Next Version Wiz?

[NoDeity]

So... Been wondering, the V2 has been out for a while now and technology is moving on, HDR, HDR10, you know, all the new stuff the V2 can't do, what's next? Is there gonna be a next? Is the V2 the last wiz? If so, who is taking up the cudgel for the next generation, and please don't say Fetch, because even though they have updated to cover HDR, their implementation of Net/NAS access and media watching conveniences like skip etc. is abysmal.

[IanL-S]

Condtions are tough in the PVR market; dwindling demand and diffciulty getting components, and OEM supply issues. Not in a position to say what plans if any there are for new Beyonwiz. There is no V2s in stock, and few if any spares.

Not sure what new features could be added to the Enigman2 implemetation on the V2 and T series Beyonwiz. IceTV say they are currently developing an Enigma2 based PVR, but not sure what features will be included. I supect it depends on the plugins available for the Enigman2 implementation they decided to use.

Ian

[NoDeity]

Heh! All the supposedly "current" PVRs I can find are at least 5 to 6 years old, found that out by checking their latest FW releases. There's a nice one just released in the UK with all the bells and whistles, but apparently the Audio that the UK broadcasts is different to here. Pity That...

[prl]

All the supposedly "current" PVRs I can find are at least 5 to 6 years old, found that out by checking their latest FW releases.

The Vu+ Duo 4k SE PVR that I have sitting on my desk beside me (it runs various enigma2 images including OpenViX) was released two years ago, and isn't "5 or 6 years old". Firmware releases for it are being made regularly.

[Star6key]

Hey Prl, how does it compare to something like the U4?

[raymondjpg]

There's a nice one just released in the UK with all the bells and whistles...

Can you post any more information or links about that?

TIA

[NoDeity]

All the supposedly "current" PVRs I can find are at least 5 to 6 years old, found that out by checking their latest FW releases.

The Vu+ Duo 4k SE PVR that I have sitting on my desk beside me (it runs various enigma2 images including OpenViX) was released two years ago, and isn't "5 or 6 years old". Firmware releases for it are being made regularly.

Different brand Australian release FTA PVR's are mighty hard to find using a search engine, never heard of that brand. I used your prompt and searched for "Vu+ Duo 4k SE PVR" and found it in the UK. I was told that the UK audio broadcast is different to Oz? Can I ask where you got it, and if it is British, does that mean some UK makers are using multi broadcast specs? Or is this an Australian release? If so, where?

[NoDeity]

There's a nice one just released in the UK with all the bells and whistles...

Can you post any more information or links about that?

TIA

Pretty sure it was the Humax FVP-5000T, not positive, but it is set to UK Freeview. As I mentioned, different audio broadcast specs too... not positive about that, but it is what they replied when I emailed them.

[NoDeity]

All the supposedly "current" PVRs I can find are at least 5 to 6 years old, found that out by checking their latest FW releases.

The Vu+ Duo 4k SE PVR that I have sitting on my desk beside me (it runs various enigma2 images including OpenViX) was released two years ago, and isn't "5 or 6 years old". Firmware releases for it are being made regularly.

Different brand Australian release FTA PVR's are mighty hard to find using a search engine, never heard of that brand. I used your prompt and searched for "Vu+ Duo 4k SE PVR" and found it in the UK. I was told that the UK audio broadcast is different to Oz? Can I ask where you got it, and if it is British, does that mean some UK makers are using multi broadcast specs? Or is this an Australian release? If so, where?

Actually, looking at it, is this thing FTA or Satellite? Looks like it's Satellite from the specs I've found? Confused! No, wait! There are FTA boxes, but none found in Oz?

[IanL-S]

Last time I looked the Vu+ website was way out of date in terms of model listing. As far as I am aware all of the European Enigma2 units tend to focus on satalite/cable. I could find none that have more than 2 T2 internal tuners; they probably support USB tuners, but my friends in Europe do not concen themselves with free-to-air recordings. There is one brand in UK that sells modular units and it may be possible to ditch the cable/sat tuner for a second dual T2 tuner.

