78 replies to this topic

[fankoosh]

Recently I noticed another group of box been added to openpli support , so is the box is OK regarding booting , speed ,IPTV streaming , recording chs...etc , in past I saw a lot of posts here showing zgemma is just cheap clone crap box which not worth to buy , but what is story behind the new support from openpli core builder to build & support this box , I need feedback ,reviews & help from who has experience & own this box coz I am planning to get a zgamma S (single dvbS2) in case I found it is worthy to buy this box ,I already got vusoloSE ,so I don't want to get pissed off from buying & using this Chinese crunchy crap cookies

[WanWizard]

The first series of this manufacturer, the Cloud Ibox, was clearly a clone, a VU+ Solo copy. The Zgemma's seem to be "own" design, but they are still low-budget boxes, with a low-budget SoC, an ugly box, and only fixed tuners. For example, for one VU+ Duo2, you get 10 Star S boxes. But if a Star S will do, why pay more?

 

Like you can't compare a 2CV with a Ferrari, you can't compare a Zgemma with a VU+. But in the end both get you from A to B. Zgemma is on the market a while, so maybe others can comment on the quality. We've only have them recently, so we've got no real usage information. The same for the software. At the moment there is good contact, and a quick response, with the chinese developers. Time will tell what the long-term quality of the drivers will be.

[Heppieboeddah]

I own the H2 now for about 6 months. Price quality is good.

From scratch starting is about 1~2 minutes. From standby it's in a blink of the eye. IPTV is no problem. Going very fast through the channel list is not really fast but to do.

I'm pleased with the Zgemma

[ColinB]

We have just got a Star-S, for £50+£5 next day delivery. Which must be the cheapest HD PVR box that is supported on this forum.

 

It seems to Timeshift and Record fine. We previously had a XP1000@751Mhz which has the same BCM7358 SoC.

 

However the thing that I've noticed so far is that it seems to be a lot slower doing backups with BackupSuite. Both having the same plugins and settings, the Xp1000 would take less than 4mins for a full backup. The Star-S is taking around 7mins at the moment. Both reflash backups at a similar speed. Also I've noticed that the Star-S telnet feeds and plugin downloads are very slow.

[fankoosh]

thank u all for ur reply  , now Airdigital manufactured a new box (HS /H2S/H2H) they mentioned that they run more faster & it is dual core processor 751BCM , any one gone through these new boxes , r they really better or it is just another useless version of new boxes??!

[Erik Slagter]

Don't expect much increase in speed from a second core.

 

And yes, the Zgemma is a fine "budget" receiver. Driver quality seems to be quite good, especially for this league. But don't expect anything fancy. Also don't go buying USB tuners to make up for the small amount of tuners, which we see frequently; you will be disappointed. If you need more than one tuner, buy a receiver with more than one tuner inside. Pluggable is best, but also most expensive. It's choice you need to make.

[WTE]

I have different opinion:

 

A second threaded CPU gives you enormous increase of speed. The box will feel as fast as any high-end tuner from other manufactures.

Boot time decrease by 50%, plugins like openopera will work smoothly and so on...

 

I see actually only zgemma models with two tuners and not one. The new models have even a detachable tuner.

[scotty123]

i have the zgemma H1.

its ok for what i need

i do find it a bit slow changing channels,

but that could be the image i am using

its my first box, so it will do for now

[fankoosh]

i guess olf harware specifications & performance is so much slower & problems than the one in new box models , @WTE do u recommend new H2S or HS regarding performance , stability & less issues ?

[Erik Slagter]

A second threaded CPU gives you enormous increase of speed. The box will feel as fast as any high-end tuner from other manufactures.

Boot time decrease by 50%, plugins like openopera will work smoothly and so on...

For enigma it's more beneficial to have a faster CPU than extra core's. Especially boot time can't significantly descrease from multiple cores, most of it is single threaded stuff. A browser may benefit, but that's not the main application.

[Erik Slagter]

i guess olf harware specifications & performance is so much slower & problems than the one in new box models , @WTE do u recommend new H2S or HS regarding performance , stability & less issues ?

The new series is only a bit faster. Don't expect miracles (or be disappointed...). It's budget stuff.

[catastrofus]

descrease = increase?

 

 

A second threaded CPU gives you enormous increase of speed. The box will feel as fast as any high-end tuner from other manufactures.

Boot time decrease by 50%, plugins like openopera will work smoothly and so on...

For enigma it's more beneficial to have a faster CPU than extra core's. Especially boot time can't significantly descrease from multiple cores, most of it is single threaded stuff. A browser may benefit, but that's not the main application.

 

[Erik Slagter]

No?

 

Boot time won't significantly decrease from multiple cores. Unclear?

[WTE]

i guess olf harware specifications & performance is so much slower & problems than the one in new box models , @WTE do u recommend new H2S or HS regarding performance , stability & less issues ?

 

The older models works fine and I think for a budget model it's quite good. It is a bit slow for some media playback and scrolling through menu's feels a bit slow..

The newer models with the BCM7362 or BCM73625 works very well and with normal use of enigma2 you can certainly compare it with any high-end model.

It's actually a huge difference in performance and I am astonished that some people say it isn't.

 

I do not know the zgemma numbers but H2S and HS the difference should be with 2x DVB-S2 or 1x DVB-S2

Edited by WTE, 17 February 2016 - 21:50.

[Robinson]

Would Star 2S be very slow?

I understand it is supported by OpenPLi?

openpli-6.2-release-sh1-20180820_usb.zip2018/08/20 21:04 - 71.00MB

[WanWizard]

Depends on what you want to do with it. For what is was made for (watching TV), it is fast enough. It uses the same SoC as the ET4000 or the XP1000, so it's very low-end.

[mjray]

I've recently bought an H9S. I'd say it's worth buying even though I'm still figuring out a few kinks (some are on other posts here). It's supported by openpli.

Edited by mjray, 23 August 2018 - 12:33.

[WanWizard]

You can't really compare the two, The Star is an old entry-level box that has been end-of-life for a while, the H9 is their current high-end model.

[Frenske]

Don’t forget that the H9 versions don’t have a cardreader.
It’ll be no problems for some owners I guess.

[mjray]

Don’t forget that the H9 versions don’t have a cardreader.
It’ll be no problems for some owners I guess.

I guess you mean a CA card reader. It has SD or microSD card. It's no problem for me because I watch only FTA these days and if I really really wanted to use a softcam, I think I have other devices which will read the card data (which I wouldn't then use the card in).