Box advice from experts please

[JonMMM]

That is streaming. Nothing to do with watching 8 channels at once on the connected display.

Not sure why anyone would want to to that, but to have one receiver connected to a disc with a single cable that then servers the entire house with no more cabling makes sense to me.

[satuser7]

The main reason for me starting this thread was to get more of an understanding of ZGemma vs Vu+ in terms of features, etc.

Thanks again.

Anyone?

[Willo3092]

I bought Vu+ boxes for the FBC tuners, although the Gigablues also have them.
Zgemma H7 is a great box and much cheaper if you don't have unicable.

[satuser7]

I bought Vu+ boxes for the FBC tuners, although the Gigablues also have them.
Zgemma H7 is a great box and much cheaper if you don't have unicable.

Thanks, Willo. Sorry for the newbie question but I'm still young in the world of satellite... what are FBC tuners and what can they offer? Also what is unicable?
Thank you.

[bmitie]

I have a few boxes and its simple pay more you get better BUT its all down to what you want to achieve and your budget. All the answers are out there but you have to look. Enigma 2 boxes are complex and have a steep learning curve as you are probably discovering. I have a few boxes. The best box I have is the DUO2 by VU+ BUT it was expensive initially so I waited and got it on ebay. Pic quality is all to me so the AXHD61 is the best as it has the arm chip. The zgemma h7s is also good for pic quality but remote is very poor. UNICABLE is one cable from dish to a box that supports it and you can assign quite a few tuners suing one cable.

For FBC its all on the WOS site but to help here is the explanation.

What is a DVB-S2 FBC Twin Tuner?
A DVB-S2 FBC Twin Tuner has 8 demodulators.
With two conventional (e.g., Twin-LNB) satellite feeds, the tuner is comparable to 2 conventional and 6 additional tuners operating in loop-through mode. You can watch, stream or record simultaneously stations from 8 different transponders from 2 different Sat levels.
In SCR operation (Unicable) with 8 frequencies, this corresponds to 8 conventional tuners.

And if you go to wos shop check out the receivers and look closely and see a box compare, use that select a few receivers then they all appear in a line and you can click between each one.

If you have the money get a VU+ why== everything works . If you want to dabble get the AXHD61 but I got it with twin dvb tuners. At wos its with a dvb and a DTT.

[satuser7]

Thank you @bmitie for taking the time to respond.

You are right, I think the Enigma2 and satellite stuff is a steep learning curve for me, and that is with a tech background too! It seems every response I have seen on this thread is an additional avenue to research/explore, for example... like you, pic quality means a lot to me too and I didn't realise the different boxes would give different outputs (beyond resolution capabilities, etc). As you elude too though, the HD61 twin satellite is no longer available though according to WOS. :-(

Thanks for the info for Unicable and FBC tuners. I don't have the option to change the cables. The FBC tuners sounds interesting to allow watching more than 2 channels, this will be something for me to consider when deciding between ZGemma H9 twin satellite vs a pricier Vu+ model.

You are right, the ZGemma remote looks really basic. A decent, user-friendly remote can make a big difference for something you (and the family) use every day. That too may be worth paying a premium for... hmmm, decisions, decisions!!!

[bmitie]

Just to clarify the zgemma remote actually looks good , buttons are nice and big, its the power of the signal thats the issue. I am quite near it at the moment but still require, sometimes, more than one press. The axhd61 remote is very lighta and writing is tiny, ill do side by side pics later. BUT axhd61 remote signal is fab you can point it away from receiver and it still works. They may come back in stock or try germany but with brexit delivery will be a problem. i

[JonMMM]

Thanks for the info for Unicable and FBC tuners. I don't have the option to change the cables. The FBC tuners sounds interesting to allow watching more than 2 channels, this will be something for me to consider when deciding between ZGemma H9 twin satellite vs a pricier Vu+ model.
!

Just to let you know Unicable is a name you don't need to replace the cable just the LNB

[satuser7]

Just to let you know Unicable is a name you don't need to replace the cable just the LNB

Oh interesting, thank you, so I assume I could use my existing cables that Sky laid down for me? At the moment I am on the Sky HD LNB and I am venturing down the WOS route to explore it as an alternative to Sky. I think once I am more comfortable with what the box can offer (in addition to freeview) and feel I can dump Sky then I may decide to upgrade the LNB.

Thanks again.

[cliver1956]

Personally I like the VU+ boxes. I had a VU+ Duo2, now have a Duo4K. I have the Twin DVB-S/S2/S tuner with two feeds from a universal LNB and can record at least 4 channels while watching another (proved by practical testing). If I were to upgrate to am Unicable LNB it woud do even more. It does depend what transponder/band the channels you want to record on are though.
The AX boxes get a good press as well but I have no experience of them.
As for IPTV, I get mixed results on the enigma boxes and tend to get better from a Fire TV stick.

[JonMMM]

Oh interesting, thank you, so I assume I could use my existing cables that Sky laid down for me? At the moment I am on the Sky HD LNB and I am venturing down the WOS route to explore it as an alternative to Sky. I think once I am more comfortable with what the box can offer (in addition to freeview) and feel I can dump Sky then I may decide to upgrade the LNB.

Thanks again.

yeh the physical cables can stay, I am using a Gigablue with FBC tuners at the moment just have 2 tuners as I have not swapped the LNB get (next on the wish list). If you had shy q you will need to change the LNB anyway