Ian

[NoDeity]

Last time I looked the Vu+ website was way out of date in terms of model listing. As far as I am aware all of the European Enigma2 units tend to focus on satalite/cable. I could find none that have more than 2 T2 internal tuners; they probably support USB tuners, but my friends in Europe do not concen themselves with free-to-air recordings. There is one brand in UK that sells modular units and it may be possible to ditch the cable/sat tuner for a second dual T2 tuner.

Ian

Yeah, I think it might be a bit of a red herring. Pity that!

[prl]

I could find none that have more than 2 T2 internal tuners

The Vu+ Duo 4k SE has slots for pluggable tuners. The one on my desk has two dual FTA tuners in it. The only niggle I have with that is that the tuners have no "tuner out" connection, so to run it with 4 tuners, you need to use a splitter.

[prl]

Here's the World of Satellite page for the Vu+ Duo I've mentioned. On the right-hand side of the page are the configuration options, including the ability to order it with 2 x internal dual tuners.

https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/sa ... -duo-4k-se

It's expensive, though: £349 incl VAT for a box with a single tuner module (i.e. dual tuners) and no HDD.

NoDeity: it can be FTA or satellite, or both, depending on which tuner(s) you order. And the box on my desk is decoding Australian FTA TV sound right now.

Edit to correct price. The price I had originally was for a 4-tuner configuration (two tuner modules).

[NoDeity]

I could find none that have more than 2 T2 internal tuners

The Vu+ Duo 4k SE has slots for pluggable tuners. The one on my desk has two dual FTA tuners in it. The only niggle I have with that is that the tuners have no "tuner out" connection, so to run it with 4 tuners, you need to use a splitter.

Yer not gonna say where you got it, are ya?

[prl]

I could find none that have more than 2 T2 internal tuners

The Vu+ Duo 4k SE has slots for pluggable tuners. The one on my desk has two dual FTA tuners in it. The only niggle I have with that is that the tuners have no "tuner out" connection, so to run it with 4 tuners, you need to use a splitter.

Yer not gonna say where you got it, are ya?

Correct, but it can be bought from World of Satellite, if you want to. It's a convenient box to add your own HDD to. It has a little caddy in the back where you just screw in the 2.5" HDD (or SSD) of your choice and plug the caddy back in.

However, as its name implies, World of Satellite probably isn't going to be the best place to see a variety of FTA-only PVRs. In fact, the Vu+ Duo I linked to is the only one on their Web site that I could find that could be bought as FTA-only.

[NoDeity]

Here's the World of Satellite page for the Vu+ Duo I've mentioned. On the right-hand side of the page are the configuration options, including the ability to order it with 2 x internal dual tuners.

https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/sa ... -duo-4k-se

It's expensive, though: £349 incl VAT for a box with a single tuner module (i.e. dual tuners) and no HDD.

NoDeity: it can be FTA or satellite, or both, depending on which tuner(s) you order. And the box on my desk is decoding Australian FTA TV sound right now.

Edit to correct price. The price I had originally was for a 4-tuner configuration (two tuner modules).

Yeah, $750 on a whim is far too much. I would love it if Humax would release their latest here. Having said that though, from the reviews I've read, they aren't too reliable. Thanks though.

[paullings]

Hi prl,

A couple of questions on the VU+ Duo you may not be able to answer please.

Would the proposed ICETV plugin be able to run on it and
what firmware are you running on it.

Thanks

[IanL-S]

Hi prl,

A couple of questions on the VU+ Duo you may not be able to answer please.

Would the proposed ICETV plugin be able to run on it and
what firmware are you running on it.

Thanks

My understanding (which could be completely wrong) is that it will not be available as just a plug-in; initially it will be a stand alone unit including all hardware; subsequently purchase of tuner + RCU and the Linux distribution with Enigma2 preloaded is a proposed option. It also appears that it will not support (publically) other models/brands of USB tuners. It may support tuners that are supported by the Enigma2 build being used.

