644 replies to this topic

[malakudi]

I posted the comparison with Atom to show the generic CPU power of this box. Some people expected that an ARM CPU at 1.5GHz would have much higher performance for general purpose computing, which as you can see is not the case. If I remember well my VU+ Duo2 (currently offline) had much lower performance.

 

An interesting "feature" of VU+ Solo 4K is that it can run without any changes all binaries from Debian ARM 32bit HF archive.

[Erik Slagter]

ARM has a more efficient instruction set, but the Atom still has, even after stripping, some interesting optimisations. You should also compare cache sizes etc. Also how about background tasks? Maybe the 4k has lots of "secret" background tasks from the drivers.

[mirakels]

Ah, and maybe Atoms have some special microcode in it that detects when it is run against performance benchmarking software and then gives much better results.

If volkswagen can do it then sure Intel can!

[Erik Slagter]

LOL

 

At least a.o. Samsung alreadly have been caught with these practices with benchmarks on Android...

[malakudi]

You can't trick a prime number calculation. That's what the benchmark I tested does. Tried also 4 threads (in case BCM 7376 had some sort of "hyperthreading" feature) but performance in VU+ Solo 4K didn't increase. Atom though, since in has hyperthreading, went down from 110 seconds to 90.

 

I will also compile some FPU benchmarks to test (prime number calculation is integer math).

[albsky]

Albsky: transcoding is a hardware feature. It has nothing to do with the speed of the CPU.

Following the tests:

1. Transcoding - If it's about streaming through internet, then I simply do not care.

I do not know which part of hardware(if not CPU) is responsible for transcoding, but I take your word for it: it's not there, but I couldn't care less

2. Checked BlindScan and indeed it doesn't work in BH image, but it shouldn't be a problem, but yet something that doesn't interest me at all.

3. The SD quality: I can say that it is much better than GB quad. The video quality is better in general. I do not know how it compares to Duo, as I never had that device.

But it seems better in terms of color and contrast. Although I'd like to find a better way to let the TV handle the upscaling, or a dedicated receiver.

4. Checked some downloaded videos from internet(mostly MKV 3d sbs, about 6GB/hour). Everything plays fine.

I got one problem though(it applies to the media player included): if the first audio track is DTS(which my HT doesn't handle) I got no sound, and I am not able to get sound even if I go to AC3 track or use downscale of audio. But, as I said, I believe it's a software problem.

 

I wish I was doing the tests on PLi image, though :-)

[malakudi]

@albsky: What you care or not is irrelevant. The box is advertised with such features, so they should work. That's what's the issue here. You buy and pay a premium (499 euros is a lot of money) and you expect to get a box working at 100%. Not to get a box that works at 60-70% and become a beta tester. SD scaling is much worse than previous VU+ boxes - I did A/B tests with VU+ Solo2, the difference was obvious.

Edited by malakudi, 16 November 2015 - 13:23.

[albsky]

@albsky: What you care or not is irrelevant. The box is advertised with such features, so they should work. That's what's the issue here. You buy and pay a premium (499 euros is a lot of money) and you expect to get a box working at 100%. Not to get a box that works at 60-70% and become a beta tester. SD scaling is much worse than previous VU+ boxes - I did A/B tests with VU+ Solo2, the difference was obvious.

What I am saying is: in MY 499 € the value of transcoding is 0 :-)

If in yours is 100€ then do not buy the box.

[WanWizard]

You don't seem to get it.

 

The point here is not your opinion, the point is that an unsuspected person will read the sales flyer from VU+, will read the reviews, and based on that will assume that everything in the sales flyer works because no review mentions problems, forks out his hard-earned 499 euro's, and THEN realizes that (for example) transcoding doesn't work or SD scaling is very bad.

 

At that point you can't go back to the shop and say "these features are worth 100 euro to me, give me my 100 euro back" or demand a full refund. You're stuck with a box that doesn't work as advertised.

