Posts by ekkostar

    I still think DMM have and always will price themselves out of most of the European and North American market, theres nothing that special about them as to why they are so expensive. Their appeal is mostly now only to die hard DMM fanatics, although if thats what they like who am i to argue.


    I think the DM7080 is a brilliant bit of kit but I would still buy the Duo 2 over the DM7080 as i don't think the slightly higher specification of the DM7080 justifies the extra £300 over the price of the Duo2. That is what makes the Duo 2 a better box for me over the DM7080.


    It is understandable that price does play a part for some prospective buyers. However, you cannot say the Duo2 is defacto a better box than the 7080HD. As you say you are considering the price, so, you're viewpoint is an opinion considered on the price.


    Many people also consider that VU machines are too expensive.


    It's a relative point as to why Dreamboxes seem expensive. To make the best they have to sink in a lot of R&D costs.


    A clone manufacturer can simply copy the hardware and knock it off at a fraction of the cost. That's simply because they never bore the development costs to begin with. The same can to some extent be said of all machines/manufacturers that adopted Enigma which originally comes from Dream Multimedia.


    VU is just one of the manufacturers further along that curve. They have in the past generally tried to concentrate on producing performance machines. That was their niche but they also now realise it is not possible to produce top end machines 'cheap'. Pioneering developments cost serious money.

    At the end of the day i would say thats a matter of opinion :trbtjrjq:


    If opinion or cost came into it there are also many other manufacturers worthy of consideration. The DM7080HD is the best machine on the market. Since it's launch it's pretty much forced the Duo2 into a price dive and knocked it off the perch. The best always costs money, facts are facts.


    The DM800HDSE has been a phenomenally successful machine. It's still relevant with a modest v2 revision and it's small form factor and internal HDD have endeared it to many. It's also spawned a whole clone industry all of it's own.


    If price is an issue and the OP wants a top end machine then the Duo2 is in the mix. The lower models of the VU range are certainly off the mark and are a probably bit late to the party. The Solo2 was and still is a good machine but getting a bit long in the tooth. At current prices the Duo2 makes more sense than the Solo2.


    Prices wise if you 'must' shop around a Duo2 can be had for £285.15 delivered with 24mths warranty from authorised German sellers. It will cost more in the UK because Germany is VU's main EU market. It all happens in Germany you see.

    And also the most expensive, DMM stuff can't be faulted but its too overpriced for what it is.


    Nano


    OP asked for the best not the cheapest or VFM. VU make decent boxes but they come second to Dreambox.


    If he wants a Dreambox then the best at the moment is the DM7080HD. It's horses for courses when it comes to price as you are buying top end equipment. They maybe priced too dear for some but they're also quite 'reasonably' priced for a top end Dreambox.

    Little debate on this one.


    If you're contemplating spending £240 and £300 doesn't bust a gut then go for the Duo2 everytime. In fact if you only have £240 at present then would suggest you find the extra to fund the Duo2.


    The Solo2 is a fixed tuner DVB S2 receiver and cannot match the flexibility/future proof of the Duo2 going forward.


    The Solo2 is/was a great receiver in it 's own right but it's getting a little old now. At current market prices no reason not to go for the Duo2.


    If you have a jailbroken ATV2 then you will still probably want XBMC. Teams such as Blackhole are now bringing out images with XBMC enabled. It's early beta days but XBMC is the way forward.


    Don't bother with the original Duo, it's an old machine and it's pretty much had it's day. The latest XBMC enabled Blackhole images will not work on it.

    Hi, which box is the best of the 2 the solo or duo for a complete newbie, cheers


    fath2


    Both the Solo and Duo are very old boxes now.


    If you are after a VU better to look at their latest range dependent on your budget.


    The Duo2 already supports XBMC via the new BH beta images

    I stand corrected.
    I'd still go for a vu over gb though.


    Duo2 over a Gigablue for sure.


