Looking for a simple DVB-S2 Receiver for OpenViX

[EckyH]

Hello,

hopefully this is the right subforum for that question.

My parents need a new satellite receiver for the following situation.
They have a single, fixed dish with one LNB which connects directly to the receiver. The dish points to ASTRA 1KR (19.2° E).
My parents only want to watch German FTA broadcasts like zdf_neo, no encrypted services like Sky and no IPTV.
FHD (1080p) is sufficient, no need for 4K.
DVB-S2 is a must.
PVR would be nice to have.

My mother likes to watch TV also on her Android tablet. The receiver can't have a wired connection to the router, therefore streaming via WiFi is necessary.
My part is to support them remotely via telephone and Teamviewer. So a receiver with OpenViX (because OpenViX runs on our own VU+ Ultimo 4K and it is easier for me to reproduce situations) is a must, too.

I've read good things about Octagon and their receivers and because they are a company here in Germany (which probably eases the support) I tend to buy one of their products. But the list of their DVB-S2 receivers is overwhelmingly long.
Unfortunately they write only that a receiver is WiFi capable, but don't mention whether it supports 5GHz...
So which one is the right one?

Thanks in advance.

E.

[twol]

I am just doing something similar for my mother in law and using an Octagon usb dongle ….on an Edision receiver (no wifi) and that works.
if you look at Octagons web site you will see a bunch of usb wifi attachments, some of which show specs supporting 5GHz - so thats probably best solution, just make sure you download the appropiate driver from plugins if not installed.
So you might be able to use a cheaper receiver with a dongle…which Octagon also supply.

For pvr just attach a disk/usb stick via a usb port - I assume they will not record loads of programs

hint: if they are like my mother in law (she should a technology tester, can break anything) - ask them to specify which channels they watch (so pick up local provider) and in which order they want them to be…..
saves a lot of finger issues and evening calls!

[nekrub2]

How about VU+ 4K? It has a slot for a 2.5 HD and built-in WIFI.
In Switzerland you get it for CHF 184.00

[EckyH]

Thank you for your answers.

Sorry that I forgot to mention my budget: it's around 100€.

if you look at Octagons web site you will see a bunch of usb wifi attachments, some of which show specs supporting 5GHz - so thats probably best solution, just make sure you download the appropriate driver from plugins if not installed.
So you might be able to use a cheaper receiver with a dongle…which Octagon also supply.

...at additional costs.
Perhaps I'm just on the wrong way to make a decision.

At the moment the SX988 with the 600MBit WiFi dongle seems to fit the bill very good - according to the specs.
There is only one very specific discussion about the SX988 in the forum yet. Which could mean that no one has any problems with the hardware.

Is there any other, better approach to choose the right product?
I'm just not sure...

E.

[abu baniaz]

All the Enigma2 receivers will work in more or less the same way. A few hardware differences will allow for more/different menus. For example, a receiver with a front panel display/LCD has more options than others that do not.

To me, the most important thing is deciding on hardware capabilities. So far, you have mentioned two:
DVB-S2 tuner
Wi-fi at 5GHz
Stream to local network
Remote support

All Enigma2 receivers will stream onto the local network.
I doubt anybody makes receivers with DVB-S tuners only, they should all be S2.
You will have to check the specs whether the wi-fi adapter supports 5GHz. Even at 54 MBPS, she shouldn't have any issues streaming on the LAN.
If you are going to support the box remotely, it will be better to have one with a built in device. Saves having to download drivers etc. There will be odd occasions when setting up the network will be required if a flash and restore does not work. A video call should get you through this with your mother using the remote to set up the password. An ethernet cable or home plugs will overcome that obstacle. Ensure you set up the programs required on your mum's PC/laptop. Filezilla, putty/terminal (or similar), linux compatible editor, angry IP scanner (or similar) and you should be fine.

The SX 988 is a streamer device, it does not have a tuner. It is designed to stream from another DVB device. Perhaps an SX88v2 is a better option? The Octagon SF8008 is a more mainstream receiver but out of your budget requirements.

[twol]

… removed bad info!

[EckyH]

If you are going to support the box remotely, it will be better to have one with a built in device. Saves having to download drivers etc. There will be odd occasions when setting up the network will be required if a flash and restore does not work. A video call should get you through this with your mother using the remote to set up the password. An ethernet cable or home plugs will overcome that obstacle. Ensure you set up the programs required on your mum's PC/laptop. Filezilla, putty/terminal (or similar), linux compatible editor, angry IP scanner (or similar) and you should be fine.

That's a good argument for internal WiFi.
My plan is to set up the receiver here. I can configure our second router so that it creates a WiFi network with the same parameters (SSID, frequency, authentication type, password) as the WiFi of my parents. Our dish also points to Astra 1KR, so preparing the bouquets should be possible here.
The remote support situation is as follows: few years age I could convince my father to switch from Windows 7 to Kubuntu Linux. I can connect to his Linux laptop via Teamviewer. With that remote Linux system I've got all the tools I need: ssh, vim, netstat, apt (to install missing tools ).

The SX 988 is a streamer device, it does not have a tuner. It is designed to stream from another DVB device.

