receiver and I would imagen various fixes/drivers will turn up at some point.
These are the thing I've noticed so far at this point in time.

1. No DTS downmix working (EDIT, now working)
2. NTFS file system doesn't seem to be supported even with NTFS-3G installed
3. Pressing PAUSE/FF/RW when playing back a media file (MKV/MP4/AVI) can really upset things seems OK on programs recorded on the unit.
4. Sound out of sync on some MKV's
I'll add any more problems if I come across any.

To recap, in the sub £200 price range you arn't gonna get any better

Price at this time for the TM-Single is £169 from the sponsor (£5 discount for WOS forum members making it £164 with FREE UK delivery)

http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Digital-Satellite-Receivers/Technomate-Linux-HD-Receivers/Technomate-TM-Single-Enigma-2-Linux-HD-PVR-Single-Tuner-Satellite-Receiver