[athoik]

When it can be solved using software everything is fine, as long as somewhere is noted like Feature Coming Soon etc.

 

When there is an issue in hardware design! OOOppps lets hope for an RMA, else you live with that!

 

[Trial]

Hi,

it is sad but it seems normal. You can look at almost every manufacturer and most of the recent boxes were not completely ready when they hit the market. Prize says nothing when you look at the 7080.

 

ciao

[malakudi]

When I reviewed 7080HD, both transcoding and HDMI-in didn't work (I don't really know if they work as originally advertised by now). And this box costed even more, 750 euro. Unfortunately this is becoming a common thing, and if we the customers are not doing something about that, it will keep happening from all companies. We don't want to be beta (or even alpha) testers, we want 100% working products on launch date.

Edited by malakudi, 16 November 2015 - 14:49.

[pop_eye]

When I reviewed 7080HD, both transcoding and HDMI-in didn't work (I don't really know if they work as originally advertised by now). And this box costed even more, 750 euro. Unfortunately this is becoming a common thing, and if we the customers are not doing something about that, it will keep happening from all companies. We don't want to be beta (or even alpha) testers, we want 100% working products on launch date.

 

I can feel your pain. Not worth it.

Even if they give the box away for free I will not need it. It is odd that Vuplus did not even considered adding buy-back program to the offer.

I think they should. This box support is not going anywhere. But they want you to pay for their time developing it.  Is that normal ?

 

You can get away easily with a small sized board for a well developed ARM appliance, without even bothering spending too much.

There are alternatives now - you  can even get EMMC flash support for loading your baked image with your own drivers etc.

Edited by pop_eye, 16 November 2015 - 15:26.

[Erik Slagter]

On the et8000 transcoding still isn't implemented...

[albsky]

I went to the official page, and, I am sorry, but everything advertised is in my box.

I do not see anything about transcoding, blind scan (or anything like oscam for that matter).

 

So, I do not understand how the end user can be fooled by VU+

[pop_eye]

So, I do not understand how the end user can be fooled by VU+

 

Please read above comment by malakudi and WanWizard:

...transcoding doesn't work or SD scaling is very bad.

 

Please read following from vuplus.com mother of all marketing bullshit :

hxxp://vuplus.com/sub/sub0113.php

 

• Born with 4K, sheer view Ultimate The ultimate UHD PVR Vu+ SOLO 4K is now come to lead to have 4K Ultra HD channels, it would be definitely a leader of the UHD future generation. As Vu+ used to give you valuable quality of view, Vu+ SOLO 4K brings you to have pleasant Ultra HD channels at home.
• Brings you to have a more realistic and natural images with SOLO 4K HDR HDR(High Definition Range) is that expands the range of both contrast and color significantly on the TV screen to create a much more vivid details both in highlighting objects and shadows. It offers a wider color palette and the blacks are deeper and whites are brighter. With SOLO 4K HDR, you would have TV pictures and videos which are more like what you seen in real life.

 

Hopefully you now understand...If not you either work for them or you like being fooled like that.

Your money, choice... But that is not what where the issue is, WanWizard @109 explained very well.

Edited by pop_eye, 16 November 2015 - 16:37.

[albsky]

No I do not work for them, and no, I didn't buy the box for SD.

I bought it for 4k and HDR.

If it was for SD I would have kept DM7000 which I bought in 2003.

 

 

[pop_eye]

So in your view everything is dandy ?

This looks a lot like In Orwell`s book where he said ignorance is strength.

[Tigerdyr2]

Same here albsky, i bought it for the FBC tuners and 1080P video mode, all the rest i do not care about. I thought the price was worth it based on my needs. But i've got VTI to work for my needs, and can select another skin. Sorry for trying to be helpful to the rest of you. 

[pop_eye]

@ albsky, @ Tigerdyr2 - darn, I wish I had something to sell you

It is not about being helpful or not..You guys are the best customers ever ...