Gigablue or Vu+ - the age old question

There are 60 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 5,260 times. The last Post () by master G.

    Hey All

    I know this subject has been covered before and or has been asked a lot but I wanted to ask for my particular use case. I've just left Sky (Yipee). I am currently running a 1.2m dish fixed to 28.2E (Freesat UK) with a Hybrid LNB. Since leaving Sky Ive been messing around with TVheadend on my RPI, HDHomeRun and Plex, all of which I have working but they all lack a half-decent EPG Grid and a decent interface that is wife friendly.

    I am also running a NVidea Shield and Apple TV, Synology Plex, as you maybe able to tell I am a bit of an IT Geek that can get around linux but no expert just yet. Which leads me on to the main subject.

    The IT geek in me is thinking about buying the Gigablue Quad 4k, but then I look at the specs of the Vu+ Duo 4k and its even more powerful with a Quad CPU and 4GB RAM and I presume does Hardware transcoding but I am left wondering if I really need all this power of the VU+, and I need to lash out on such an expensive box. The things that are important to me


    - Good 7 day or more Grid EPG

    - Gigabit LAN
    - Fast and can handle transcoding if I install TVHeadend on it
    - The ability to run apps such as plex, netflix, discovery plus etc - I may want to consolidate my boxes
    - Expandable tuners - although this is not a must
    - Reliable - although I like to tinker but at the same time I like it just to work if I don't
    - Reasonable community support or just plenty of forum type stuff around the WWW.


    So which do you guys/gals think would be a better fit. Of course, I'm willing to consider other brands

    Thanks

    Edited once, last by master G: Removing colour so it appears on white theme. ().

    You have got me interested here , I wasn't aware that any linux boxes ( other than dual boot combos ) supported apps like Plex ? in fact googling the two in your post , I can't find any evidence that they do ?

    Yes , I was aware of Dreamplex , I have always found it to be very unreliable , even when used with a local plex server on the same network , in fact at times I often found it completely unusable. Been a couple of years since I used it to be fair , but there was no way I could hand the remote to the wife and say " you can watch plex on this " ??

    Pretty sure I read on here last august that "dreamplex" is no longer being maintained.

    Edited once, last by ontap ().

    Quote from ontap

    Yes , I was aware of Dreamplex , I have always found it to be very unreliable , even when used with a local plex server on the same network , in fact at times I often found it completely unusable. Been a couple of years since I used it to be fair , but there was no way I could hand the remote to the wife and say " you can watch plex on this " ??

    Pretty sure I read on here last august that "dreamplex" is no longer being maintained.

    it is still being maintained have been a few small updates latley.

    Yes, its going to be very interested as I am a bit of a tinkerer, likely ill keep everyone updated with my experiences on my blog url forthcoming.


    Ive just ordered the VU+ Duo from WOS but its on pre-order so not sure when ill get it

    The VU+ Duo 4k SE arrived yesterday and so far I am pleased as in the distance past Ive had Technomate boxes and t played with others and I have been less than impressed especially when it comes to the EPG. I personally am of the opinion that Sat boxes should just work but I also appreciate that I am a father of a 2 year old (going through the terrible two’s), I work in corporate IT so by the time I get to sit down in the evening, I just don’t have the mental ability to tinker. Having said that my trade IT tinkering is what I do.


    Let me get to the point:


    Unboxing,


    Nice, even the box it came in was well presented and didn’t feel cheap. It isn’t by no means that Apple experience but frankly meh…


    The included manual was straightforward to follow no dramas and again its print was good. No cheap booklets here.


    Feel of the box and Remote:


    In one word, solid! With an aluminium chassis, it felt good to the touch, a nice big screen on the front and a flip compartment for USB and those card things (yes I am a newbie here).


    The remote is also nice and has a nice weight when handled and the travel of the buttons is well-positioned as it gives a good feel of responsiveness when pressed. I do have a Logitech Harmony hub (more on that later), so my intention is to do away with the remote that came with it.


    Setup


    I Ordered the box flashed to the latest OpenVix build. I was sceptical up until I powered on the box as truth be told I've been scared by the old stool Technomate boxes. Mentally I had everything crossed that this wasn’t going to be a third party rubbish software experience. Thank god it wasn’t


    I was greeted by the Openvix setup Wizard which was also noted in the manual. After setting my local values, date time and such it was onto the main event of scanning Astra 28.2. I wanted to challenge the VU so I kept everything as automatic and default and did not specify anything aside from my resolution of 2160p. Sure enough, it found my transponders and was ready to scan away. Being in Basingstoke UK, I did however have to work out my broadcasting region, which I think is BBC South, but I guess I will find out when watching the news.


