12 replies to this topic

[Clown]

I want to add cable to my ET9200 and tried several USB tuners but none have been recognized by several images.

 

Therefore, I'm in the market for a new STB with modular tuners for DVB-C and DVB-S.

 

The Mutant HD2400 and Opticum Quadbox 2400 both have these features and seem good value for money but neither support 3.5" hard drives.  If I use existing 3.5" hard drive in my HTPC to store recordings from STB via network, is it noticably slower??

 

Are the Mutant HD2400 and Opticum AX 2400 Quadbox identical except for the name?

 

If I buy an Opticum Quadbox AX 2400, can I use OpenPLI  image??  << Mutant HD2400 image

 

The Opticum doesn't seem to be supported by many images.

 

Thanks for an awesome image and forum.

[Clown]

I'm bumping this thread

[hemertje]

No need to as OpenPLi does not support opticum as you can see

[Erik Slagter]

You might try the Mut@nt image though, no guarantees though, it might even brick the receiver.

[Chris75]

they are both 100% identical Hardware, only difference is the front design.

[hemertje]

Never heard of the opticum or seen it....

[Clown]

Thanks Chris75, that's what I thought.

 

If I had the choice I'd get the Opticum quadbox as the price is cheaper in Germany.  The only thing holding me back is neither of them support 3.5" hard drives.

 

It seems like the image teams are playing games with these 2 boxes, because "we do not support this box" is said about the Mutant on the HDFreaks forum.

 

I have no idea, but I have a hunch that both of these boxes are a kind of "clone" of the Xtrend ET10000.  If I think about it, if you have to buy a 1TB or greater Hard Drive, the Mutant or the Quadbox are no cheaper.  Therefore, I may just get the ET10000.

 

As always, thanks for your help.

[WanWizard]

Why do you think we're playing games?

 

To be able to provide support, we need to own these boxes ourselfs, we access to the manufacturers development team, and we need people in the team to provide the support, do the testing, etc. Since none of the above applies to an "Opticum", how can we provide support for it?

 

btw, it doesn't have to be a clone. It is quite normal in this market that the manufacturer (korean, chinese) has deals with multiple parties in multiple countries. All these parties have an OEM agreement with manufacturer, so the same hardware can be available from multiple parties, sometimes with slightly different features (like for example the XP1000 vs the Octagon SF8). Since in most cases these agreements don't include software, each party has to make their own, which could cause more differences.

 

This is an extra reason not to support them. Although the box looks the same, and might be the same OEM hardware, the software or drivers might be different, in functionality and/or quality.

 

So, it is not as simple as you make it out to be...

[gorski]

Different drivers for the same HW? How does that function, given their complexity and the same manufacturer?

 

Btw, see these 2 posts on the subject:

 

by CSYlvain

"E2BMC is a completely closed solution, there is no public source code, I buy the Mut@nt 2400, and as the name suggests, the alpha version does not do much , tuners DVB-T2/C is not recognized, the 1080p gives a horrible picture quality, I think the Player from XBMC uses FFMPEG and does not use the VPU /dev/dvb/adapter0/video0
In short, I paid 350 euros for nothing.

PrismCube is a very nice product, the case is beautiful, however it incorporates an old CPU is very slow, I bought it to study the operation of a function that I can not reveal here.

OpenPCTV is perfect for PC use, but will be of no use to wear it on the CPU Amlogic.

I am also working on a compatible version Amlogic I already finished compiling part, I have to develop the "/proc/" for the Kernel, and compatibility with the VPU because I do not want to use codec or even GSTreamer !"

Harley responds:

"When software decoding of a Full HD 1080p high-definition and high bit-rate video is performed by the system CPU, a dual-core 2 GHz or faster CPU is required in order to allow for perfectly smooth playback without dropping frames or giving playback a jerky appearance. Kodi/XBMC can however offload most of the video decoding process onto graphics hardware controller that supports one of the following types of hardware-accelerated video decoding:[33] Intel's VAAPI, Nvidia's VDPAU, AMD's XvBA, Microsoft's DXVA, Apple's VDADecoder/VideoToolBox, OpenMAX, Broadcom Crystal HD,[34] AMLogic 8726-Mx VPU,[35] Freescale's i.MX6x series VPU, and Allwinner's CedarX/CedarV VPU.[36] By taking advantage of such hardware-accelerated video decoding, XBMC can play back most videos on many inexpensive, low-power systems as long as it contains a supported VPU or GPU."

[WanWizard]

It is not the manufacturer (= the factory that produces the box) that creates the software, it's the company that made the design and ordered the box produced. This company can decide to have the box distributed in different countries by different distributors, under different brand names, and sometimes with a slightly different specification.

 

Not really the point, what I am trying to say is that if someone installs the HD2400 OpenPLi image on an Opticum AX2400, and there is problem, and that person comes here to report it, what must we do? We can not reproduce it, we don't have an Opticum. And we can not work together with the supplier to get stuff fixed.

 

In the past we spend way to much time chasing ghosts, where it turned out the issues where related to hardware differences, inferior hardware (in case of clones), etc. We simply don't want to waste our time on this, therefore we're very strict on what we do and don't support.

 

It's similar to the reason a Citroen garage will not service a Jaguar XF 2.7D. Even though the engine comes from Citroen...

[gorski]

What I hear from professionals is that BRDCM 'support' is cr@p and extremely expensive and then...

 

Never mind...

[Clown]

 

Why do you think we're playing games?

 

 

WanWizard,

 

I probably worded that incorrectly.  I apologize.

 

I've only been using Enigma2 boxes for about 3-4 years but the Mutant/Opticum is the first box that I've seen that isn't supported by all major images.  Only the ones I've been interseted in...Xtrend, VU, Gigablue, that is.

 

HDFreaks is my favorite image  (right now) but there is no way in he** I would buy the Opticum if it"s only supported by them and maybe OpenATV.  I like to have the flexibility to experiment with different images, so this is a dealbreaker for me.

 

I understand what you said in earlier posts, I'm not trying to blame image teams, I appreciate all the hard work that"s been put into all of the images.  I'm just a little frustrated that the Mutant/Opticum Quadbox or whatever you want to call it in different countries isn't standardized.  That's probably down to the business/branding side of things like you said.

 

At the end of the day, all I want is a Sat receiver that supports modular tuners for DVB-S and DVB-C.  I'm not interested in all the bells and whistles (XBMC, HDMI In, hardware transcoding) with the new receivers. 

 

I use an HTPC (ATX case/motherboard/video card) for XBMC/Kodi and I can tell you that it is absolutely NIGHT and DAY for streaming (especially live streams) compared to the ET9200.  The downside of the HTPC for live TV is pause/FF/Rewind is absolutely NIGHT and DAY compared to sat receivers.

 

In my opinion, technology isn't good enough YET for a one box solution for both.

 

Thanks again for an awesome image and forum.

[WanWizard]

We have a standard procedure we go through if some manufacturer wants OpenPLi support for their box. Opticum has simply never asked.