Ian

[prl]

Ian-L-S, as far as I know, the mini-PC based PVR that IceTV has announced to be under development is not an existing PVR (or an IceTV-branded OEM PVR).

The IceTV plugin already runs on OpenATV. As for the Vu+ Duo 4k SE, there is an OpenATV image for it, and that should still have IceTV in it, though I haven't loaded a recent ATV image to make sure. I have ported the support for the IceTV plugin to OpenViX, but that is not yet available. I'm in the process of completing the port of the IceTV plugin to run on all of Beyonwiz, OpenATV and OpenViX. That work can be seen in the Beyonwiz repository. I'm also in the process of making the IceTV plugin a standalone plugin, rather than a wired-in one, as it currently is in Beyonwiz and OpenATV. That should make it easier to maintain across multiple images, though it will only work on images that have the changes that are needed to support the IceTV plugin.

I have already done the work to make Series2Folder a proper package, and it should no be available in the enigma2-plugins repositort for everyone who wants to use it.

When the IceTV plugin is done, it will have Series2Filder as a recommended dependency, so that if IceTV is installed, then it will also try to install Series2Folder.

When IceTV support is added to OpenViX, IceTV should run on any PVR that runs OpenViX, not just the Vu+ Duo.

[gibster]

Ian-L-S, as far as I know, the mini-PC based PVR that IceTV has announced to be under development is not an existing PVR (or an IceTV-branded OEM PVR).

The IceTV plugin already runs on OpenATV. As for the Vu+ Duo 4k SE, there is an OpenATV image for it, and that should still have IceTV in it, though I haven't loaded a recent ATV image to make sure. I have ported the support for the IceTV plugin to OpenViX, but that is not yet available. I'm in the process of completing the port of the IceTV plugin to run on all of Beyonwiz, OpenATV and OpenViX. That work can be seen in the Beyonwiz repository. I'm also in the process of making the IceTV plugin a standalone plugin, rather than a wired-in one, as it currently is in Beyonwiz and OpenATV. That should make it easier to maintain across multiple images, though it will only work on images that have the changes that are needed to support the IceTV plugin.

I have already done the work to make Series2Folder a proper package, and it should no be available in the enigma2-plugins repositort for everyone who wants to use it.

When the IceTV plugin is done, it will have Series2Filder as a recommended dependency, so that if IceTV is installed, then it will also try to install Series2Folder.

When IceTV support is added to OpenViX, IceTV should run on any PVR that runs OpenViX, not just the Vu+ Duo.

Is the interface as seen on the TV similar to the Beyonwiz units? The Vu+ Duo is interesting, and it is expensive but might purchase one with OpenAVT on it and give it a go.

Thanks for the information Pri

Gib

[MrQuade]

Is the interface as seen on the TV similar to the Beyonwiz units? The Vu+ Duo is interesting, and it is expensive but might purchase one with OpenAVT on it and give it a go.

Thanks for the information Pri

OpenATV is the same fundamental box with mostly cosmetic changes in the skins and some slightly different features (missing some of the custom Beyonwiz changes).

If you want to check it out, you can simply install OpenATV on your V2 (using USB method, so if you want to switch back to Beyonwiz firmware, it means performing another USB update)

[gibster]

Is the interface as seen on the TV similar to the Beyonwiz units? The Vu+ Duo is interesting, and it is expensive but might purchase one with OpenAVT on it and give it a go.

Thanks for the information Pri

OpenATV is the same fundamental box with mostly cosmetic changes in the skins and some slightly different features (missing some of the custom Beyonwiz changes).

If you want to check it out, you can simply install OpenATV on your V2 (using USB method, so if you want to switch back to Beyonwiz firmware, it means performing another USB update)

Thanks for that MrQuade. I'll give it a go and see what it looks like. As long as it has IceTV, and programmable commercial skip I'll be happy

Any particular version of OpenATV I need to look for? V2 specific?

