Advice Needed Receiver shoot out - Octagon SF8008 vs. Zgemma H7S

Fisty McB

Fisty McB

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Hi, I'm just asking if anyone has experience of using both the Octagon SF8008 & the Zgemma H7s?

I have the SF8008 (twin DVB-S2X tuners) and in general it's a good receiver with one major flaw apparent in both OpenATV & OpenVix - when recording on to an external HDD via USB, it's impossible to stop a recording without the receiver crashing during the attempt to stop it, and thus it can only be stopped by doing a reboot (either in the software or pulling the plug & putting it back in!). Also a minor flaw is the slow response - at times - when it hasn't received remote control commands for some time which sometimes makes me & others think that the remote control command didn't reach the receiver until we realise a couple of seconds later!

In looking at "upgrading" the receiver on the basis of keeping the twin DVB-S2X tuners but also preferably one built in DVB-T2 tuner (living near the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland border, reception of ROI DTT signals that aren't FTA on satellite are important) and where the hard drive can be encased in the receiver rather than via USB, which I think is the main root of my current problem. And it looks like the Zgemma H7S fits the bill. What I'd like to know is the difference between the two...

* Tuner specs - inc. sensitivity etc. for weaker signals. The ability for the Zgemma to blind scan would be nice, but it's not a ball breaker.
* Overall responsiveness - I was given one of the first Zgemma receivers a few years ago (can't remember the model number, sorry) from someone that no longer wanted it (I suspect it was used for CS :ph34r: )and found it to be very much lacking. Do the later Zgemma receivers show an improvement to be good competitors?
* Can the Zgemma accept any 2.5" HDD by opening its lid or is it restricted to 7mm thick HDD drives that slot in at the rear only?
* FBC aka Full Band Capture doesn't really worry me as I've no experience of it.
* Is a multiboot system like that on the SF8008 available on the H7S?

The other alternatives are the Gigablue & Vu+ Duo 4K SE receivers, which are more expensive than the Zgemma but potentially more reliable in performance? I'd owned a Vu+ Duo 2 in the past that was a good performer in its time but is now a bit long in the tooth and I'm not sure the Duo 4K SE would be worth the money as a replacement, not to mention there doesn't seem to be much in terms of new hardware or software development from Vu+ in the past while. The Gigablues look like a decent alternative at a midway price point between the Zgemma & the Vu+ Duo 4K SE (specifically the UHD Quad 4K & UHD UE 4K), but I remember reading that Gigablue's DVB-S2 tuners were not the best and that while they in theory support plug-&-play tuners that support DVB-T2, they don't seem to be available anywhere at present (at least not from World of Satellite).

All opinions welcome!
 
Fisty McB said:
OpenVix - when recording on to an external HDD via USB, it's impossible to stop a recording without the receiver crashing during the attempt to stop it, and thus it can only be stopped by doing a reboot (either in the software or pulling the plug & putting it back in!
Click to expand...
Mine doesn't crash. 125GB SSD
System OE:OE-Alliance 5.3
Firmware version:OpenViX 6.4.010 (2023-12-10)
Kernel / Drivers:4.4.35 / 20230802
 
Watching this...

I have a Mutant HD51. It's an "old" receiver these days but still works fine with a decent tuner and working stably with OpenATV 6.3. The only gripe I have is that the SNR is reported in 0.25dB interval, which I believe is a driver limitation from what @MCelliotG was saying in the past.

I wouldn't mind one of Edision boxes but none of them have a CI slot, which is highly annoying... So I am watching and seeing.
 
If you like blindscan, don't go for the Zgemma..
 
Unfortunately HD51 is based on gfutures, and the last driver update the manufacturer released, had a limitation of 0.25 which is the staple for Silabs. The previous version however had a 0.14 step which was unusual, still quite accurate.
The issue is that even though the last driver revision enabled hardware blindscan, without a binary (like on SF8008 which has the exact same tuner), the results are hideous. Also the tuner became less snappy on very low SR. The previous driver could easily lock down to 185 and scan the frequency but had no blindscan at all enabled.
Still to this day HD51 is quite decent and stable. I still use it as my main STB.
 
Looking online elsewhere it seems Gigablue's support for USB DVB-T(2) tuners is rather poor, and that their customer support is abysmal in general so I might need to strike that out.

Am I right in assuming that FBC tuners can't be reliably used for blind scanning on Enigma 2 receivers? If so, that would appear to knock the Vu+ Duo 4K SE out on that front too, but as I said in my initial post it's not a ball breaker (I already use a Technomate TM5402 Mk4 as a "secondary" receiver which does blind scanning).
 
im surprised people don't record to a network share more instead of local HDD - its the most convenient thing to do, especially if you have more than one E2 STB - they can all record to the same network share, and each box shows the contents of everything recorded.
 
the only thing that lets down the ZGEMMA for me, is the lack of blind scan, ive had a few models, and it basically just doesnt work.
cant fault an SF8008 at all
 
I've had two SF8008s - the first one made relay-like clicking noises so was sent back. The second one had something rattling around inside it and would crash within a minute or so before the initial setup could finish, the HDMI output was also weak and only worked on a computer monitor, none of my TVs would display an image so it also went back.
 