Good point. Was a bit late for me last night...

Perhaps an SX88v2 is a better option? The Octagon SF8008 is a more mainstream receiver but out of your budget requirements.

The "OCTAGON SF8008 4K UHD E2 DVB-S2X & DVB-C/T2 (DUAL OS)" is currently available here in Germany for 120€ including shipping.
It's for my parents, so I should be generous. And the price hurts only once.
The main differences to the SX88v2 I see are the S2X tuner, DVB-T2 capability (which is a nice add-on), Micro SD slot for PVR functionality, twice as much flash memory and two real WiFi antennas.

Very valuable advises from you - many thanks!

E.

[EckyH]

There was an offer I could not refuse on ebay.de for a SF8008 Combo at 107€ today.

That "simple" didn't age very well, but now my parents will get a very capable receiver.

Thank you all for your input.

E.

[EckyH]

Update: Today I received the receiver. Overall it makes a good impression - with one exception: the WiFi antennas are more slack than fixed in the housing, but I can't fix it without breaking the warranty seal.
At first I prepared a USB stick according to this Howto, and booted directly to the OpenViX recovery image process. Everything went fine until step 14 in the Howto (flashing , because the system didn't recognise the image file openvix-6.4.002.release-sf8008_mmc.zip in the root directory of the FAT32 file system on the USB stick.
If I understand the Howto correctly, the steps 14 and the following are only needed for multiboot.
The setup for satellites and channels was easy (at least at the second attempt - after I connected the antenna cable from the LNB).
I've got the WiFi to work - at 2.4GHz only. But is was sufficient for a HD stream and my parents live in the outskirt of a really small village with and that I don't expect much disturbances and interferences with other services at the 2.4GHz frequency range.
Streaming to the dreamdroid app worked perfectly.
After that I logged into the system via ssh and tried to sleuth whether the image file on the USB stick has got some obvious problems like a different size than the downloaded file from https://www.openvix.co.uk/index.php/downloads/octagon-images/sf8008/.
That wasn't the case, so I tried to flash that file via the menu entry - and everything worked, including booting that image.

In the end I've got a functioning receiver. That's very good.

E.

[twol]

Update: Today I received the receiver. Overall it makes a good impression - with one exception: the WiFi antennas are more slack than fixed in the housing, but I can't fix it without breaking the warranty seal.
At first I prepared a USB stick according to this Howto, and booted directly to the OpenViX recovery image process. Everything went fine until step 14 in the Howto (flashing , because the system didn't recognise the image file openvix-6.4.002.release-sf8008_mmc.zip in the root directory of the FAT32 file system on the USB stick.
If I understand the Howto correctly, the steps 14 and the following are only needed for multiboot.
The setup for satellites and channels was easy (at least at the second attempt - after I connected the antenna cable from the LNB).
I've got the WiFi to work - at 2.4GHz only. But is was sufficient for a HD stream and my parents live in the outskirt of a really small village with and that I don't expect much disturbances and interferences with other services at the 2.4GHz frequency range.
Streaming to the dreamdroid app worked perfectly.
After that I logged into the system via ssh and tried to sleuth whether the image file on the USB stick has got some obvious problems like a different size than the downloaded file from https://www.openvix.co.uk/index.php/downloads/octagon-images/sf8008/.
That wasn't the case, so I tried to flash that file via the menu entry - and everything worked, including booting that image.

In the end I've got a functioning receiver. That's very good.

E.

So first things - go to the vix plugin (blue button, select ViX plugin) and then backup settings file.
When you flash a new image via ImageManager (part of the ViX plugin) settings are by default backed up before flashing the image.

You have a multiboot receiver, so to update the installed image, my personal view is that as long as the settings are backed up, its better to flash a new image selecting a different image slot than doing a software update on nthe installed image.

If there any issues with the updated image, you can then always select the old image and boot back to it.

[bellejt]

i have the same box and antennas are fitting perfectly and stable.Flashed with multiboot and perfectly working with a USB stick for recording.

[EckyH]

So first things - go to the vix plugin (blue button, select ViX plugin) and then backup settings file.
When you flash a new image via ImageManager (part of the ViX plugin) settings are by default backed up before flashing the image.

I did so without knowing it.
But I've already found the ViX Manuals (thanks for that) and I'll read and try to understand it - I promise. Not least because writing and quality control of technical documentation is my daily job, so I'm always interested how other people write their documentation.

You have a multiboot receiver, so to update the installed image, my personal view is that as long as the settings are backed up, its better to flash a new image selecting a different image slot than doing a software update on the installed image.
If there any issues with the updated image, you can then always select the old image and boot back to it.

That's so true.
20 years ago I worked as a Solaris sysadmin. These old Sun computers already had that kind of update mechanics for the firmware. There was one "slot" for good and running firmware and a second one for the new firmware.
That also makes the process for updating the firmware (or in our case: flashing a new image) much more robust, even a power outage during the process doesn't matter much.

I'm happy and grateful to found that place here: the people here are helpful and friendly and the ViX image and it's surrounding entities like the documentation are really good work.

E.