Replace Virgin Streaming puc

[Boomish]

Just renewed our Virgin service & we got one of their horrible streaming pucs, it’s useless! Well compared to the old TiVo box.
Wondering if I can setup an IPTV service to replace it, but it’s all new to me, though am quite techy, did Kodi years ago etc etc just wondered if I could get some advice . I’m thinking of a streaming box we can record & playback easily with catchup, ideally all the normal UK channels inc Sky in HD /best quality, so am looking at the new Formuler box , as their EPG is supposed to be very good, as is the quality & ease of recording etc I don’t need films or sport, though I wouldn’t say no to the F1 channels ..:) I presume I need an IPTV sub for this even if just normal TV channels especially if anything is Sky. Is it going to be crazy money going down this route ?
I hope it’s ok to ask this here
Appreciate any advice..

 

[mike123]

Although you can record on IPTV genrally not a good idea. Most services have catchup, replays and VOD with most the suff you'll need.

As for a box there's a good choice you don't need to spend a fortune on a device.

 

[Boomish]

Although you can record on IPTV genrally not a good idea. Most services have catchup, replays and VOD with most the suff you'll need.

As for a box there's a good choice you don't need to spend a fortune on a device.

Thanks for the quick reply Mike, catchup on the Virgin box is awful, can’t rewind or even fast forward. We really miss the ability to record TV shows, funny we have an old satellite box that works ten times better but it doesn’t get all the channels & is quite old now. Am having a play with UHF via an Apple TV box

 

[manic01]

Thanks for the quick reply Mike, catchup on the Virgin box is awful, can’t rewind or even fast forward. We really miss the ability to record TV shows, funny we have an old satellite box that works ten times better but it doesn’t get all the channels & is quite old now. Am having a play with UHF via an Apple TV box

If you need ability to record/catch up on all channels etc dont waste your time on iptv, too inconsistent no matter what some may try and tell you.

 

[Boomish]

If you need ability to record/catch up on all channels etc dont waste your time on iptv, too inconsistent no matter what some may try and tell you.

Oh bugger, back to square one then, how can technology make things worse FFS. Looked at Freeview boxes & Satellite but they’re not so great for having everything in one box. That’s why I thought the Formuler box might be good.

 

[mike123]

If its sports you generally want most will have replays and like the ppv is normally in vod section.

I would say catchup is more reliable than recording but wouldn't 100% rely on it

 

[Boomish]

If its sports you generally want most will have replays and like the ppv is normally in vod section.

Na it’s not sports at all or films, I have a Plex server I can use for movies & motor racing, but you made me think I probably don’t need catchup if I have a box that can record, I can get catchup via apps etc Just UK TV really but Virgin has some of the Sky Channels which you don’t get via Freeiview & don’t really want to jump around apps for general TV. Sorry if I’m being dumb here just looking for best solution.. Thanks again for the reply

 

[spc]

Na it’s not sports at all or films, I have a Plex server I can use for movies & motor racing, but you made me think I probably don’t need catchup if I have a box that can record, I can get catchup via apps etc Just UK TV really but Virgin has some of the Sky Channels which you don’t get via Freeiview & don’t really want to jump around apps for general TV. Sorry if I’m being dumb here just looking for best solution.. Thanks again for the reply

Personally, i prefer E2 (sat receiver) for day to day viewing getting freesat channels via dish and premium channels via iptv sub. The box needs to be a new(ish) 4k one with good processor and ram, ideally with inbuilt SDD. Whilst Android (or Apple tv) can be more stable for live streams the record feature (especially series setting) of E2 is far superior and if/when the iptv stream feed drops out momentarily the E2 will auto restart recording which the others do not. The major downside of E2 is learning curve to get a good setup

 

[Boomish]

Personally, i prefer E2 (sat receiver) for day to day viewing getting freesat channels via dish and premium channels via iptv sub. The box needs to be a new(ish) 4k one with good processor and ram, ideally with inbuilt SDD. Whilst Android (or Apple tv) can be more stable for live streams the record feature (especially series setting) of E2 is far superior and if/when the iptv stream feed drops out momentarily the E2 will auto restart recording which the others do not. The major downside of E2 is learning curve to get a good setup

Really appreciate the reply SPC that’s really helpful, been thinking of getting a more updated Sat box, I just want freeview with some of the Sky channels you get with Virgin & a good recorder! We had this years ago bizarre technology has gone backwards making us watch ads again. Must be some kind of deal Virgin have done. What’s the best Sat box currently?

 

[scoob197]

Lots of options with E2 boxes and the best box will be subjective. As said above it will be a learning curve to setup and you still cant guarantee recording will work every time. The Tuner feeds will record flawlessly. IPTV wont record consistently, it will 'work most of the time', if you have it setup rite.
I record using E2, and if it fails, I use catchup.

 

[Boomish]

Lots of options with E2 boxes and the best box will be subjective. As said above it will be a learning curve to setup and you still cant guarantee recording will work every time. The Tuner feeds will record flawlessly. IPTV wont record consistently, it will 'work most of the time', if you have it setup rite.
I record using E2, and if it fails, I use catchup.

