Box for non-techy's

L

lee989

Newbie
Hi all (new registrant, long time squatter.. i mean reader). I apologise for yet another "which box" post, but having no experience yet, i wanted to draw on yours please :).

Essentially i need a box for my parents that's as little hassle as possible, but not costing too much. They really aren't tech savvy so ideally it needs to be a setup and leave it box, with just the occasional firmware flash that i can do when i pop in.

They have an existing Sly dish with 2 cables running from it for twin tuner, however that feature isn't absolutely required, but would be a nice possibility if they decide they want to pay for a second line.

Anyway, i've been looking at the zgemma's, however i have 2 concerns, 1 is that it's a patched image and as i have no experience wasn't sure whether that would cause more hassle tech-wise (i understand the firmware doesn't auto-update like official boxes, but does the EPG stay up to date e.c.t?), second is that i've heard that it's not as "fast" as other boxes. Once again, having no experience in this, means that i don't have any baseline for interpreting what that speed means in real life usage.

So i guess my first few questions are zgemma related:


  1. Once setup, will the EPG (and whatever else) stay up to date and only the firmware need to be manually updated?
  2. How often does the firmware usually need updating on these boxes?
  3. I understand they are cheaper boxes and processing speeds will be less than more expensive hardware, but what are they like in real life usage? Do they take 10 minutes to boot up? Does it take 30 seconds to load the EPG? Or does the speed only become an issue when you start adding plugins e.c.t.?

Secondly... whilst the zgemma's seem to be the best option at the moment, would anyone recommend a more suitable box. Vu boxes are bit too expensive for them (although i'm looking at one for myself) and it needs to be satellite (non-cabled area). Under £100 preferably, and i think i'm settled on openvix image (specifically need the skin thats similar to Sly's interface so they don't get too alienated). Or if you've got a zgemma, do you think its suitable for non-techy's?

Thanks in advance for any help, and i hope to be posting far less newbie threads soon :grin:
 
lee first of all what a nice posting for a change,you have been reading up on things which is great to under stand how things work,i would think you have a fair understanding of things and would suggest you get your self a zgemma box s2 and go about setting things up for mam and dad and you will get all the help you need on here im very sure of that
 
Thanks leslie, the only other one i'm looking at is the miraclebox. The micro (cheapest) falls inside their price bracket (based on the one website i could find selling them) and sacrifices the second tuner but gets official vix and presumably a better build quality. Guess that's ultimately something i need to weigh up myself, assuming both boxes seem to fulfil my main requirements and the ZGemma H2S and Miraclebox micro are pretty much the same price from what i've seen, there's not much separating them. Think i'll just defer to the parents and let them decide whether than 2nd tuner is something they won't really use.
 
A twin tuner is a must if you like recording but each to their own and both boxes are pretty good value for money
 
Hi Lee

I am new to the whole scene really with only having my ZgemmaH2S box for about 5 or 6 weeks now. I have setup and flashed, re-setup and flashed again time and time again until I had a simple "as close to sly" I can get so all my family can use it. I was so pleased with it I have shared the image on the boards with full instructions. It, of course has Kiddac's latest Slyk HD v3 skin.

You would basically need a 32gb usb stick and a H2S box. You personally would be able to setup the box at home then take it round and plug it in and it will all be working for them. As long as they have an internet connection (reasonable speed) there should be no problems.

The channel list is updated every morning at 4am. This removes old channels like Christmas Movies and replaces them with whatever is new in its place.
Then at 4:35am the EPG goes and gets its data and updates.
Both work in standby mode. It can be setup so that if they turn everything OFF like my mum and dad it could go and get the data on boot. Would take a couple of minutes but still can be sorted out so everything is automatic.

I am actually so pleased with these little boxes that my mum and dad will be getting one soon from me.

Like 1443leslie said, get a Zgemma box, I would suggest the ZgemmaH2S though for the extra speed. You will have it working in no time.

Good luck.
 