I've decided to take the plunge and buy a H7S receiver later this week, will provide some comparisons in due course.
 
Fisty McB said:
Hi, I'm just asking if anyone has experience of using both the Octagon SF8008 & the Zgemma H7s?

I have the SF8008 (twin DVB-S2X tuners) and in general it's a good receiver with one major flaw apparent in both OpenATV & OpenVix - when recording on to an external HDD via USB, it's impossible to stop a recording without the receiver crashing during the attempt to stop it, and thus it can only be stopped by doing a reboot (either in the software or pulling the plug & putting it back in!). Also a minor flaw is the slow response - at times - when it hasn't received remote control commands for some time which sometimes makes me & others think that the remote control command didn't reach the receiver until we realise a couple of seconds later!

In looking at "upgrading" the receiver on the basis of keeping the twin DVB-S2X tuners but also preferably one built in DVB-T2 tuner (living near the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland border, reception of ROI DTT signals that aren't FTA on satellite are important) and where the hard drive can be encased in the receiver rather than via USB, which I think is the main root of my current problem. And it looks like the Zgemma H7S fits the bill. What I'd like to know is the difference between the two...

* Tuner specs - inc. sensitivity etc. for weaker signals. The ability for the Zgemma to blind scan would be nice, but it's not a ball breaker.
* Overall responsiveness - I was given one of the first Zgemma receivers a few years ago (can't remember the model number, sorry) from someone that no longer wanted it (I suspect it was used for CS :ph34r: )and found it to be very much lacking. Do the later Zgemma receivers show an improvement to be good competitors?
* Can the Zgemma accept any 2.5" HDD by opening its lid or is it restricted to 7mm thick HDD drives that slot in at the rear only?
* FBC aka Full Band Capture doesn't really worry me as I've no experience of it.
* Is a multiboot system like that on the SF8008 available on the H7S?

The other alternatives are the Gigablue & Vu+ Duo 4K SE receivers, which are more expensive than the Zgemma but potentially more reliable in performance? I'd owned a Vu+ Duo 2 in the past that was a good performer in its time but is now a bit long in the tooth and I'm not sure the Duo 4K SE would be worth the money as a replacement, not to mention there doesn't seem to be much in terms of new hardware or software development from Vu+ in the past while. The Gigablues look like a decent alternative at a midway price point between the Zgemma & the Vu+ Duo 4K SE (specifically the UHD Quad 4K & UHD UE 4K), but I remember reading that Gigablue's DVB-S2 tuners were not the best and that while they in theory support plug-&-play tuners that support DVB-T2, they don't seem to be available anywhere at present (at least not from World of Satellite).

All opinions welcome!
Click to expand...
Are u sure the slow response thing isn't worn batteries in the remote

Good luck with the H7S. As long as you don't blind scan you'll be happy with it.
 
So I've had a play about with the ZGemma H7S. Overall I've decided to pack it back up and stick wiith the Octagon SF8008 for now...

* Unlike the current versions of the SF8008, the H7S doesn't have a multiboot option. There might be one available but I didn't get around to investigating it further.
* The slot for the 2.5 inch HDD leaves the drive sticking halfway out the back of the receiver - you can only fit the HDD in via the slot & not via opening the top of the case.
* General responsiveness of the H7S was a little better than the SF8008, but the latter's issues are not a big show stopper 99% of the time.
* The DVB-T2 tuner on the H7S isn't the most sensitive from testing it, failing to get a reliable lock on the the weakest multiplex I receive here, which wasn't a problem on DVB-T2 tuners on the television or the XBox DVB-T2 tuner that I use on the SF8008.
* In terms of sensitivity of receiving satellite signals, it was essentially a dead heat between the two receivers from the short testing I did. The only difference appeared to be on the quality/SNR readings on one of the RAI multistream feeds on 5W, but I didn't have time to test wherever it made any real difference.
* The light of the AiR digital logo being permanently "on" on the H7S is kind of annoying.
* The SF8008 wins out on remote control functionality - the H7S remote control is very directional compared to the Octagon's, nor can it control a TV's power & volume commands.. The Octagon's four spare function buttons is also a big plus.

...the ability to use a 2.5 inch HDD with the H7S, as well as the receiver running a more recent version of the Linux Kernel was nearly worth all the cons compared to the SF8008, but I decided for day to day operation that the SF8008 wins out overall. That's not to say that the H7S isn't a good receiver for what it is, but I think the SF8008 just nudges it overall, especially concerning the remote control. In any case, I've decided to get a 256GB SDXC card for the SF8008 to compensate for the USB hard drive problems I've been having - usual warnings about using solid-state memory applies but as I don't have permanent rewind enabled, this isn't too much of an issue.

So for now, with the living room redecorated, the SF8008 sits as the main receiver with the Technomate TM5402 M4 as a secondary receiver where appropriate. I'll probably sell on the H7S in due course.
 
Fisty McB said:
So I've had a play about with the ZGemma H7S. Overall I've decided to pack it back up and stick wiith the Octagon SF8008 for now...

