Considering the TM-Nano.... Thoughts?

[Cohibastevie]

Hi guys, long time lurker on this great forum. Exceptionally rare poster.

I'm buying a house and it's due for completion in January. I have a satellite guy going in beforehand to install a standard zone 2 (I live in NI) dish that will be setup for 28.2 e only. Nothing fancy just a standard setup. He will be putting in a quad lnb and running the sat cables down the existing aerial co-ax conduits giving me two sat outputs in both the living room and my bedroom, essentially 4 separate feeds.

So with that I'm in the market for a decent, well built receiver. Given that buying a house has the usual financial constraints associated with it, I've been eyeing the TM nano for while as it literally ticks all the boxes for me starting off. I like the price, the fact that it can house an internal hd and technomate build quality and reliability seem good.

I want to buy it from the forum sponsor but...

On the description page it states the following: "PLEASE NOTE: This receiver runs on an opensource Linux Enigma 2 operating system, completely different to Technomate non-linux receivers. Please do your research prior to purchasing, DO NOT purchase this receiver if you do not understand that what you're purchasing. This receiver is offered for sale to competent enthusiasts with knowledge of networking, FTP, and Telnet/SSH."

Now I have to admit, I'm no computer wiz, but I would rate my knowledge above average and I am always willing to explore and learn knew things. Would using this box prove to be above my knowledge? Is the learning curve relatively straight forward?

I should also add that I'm a mac user' does this have any impact on my ability to run one of these boxes?

I appreciate that first time posts with lots of questions are the norm round here and sometimes met with contention but I sincerely appreciate the help and feedback from anybody that reads and responds to the above. I'm just a new guy trying to find his feet is all lol.

Anyway thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your help!

P.s. Great forum!

[judge]

Buying any E2 box will require the same learning curve, TM Nano or not.
Also, using a mac or pc shouldn't really make any difference.

As you will have 2 feeds going to both rooms, I'd really be looking at boxes with atleast 2 tuners.
The TM Nano is a decent box, but you won't get the full use of your set-up by using it.

[Larry-G]

If you had asked this question a few months ago i would have advised against the Technomate as there was some serious issues with the hardware drivers and Technomate were exceptionally slow to respond to these issues, thankfully thats now a thing of the past and the drivers are working fine. Hardware wise however you cant fault the technomate receivers as its top notch.

I would say if you can stretch to a Twin tuner receiver over a single like the nano you wont regret it

Yes as the sponsor rightly states these receivers are not plug and play, they require a good deal of user interaction to setup but once you get the hang of it every thing is fairly simple, plus there are whole forums ( like us here ) who dedicate our selves to the Enigma2 platform and helping people use it, so you wont go far wrong with a Enigma2 based receiver.

Using a mac should not be a issue many of our users are not windows users although i have no experience with the mac OS my self. I would advise you do a little reading of the sticky threads and tutorials ( tutorials can be found on www.openvix.co.uk ).



Any more questions just ask, thats what we are here for after all.

[judge]

He will be putting in a quad lnb and running the sat cables down the existing aerial co-ax conduits giving me two sat outputs in both the living room and my bedroom, essentially 4 separate feeds.

Also, I'd be a bit wary about that.
If they are installing a new dish, they should be providing new cabling.
Sky installer did this in my folks house & basically cut the TV aerial feeds to all rooms, a nightmare to sort out afterwards.

I wouldn't let them replace aerial feeds for sat feeds, get them to install new sat feeds, shouldn't cost you any more from any professional Sky installer.

[Cohibastevie]

Wow. Wasn't expecting such concise responses so quickly. The IT guy in my work told me this place was excellent and he wasn't lying. Thanks very much guys.

In terms of getting a twin tuner box, the reason I am getting the sat setup with the 4 feeds is that I fully intend to upgrade to a twin tuner box at some point down the line when:

A: I have gotten to know my way round an enigma 2 box and got proficient in upgrading images, bouquets, PVR functions and plugins etc.

B: I have the money lol. The plan is to use the TM nano for a while and then upgrade to a decent twin tuner model like a vu+ solo2 or TM-2T. I will the retire the nano to the bedroom.

Oh and in relation to the cabling. The aerial co-ax cabling is staying where it is. The sat cables will just run down the same conduits so effectively there will be 3 cables in the one conduit. These will run to a wall socket that has 2x aerial co-ax outputs and 2 sat outputs.

While I understand these boxes may not be truly plug and play, can I at least plug it in an view the FTA channels with the vix image that I will have loaded when purchasing?

Thanks again guys.

[Larry-G]

While I understand these boxes may not be truly plug and play, can I at least plug it in an view the FTA channels with the vix image that I will have loaded when purchasing?

.

you will need to setup the tuner and load a channel list / epg first but we can help with that. there is a tutorial for the EPG and ABM in the link that i posted earlier that will explain every thing you need.

[judge]

A single tuner box is just as hard/easy to get your head around as a multi tuner box.

As you'll now have atleast 3 feeds going to both rooms, I'd be looking at boxes that support DVB-S & DVB-T, gives lots of more recording & watching options.
GigaBlue Quad or Duo2, maybe Uno but slightly older.
You're spending $$$ on the house, spend a few $$ on the receivers too, better than trying to flog off a box that doesn't use your set-up properly a few months later when you realise how easy it is to use E2 boxes.

[Cohibastevie]

Ok you guys have got me intrigued...

What about the TM-2T?

The respective forum for this box seems to have its fair share of threads reporting issues...

Again I sincerely apologise for the incessant questions, I appreciate all help.

[judge]

What about the TM-2T?

No worries, we're all here to help & what you buy is up to you.
The TM2T is a good box, doesn't support USB tuners yet though.
You would be limited to the two inbuilt DVB-S tuners for now.
As you'll have 2 DVB-S feeds & 1 DVB-T feed available, why not use them all?

[Cohibastevie]

No worries, we're all here to help & what you buy is up to you.
The TM2T is a good box, doesn't support USB tuners yet though.
You would be limited to the two inbuilt DVB-S tuners for now.
As you'll have 2 DVB-S feeds & 1 DVB-T feed available, why not use them all?

Ok mate, I suppose your right.

Really looking at the TM-2t now...

Thanks again judge!

[judge]

On a budget & your tuner available setups, I'd be looking at the GB Guad for now.
Two DVB-S & 1 DVB-T,with the option to add another feed of either type.
Not putting the TM-2T down, I use one daily & it performs perfectly well, but only on sat feeds. Not DVB-T.

[DaMacFunkin]

Don't forget though your original post where you was hinting money was a bit tight, you can spend to much on this shit, depends on what you really want to achieve, ps I have a Nano oe and a VU+ solo2, and wished I'd bought a duo2 with extra tuner and a solo2 instead lol ( mrs would have killed me if I'd spent all that money...)

[monty632]

I have had the nano for a week now and have no complaints I think its a cracking box.
Like you I was a bit green to all this stuff and didn't want a big outlay for something I wasn't 100% sure I could do.
The tutorials on here are excellent and I had it up in running in just over an hour and to get the basics done it isn't that difficult.

If you have the cables for a twin feed I would go for a 2T it will be the same in terms of setting up the box.
I only had one cable and am selling my house so couldn't be bothered putting another one in but the next one will be a twin tuner.

[DaMacFunkin]

Mate you misread my post, go for at least a triple tuner, I wished I had, the USB one I have on my solo2 (making it 3 feeds) is alright but it does have its problems.