Solo 4k - is it worth it?

[Comfysofa]

As above....im in the predicament of needing to get another receiver. The gigablue in my daughters room is not up to the job of streaming from windows shares....(I have a couple I want to shift...) anyway. I need another receiver and I can either have a shift around involving either buying a 4k solo and putting the current duo 2 in my office then the old duo from my office to my daughters room....or, just get her a solo 2...

If I did go the 4k route I'm reading of issues of mkv streaming not being very good...oscam being a bit of a pain to set up (I use CCCam) and never had anything to do with oscam. plus id have to get a new disc for it also...I don't mind going through the heartache of the expense and getting it all up and running as long is its reasonably easy...

Pont being...is it worth it...any 4k owners out there that can give their opinions??

[john doe]

i thought hard and long about my next box (still between the Mutant 2400 & ET10000) and still non the wiser. solo4k is a great box (I also considered buying), however, what is the use of spending all that money if no 4k channels exist (which is the point of owning this box, is to view channels in 4k) on 28.2e. also to get the best out of the box people are saying that you need to update the LNB and cables (not sure how true this is) so that you are able to get full function of the tuners etc.

to me Vu have rushed getting this box out there very quickly without thinking a bit more.

[Comfysofa]

Yep - this is my thought reading up in this area....I did look at the ET10000 but not sure if I want to stray again - ie even my little vu zero streams stuff really well...the gigablue's were slow to boot and cannot stream...they just lock up...hence why I'm selling them...

I did think as an alternative I could get the 4k....stick it in my office and mess around with it til I got it working properly......

I could put up with the lack of streaming as weve got a mac mini under the tv which does the job but itd be nicer to have the whole shooting match in one box though....

[psykix]

I was like you and thought long and hard about what box to get as I was getting back into my motorised sat setup after a long absence.

I was torn between the HD2400 and the ET10000 too.

I plumped for the HD2400 and I'm really pleased with it. I do wish I had gone for the Solo4k but only because I like to have the best and most expensive box (last box I owned was the silly expensive DM8000) - but I doubt it would bring me any advantage since I have no 4k TV's yet, and am reluctant to replace my awesome Pioneer Kuro anyway!

You'll be happy if you go for the Mutant.

[Comfysofa]

In defence of vu - someone had to do it sooner rather than later and I used to be a die hard dreambox fan but dream failed on so many levels I bought my first vu about 4 years ago or so and have never looked back...dream were the absolute opposite....everything on their site said "coming soon" but hardly anything did - in fact without looking I still don't thing they have a terrestrial t2 tuner out...

I love the build quality of VU's and also they acutally get stuff to market - all the stuff Ive had from them works brilliantly....so based on that I may make the jump and get one...still up in the air...

Dream stuff is and still is stupid money....the only thing I ever really liked and still miss was Barry Allen - that software was amazing but doesn't exist (that I know of) for anything else...I did look at the 7020 earlier on but - 500 quid or so....!!

[Comfysofa]

Its actually not the 4k part that I'm thinking about - its more cpu speed and the ability to record from lots of feeds....I don't think the cabling needs to be changed just the LNB. However HD access might be a problem (multiple receivers connecting to one bit of IO will probably stress it)

[DaMacFunkin]

No one should be giving a digital TV receiver first consideration if you need reliable media streaming from Windows shares, it is a bolted on bit, not the devices primary function.
As for VU+ rushing it, why so? VU+ don't just make receivers for 28.2, they can access all the satellites and there are believe it or not countries in the world with fully functioning 4K channels, how do you access them?
There is no need to change lnb or cabling with the solo4k it will work as well if not better than your existing set top box with your existing cabling and lnb, but if you wanted to change your lnb then you could better your overall experience, this is change, this is exactly what sky TV customers adopting sky q will have to do if they want the full 12 tuners, it is the same technology.

[Comfysofa]

based on what PsyKix said I did just go and take a look at the Mutant....I do like the kodi build - a lot....does kodi exist for the VU? ive got plex running on the vu's at home at the moment but kodi looks to be more polished...

Going back to the LNB Thing ive got an 8 way at the moment - would regular receivers be able to use an output off one of the new lnb's??

[psykix]

I don't use Kodi - my satellite box is just used for that, a satellite box. I have an Nvidia Shield TV which I could use if I wanted to run something like Kodi, but it's not my cup of tea so I don't bother. I just run Netflix on my Shield and the sat box for everything else.

[Comfysofa]

Ah - well, with 3 kids we tend to watch a lot of films and TV series....ive not got a Netflix account but do have a server with a ton of mkv's, avi's etc etc so if I could find something that would stream nicely then I wouldn't need the mac under the tv which would be a bonus (one less box for the kids to leave on!!)

I'm still non the wiser....either take it on the chin with the expense and the heartache of setting something totally new up or go with the established hardware but slightly older tech...decisions decisions....!

[Comfysofa]

Taken it on the chin and bought the 4k. Reasons:
Architecture change: I've looked at a couple of European sat shop sites and theres a couple more coming out that look like theyre using the same architecture so it looks like it could be going that way...
Its a VU: Ive found consistently that the VU's are of a good build quality and ive got quite a spread....zero, vu duo, duo2 and a solo...all very well built.
OSCam: Something I will need to learn and this will force me to....!

I expect to be frequenting this area more often in the coming weeks!....

[DaMacFunkin]

It's a good box but like I said for media not so, I still can't get mine to correctly play 24hz stuff, but that isn't the only device I own that has that problem.

[Comfysofa]

Well, for me (if I can get it to do it, eventually) it would be nice.....but, as I say ive got the mac under the tv anyway (which tends to be the default device for watching films) but if I can get the 4k to do it eventually it would be nice....its a testament to vu - I expect to get lots of life out of it as the original one I own Duo is still going strong, still gets image updates and works perfectly. Something it does do which I could never ever get the Gigablue to do was to control the TV using HdmiCEC...

It should be here tomorrow hopefully along with the 2tb disc so I can get to work...plan is to take a vu zero and the 4k, start the 4k as the card server running os cam and then connect the zero to it....once ive done that itll all be golden!!

[rossi2000]

It's a good box but like I said for media not so, I still can't get mine to correctly play 24hz stuff, but that isn't the only device I own that has that problem.

a report was sent to VU, with the 24hz issue and some other important bugs.
hopefully they get a move on.

[Comfysofa]

I would say on the whole my duo 2 has gotten better and better so fair play to VU - obviously stuff has been done in the background....im assuming with the 4k (their flagship model) theyre going to be pretty hot on it....well, I'm hoping they are...