Which new receiver with specific features?

[primestar31]

Just got one of these "GTMEDIA GTS Satellite Television Receiver Android6.0 Satellite Television" receivers just for fun...

It does have all the diseqc 1 and 1.1 switch options, as well as 22KHz, diseqc and (supposedly) USALS positioning. It just came in today so I have been playing with it for a bit this evening. So far I can't find where to enter the receiver's position for USALS. It comes with the whole Clarke Belt programmed in already along with most of the current transponders for ALL satellites, including NA. Regular scan works fairly fast with per-programmed TPs. I CAN NOT get the blind scan to work even though it is one of the options under the scan icon. I deleted one satellite to see if I could add one and add/edit TPs, and while you can add a new position (satellite), I have not been able to add TPs via the receiver. Might have to manually edit the satellite list?

I have not connected to the ethernet port so I have no info on on-line options the receiver has. I want to scan all it's ports first to make sure it isn't going to do anything I don't want it to. For me the on-line stuff is almost irrelevent since I have very limited bandwidth for playing IP streams etc, other than locally on the LAN.

The remote that comes with it is ... well... crappy. The unit will accept a USB dongle for wireless keyboard/mouse combo so that's a plus.

It plays AC3 audio through the HDMI, but I am not getting Dolby sound out to my audio system yet. Likely a "pass-through" setting somewhere. If I get that working I'll try AAC etc.

Scanned channels on Galaxy 13 (127W) C-band, and 125W Ku for PBS feeds. The UHD on the NASA mux plays fine. Picture color and quality are fine on my monitor.

I'll play with it for a week or so and write a review in that section.

Here is their forum. Just be aware that most people on their forum use the receiver for "alternate" stuff. I'm going to code the link because of that, so it isn't live:

https://www.freesat.cc/forum/index.php

 

[Arion]

I bought an Octagon SF8008 4K UHD receiver which has just come out. It has blindscan, runs Enigma2 images with a very quick chipset. The best part is it's about $100 less than a full size STB and has built in dual Wifi antennas to boot. Rick is ordering some but I bought it right from England and had it shipped. Comes to about $140 delivered.

OCTAGON SF8008 4K UHD Linux Enigma 2 2160p H.265 HEVC Dual Wifi Multi-Stream DVB-S2X & DVB-C/T2 Combo Receiver

 

[Cham]

@Arion those receivers seem to be working out ok. Not much of a wifi fan here I try to keep the RF outside. Too bad it has to have the DVB-C/T2, not really useful here but maybe in the future. How do you like it so far?

 

[Arion]

You don't have to use the Wifi at all as it has a standard Ethernet port on the back as well. I like it very much so far. The drawback with many of the Enigma 2 boxes is that the chipsets don't do blind scan but this chipset does it very well. It's very quick and supports Kodi on a hardware level so it integrates as a complete multimedia box. Only drawbacks so far is that the front display is rather bland and I'd rather have full alpha-numeric display for channels, ect but to keep the price down they did have to make some tradeoffs. Only other issue so far for me is the various images are having some problems with making the built in signal meter to work right but it's in the process of being addressed. You can have it pre-flashed with the image of your choice. Mine came with OpenAtv which I really don't care for alot so I put Pur-E2 on it and it's working fine. And of course that over the air tuner doesn't help us at all as that is for the European market. I'd rather have a second sat tuner installed but it is what it is. If you want to run both c-band and ku from the box at the same time you can use a 22khz switch or a Diseqc switch. I'm just running with c-band on this particular box.

 

[raydio]

You don't have to use the Wifi at all as it has a standard Ethernet port on the back as well. I like it very much so far. The drawback with many of the Enigma 2 boxes is that the chipsets don't do blind scan but this chipset does it very well. It's very quick and supports Kodi on a hardware level so it integrates as a complete multimedia box. Only drawbacks so far is that the front display is rather bland and I'd rather have full alpha-numeric display for channels, ect but to keep the price down they did have to make some tradeoffs. Only other issue so far for me is the various images are having some problems with making the built in signal meter to work right but it's in the process of being addressed. You can have it pre-flashed with the image of your choice. Mine came with OpenAtv which I really don't care for alot so I put Pur-E2 on it and it's working fine. And of course that over the air tuner doesn't help us at all as that is for the European market. I'd rather have a second sat tuner installed but it is what it is. If you want to run both c-band and ku from the box at the same time you can use a 22khz switch or a Diseqc switch. I'm just running with c-band on this particular box.

I was looking at this box but decided on the VU+ Zero4K which has many of the features that your box has. VU+ also has an issue with the signal metering other people have said, but I don't think it's all that bad. Seems to be pretty close to my Amiko HD.265. The tuner on the VU+ is very sensitive and pulls out transponders that I would never get with the Amiko. The VU+ was about 167.00 delivered from Berlin Germany. It's a fun box to play with as this is my first Enigma 2 box it's a learning curve for sure!

 

[Arion]

I've read good things about the VU receivers as well. I know they're very popular over in Europe and a lot of people use them to hack with but it's still a great FTA box as well. Bit of a pain to buy from overseas but not too bad. I do know that with the Octagon box I've been talking about that Rick has an order from Germany on the way so people can buy them in the U.S.

 

[raydio]

I've read good things about the VU receivers as well. I know they're very popular over in Europe and a lot of people use them to hack with but it's still a great FTA box as well. Bit of a pain to buy from overseas but not too bad. I do know that with the Octagon box I've been talking about that Rick has an order from Germany on the way so people can buy them in the U.S.