    The Duo 4k, took maybe 5 mins ish to scan after which I immediately got a crisp HD picture. Maybe it's just me but I do think that the HD picture is better than Sky’s - - or maybe I am making it up. I started to mess with the EPG and settings, that is when I noticed that the UI of the Vu+ was going off-screen to the left. After some googling, I switched off overscan on my LG 65 Inch and enabled whatever the option on the Vu+ that allows you to centre the UI to the screen. Easy and quick then I could move on with starting to make my EPG the way I want it.


    I see a lot of people want to mimic the Sky box/Q experience, and I am no different, so I giggled when I discovered that OpenVix has a skin called Blue HD which makes the whole UI look like Sky….Cheeky, love it. Picons was a little confusing as the IPK that I needed to download wasn’t exactly the same per the World of Satellite videos, but having chosen the 100x60 transparent black it was easy.


    My main gripe is the effort you have to spend to get an EPG working however to my surprise without doing anything the Duo gave me a full 7 day EPG without any dramas. I am not sure if this was something prebuilt in the OpenVix image or not, but I didn’t need to install Cross EPG or anything similar. The EPG however contains many channels that I just don’t need and will never watch. This is when I discovered the Bouquets Editor/Configuration. Following a video from World of Satellite, I did a scan (which was very quick) and like magic, the huge list of channels was cut down and even better the EPG reflected the changes. I do however still a ton of BBC channels that are not for my region, enter OpenWebIF.


    I love the fact that you can control the box and its settings from a web front end. With Google as my best friend I found out how to add channels to my Favourites Bouquet, but I suspect my challenge will be how I can get the Vu+ to default to my Favourite and once more display the EPG from my favourite not anywhere else. If anyone knows please let me know.


    As I said earlier, I have a Logitech Harmony Hub and having read some stuff online I was sceptical that Harmony would even know the brand Vu+. I was extremely surprised when I found that Vu+ was listed in the list of receivers Logitech had, this made things very very simple indeed. No messing around with remote codes, I just setup the box in the app, and made it part of my activity. So happy with that.


    Other Stuff - maybe you can help


    PVR, I presume that I have to install an HDD to get the live pause and rewind function to work? If so I'll get that done shortly. I also want to question the security of the box i.e are there are default ports open that shouldn’t be? Once I am happy I will probably run Nmap and let you guys know unless anyone can tell me offhand?


    I also want to wait to see the stability and reliability of the box before I start truly messing with it such as ZeroTier networking, TVHeadend (maybe) and so on. Do let me know if you have any experience of that.


    Overall so far I am more than happy especially with the EPG, but if you do know anything about my question re Favourite, let me know below.


    Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments


    Thanks

    • Official Post
    Quote from newbieraf

    I see a lot of people want to mimic the Sky box/Q experience, and I am no different, so I giggled when I discovered that OpenVix has a skin called Blue HD which makes the whole UI look like Sky….Cheeky, love it. Picons was a little confusing as the IPK that I needed to download wasn’t exactly the same per the World of Satellite videos, but having chosen the 100x60 transparent black it was easy.

    You might prefer Kiddac`s version of Sky Skins than Blue HD, he also provides a E2Piconizer Plugin for easy install of UK Picons.

    Enigma2 KiddaC

    Quote from newbieraf

    it was onto the main event of scanning Astra 28.2.

    AutoBouquetsMaker plugin is the superior way to configure channels instead of an Automatic Scan. There is a video guide on the openvix page for this.

    Or install an Enigma2 Channel List - Settings.

    Quote from newbieraf

    PVR, I presume that I have to install an HDD to get the live pause and rewind function to work?

    I also want to question the security of the box i.e are there are default ports open that shouldn’t be?

    HDD or USB device is required for TimeShift or recording. You`ll also need 2 feeds coming from the dish/lnb, one for each tuner.

    There are no ports opened by default.

    Quote from newbieraf

    Overall so far I am more than happy especially with the EPG, but if you do know anything about my question re Favourite, let me know below.

    Use EPG-Importer plugin for a full 7 day guide.

    Or try Slyk EPG 7 day downloader


    Channel Lists - Settings & Plugins can be downloaded from the plugins browser menu > download plugins.

    • Official Post
    Quote from newbieraf

    how do I get Openvix to default to that both for channel list and EPG?

    AutoBouquetsMaker can be configured for your area, removing all the duplicate local free channels an Automatic Scan will store. You can set it for Freeview or with premium channels. It will also create new bouquets/favorites.

    If you want default startup to a bouquet instead of the full channel list, first choose a channel from the bouquet list > bring up the list of channels again from that bouquet > press Menu button > set as startup service. After an GUI restart the channels in that bouquet will be default.

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