    I don't think you are wrong at all. VU receivers have far more support end of. Support manifests itself in a number of keys ways and having a massive user base helps to further self support itself. The more image teams that support a receiver it stands to reason the more support it has - end of.

    Technomate 5402 with a Gibertini 1.5m dish is probably a bit of a mismatch.


    That dish is top quality and deserves a top reciever. Do you have a DiSEqC positioner?


    If you want the best receiver then its the latest Dreambox 7080HD. It's the flagship Dream machine but will set you back a lot more than the £400 budget you have set yourself.


    Alternatively if you go for VU then best pass on the Solo2. It only has fixed twin DVB/S2 tuner meaning no C/T/T2 options.


    The Duo2 however can do what you want. Prices have been slashed recently so if you shop around it's priced under £300 now. It seems there's a fire sale on it now and it's a buyers market at the moment...... I think dependent on where you shop you could also probably haggle a bit further if you're that way inclined.

    If you're upgrading from a Solo might be an idea to widen your horizons a little more perhaps.


    The SE is a bit non-descript and a commercial mess. The Zero is effectively a direct replacement for the Solo.


    VU seem to be going from Hero to Zero rather rapidly LOL

    You really could have saved yourself ~£100 and gone for something like the Medialink IXUSS Zero.


    The Solo SE is not great for the money really.

    The Solo2 is a better established machine and the Solo SE is not really comparable.


    Unfortunately, the Solo SE seems to have missed more than a trick or two and this satellite market is somewhat unforgiving. The network speed is comparatively slow, external HDD and tuner flexibility not as it seems and there's a common complaint that it is far too expensive/over priced for what it is.


    If you want bang for your buck then Technomate have launched the TM-Nano 3T which is perhaps worth looking at?


    Spec wise it probably wipes the floor with the SE. You get the 1.3GHZ processor, gigabit LAN, internal HDD, VFD and it is 2 x DVB-S2 and 1x DVB-T2. The current going rate is under £200 and that marginalises machines like the disappointing Solo SE even further.

    If the measure of 'success' is a stable emulator then it's really a bit too early to say the A3 is a flop. The remote on this thing seems wonderful and if you've used XBMC it represents a welcome stride beyond Linux.


    XBMC based satellite receivers have a lot going in their favour and I would suspect it's only a matter of time. The price to performance ratio amongst other things will probably be one of the hard to beat areas.

    Sorry but your first generation argument does not hold water, the XBMC community is as large if not more and as mature if not more than Enigma2, just look at the many many XBMC support forums for proof of that.


    Sorry, but you seem to be contradicting yourself ?


    As you say XBMC is a larger and mature community which is exactly why the direction for converged products such as the Prismcube. It's a 1st generation product that has adapted XBMC to work for the satellite domain or conversely adapted a satellite receiver to work in the XBMC domain. The result was XBMC4STB and this was/is a first.


    The Amiko A3 is another product produced in a similar vein and there are many others in development right now. The early boxes as with anything 1st gen undoubtedly has some issues (we've all been there)


    As was with Linux to begin with, many could not get their head round why Linux at that time as well. Ultimately if being an early adopter is not your thing, then better spend your money elsewhere.

    The thread is about Marusys change of policy. I'm not sure there has been or one intended? If the suggestion from that is that VU+ & Marusys are not or have no intention of supporting their own products then that truly is bizarre.


    As for pricing of products and image support, then you are probably entering/confusing the matter with the murky areas of third party image teams and distributors. There are many parties interests residing amongst all that. Unfortunately this is an area unto itself.

    Doubt Marusys will change policy. Why ?


    VU+ is simply a 'brand' name and the direction of that area of the business has now been/become to support/promote legacy linux E2 products.


    Marusys on the other hand has been tasked and is currently focussing on XBMC4STB.


    The cost of Dream and VU+ products have always been relatively 'high' because as most will know and understand is that the development behind the scenes costs serious money = ongoing support.


    There's no shortage of clones or knock off boxes available and as always the choice is always yours.