decisions vu+ or clarke tech/xtrend et9000

[wod]

I want to give linux receivers ago again after a bad experience with these before, I stupidly bought one of them tm 600 linux receivers and what a piece of s***.

now looking at these two I want to make sure to buy the right one this time but cant decide which one.

what did annoy me with the tm600 was having to mess around with memory card for extra memory and it would still lock up and freeze, having the image on the sd card so it would work properly.

regarding the memory and ram I would have thought the latest linux receivers would have at least a gigabyte for the flash and similar for system memory but looking at the spec of the et9000 it only has 128mb flash is that it ?

another thing the xtrend has a separate bootloader on a battery which does put me off if this ever goes wrong but the blindscan is one of the things i would like to have.

is there any info on this new vu+ ultimo that is out later this year as I cant seem to find anything official.

some advise would be welcome

 

[TJExcalibur]

I was about to buy a new receiver but there appears to be so much going on with supposed updates etc I have left it for now. The CT 9000 was my favourite, blind search and seperate bootloader which I think is better.

 

[wod]

yes, I'm getting confused with it myself. There is many out to choose from,

vu+ solo/duo
extrend et-5000/9000

I see now dreambox have released the Dm7020 hd which looks good but is priced around £549.

 

[TJExcalibur]

yes, I'm getting confused with it myself. There is many out to choose from,

vu+ solo/duo
extrend et-5000/9000

I see now dreambox have released the Dm7020 hd which looks good but is priced around £549.

As its a few months before I buy one I am going to print out the specs of my favourite receivers and hopefully find one that does most of what I want. I like DM but I will have to see if their specs and support is any better than others to justify the extra. Maybe a post on here asking just what a sat freaks receiver should contain. Could be interesting. Will leave that to the higher ups here to consider it. My ratings do not support intricate posts.

 

[sonic1]

Maybe someone who has both could comment, I have the Vu Uno, Duo and Solo and think they are all very good.
I think what you need to do is make a list of things you need. Here are a few to think about.
Single or Twin Tuner
How card and cam slots do I need
Is blind scan needed ?
Do you watch many downloaded movies ? I hear the ET range has better support for this.
Just a few to think about.

 

[Captain Jack]

Wonder when the 7020HD clone comes out....

 

[TJExcalibur]

Wonder when the 7020HD clone comes out....

I have to say I had a computer a few years back, made in China, very good, lasted for years but it came through a retail distribtor so I had someone to contact if it went wrong. Now a genuine DM box maybe alot dearer but if its faulty you send it back. I have read enough posts in various forums to know the hassle some have with clones. I think its also fair we should support only genuine receivers, after all they spend money on research and support. I would be annoyed if I was a forum sponsor and discovered support was provided in the forums for cloned receivers when I am selling the genuine item. I think it should be remembered the forums costs us nothing and advertising provides an income to enable us to have free forums. I rest my case M'lud.:-worship

 

[Captain Jack]

Fair point re sponsorship. The 7020HD will probably be around the £250 mark to buy, which I'd rather spend on a VU+ Uno (my next receiver).

 

[CSB]

I want to give linux receivers ago again after a bad experience with these before, I stupidly bought one of them tm 600 linux receivers and what a piece of s***.

now looking at these two I want to make sure to buy the right one this time but cant decide which one.

what did annoy me with the tm600 was having to mess around with memory card for extra memory and it would still lock up and freeze, having the image on the sd card so it would work properly.

I've had, as my first Linux-stb, the TM600, since December 2009. Its well made, dosen't look out of place under the 36" CRT-tv in the corner. The remote is very good, oh and the picture is good to. I sypathise with Wod, it dosen't live up to what it says on the box. Primarily because there is no choice of firmware/image. So I find myself in the same boat, looking for a STB that WILL do what its supposed to, with room for future upgrades/expansion/etc.

I have to say I had a computer a few years back, made in China, very good, lasted for years but it came through a retail distribtor so I had someone to contact if it went wrong. Now a genuine DM box maybe alot dearer but if its faulty you send it back. I have read enough posts in various forums to know the hassle some have with clones.

I think its also fair we should support only genuine receivers, after all they spend money on research and support.

Excalibur, totaly agree with you in supporting the Manufacturers that do all the developement/design.

However, just as Wod had a bad experince with the TM600, I got hold of a non genuine DM500s (£50 on fleabay, 6 months ago) and the options that came with it, rekindled my initial Linux hopes. It has more than paid for itself. It has multiple Image creators tweaking the cheap components, giving endless hours of re-flashing (no Pun intended) that using a genuine £200 Original would have got me worried. The picture is ok, the remote is like an American cars interior, and it dosen't do all the things the original can due to limited memory..etc.

However open source S2-stb's don't seem to have the stigma that S1 (DM500*) have. Are they not running various ports of (DMM-E2)?

Sonic1 having the most talked about boxes (VU+/S2) since last year. I would be interested to hear your recomendations, pros cons of the one's you have. I allmost

bought a VU+Duo, but the ugly face put me off. But still looking for a (futureproof) S2 recivier.

