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Which Cable Box to Buy?

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thedotlal

Newbie
I had been planning on buying a KV Phoenix A850, but after spending far too long trying to find somewhere to buy one of these I've decided to start my search for another cable box that I need a sub for.

For now my requirements are that it's:
  • Fast - I don't want it lagging when changing channels or going through menu's
  • Clean Interface/Easy to use
  • Supports HD+3D channels
  • Isn't overly expensive
  • Looks sleek, meaning not cheap plastic
  • Scheduled recording

I'm not actually sure if 3D works in these situations in terms of receiving the channel unscrambled so if anybody has knowledge on this subject I'd appreciate the advice. Aside from that please comment below if you can help at all.
 
Cable boxes are pretty much split into two categories at the mo.

Budget boxes like the Q5 and Amiko boxes are about £70, now and next EPG and sort your channels into groups manually
so if you record a lot then they are lacking in that area.

Linux E2 type boxes, most people seem to be using the Vix image ( firmware) ,bit more fiddly to set up but
once they are set you have a grouped channel list and a full 7 day EPG which makes recording easy.
They are about £140 upwards depending on the brand of box.

Most cable boxes are combo boxes which means they have a sat tuner and a cable tuner.

Cable lines (subs) range from about £70-90 per year.

These are ballpark figures to give you some idea of what to expect.

I have tried budget and E2 type boxes and all I can really tell you is
you get what you pay for.

Budget boxes do the job and plenty of people use them but they are no frills,
so if you can afford the extra go for a better box.
 
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So I'm set on an E2 combo box with Vix as per your suggestion. I'm having a problem finding out if receivers supports 3D channels or not as I want to connect this to a 3D projector. I've been looking at a few on world of sat and saw they have 'Hybrid DVB-C/T/T2' connections, are these the right ones for cable? And does it matter if it's T or T2?
 
thedotlal said:
'Hybrid DVB-C/T/T2'
Click to expand...

Yes thats a cable / terestrial tuner C is for cable , T or T2 is the terestrial side, so you can plug in a normal digital ariel too.

T2 is just an upgrade of T which allows better HD and streaming etc. I wouldn't get too bogged down with all
the terminology. They work.

Don't know about 3-D never used it.
 
Congratulations to all for this wonderful forum.I am after a combo hd receiver with a budget upto £250.would welcome ur comments which is the best receiver to buy with picture quality and tuner reliability and most important support and future proof. currently i have a skybox f3 and kryptview a780.would like to combine into one receiver.Not had a E2 type box before but would like to venture into one now.
thanks .
 
At 250 yer prolly looking at a Miraclebox Premium which has 3 tuners, or the Technomate and Gigablue boxes both seem solid choices. I personally went with the Venton Unibox Eco+ but was trying to save some pennies. With Vix and other images they all setup pretty much the same anyways.
 
£250 you should be going down htpc route don't bother with these boxes they are not worth that sort of money.

great thing about htpc is you choose what you want and have option to upgrade. (In mine I have twin sat and twin cable)
 
Hi mate is it possible send some details regarding this htpc route.pm if not allowed to discuss here. thanks

mortmaru said:
£250 you should be going down htpc route don't bother with these boxes they are not worth that sort of money.

great thing about htpc is you choose what you want and have option to upgrade. (In mine I have twin sat and twin cable)
Click to expand...
 
pando said:
Hi mate is it possible send some details regarding this htpc route.pm if not allowed to discuss here. thanks

mortmaru said:
£250 you should be going down htpc route don't bother with these boxes they are not worth that sort of money.

great thing about htpc is you choose what you want and have option to upgrade. (In mine I have twin sat and twin cable)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


HTPC is simple.

Do you have size restrictions? (440 mm (W) x 105 mm (H) x 350 mm (D) is this ok size for you)

Max budget you have?
 
Hi Guys. I'm new to this forum. I've KV A780, now thinking a HD box for cable.
I've read through most of the posts, but have some questions to ask from experts ;)
My main requirement is to record in HD (one program at a time is enough).
1. I'm interested in E2 box. If I get ANY E2 box, can I get it with VIX image/install VIX?
2. After above, do I have to install any other firmware/update?
3. I only have cable connection. If I get a sat and cable combo box, will it work without any issues (I mean cable side tuner, not both) without sat connection? I know this sounds like a stupid question. But I have a dual tuner sat box for freesat downstairs. But I've old dish with one LNB, so I feed only one tuner. But I can record programs only on some channels (seems like two tuners are fixed for channels on recording). This is why I'm asking this question.
4. I know I need sub £70-90 a year to watch all. If I get this, can I have glitch free viewing? if it does, there is no point in recording, so this whole process is pointless. I'm asking this, because my KV has glitches sometimes, so it is not possible to record a TV series and find out that you have missing parts in crucial moments :(.

