New Vu+ Duo owner - first impressions.

[fergyc]

Yeah, all there for me too. Haven't found a better skin than the ViX one

 

[A nonymous]

At the end of the day, the look of the skin is all down to personal preference i suppose.

I use my Vu+ on my old 32" JVC through the component output, and get a clear HD picture which is infinately better than the SD one. I will not have a Plasma or LCD tv as to me the picture from a plasma/lcd TV looks crap and false with very little warmth, but thats just my opinion.

Nano

 

[Analoguesat]

On the info bar.

Oh yes so it is - How did I miss that last night?

Maybe I had got myself confused and was looking at one of the useless skins with no info on it.

 

[Huevos]

to me the picture from a plasma/lcd TV looks crap

Pay a bit more for a high end model and spend some time setting up the picture and they can look excellent. But I've got to agree, that a lot of them look blooming awful. Also, I go to a lot of people's houses and in 90% cases they have both a SCART and HDMI lead connected, and the SCART always turns the television to AV1 so they never get to watch anything in HD. The SCART adds dot crawl and then the tv has to upscale the picture (usually doing another terrible job), and then to boot the picture settings are all wrong and the picture looks horrendous, and then owner tells you how fantastic the picture is on modern tv's.

 

[Lazarus]

Yep, utterly amazing how people will pay Rolls-Royce prices and then fail utterly to make the best of the available performance.

 

[tomthebomb1968]

Ive tried most images for my duo and BH for me has always been the one that throws up fewest green screens. AS look for the TS panel plugin ipk and install that. You will be able to download almost any cam/skin/channel settings/picons etc direct to your box.

 

[Analoguesat]

Ive more or less given up on the Duo for the time being tom - Im sticking with my old 7020 until the E2 software improves.

Lots of the features I use regularly are missing from the Duo.

 

[Analoguesat]

Ive more or less given up on the Duo for the time being tom - Im sticking with my old 7020 until the E2 software improves.

Lots of the features I use regularly are missing from the Duo & I really dont like many of the current features..

However it reads my TNTSat card quite happily using hypercam and I have a look at the fta HD channels now and again.

 

[tomthebomb1968]

It took me a while to get familiar with E2 after using E1. My biggest gripe was the time taken to perform tasks. Restarting E2 after adding plugins was painfully slow. Its quicker now but still slow.

What sort of features is it that are missing that you use on the 7020? I know its no use for blindscan, I think the Uno has some sort of blindscan but dont know how well it functions.

 

[Analoguesat]

Its just clunky - for example (using BH):


the standard BH image has an analogue clock with a digital clock next to it - which is just naff.

if you press menu you dont have the numeric "quick zap" - (eg menu - 6 gets you to the setup menu on the 7020). Its menu down down down etc on the Duo

in the menu structure there is no rollover back to the top when you reach the bottom. You have to press left or right instead

no auto fec on the manual S2 tuning - no use for feed hunting

no signal strength bars on the manual tuning

the annoying wait when the epg loads - I dont want the epg loading - its of no interest to me - now and next is plenty good enough!

too many items appearing in the upper levels of the menu, many of which will only be used once in a blue moon. I found one menu with 14 items on it - which could have had half a dozen lopped off it and hidden deeper in the structure as they would rarely be used..

the transponder quick edit function is none existent

 

[compufunk]

Sorry to hear your are not getting as much out of your new receiver as you would have liked.

I've noticed the most recent two images from VIX have had problems. Prior to that, I'd never seen any green screening.

I've also had good experiences with OpenPLi images. I cant comment on BH because I haven't used it since DreamElite broke up.

Somehow I managed to set off a recording. God knows where it was trying to record to as there is no hdd in it. Managed to get to another screen, and tried to stop / deleted the ongoing recording. This locked the box SOLID. This was the final screen I saw as it locked. At this point the box was totally unresponsive to any rcu button presses long or short.

I'm three weeks too late with this, but for future reference, this can be cured without reflashing your box.