* Unlike the current versions of the SF8008, the H7S doesn't have a multiboot option. There might be one available but I didn't get around to investigating it further.
* The slot for the 2.5 inch HDD leaves the drive sticking halfway out the back of the receiver - you can only fit the HDD in via the slot & not via opening the top of the case.
* General responsiveness of the H7S was a little better than the SF8008, but the latter's issues are not a big show stopper 99% of the time.
* The DVB-T2 tuner on the H7S isn't the most sensitive from testing it, failing to get a reliable lock on the the weakest multiplex I receive here, which wasn't a problem on DVB-T2 tuners on the television or the XBox DVB-T2 tuner that I use on the SF8008.
* In terms of sensitivity of receiving satellite signals, it was essentially a dead heat between the two receivers from the short testing I did. The only difference appeared to be on the quality/SNR readings on one of the RAI multistream feeds on 5W, but I didn't have time to test wherever it made any real difference.
* The light of the AiR digital logo being permanently "on" on the H7S is kind of annoying.
* The SF8008 wins out on remote control functionality - the H7S remote control is very directional compared to the Octagon's, nor can it control a TV's power & volume commands.. The Octagon's four spare function buttons is also a big plus.

...the ability to use a 2.5 inch HDD with the H7S, as well as the receiver running a more recent version of the Linux Kernel was nearly worth all the cons compared to the SF8008, but I decided for day to day operation that the SF8008 wins out overall. That's not to say that the H7S isn't a good receiver for what it is, but I think the SF8008 just nudges it overall, especially concerning the remote control. In any case, I've decided to get a 256GB SDXC card for the SF8008 to compensate for the USB hard drive problems I've been having - usual warnings about using solid-state memory applies but as I don't have permanent rewind enabled, this isn't too much of an issue.

So for now, with the living room redecorated, the SF8008 sits as the main receiver with the Technomate TM5402 M4 as a secondary receiver where appropriate. I'll probably sell on the H7S in due course.
Click to expand...
Interesting.

How will you fit an SDXC card in the Octagon ?
 
Fisty McB said:
So I've had a play about with the ZGemma H7S. Overall I've decided to pack it back up and stick wiith the Octagon SF8008 for now...

* Unlike the current versions of the SF8008, the H7S doesn't have a multiboot option. There might be one available but I didn't get around to investigating it further.
* The slot for the 2.5 inch HDD leaves the drive sticking halfway out the back of the receiver - you can only fit the HDD in via the slot & not via opening the top of the case.
* General responsiveness of the H7S was a little better than the SF8008, but the latter's issues are not a big show stopper 99% of the time.
* The DVB-T2 tuner on the H7S isn't the most sensitive from testing it, failing to get a reliable lock on the the weakest multiplex I receive here, which wasn't a problem on DVB-T2 tuners on the television or the XBox DVB-T2 tuner that I use on the SF8008.
* In terms of sensitivity of receiving satellite signals, it was essentially a dead heat between the two receivers from the short testing I did. The only difference appeared to be on the quality/SNR readings on one of the RAI multistream feeds on 5W, but I didn't have time to test wherever it made any real difference.
* The light of the AiR digital logo being permanently "on" on the H7S is kind of annoying.
* The SF8008 wins out on remote control functionality - the H7S remote control is very directional compared to the Octagon's, nor can it control a TV's power & volume commands.. The Octagon's four spare function buttons is also a big plus.

...the ability to use a 2.5 inch HDD with the H7S, as well as the receiver running a more recent version of the Linux Kernel was nearly worth all the cons compared to the SF8008, but I decided for day to day operation that the SF8008 wins out overall. That's not to say that the H7S isn't a good receiver for what it is, but I think the SF8008 just nudges it overall, especially concerning the remote control. In any case, I've decided to get a 256GB SDXC card for the SF8008 to compensate for the USB hard drive problems I've been having - usual warnings about using solid-state memory applies but as I don't have permanent rewind enabled, this isn't too much of an issue.

So for now, with the living room redecorated, the SF8008 sits as the main receiver with the Technomate TM5402 M4 as a secondary receiver where appropriate. I'll probably sell on the H7S in due course.
Click to expand...
There is a multiboot option for the H7's, though this is the advice from one of the providers.


Downloads labeled multiboot can not be flashed in the traditional way, you need to flash them into a multiboot slot of the receiver using the "Flash Image" menu option.​

 
I can't say my SF8008 has suffered from crashing when stopping a local HDD record. This seems to me like it's something to do with the drive partitioning. Have you tried installing the NTFS ror exFAT recording extension and trying a drive formatted to either one of those to see if it stops?

I used to record to a HDD but me being too lazy these days, I tend to now just open the channel stream via OpenWebif and record using VLC.

Saying that, one of the things that does crash my SF8008, no matter what image I use, is streaming really high bitrate 4:2:2 feeds to VLC. Happens every single year when watching the Eurovision Song Contest feeds over VLC, it will work for about 10 minutes and then the stream will just hang and it's because the box has become unresponsive and all I get from it is the spinning icon. I've reached out to Octagon but no luck at all.
 
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