Appreciate any feedback on this.
 
If you buy a genuine E2 type box then it can be flashed with vix.

There are cheaper, clone boxes which need a modded vix (clone safe) image such
as Zgemma

I would go for a genuine box from world of sat personally but plenty are using Zgemma these days.

(It seems like a busy section of the forum so I guess they must have their problems).

Combo boxes can run sat, cable or both, it's up to you.

You will need to load softcams, set up the EPG and add a line, there are guides on here
depending on what you buy.

If you only use a single tuner then while recording the box will basically lock it's to the channel being recorded.

If you added a sat line you could record cable and watch sat or vise versa.

Finally, glitching can be down to many things, ISP, WIFI or Ethernet, bad F connection, server etc.

I would say though, in general, a paid server will be much more stable than the KV one
 
bees said:
If you buy a genuine E2 type box then it can be flashed with vix.

There are cheaper, clone boxes which need a modded vix (clone safe) image such
as Zgemma

I would go for a genuine box from world of sat personally but plenty are using Zgemma these days.

(It seems like a busy section of the forum so I guess they must have their problems).

Combo boxes can run sat, cable or both, it's up to you.

You will need to load softcams, set up the EPG and add a line, there are guides on here
depending on what you buy.

If you only use a single tuner then while recording the box will basically lock it's to the channel being recorded.

If you added a sat line you could record cable and watch sat or vise versa.

Finally, glitching can be down to many things, ISP, WIFI or Ethernet, bad F connection, server etc.

I would say though, in general, a paid server will be much more stable than the KV one
Click to expand...

Thanks bees. Appreciate it.
About glitching, once you correct issues in your end rest is server.
As I remember you have already setup 2 boxes, and hopefully they are stable now. Do you still get "Scrambled" every now and then or is it never happen?

Would like to get others feedback on this as well. This is the most crucial bit for me (before investing on a new box and line ;))
Thanks.
 
It's not 100% glitch free but it is probably about 98%-99% lol

Sometimes on big footy matches etc you get a bit of glitching, not much, and during normal viewing
I very rarely notice anything on my cable line. Sat side is probably 95% - 98% to be honest.

There is a massive difference in service between KV and a good line supplier.

When HD went on sat I just got a combo and added a cable line.

Got a big TV so SD to HD viewing is really noticeable.

(I've set up a quite a few different boxes now on cable and sat and at the moment I would go for a genuine E2 type box from world of sat all day long, if you can afford to pay the extra)

The service is pretty much back to the kind of level it was at before Nag 3.
 
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Try loading an official VIX image on the box then !!

Go on I dare you !!! lol

Have a read here
 
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that is a star H1 and not the star s2 in the link btw

The known quote is from phonix of vix about zgemma:
ViX dont make images for clones,
any image you find for this or any other clone by the Airdigital manufacturer is a unofficially patched image and we take no responsibility for it.

but the reply was from a member i was on was

No it is officially supported. Check it at zgemma dot tv
Click to expand...
Is listed
zgemma dot tv

to a reply

I don't need to check any site, I have worked as a team member within ViX for almost 5 years. There is not now and never will be any form of ViX support for this or any other clone by Airdigital.

I'll put it in simpler terms for you. If its not on our list, its not support
Click to expand...

Just because vix is not listed for a box does mean its a clone. Is vix the law on images? NO
Click to expand...
many people claim that vix is rubbish and to stick to opentv ect so the standard on how good or bad a box is nothing to do with vix

I know a guy in the south west of the uk ( not me before you ask ) has sold over 500 zgemma in devon area and not had one complaint

From open tv site

The manufacturer is not yet recognized in the field of makers ( small boxes ) clone boxes, keyword cloud Ibox SE and III (= clones of xpeedlx).

With the zgemma , the correct drivers where used. Okay the zgemma are meant to sort out the all the issues on the cloud ibox 3. (was a semi clone)
The list is quite large but mostly the complete failure on the hybrid tuner should have been sorted....
Further more we are led to believe these are no longer clones of existing boxes, but have been developed from start to finish....
IE hardware, drivers, kernel etc etc to a completed STB....
Click to expand...

Exacting details are still ropey at best, i believe some senior OpenATV and OpenPLI members have been involved in its development.....

i hope that covers a better reply for you and yes i added the so called vix on a star s2 not a h1 one and running great for 6 weeks
 
i believe you used a patched vix image on your box ,if you used original go see what an update online does,there are other supported images for boxes to use/try.
 
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