Advice Needed Which new 4K STB will be best for me?

[007.4]

I'm looking to purchase a new 4K STB. My budget is up to £350.
I have three static dishes and one motorised dish at present, using one diseqc switch on my VU-DUO2 with three S2 tuners.

Ideally I want 3x DVB-S2 tuners (S2x not important ATM but may useful for be future-proofing?) and facility to use my existing 3.5" 1.5TB HDD (most likely this will have to be external).

I've short listed Mutant HD51, Octagon sf4008 and GigaBlue quad 4K. They all have advantages and disadvantages.

eg

Mutant - cheapest, good image support but only 2 tuners, alleged poor remote and no eSATA.

Octagon - mid priced and good in most departments but no OpenPli support, no stream-relay support (still?) and no eSATA.

GigaBlue - a lot more expensive and most features. However, no OpenPli or ViX images (yet) and no DVB-S2x.


What are other important characteristics I should be considering? eg which has Blindscan etc?

What is the general consensus here which will be the best buy to suit my needs now (and perhaps in the future)?

 

[007.4]

Has anybody got an opinion of these boxes for me, please?

 

[Archive7]

I have recently bought the Mutant HD51 and I am quite happy with it.
If you buy two units that would give you a spare tuner, but perhaps this comes out too expensive.
The VU+ Solo 4K comes with a twin FBC tuner, but you can add a standard single tuner or dual as it has an expansion slot.
Check Amazon Germany prices or hm-sat. They are probably cheaper than from the UK because the products are designed and marketed in Germany.

 

[samoloko]

If you go with Octagon you will have multistream channels and I guess very high quality dvb S2 tuner

 

[007.4]

@HB13DISH16
I've got numerous other sat boxes so I already have "spare" tuners. I want a single box solution.
I did consider the Solo 4K but it does not have eSATA and the 1500MHz processor is not as fast as the others on my short list. The GigaBlue 4K has more/better features for the same price - but not as well supported

Furthermore, in the past I've been a big fan of Vu+, owing a Duo (faulty caps like everybody else), a Solo2 (still going strong) and a DUO2 (now going flaky, I suspects the caps again). So, I've lost a bit of confidence in their long term build quality.

@samoloko
The octagon is perhaps my current favourite but I'm put off a little because I've heard it does not support "stream relay" [for certain encrypted channels] nor blind scan and OpenPli do not make for it either. Perhaps the latter may eventually come but am I correct about the first two?

 

[Archive7]

Why do you need eSATA?
The VU+ Ultimo 4K has two USB3 connectors (I think they have better speed than eSATA) and one USB2

 

[TJExcalibur]

I have recently bought the Mutant HD51 and I am quite happy with it.
If you buy two units that would give you a spare tuner, but perhaps this comes out too expensive.
The VU+ Solo 4K comes with a twin FBC tuner, but you can add a standard single tuner or dual as it has an expansion slot.
Check Amazon Germany prices or hm-sat. They are probably cheaper than from the UK because the products are designed and marketed in Germany.

I tried the Mutant HD51 , very fast and a very good picture. The only downsides for me was the lousy remote control and no power switch on the back. I have see the Gigablue 4K quad working. All bells and whistles but I felt it was bulky and do I need 2 CI slots but the extra HDMI port is useful. Maybe the Gigablue UHD UE 4K when it arrives. VU+ is good but i think they are overpriced. OK to buy from Germany but the return insured postage works out expensive, therefore add an extra £25 in to the buying cost, just in case. I will get the Octagon SF4008, if it is not up to expectations I will sell it and try the Gigablue UHD UE 4K. To early to say which is considered the better box.

 

[007.4]

@HB13DISH16
Good point. I had assumed eSATA was faster but on reading up on it there appears to be little difference. Both the mutant and Octagon have 1 x USB3 too.

The Ultimo 4K is out of my price range. Did you mean the Solo 4K?

If so, apart from the 2 x FBC tuners (which I'll probably not use as such as I rarely record stuff) what does the Solo 4K have that is better than the Mutant or Octagon that is worth £120+ more? TFT screen is not essential and my boxes are hard-wired so wifi is not needed.

Is the Octagon Sx2 tuner more sensitive than the the VU+ FBC tuner?

 

[Archive7]

Did you mean the Solo 4K

Yes

 

[Archive7]

If so, apart from the 2 x FBC tuners (which I'll probably not use as such as I rarely record stuff) what does the Solo 4K have that is better than the Mutant or Octagon that is worth £120+ more? TFT screen is not essential and my boxes are hard-wired so wifi is not needed.

The VU+ Solo 4K can give you three tuners, if you order an extra standard (not FBC) single tuner.
Not sure about the Octagon. I didn't find their website that helpful hardly any useful data sheets and user guides, but that was few months ago.

 

[Archive7]

BTW I ordered the Mutant HD51 only because I needed support for CI+ for a subscription card and it worked very well, otherwise I would have bought the VU+ Solo 4K (which nobody was able to confirm it's support for CI+)

 

[Archive7]

Got a promotion leaflet today from hm-sat regarding all the VU+ 4k line. The new VU+ Solo 4k price is 319 Euro.
No idea how much was it before.

 

[007.4]

Thanks for the info. The Solo 4k is £309 in the UK, so taking delivery charges into consideration (especially if a return is needed) there is nothing much in it.

I'm still considering the Octagon SF4008 which are now back in stock.

The question remains which is the best/most sensitive/most useful type of tuner. The S2x or FBC?

I just have standard LNBs (four separate dishes) and rarely record anything - certainly not more than one channel at a time - therefore I think FBC functionality will be lost on me. Or am I missing something?
Am I correct in thinking the S2x standard may be used more commonly in future?

 

[Archive7]

I'm still considering the Octagon SF4008 which are now back in stock.

I looked few months ago for the Octagon SF4008 user manual but didn't find it in their website.
I still wouldn't touch it unless I have the full specifications from the manufacturer otherwise how can I compare it with the competition?
Hope they have it now.

 

[ocean04]

The question remains which is the best/most sensitive/most useful type of tuner. The S2x or FBC?

I've got SF4008 and VU+ Uno4K. SF4008 tuner is more sensitive + multistreams

I'd take SF4008 (if you can get it) SF4008 has 4USB ports (Uno4K only 2)

 

[Captain Jack]

I'll probably be getting the 4008 over the next few weeks in favour of my Solo2.

 

[MCelliotG]

I'm getting more and more perched for the new Zgemma H7s as of late! The specs look amazing, it has latest Kernel, OpenGL (Kodi), the same tuner chipset as SF4008 (multistreams), hbbtv etc. No blindscan yet. The only thing that worries me is that maybe it won't have the support that SF4008 and Mutant HD51 are already getting from various E2 teams....

 

[007.4]

However, only 2 S2x tuners. I'd prefer three instead of the T2/C tuner which is no use to me.
I also thought that Zgemma had a very poor quality reputation?

 

[MCelliotG]

There are variations, the H7S has two DVB-S2X and one DVB-T2/C as far as I've read on the specs, I may be wrong!

 

[007.4]

Your correct according to the specs forH7S. However, I need 3 x S2x (or even just S2 sat) tuners and have no need for a T2/C tuner.