Originally Posted by
echelon
its important to note that recording (or watching) different channels is not just dependent on the number of tuners available, but it can be
for clarity, in simple terms its one tuner per transponder , so to record 3 separate channels you would assume you need 3 tuners, each with their own sat feed from the quad or octo lnb , in which case its the duo2 with a twin tuner and single tuner inside it
in practice, if the channels are on the same transponder, then it can record several times if needs be , as no extra tuning is required
so if you take BBC1HD , BBC2HD and BBC3HD they are all on the same transponder - 28.2°E Astra 2E 10847.00 V 50 U.K. DVB-S2 8PSK 23000 2/3 , so only one tuner is required in order to record all 3 channels at the same time, so a solo or zero could do this trick , whereas a solo2 or duo2 could also watch or record itv1HD as well on its second tuner from 28.2°E Astra 2F 11097.00 V 66 U.K. DVB-S2 8PSK 23000 2/3 ASTRA, 44.5 Mbps
in practice the required channels tend to be on different transponders, which is why we advocate one tuner per transponder, which then means watching one channel and recording another , or recording 2 channels and watching a recording, like on a sly HD plus box for example
so dont assume that 2 tuners = 2 recordings only , it will depend on the transponders being used
as for epg recording, that is down to software plugins where you can get a 7 day epg download to usb stick (like crossepg) , plus the ability of any other plugin for series linking (or name linking) , the sly epg and sly plus are excellent in this regard and I havent found anything to be as good and as simple to operate due to the fact their software updates and epg updates and series linking software is so good, I assume a freesat plus box has something similar , as does my freeview sony hxd870 dvd/hdd recorder
an internal hdd is a must on these boxes in order to emulate a sly plus type box (possibly a freesat plus box too but I have no idea about them) so a duo2 or solo2 with a large internal sata hdd fitted would be an ideal box to use for this project , with a suitable image and plugins installed and configured correctly
streaming of recordings to other devices would be about those devices accessing the content from the hdd, so is more about their abilities and not about the VU as such, but there are vu apps to do this for android devices and the programmes can be ftp,d and watched on a laptop etc, so I assume other devices can do this (a central NAS with ethernet can also be used for recordings, as a central hub to be accessed by various devices, it can also be used as a source for mp4 , divx and mkv video files too, plus mp3 audio files as well)
all these boxes have an ethernet connection which is mainly a 100 speed connection ( some like a duo2 may have the higher 1000 lan connection ? ) and few if any have an internal wifi connection, but usually they accept usb dongles for freeview and wifi if required
catchup tv would be down to using xbmc or kodi or suitable plugins (like we had with icefilms and 1channel etc), so is down to plugins once more. I tend to download the tv programmes as mp4 and divx and mkv and ftp to the box so I can watch them direct from the hdd on my duo1, especially any that were "missed" for some reason , playback of these filetypes works with the inbuilt mediaplayer software in the images and is so simple to do its a habit I am into, also includes usa series not out in the uk yet, like deadliest catch season 11 and supernatural season 10 for example
I would assume the gigablue or technomates would do something similar, but are limited in which image they can use I believe, so do have useful images but maybe not as many available as a vu , so the plugin apps may differ too
so if buying a non-vu you may be limited to openatv , openpli and vix afaik (possibly one or two others) - plus the VU boxes seem to have a larger userbase with the knowledge required for when you have questions that need answering, but I am sure there are loyal non-vu users out there that can help, whereas on here we tend to focus on the VU products sold by goldwafers
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