solo2

Yeah, it is annoying that crappy clone Dreamboxes do show you a hardware SNR dB reading, whereas Vu+ don't bother. Never mind... It's an improvement over Vu+ Uno, where SNR stopped at 16.2dB!
 
One week report, lots of time spent reading\getting familiar\removing confusion.

Am really impressed. Using it for 'normal' FTA sat reception\recording, performs flawlessly. Great picture, fast, good tuners, very stable, good epg. FTM just got simple router connection to it for ftp, channel lists and transfer recordings to pc, all works fine.

Have flashed images a few times to get the hang of it, always booting up perfectly. Currently staying with OpenVIX. Tested a few skins, finding one to feel comfortable with is worth the time spent.

Still a ton of possibilities not yet investigated or learned. Had a go at some plugins, some quite 'interesting' stuff out there, like TSmedia, amazing what's going on in the internet world. Removed most addons after having a look around, will (try to) keep the solo2 for what it was initially aquired for, good sat reception.

& all those detailed menus to tweak stuff to ones liking, example attach.
 

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Ref. previous posts about cleaning up services lists, delete working, but then 'things' started reapearing shortly after!? Finally figured out that (for my use) needed to 'Diasble background scanning' :-doh
 

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That's ironic: Only set to "yes" if you're absolutely sure of what you're doing - and yet, now you really do know what you're doing, you've set it to "no" :D
 
Disable background scanning is useful for auto updating channel names and minor channel changes, but as it scan the whole transponder it makes channels reappear, the general idea is that the user will rely on favourites lists and settings to have the channels they want in place. However if you scan frequently, the feature is not necessary!
 
Tested 'Enigma Signal Meter' on the laptop, instant readout. Very good for adjusting to weak transponders.
 

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Solo2 working fine, surviving all experiments :O) Testing plugins, skins etc. Always keeping a good collection of backups on usb stick, if anything goes wrong the box is back to normal in a few minutes. Have reflashed many times, no problems whatsoever. Very good. A simple setup here, no illegal stuff \ cardsharing \ suspicious streaming etc. Appreciating the endless menu options, being able to choose skins etc, tweaking stuff to ones liking.

- The standard remote does the job, but it's a clear winner in the 'Worst Remote' competiton here. The qwerty is claimed to work on solo2 > https://www.maxsat.no/commerce/images/stories/Fjernkontroll/vu universal.jpg, anyone knows if it's any good ?

- Using openVIX, all well, are there any real reasons (apart from curiosity) to spend time testing other images?

Thanks
 
OpenVIX is fine for a newbie as everything kind of works out of the box. It has several annoying bugs that OpenVIX team haven't bothered fixing over the many versions that they pump out. One of the more prominent ones is that subtitles stop working after several days of use and another is that timeshift doesn't store the timeshifted program on the hard drive (it gives you the option to at the end).

I also feel that OpenVIX has become bloated but it generally works OK.

OpenVIX is based on OpenPLI image, which is actually a base for many images. OpenATV has good reviews, though I haven't used it.

I would personally recommend going with OpenPLI and install what you need on there, rather than putting up with what OpenVIX (and other images) think you should have on there. But it's a personal choice, so whatever works for you.
 
Captain Jack said:
OpenVIX has become bloated but it generally works OK
Click to expand...

Ain't that just a matter of removing unused stuff ? Tested what was offered, then removed not interesting plugins.

And have found a very good skin for my use, maybe not available on other images.
But will one day have a go at OpenPLI and see what it does.
 

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BTW, I am still pretty happy with the receiver. I use the weak transponder 12245H on sub-Saharan beam on 36E for testing the sensitivity of the tuner. Yesterday, it was crappy and windy, so what better weather for checking it.

Solo2 - nada, zilch, not a flash of signal.
Dr HD F15 - intermittent lock with very little leeway.

The problem is I don't know how much more signal the Solo2 needed to get a lock as you don't get a signal reading under lock. I am guessing it was very close.

Checked today - a weak but solid lock on this transponder. Nothing to see there, except the EPG as it's all encrypted.

1_0_1_68_FF79_36E_1680000_0_0_0.webp

Probably a decent package if you find a subscription for it.
 
4wd said:
Ain't that just a matter of removing unused stuff ?
Click to expand...
More or less. Some of the stuff is baked in, though (how do you remove a softcam manager, for example).

What skin have you picked. I can never stick with one.
 
Did install PLI just to get a quick look at what was there. Could very probably use it (as any other image could probably be used). Back on VIX now, interesting to get some experience in flashing and restore.
 
Captain Jack said:
BTW, I am still pretty happy with the receiver. I use the weak transponder 12245H on sub-Saharan beam on 36E for testing the sensitivity of the tuner. Yesterday, it was crappy and windy, so what better weather for checking it.

Solo2 - nada, zilch, not a flash of signal.
Dr HD F15 - intermittent lock with very little leeway.

The problem is I don't know how much more signal the Solo2 needed to get a lock as you don't get a signal reading under lock. I am guessing it was very close.

Checked today - a weak but solid lock on this transponder. Nothing to see there, except the EPG as it's all encrypted.

View attachment 91255

Probably a decent package if you find a subscription for it.
Click to expand...

Alex, what is that skin called you are using?
 
It's Open ViX Day skin, though I don't believe it works outside of that image (unless someone adapted it for others).
 
Captain Jack said:
It's Open ViX Day skin, though I don't believe it works outside of that image (unless someone adapted it for others).
Click to expand...
It does work with OpenATV but the info bar holds no transponder info etc,which is really what I want. Doesn't seem any setup option for this skin either.
 
Hm, is there an option to enable second infobar (usually enabled within menus and can be brought up by pressing OK button twice).

However, I've modified my skin slightly to include all the transponder information by default but without the program info window.

1_0_1_2905_1EDC_71_820000_0_0_0.webp
 
OSD.webp Tried pressing the OK button twice, but does not work. I have the metrix skin in now and there was an option to switch on an additional info bar, so I'm now OK with that.
 
"The problem is I don't know how much more signal the Solo2 needed to get a lock as you don't get a signal reading under lock. I am guessing it was very close.

Checked today - a weak but solid lock on this transponder. Nothing to see there, except the EPG as it's all encrypted."

You have a solid lock on a dvb-s qpsk 3/4 transpoder at a 4.3 dB SNR. CNR limit for quasi error free picture is 5.5 dB, to get SNR you add roll-off 0.35, SNR limit for picture 5.85 dB. I have that same useless in SNR dB in my GB Quad.
Minimum carrier to noise ratio values (CNR, C/N) for DVB-S system - satbroadcasts.com
 
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