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Trying to decide on a box

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devnull10

Newbie
I have been looking at boxes and originally the ZGemma H2H looked quite attractive. However I've just spent the last couple of hours reading up on them and the general consensus is that they're... well... rubbish! :)
The reason I was interest in them is this... I currently have a full VM subscription, BB and TV. However there is also a satellite dish on my house, which I believe is a sly one left over from the previous tenants who lived here before us (about 4 years ago). Now I've no idea how that is set up, or even whether it's fully working, but my plan was to get a box and try it out on the satellite dish. If I get it working then great - will keep it like that alongside my VM sub and have the option the flip between the two, otherwise I'll just use the cable option on the ZG.
Now I'm not massively bothered about an all singing, all dancing box, and to be honest I'm not too bothered about sports etc - hence I don't really want to be spending a huge amount as my usage just doesn't really warrant it. However the ability to record one channel whilst watching another is a must (so looking for a dual tuner). I have a hard-wired ethernet connection so no need for wifi (would prefer to use the wired anyway) and pausing/rewinding live tv would be a nice bonus.

There seem to be a lot of recommendations for the Vu+ Solo2, which does look appealing, though twice the price. I could stretch to that, however my concern is that if the sat dish isn't working properly then I believe I'd have to be buying a USB tuner, which adds another 50 quid onto the price, plus the line (how much do they cost roughly BTW?), which is making it quite expensive for what I want it for. I am picky though about interfaces being slow etc, so if the ZG is more likely to suffer from that then I'd prefer the VU+. Are they really that much better?
I did look at the Edison OS Mini but it looks a bit basic?


Failing that, are there any boxes priced in between the ZG and Solo2 which would be suitable? Dual tuner and compatible with both Sat and Cable and not a piece of junk? The ones that are officially supported (and hence update-able online) are more attractive to me simply for ease of use.

I'm fine with the tech side of doing setup, know my way around linux/unix if needed for anything, have used a DBox2 in the old days which involved a bit of getting into debug mode, flashing etc, so not a total noob to the concepts, though this is obviously a completely different thing.

Any help/advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks
 
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I did see it on ***, however it does state this on the tuner config options:

2X DVB-S/S2 SATELLITE + 1X DVB-C CABLE
2X DVB-S/S2 SATELLITE + 1X DVB-T/2 TERRESTRIAL
3X DVB-S/S2 SATELLITE​

Which made me think that if I had to use it for cable then it would only be able to record what I was watching (i.e. single cable tuner)? Or have I misunderstood that?
 
My advice is to forget about zgemmas and buy a twin cable or triple tuner (2xcable 1xsat) E2 box, take advantage of the HD cable can provide for watching and recording.
Take look over at w o r l d of s a t a l l i t e
 
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Yes that is correct if you use it only with a cable conection, but don't forget you can record 2 Sky channels aswell if you connect up a sky dish to.
 
To be honest HD isn't that big a thing for me - we don't have a huge TV and most the VM channels at the moment are SD. My reason for initially trying for Satellite is that I believe there are more channels on offer, and also it keeps my VM subscription "legitimate". We had a VM engineer call at the door the other month wanting to test the line in our house as there was some noise getting back down the line (turned out to be a loose connection) - I'd much prefer the VM installation to be clean if possible.

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maxal - thanks for the confirmation. It looks like it'd be just the ticket if I could connect it up to the Sky dish, however my problem with that is that I don't know how old that dish it, whether it's aligned properly, whether it'll even work etc. It was there when we moved in and the cable came through the wall. When we had the room redecorated the cable was cut and plastered over from the inside, however it is still ok on the outside so I plan to couple it up to a new cable and come back through the wall. I could do all that though and it might not work. :/
 
I see what you are saying about the Sky dish but am sure it doesn't cost to much to have a new dish fitted for peace of mind.
 
quad LNB and 100m of cable plus connectors is going to cost you about £30, if you went this the OS Mega (I have one too) you could connect 2x sat and 1x cab or 3 sat.

With the right set up it will switch between cable and satellite seamlessly giving you all the channels in HD where possible. (HD ones are from Cab unless FTA)

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devnull10 said:
I did see it on ***, however it does state this on the tuner config options:

2X DVB-S/S2 SATELLITE + 1X DVB-C CABLE
2X DVB-S/S2 SATELLITE + 1X DVB-T/2 TERRESTRIAL
3X DVB-S/S2 SATELLITE​

Which made me think that if I had to use it for cable then it would only be able to record what I was watching (i.e. single cable tuner)? Or have I misunderstood that?
Click to expand...


In essence yes
but you can record in SD and be watching HD, just depends how much you record/watch and how much you do both at the same time
 
The VU+ Uno 4K 1x DVB-C CABLE FBC Tuner Linux Enigma 2 Receiver UHD 2160p looks like an interesting box it has a cable fbc tuner to allow you to record upto 8 programmes at the same time but also cost a lot more than zgemmas. They also do a DVB-S tuner version for sat
 
Technomate Nano Plus M2 Plus £138 with twin cable tuner and 3rd sky tuner also has HDD option

Been using for 3 months now works as it should
 
Hmmm... I'm wondering whether I just stick with the sat option and get the dish sorted if it doesn't work. That way I can get a cheaper box, something like an Edision OS MINI 2x DVB-S/S2, which is about 100 quid plus hdd etc. That's 100 cheaper than most others, which would be enough to get the dish sorted if needed? Any thoughts on that box?
 
That's kinda what I'm thinking on the above, I just want to keep my cable installation clean if possible (i.e. Not connecting a different box to it), just because we've had a few problems in the past that have necessitated engineers coming into the house.
 
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