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Which box to get?

ClubLife

ClubLife

Newbie
Hi guys and girls, looking for your expert advice please!

Been maintaining the father-in-laws Skybox F3 for the past couple of years, setting up, flashing newer FW, updating channel lists, managing C/Nlines etc, so I'm familiar with cardsharing to a degree.

I've just managed to convince my folks to cancel their Sly sub and was going to set them up with a Skybox F3 as well. However after talking to them about what they'd like from the box, the EPG and interface isn't going to cut it. I've just been skim reading numerous threads regarding different boxes, and I saw the Zgemma-Star 2S are quite popular at the moment. The only thing is they wouldn't need the twin tuners, nor the cable tuner. Is there a single tuner version of this box? Or does the twin tuner box have much better specs that warrant the extra in price, even if only using one tuner?

Few more questions regarding the Zgemma-Star S2:

- Are these pretty straight forward to set up? Do they require regular maintenance, or are they set and go?
- Can you remote into these from outside of local network?
- Does the Zgemma-Star S2 have a 7day EPG? And does it work properly/update quickly?
- Can you record series like on an official Slybox?
- Does it have a Slybox like skin?
- How do the channel updates work? i.e. I manually update the Skybox F3 channels using AJ's list regularly via USB.
- Where's the cheapest place to buy them from currently?

If there's a better box out there for around the same price as the Zgemma-Star S2, that does all of the above, please explain why :grin:

Thanks in advance for reading and any reponses/advice.
 
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I have a zgemma s2 sat tuner,im pretty much a novice, this is my 1st box, after a few teething problems with the box (Which ill add was all down to me messing about lol) all has been good, only maintenance iv done is once in a blue moon ill have to download the epg as it wont have updated over night for what ever reason, but other than that nothing, im still using the original open vix image I started with (153) and iv been up and running about 4 months now, great little box and I cant speak highly enough about it.

What I will add though is I am now looking for an upgrade, something a little faster, as I do find browsing the epg and other things a little slow and laggy sometimes (again ill add this could be down to my HDD as its an old one iv had lying about for years so that may be faulty) so my zgemmas going upstairs and ill be getting a better setup for my living room, but these a great little boxes and for the price you cant go wrong :) I just always have to go one better, but all my close family and friends are getting one of these boxes from me and id feel confident in them having them all not being as tech minded as myself :)

To answer your questions where I can here goes;

Few more questions regarding the Zgemma-Star S2:

- Are these pretty straight forward to set up? Do they require regular maintenance, or are they set and go
Yes easy to install imo, grab the image you want, stick it on a usb stick, plug into the box and turn on, the image will flash then all you need to do is add your line, I grabbed my image from a few of the guys on here, everything setup ready to go.

- Can you remote into these from outside of local network?
Yse I cap stuff and download it to my pc via a ftp client (filezilla) yu also add your line this way ;)

EDIT: Actually I read the question wrong :) Im not sure if you can access the box from outside the home network.

- Does the Zgemma-Star S2 have a 7day EPG? And does it work properly/update quickly?
Yes and like iv said previously iv had to download once or twice manually, but its really easy to do even for a nooob lol

- Can you record series like on an official Slybox?

Kind of, aslong as its on the same time every week.
- Does it have a Slybox like skin?
Yes mine does :)
- How do the channel updates work? i.e. I manually update the Skybox F3 channels using AJ's list regularly via USB.

Nope iv never done this on mine.
- Where's the cheapest place to buy them from currently?
I bought mine from here mobi-shop.co.uk/index.php/categories/product/view/38/43.

Hope this helps :)

EDIT:

Im using an older version of this guys image http://www.techkings.org/downloads.php?do=file&id=517 so Id guess this one is better :)
 
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No decent single tuner Boxs available for less than price of zgemma 2s so its my pick.

Easy to set up using someones backup which will have hard work and skin etc done already.
You can teamviewer in remotely.
EPG and channel frequency update nightly.
Cable tuner is on the h1. The 2s is twin sat.
There is series link but not as easy as official sky for that bit.

They are pretty much set and leave so much better than skybox.
 
Cheers for the quick and detailed reply micky22 and sucmnsee! :grin:

Can you update the EPG manually from the box, or does it require downloading a file and FTP'ing it over?
Just trying to gauge how parent/technophobe-friendly it is, trying to reduce the number of phone calls late at night asking why so-en-so channel isn't working lol Think I'll end up replacing the Skybox F3 at the father-in-laws with one too at this rate!

With regards to the H1, if they've previously had Vermin to the property but it's been cut off, can they still use the cable tuner with a cable line? Or does the Vermin sub have to be live?
 
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Im getting my parents one of these and they arent tech minded at all and im confident that aslong as they dont mess about maintenance is low :)As I cant be bothered with them hounding me all the time lol

Epg auto updates on mine at 4 o'clock every morning, but once or twice hasnt so i do it manually, its really easy to do :)

Once in a blue moon one or 2 channels will scramble, a quick service search and jobs a good one and again very straight forward to do, youd easy be able to talk someone through it over the phone even with your non tech minded parents

EDIT:
Cant answer the vermain question as my areas sly only, aslong as I have a dish and an internet connection (wired or powerline adaptors) its all gravy :)
Single tuner version: only place I know of thanks to someone on here :) http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Original-Enigma2-Linux-os-Zgemma-Star_60198689744.html but for the price you may aswell get an s2 as you can still use it as a single tuner :)
 
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Virgin linevneeds to be live for BB i believe.

Even to manually update epg its just few button presses. No messing with stuff like skybox
 
The autobouquets will take care of channel lists and epg if you use vix image. Set it up once and it should update overnight.

Don't forget you'll need some kind of recording media (external hdd if they record a lot). My mate has the zgemma and it's a bit slower than my technomate but I doubt it would annoy me
 
Kinda off topic but how do people get 7day EPG on VM?

Most of the time I usually only get 1 day EPG and sometimes nothing shows on EPG.
 
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