Thanks Scoob that’s great advice , I looked at a VU+ box a few years back , time to do more research on the E2 ..Thanks again for all the replies .

 

[kegnkiwi]

If you buy an e2 box you will just get freesat stuff without further effort. In a post above you said you would like some of the sky channels. You will need a connection to a server that supports sky sd (can be hard to find) to be able to get anything other than freesat. You could also take a look at the viark thread on the forum where you would get a box that gives you lots of the hd channels as well.

 

[spc]

Really appreciate the reply SPC that’s really helpful, been thinking of getting a more updated Sat box, I just want freeview with some of the Sky channels you get with Virgin & a good recorder! We had this years ago bizarre technology has gone backwards making us watch ads again. Must be some kind of deal Virgin have done. What’s the best Sat box currently?

Octagon SF8008 is probably best cost / performance option right now,

 

[Boomish]

If you buy an e2 box you will just get freesat stuff without further effort. In a post above you said you would like some of the sky channels. You will need a connection to a server that supports sky sd (can be hard to find) to be able to get anything other than freesat. You could also take a look at the viark thread on the forum where you would get a box that gives you lots of the hd channels as well.

Thanks so much Kegnkiwi, had a brief look & read of the guide, still unsure what it’s all about obviously another type of sat dish box, does it have to be a motorised setup?I have existing old Sky dish I changed years ago to a dual LNB, it picks up Freesat. I have an old Freesat box I can record with, can I use that in someway?

 

[rudeboi68]

So Ive been a long fan of E2 boxes since the cs days. Obviously most of the main channels are dead on cs so I use my e2 boxes for freesat and IPTV. I make sure that when I sub to a service, I get a dual connection this will allow me to watch an iptv channel whilst recording another iptv channel. I can also record 2 iptv channels at the same time and either switch the box to standby or watch a freesat channel.

As others have said iptv recording can be hit and miss, but mine seems to record fine most of the time. As I have more than 1 E2 box, the second E2 box (which is in my bedroom), has a separate server again with a dual iptv connection. So I can set the same recording to that box and keep it as a backup if the main box fails to record.

Also I can also record freesat stuff too. On my main box Ive got the main sly channel list and Ive created a custommix xml so my main channel list is a mixture of both freesat and iptv. So if I want to watch channel 5, I type in 105 (freesat), if I want to watch sly main event, I type in 401 and the iptv feed for that will play.

There are a lot of customisation options on E2 boxes.

 

[Boomish]

Thanks for all the advice I’ve ordered an Octagon SF8008 V3 Supreme 4k Twin box. I’ll put an M.2 stick in it & look into adding an IPTV for a few UK channels.. got it from World of Satellite.

 

[Boomish]

So Ive been a long fan of E2 boxes since the cs days. Obviously most of the main channels are dead on cs so I use my e2 boxes for freesat and IPTV. I make sure that when I sub to a service, I get a dual connection this will allow me to watch an iptv channel whilst recording another iptv channel. I can also record 2 iptv channels at the same time and either switch the box to standby or watch a freesat channel.

As others have said iptv recording can be hit and miss, but mine seems to record fine most of the time. As I have more than 1 E2 box, the second E2 box (which is in my bedroom), has a separate server again with a dual iptv connection. So I can set the same recording to that box and keep it as a backup if the main box fails to record.

Also I can also record freesat stuff too. On my main box Ive got the main sly channel list and Ive created a custommix xml so my main channel list is a mixture of both freesat and iptv. So if I want to watch channel 5, I type in 105 (freesat), if I want to watch sly main event, I type in 401 and the iptv feed for that will play.

There are a lot of customisation options on E2 boxes.

Just realised I should have asked you more about what E2 box you have & how to set it up for a mixture of Sat & iptv. I can swap the new Octagon if you think there is a better alternative, just the spec of 1gb of Ram in it, that seems small . Would really appreciate any pointers of apps & install guides.

 

[spc]

Just realised I should have asked you more about what E2 box you have & how to set it up for a mixture of Sat & iptv. I can swap the new Octagon if you think there is a better alternative, just the spec of 1gb of Ram in it, that seems small . Would really appreciate any pointers of apps & install guides.

For many years I used Jedi Maker Xtream (now replaced by BMX) for live tv, but now i use e-channelizer for live (due to ability to easy edit and assign multiple epg sources) and then Xtreamity for catchup and vod

 

[Dar1437]

Just realised I should have asked you more about what E2 box you have & how to set it up for a mixture of Sat & iptv. I can swap the new Octagon if you think there is a better alternative, just the spec of 1gb of Ram in it, that seems small . Would really appreciate any pointers of apps & install guides.

Octagon will be fine mate. :)
I think the record on an e2 box works better than an app, as if it freezes or buffers on the app, it tends to stop recording, but with the e2 it carries on. :)

 

[urie]

Octagon will be fine mate. :)
I think the record on an e2 box works better than an app, as if it freezes or buffers on the app, it tends to stop recording, but with the e2 it carries on. :)

View attachment 125937


View attachment 125939

Yes depending on provider and how many tuners available if multiroom no problems or not multiroom if you start recording and go to other iptv provider or satellite channel.
then no problems.