First descision, help needed.

[Ford1]

Good afternoon,

I'm about to re fit my home av equipment, having used a free, OPENBOX V8S, (supplied by my father who didn't like it) along side my sly uk equipment, sky+ hd 2tb, sky+ hd 1tb and sky+ 80gb white, I have made the decision that for the use I give sky, mainly freesat use, I can do without paying massive subs, for content I frankly can live without.

This has led me to the ENIGMA 2 satellite systems, BUT I only have a limited budget to get started with, (once I've stopped sky subs ill have some more).

I was ideally looking for a enigma 2 box, with twin tuners, allowing to record and view separate feeds, I was also hoping for a box with at least rf modulation, to enable use of existing cabling to another room, (I understand some people's view of tv over rf, but it saves having to run new cables).

initially only one box will be needed, however this could rise to three. two children's rooms, then the parents room. for now it will just be for myself and wife, and family room.

After having a quick look, I've found some options, and would like some advice.

I have seen and heard good reviews of the VU+ DUO set box's, I initially was ready to purchase a TECHNOMATE TM TWIN OE, but have seen the XTREND ET9500 for a very good price off WOS.

so please, could someone advise, of the last two options, what would be the better box to use as a main every day box, I have noticed that the TECHNOMATE TM TWIN OE, seems to be a little dated, but is it better than the newer EXTREND 9500?

Excuse the rant like post, I hope you can understand what I'm after.

 

[Sicilian]

Xtrend ET9500 has better spec CPU, more RAM and flash memory, good price at the moment. That would be my choice.

 

[dwarf]

If you can afford the extra £30 go for the et8000 it's an excellent box

 

[Ford1]

Thanks for the reply's Im thinking of taking the ET9500 with a 1tb hard drive. What's the difference in the ET9500 and ET8000 ??

 

[dwarf]

Faster processor, Double the ram, ability to take a third tuner and can support cable/terrestrial and satellite

 

[abu baniaz]

The Twin is very dated, I'd buy a newer gen receiver. The RF modulator is good tohave, but you can achieve the same with a standalone unit.

As you have a 2TB HDD in one of the Sky receivers, I'd get a receiver which takes a 3.5" HDD and use the one from the Sky receiver. Some only take 2.5".

 

[twol]

Out of interest how many feeds are coming into the house? Do you have more than 1 dish and what is the lnb(s) setup (twin, quad,?)
Do you plan to run the E2 receiver initially alongside or replace one of the Sky boxes?
Just thinking of your growth plans .. Its better to think ahead!
Also what WiFi coverage is available across the house?

... And Yes the ET8000 would be my choice

 

[Ford1]

I have 6 feeds, 3x2 in 3 rooms, these are each then split via rf cable to 1 extra room each, and all magic eye operated.

The first purchase will initially run along side the sky box in the family room until everyone has got to grips with it, then the sky boxs will be removed one at a time and replaced with new Linux box's.

Cost is a huge factor at the moment.
Looking at "the numbers" I would of thought the 9500 to be newer/better than the 8000 ??

All the input is great. I'm literally swapping money between accounts to purchase a box by the end of Monday.

The rf out can be overcome by the use of external rf modulator so that overcomes that problem.

If I add a dvb t2 tuner will that output via rf?

Cheers so one last push for recommendations before I hit buy on this box?

Forgot to mention, all tv points have hardwired lan access points, no need for WiFi on the boxes.

And forgot again, 2 extra feeds will be initially installed from the spare outputs on my octo lnb to feed the new Linux box initially, before being removed along with the sky box.

Hope that cleared everything up?

 

[judge]

As you have LAN access in the rooms without feeds, you'd be better off using than that rather than rf cables.
Are you planning on adding terrestrial or cable at any stage in the future?
I wouldn't be removing the 2 new feeds, the more feeds the main box has, the better.

 

[Ford1]

No sorry, only the rooms with sky box's currently have lan access. I had looked at tv over cat 5e to send signal to other rooms but will be relying on standard rf for now. They are only bedrooms so only have relatively small (32") tv's and they are smart wireless. So most content is either streamed from main server pc, or through iPlayer etc. It is the other 3 rooms that all have, twin sat feeds, terrestrial aerial over coax cable, and dedicated lan ports.