After my Dad did the same thing with his Vu Solo (No HDD), when I realized what had happened, I accessed the box via SSH then deleted the recordings from flash. (I'm sure it could also be accessed via telnet or FTP)

rm -fr /hdd/movie/*

Once the recordings are gone, enigma2 should load successfully.

 

[Analoguesat]

Never mind - I learned an important lesson about reflashing the box , and Ive since fitted a hdd so hopefully it wont happen again.

Ive got another image to try sometime - I was hoping to have a look at it this weekend but havent had time.

 

[TJExcalibur]

Thanks for your opinions Analoguesat on the new VU+Duo. Looks as if I am now deciding between the Clarke Tech ET 9100 and the DM 7020HD. Although the DM may not be here by Christmas.

 

[Captain Jack]

Both CT and 7020 are based on Enigma2 so will look and feel pretty much identical to the Duo.

I am very happy with my Uno though. Feels solid and very responsive. Got used to the remote control as well. Getting an occasional green screen when browsing EPGs, thought, but I haven't had to reflash yet

 

[tomthebomb1968]

Yeah most of what AS doesent like is not due to the hardware its the E2 software which has pretty much the same look and feel on all boxes. Purchasing the Clarke Tech or DM will not solve this.

 

[Analoguesat]

Found a use for the Duo - its now permanently tuned into a radio channel (Absolute 80's or Planet Rock depending what mood Im in) whilst I continue to look for new channels on the 7020

 

[TJExcalibur]

Found a use for the Duo - its now permanently tuned into a radio channel (Absolute 80's or Planet Rock depending what mood Im in) whilst I continue to look for new channels on the 7020

I expect you already know but there are alot cheaper radio receivers around. Must admit I have read a few bits of info about Vu+ and as one person said Vu+ is the Marmite of satellite receivers. Narrows me down to the CT ET9000 or DM7020HD

 

[Huevos]

Narrows me down to the CT ET9000 or DM7020HD

Good luck! The ET9000 doesn't even have a fan to keep it cool, and with the boot track battery issue I'd never consider it.

 

[Analoguesat]

I expect you already know but there are alot cheaper radio receivers around. Must admit I have read a few bits of info about Vu+ and as one person said Vu+ is the Marmite of satellite receivers. Narrows me down to the CT ET9000 or DM7020HD

I hate Marmite

But I think thats a very good description of it.

Im using it as an expensive radio receiver as

1) its all hooked up to my ridiculously complicated cabling system.

2) I can have a look at the French TNTSat channels via my card when I fancy seeing what the French are watching.

3) Its ready to go when either the s/w improves, I want to try a new image on it, I mellow a bit, or I find a semi decent skin that doesnt change all the frackin button assignments around!

 

[sonnetpete]

I dislike Marmite intensely but as far as my VU+ (Solo) goes, even though I like it a lot I can't say I would put it at the top of the pile. I find that I'm swapping between it and my DrHD at the moment. The VU+ has the full EPG and I find it easy enough to use (though annoying sometimes if you forget which coloured button does what). I've stuck at the VIX 2.1 image as it seems to do all I want.

True enough, I haven't explored all the extended features. Perhaps if I had, I'd want to upgrade the image. I don't know why each skin remaps the buttons either, sometimes I think it's just for the sake of doing it because you can. I call this skin and image development the 'Xmas Tree Effect'. You have your tree, and place some ornaments on it, then lights, tinsel, more ornaments, the fairy, spot a few gaps, more ornaments, maybe more lights and when you stand back to admire your work.....you can't see the tree. Maybe that's a bad analogy but I think that some image/skin developers forget that bottom line, it's an stb.....and maybe some end users occasionally want to just errrm.......watch TV?

The latest image on the DrHD is good as well, but it'll never be as flexible as the VU+. But I've developed a soft spot (it's the one on the top of my head!) for the DrHD and in some ways it's superior to the VU+.

Nutella on warm toast.....that I really like!!!