[MrQuade]

Thanks for that MrQuade. I'll give it a go and see what it looks like. As long as it has IceTV, and programmable commercial skip I'll be happy

Any particular version of OpenATV I need to look for? V2 specific?

Yes, you always need the specific version.

Use the latest v6.4 recovery version from here:
http://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/n ... beyonwizv2

You could try the newer v7.0 firmware, but I don't think they have finished porting everythinger over to Python3 completely yet (I run this one on my spare V2):
http://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/7 ... beyonwizv2

The rest of the forum is here:
https://www.opena.tv/

There is a Beyonwiz specific section, but it isn't exactly busy .


That firmware will install a new bootloader interface. It is still relatively straightforward to navigate, so should not be much of a barrier.
Installing the Beyonwiz firmware will put the bootloader back the way it is now.

[Henk]

However, as its name implies, World of Satellite probably isn't going to be the best place to see a variety of FTA-only PVRs. In fact, the Vu+ Duo I linked to is the only one on their Web site that I could find that could be bought as FTA-only.

I have come across a website in The Netherlands: (in English!)

https://www.deschotelshop.nl/en/vu-plus ... x-receiver

I will give them a call tomorrow (5 Oct) and report back on:

- Do they ship to Australia and at what shipping cost)
Update 5/10 : They do, 85 Euro

- Ex Tax: € 386.78 Will they offer the "GST" free purchase option (as it is shipped to a destination outside the European Union), which would work out to AUD 593.86 (With both Tuner 1 and Tuner 2 being populated with Dual DVB-T2)
Update 5/10: They will ship to Australia for the Ex Tax price, so you save the 21% of BTW= dutch GST


Another website in Germany: (in German, but they ship to Australia for 50 Euro)

https://www.hm-sat-shop.de/en/vu/vu-duo ... =13600-596

Edit to update the outstanding information.

[prl]

You could try the newer v7.0 firmware, but I don't think they have finished porting everythinger over to Python3 completely yet (I run this one on my spare V2):

The information I have is that 7.0 can be regarded as production, and 7.1 as development.

In particular, IceTV does not work on the 03092022 release of 7.2 (but the reason seems unrelated to the Python 2/3 conversion).

[MrQuade]

The information I have is that 7.0 can be regarded as production, and 7.1 as development.

That's good to know. It has been a hot second since I used the spare V2 in any capacity.
The last time I tried, there were definitely still a few broken plugins, but not enough to make me want to revert to 6.4. Its basic features were working well enough for the purpose I needed it for.

That Python update sounds like it threw the whole effort into shambles for a while.

[gibster]

The rest of the forum is here:
https://www.opena.tv/

I can't read German? and can't find an item to select english. Did I miss something?

[MrQuade]

I can't read German? and can't find an item to select english. Did I miss something?

Nope, most of the posters there will be from Europe, and posting in mostly German and some English. The users determine what language they will be speaking in .

You can turn on automatic language translation in your browser to get a basic idea of what they are talking about.

[netmask]

Can the tuners be supplied or modded for use in Australia ?

[prl]

Can the tuners be supplied or modded for use in Australia ?

Which tuners? AFAIK, the FTA tuners in the Vu+ I have are the stock tuners that get supplied with the box.

[Henk]

Can the tuners be supplied or modded for use in Australia ?

Here is a link to the Duo 4K manual (91 pages), which was the precursor of the Duo 4K SE (SE stands for Second Edition).

http://vuplus.com/manual/DUO%204K%20Use ... nglish.pdf

A link to the dual T2 tuner card: (in german)

https://www.hm-sat-shop.de/receiver/kab ... 4k-se?c=26

I have updated my previous post (6 up) with the shipping cost and tax free status.

[IanL-S]

The tuners used in the units are DVB-T/DVB-T2; in Australia only DVB-T is needed [as I understand it DVB-T2 is backward compative with DVB-T). The tuners theselves should not be an issue.

Ian