 

[judge]

So, 3 rooms have 2 sat & 1 terrestrial feeds?
1 of those rooms will have 4 sat & 1 terrestrial feeds soon?

 

[Ford1]

Yep, that's about it.

 

[judge]

Just my opinion so.
2 x Xtrend ET8000 for the rooms that have 2 sat & 1 terrestrial feeds.
1 x Most current gen E2 boxes that you can use at least 4 Sat & 1 terrestrial feeds on (don't remove those 2 feeds when done testing), Sponsor won't put you wrong on a recommendation.
Power-plugs for the rooms that don't have feeds & use current gen boxes with no or single tuners.

 

[Ford1]

Can I transmit tv signal over cat 5 through power plugs and the use of hdmi extenders? I've seen them on eBay, but do they only work using direct cable?

Going for a et8000 tomorrow, first box to try, hope it works as well as expected. If so then another 2 will be ordered.

 

[twol]

Can I transmit tv signal over cat 5 through power plugs and the use of hdmi extenders? I've seen them on eBay, but do they only work using direct cable?

Going for a et8000 tomorrow, first box to try, hope it works as well as expected. If so then another 2 will be ordered.

ET8000 is a good solid box, does what it says on the tin.
As much as I dislike power plugs, they will work in your environment for providing LAN access (not TV signal direct).
So as Judge suggested, power plugs in the non-Lan bedrooms, connecting ethernet cable to sat receivers probably with no tuners. They will use an E2 plugin (Remote channel server) to connect to one of the E2 receivers with Sat cable connections. So they run in a client/server relationship (so no need for a tuner on the client box) ..... but WILL use one tuner on the server receiver when connected by the plugin.
Set your sat cable receivers up with static IP's so the client receivers know which Sat cabled receiver they are talking to!

So for example if your main ET8000 has 3 tuners (max on ET8000) then you can watch/record and serv(er)ice one of the other bedroom (non Sat cable) receivers.

As you replace the Sky boxes you need to remember when deciding on the number of tuners that you will tie up a tuner if accessed by one of the non sat cable receivers!

So if you replace the sat boxes with 3 ET8000's (each with 3 tuners), you could watch and record on each ET8000 while the powerplug receivers would each access one of the the ET8000 receivers for their TV access.

Hope I haven't confused you or me

 

[Andy_Hazza]

Can I transmit tv signal over cat 5 through power plugs and the use of hdmi extenders? I've seen them on eBay, but do they only work using direct cable?

Going for a et8000 tomorrow, first box to try, hope it works as well as expected. If so then another 2 will be ordered.

Hardwired only. Won't work with power plugs.


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[judge]

Hardwired only. Won't work with power plugs.


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Using power plugs without issue for 3yrs now... All streaming & recordings working fine.

 

[twol]

and obviously (?) you don't need a magic eye, each box controls its own channels via its own remote. The ethernet receivers see a copy of the channel list(called a Bouquet(s)) on the server box (or a subset - you can decide)

You can also set up recordings on the main box and access those via the lan on another receiver/PC

 

[twol]

No sorry, only the rooms with sky box's currently have lan access. I had looked at tv over cat 5e to send signal to other rooms but will be relying on standard rf for now. They are only bedrooms so only have relatively small (32") tv's and they are smart wireless. So most content is either streamed from main server pc, or through iPlayer etc. It is the other 3 rooms that all have, twin sat feeds, terrestrial aerial over coax cable, and dedicated lan ports.

Thats what the powerplugs are for.... Give you lan access in the 3 rooms without... Then you can forget about rf and putting cat5e into these rooms... Its really dead simple.!
I have a 3 level house (cellar, ground and upstairs) and can put lan into everyroom with powerplugs .... Providing there is an electric powerpoint!
In my cellar, I have a bedroom with mediaplayer, sat receiver and TV all connected to the network via a powerplug.... No need for rf or cat5e (and in my case a powerdrill to get through the concrete floors and walls)

 

[Ford1]

Cheers for all the input, I ordered a 8000 at 1am (was worried I'd talk myself out of it!) How long does initial setup take, I've read a few guides to using enigma, and ftp server from pc so I'm fairly confident.

And on the powerplug side, would a cheep zgemma box work as a receiver only box fed through the xtrend box. (only need a cheep box?)