 

[wod]

Maybe someone who has both could comment, I have the Vu Uno, Duo and Solo and think they are all very good.
I think what you need to do is make a list of things you need. Here are a few to think about.
Single or Twin Tuner
How card and cam slots do I need
Is blind scan needed ?
Do you watch many downloaded movies ? I hear the ET range has better support for this.
Just a few to think about.

Well was going to buy a vu+ solo or extrend et5000 but I was then thinking I would spend the extra and get the extra tuner, hard disc space as i can use the spare tuner with a feed from my 28e dish for extra recording already have sky+ but recording a 3rd channel would be great.

blind scan i do want but understand from reading forums that the et900 does it in 4 stages. I'm too used to the vantage doing it in 1 sweep.

are you a black hole image developer ?

can you answer why the latest receivers only have 128mb flash when 1gb usb memory sticks are cheap as chips and having a 1gb flash would be massive think of the features that could be had

 

[sonic1]

With my Duo I use the spare tuner to hook up to a fixed dish on 28e and it is useful.

I am part of the Black Hole team but we have no influence on the hardware, we just work on the images. ( I am not involved in the coding either before anyone asks )

The new Uno has a memory size of 512MB which as far as any other linux box is pretty impressive.

The Duo is good value for money or you could wait for the Ultimo but we have no idea on cost yet but expect it to be more than the Duo.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[sonic1]

Sonic1 having the most talked about boxes (VU+/S2) since last year. I would be interested to hear your recomendations, pros cons of the one's you have. I allmost

bought a VU+Duo, but the ugly face put me off. But still looking for a (futureproof) S2 recivier.

Depends on your needs, Single tuner the Uno is a fantastic box for the money.

The Duo has the twin tuners and really is a great box ( I agree it was not blessed with looks but if my wife can live with it then I am sure you could ) :-righton

I am looking forward to the Ultimo though as I think it will be a fantastic box.

 

[wod]

found some pics of the ultimo and it looks great but I think the display would be better in white than red

Chipset BCM7413
CPU(MHz) 400
RAM 512 ?
FLASH 1GB
1x Tuner set, 2x swap able tuner
CI x2
Smartcard x2
3xUSB 2.0
Internal HDD 2.5", 3.5"
WLAN (US
Ethernet
Display VFD/OLED

maybe I wait a little and see when this ultimo is out

 

[CSB]

found some pics of the ultimo and it looks great but I think the display would be better in white than red

Chipset BCM7413
CPU(MHz) 400
RAM 512 ?
FLASH 1GB
1x Tuner set, 2x swap able tuner
CI x2
Smartcard x2
3xUSB 2.0
Internal HDD 2.5", 3.5"
WLAN (US
Ethernet
Display VFD/OLED

maybe I wait a little and see when this ultimo is out

Now why couldn't they do it like that the first time....(looks).............(And Spec)....mmmmn....

Homer !!!!, yes Marge.

 

[TJExcalibur]

WoW This Ultimo looks great.
_http://www.ultimo.co.uk/default.aspx

 

[TJExcalibur]

F*******t do it for £599. Way to dear.

 

[OldBen]

I am in the same boat, finally having moved my moved house sat project along a bit!

Does the ET/Clarke 9000 still have the issue with the battery & bootloader?

Duo seems to have gone up again to £339, was £319 from world of sat earlier in the year I thought? (when I had no dish so didn't buy one...)

 

[cokeaddict]

Ok I have owned my VU+ duo since Feb this year, and it's been great.

Not had any issue's with it and it has propper support from Blackhole team.

Last week I bought an ET9000 ( as when I bought the duo I was also umming and arrring over the 2 box's).

So I have now been messing with the ET9000 now for a week, and I find it just as good as the duo, but it doesn't have any upto date Blackhole images (that I can find).

So I am having to use VIX instead (no big deal just can't compare apples to apples thats all).

The blindscan function of the ET9000 is crap tbh, not worth bothering with as it has to do 4 scans (high / low and H/V) to do 1 complete scan as it were.

Other than that, the ET9000 technically has slightly better hardware and if you do lots of streaming from pc to stb then it's prob better for you, but to watch tv with, there as good as each other.

The ET9000 looks better, is a bit smaller, and the VFD is nicer (although less characters), and the remote can control the tv, blueray player and 1 other item (if you can find a code for it).

However I prefer my Duo as the remote feels nicer in my hand.

Verdict, whichever 1 you can get the best deal on, go with that (unless you specifically want the latest blackhole images in which case it seems you need the Duo) (anything you can do about that Sonic ?)

 

[TJExcalibur]

I am still sitting on the fence about which receiver. I was thinking of the Ultimo but read this and am having second thoughts. dream-seeks-injunction-against-satco-europe/
The DM 7020HD is still my favourite but I am reluctant to pay for an extra tuner as some offer 1 sat and 1 cable tuner but no one wants to do a deal for 2 sat tuners. I see an American does the DM7020 for £284 but it must be a clone as they import loads of stuff from China.
I was sent a link to the Protek MK-I Linux at £280. Never came accross this one before but after sales support is my main concern.

 

[OldBen]

I think they were going after the trademark names like Enigma2, the software is open source so safe as far as I am aware.