Mr wooshman i run over 200+ zgemma boxes and i cant fault them in any way so i am a big fan,one thing you can upgrade to is from a usb to a hard drive.you can pick one up on flea bay for around £25 for a 250/320 GB which work faultless with all the zgemma range boxes,(forgot to say i am looking forward to trying your setup )
 
Last edited:
1554leslie said:
Mr wooshman i run over 200+ zgemma boxes and i cant fault them in any way so i am a big fan,one thing you can upgrade to is from a usb to a hard drive.you can pick one up on flea bay for around £25 for a 250/320 GB which work faultless with all the zgemma range boxes,(forgot to say i am looking forward to trying your setup )
Click to expand...

I personally run a hard drive and funnily enough is a 320gb but I was just thinking of ease for his Mum and Dad with not having an extra "thing" plugged into it. With a USB it will just remain hidden in the back or even one of the micro ones will fit under the front flap I believe?

I can't fault my box, it is everything and more :-)

My image is purely a Sly look-alike, thanks to Kiddac, with the bare essentials for newcomers including Mum's and Dad's :-)
 
Zgemma are a good starting point for anyone wanting a cheap no frills box but want a decent epg, openbox are awful so don't go there. Having had a zgemma and moved onto vu+ I would say if build quality is important to you then give the zgemma a miss otherwise it should be fine
 
I have to agree with all the above comments lee.
I was like you looking on here for a while and was going to buy the Zgemma s2 but also got recommended the Zgemma H2S and managed to pick one up for £80 and must say I'm very impressed.
It runs nice and smooth flight delays on loading the EPG but that's probably my old drive.
If you use someone's image you can be up and running in about 10 mins :)
Half of my times been spent trying to customise it ,
You can gladly have my backup image but its probably similar to the one wooshman has offered
With
Openvix
Slyk v3 with tabs
All data set to save to HDD
Good luck with yours !
 
Thought i'd just conclude this thread (don't like leaving things open, feels rude). Thanks to everyone who has replied, helped me understand what i'm doing and the offers of help have been overwhelming, it's rare to find a community that helps new users so proactively.

Just off to order the ZGemma H2S and a pair of homeplugs, then lose a few nights of sleep tinkering with my new toy (i'll hand it over to my parents eventually... honest :P).

Thank you everyone :)
 
wooshman said:
Hi Lee

I am new to the whole scene really with only having my ZgemmaH2S box for about 5 or 6 weeks now. I have setup and flashed, re-setup and flashed again time and time again until I had a simple "as close to sly" I can get so all my family can use it. I was so pleased with it I have shared the image on the boards with full instructions. It, of course has Kiddac's latest Slyk HD v3 skin.

You would basically need a 32gb usb stick and a H2S box. You personally would be able to setup the box at home then take it round and plug it in and it will all be working for them. As long as they have an internet connection (reasonable speed) there should be no problems.

The channel list is updated every morning at 4am. This removes old channels like Christmas Movies and replaces them with whatever is new in its place.
Then at 4:35am the EPG goes and gets its data and updates.
Both work in standby mode. It can be setup so that if they turn everything OFF like my mum and dad it could go and get the data on boot. Would take a couple of minutes but still can be sorted out so everything is automatic.

I am actually so pleased with these little boxes that my mum and dad will be getting one soon from me.

Like 1443leslie said, get a Zgemma box, I would suggest the ZgemmaH2S though for the extra speed. You will have it working in no time.

Good luck.
Click to expand...


Hi wooshman

Im knew to this all. Have read up a few things and am looking to place an order for a zgemma h2s.( with the discount code as you mentioned:P) thanks.

You have mentioned internet with decent speed. What would you suggest is decent speed? Im getting around 4.4Mbps do you think I would issues ?

Also you know of a link of source of where to look to get this box up and running with the image files for dummies:P

Any information would be great.

Thank you
 
Hi j41sal

A 4mb connection should be fine, the main thing really is it being stable Ping speeds when you run a speed test are not high. High being anything of 200ms. Basically in in simplest form without the exact science, your internet connection is purely used to go and check line details from your line supplier and come back again. On my box this takes about 100ms, so I never get a glitch. If you have an unstable connection it can take longer., too long and you would get a glitch, but I can't see that being an issue.

As for an image file, I have one in the downloads section. WooshBuild v1. There are exact step by step instructions for beginners. Lots of people have used it so far without, on a whole, any issues.
 
If it was me I would set it all up and get it all updated. Parental lock all the screens that they wouldn't use and prevent updating later on. Then take a backup.
 
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