Mine was real easy to buy, no issues at all. Yes I heard Rick was going to sell them but with the other tuner it has I don't see where it will be real popular here -

 

[Arion]

It’s really not a problem. Every TV today as an OTA tuner so it’s really not a impediment at all. This box is quicker and a more sensitive tuner than boxes selling for $100 more. This box blows my Zgemma H7AC out of the water and costs $100 less. It will do well.

 

[Andyboy90]

I can vouch for Vu+ Zero 4K. I got mine last week and it's a really good box. There is a learning curve with Engima 2 as things are not as simple as the FTA boxes we (North Americans) are used to.These boxes are made for use in EU but they work fine here. The best thing I like about this box is the ability to customize skins. Right now this box is running a ku dish on a SG2100 motor and no problems so far.

 

[raydio]

I can vouch for Vu+ Zero 4K. I got mine last week and it's a really good box. There is a learning curve with Engima 2 as things are not as simple as the FTA boxes we (North Americans) are used to.These boxes are made for use in EU but they work fine here. The best thing I like about this box is the ability to customize skins. Right now this box is running a ku dish on a SG2100 motor and no problems so far.

What image are you running? I am using OpenPLI 6.2 and like this one -

 

[Andyboy90]

What image are you running? I am using OpenPLI 6.2 and like this one -

I haven't used OpenPLI. I use OpenATV 6.2 and like it so far. The only thing i dont like about OpenATV is that even if you select english as your language there are still few things deep down in settings that are in German (or some other EU language. I will be testing a few enigma2 images in the coming week but i think it all boils down to personal preference

 

[ZetaMale]

I used Enigma on a Azbox Ultra and wondered what this bouquet nonsense is. Apparently, it pertains to the way they do things in Europe.

 

[Andyboy90]

I used Enigma on a Azbox Ultra and wondered what this bouquet nonsense is. Apparently, it pertains to the way they do things in Europe.

I may be wrong but I think bouquets are just a way of creating groups for the channels. E.g all sports channels under sports bouquet and movie channels under movies bouquet

 

[KE4EST]

Yes, bouquet is just another name for group. Not nonsense, just different words used in different regions of the world. Think of a group of flowers...yep a bouquet of flowers.
Lots of words like that. Over there they call the door that opens in the the back of the car, that is used for storage, the boot. Most in NA call it a trunk.

 

[Arion]

Enigma 2 images certainly have a learning curve but a box running Linux can do so much more than the standard firmware many boxes are flashed with. I started playing with E2 images on an Icecrypt receiver a few years ago and it took a few months in order to figure out how to do everything and now since more 4K receivers are coming on the market that will blindscan there is no reason not to use an Enigma image. And the neat thing is once you learn your way around the operating system even if you flash with a different image the basics are all the same. Just a matter of finding an image and a skin that you like that works good for you. Definitely worthwhile learning how to use Enigma2.

 

[Chewie]

Here is the same receiver as the Octagon, selling out of the Ukraine at 45.00 dollars.

 

[Chewie]

Here is another receiver, this one looks very good.

 

[Chewie]

Here are the Specs on the Edison Mio 4K.

Edison now also comes with his first 4K with a hardware quality that is looking for its same.
Housing in ALU
Handmade remote control with ALU Finnish
Latest 64 Bit Linux 4.19 making the first E2 Enigma2 Broadcom box on the market.
2GB Highspeed DDR-4 Ram
8 GB EMMC Flash
optional bis 12 SATIP Tuner (vtuner)
Multiboot
openGL Support
HBBTV
KODI
QT WEBKit Browser
Blindscan mit Multistream Support
Media Playback bis 2160P H265 wie auch H264
PIP
WIFI 2,4 und 5 GHZ
HDR Force für alte UHD TV
HLG/HDR10 Support
Bluetooth HID Support
Hochwertige Treiber
excellenter support

Technische Daten:

• 4K UHD Set-top Box
• Linux Operating System
• Dual Core ARM 1.5 GHz
• H.265 HEVC decoding support
• FLASH 8GB eMMC/RAM 2GB DDR4 2400Mhz
• 1 x DVB-S2X Tuner
• 1 x DVB-T2/C Tuner
• Multi Stream Support
• Blind Scan Support
• 4K UHD Multimedia Player
• Smart Card Interface
• Dual Band 2x2 Wi-Fi 802.11ac 5G/2.4G with MU-MIMO
• 2 x Pluggable Wi-Fi Antennas
• Bluetooth embedded 2.1/3.0/4.0
• Solid 10/100Mbps Ethernet Network Interface
• Live Streaming through the Home Network
• Picture in Picture (PIP)
• Web Browsing support
• Expandable Add-Ons and Plug-Ins
• Free Internet Streaming TV and Radio
• Universal Remote Control 2in1
• Aluminum Case 180mm

 

[Brct203]

I used Enigma on a Azbox Ultra and wondered what this bouquet nonsense is. Apparently, it pertains to the way they do things in Europe.

in Europe, a Bouquet is usually how they describe the group of channels from one provider (or a subgroup), usually with a subscription. For example, the Sky Television bouquet, the TNT Sat bouquet, the Canal caraibes bouquet (on 34.5W). We can see some examples on the American region satellites, such as the Tigo Star bouquet on 117W. It can also sometimes describe a subgroup of a bouquet, such as the sports channels or the movie channels, etc
One major difference with US and Canadian bouquets is that the European ones usually use standard modulation techniques, and simply use encryption, as opposed to the somewhat proprietary systems used by Dish (Turbo 8psk), DT, Bell and Shaw), so they can use regular receivers.

 

[Brct203]

Question about those Linux receivers... Do any of them have a spectrum analyzer app? And how are they with less common signals such as 16apsk, ACM, slow bitrates, etc?