My Review of the VU+ Duo2 FTA Receiver

[el bandido]

Enigma2 si designed to store large amounts of channels, so you do not have to worry as much about having too many channels or transponders.

You may delete all of the channels for a satellite on the Duo2 by pressing the menu button when a satellite is selected.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


Different skins may be selected. This allows extra customizing options to the Duo2.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


A network connection between a computer and the receiver is a must if you want to customize a satellite file or do extensive channel renaming or renumbering.

For me, I usually modify the satellite file to my liking, then I will scan one transponder manually per satellite. This is done so I can make a bouquet for each satellite. If you scan a satellite, and let the receiver automatically make the Bouquet for it, then every channel that was found will be sent to the Bouquet for that satellite. This will probably result in some channels needing to be deleted.
Normally I will have every channel that can be found on a satellite stored in the receiver under the satellite menu. Then I scroll through the found channels and transfer the ones I want to the Bouquet for that satellite or to another Bouquet that I have created.
Setting up Bouquets like this allows me to scan or blindscan the satellites without worrying about what is found. I can copy any new channels to a Bouquet, and If I have renamed a channel in a Bouquet, that name is not erased or overwritten when the satellite is rescanned.

[eastof111]

"The Duo2 is also King of Record. This receiver can record an entire mux at one time. It can also record while scanning. I have yet to find the true recording limits of this receiver."

I would add that this includes perfect IPTV stream recording while watching a sat channel or blind scanning.

[el bandido]

The Duo2 has done a good job of being able to copy or play files from other receivers and computers. The Duo2 can play or copy files from other devices connected to my network whic include the Optibox Raptor, the Golden Media TripleX, and a computer.

Network speed is a factor when transferring or playing files. It will only work as good as the network it is on.
Copying files does not require a fast and efficient network, but playing a high definition or a high bit rate file does require decent network speed. A given router may have a decent speed rating, but its speed will be spread out over every device that is connected to the router. The only problems I have had with playing files has been when something else connected to the router is loading it. My router is not fast enough to support high speed fast forward or reverse when file sharing.

[Pale-Rider]

Personally I can't comment on the Duo2 as I dont own one, but I have almost every other Vu+ receiver made to date, my favorite always comes back to the Vu+ Solo2 and this is the receiver I use as my own personal Dev box. As for Enigma2 as a operating system in it's own rite it's a very mature system and by far the most popular with developers and users alike in the UK and Europe. It's quite nice to see it starting to take hold in north america too ( at long last might i add ).

[el bandido]

The Solo2 was not really considered by me because it did not appear to be able to blindscan. Now that they have added that, the Solo2 may become an affordable VU+ option here in North America.

[Pale-Rider]

Blind scan has never particularly interested me probably because E2 was dreadful for this, although i did briefly play with it on the Uno and Ultimo ( these use the same tuners as the Duo2 ). Huevos is our main man when it comes to blindscan and it's his work that is the backbone of the Blindscan plugin in ViX and ATV.

[eastof111]

Blind scan has never particularly interested me probably because E2 was dreadful for this, although i did briefly play with it on the Uno and Ultimo ( these use the same tuners as the Duo2 ). Huevos is our main man when it comes to blindscan and it's his work that is the backbone of the Blindscan plugin in ViX and ATV.

Your opinion pls as to why E2 seems to be blindscan unfriendly while StiLinux (Octagon, Icecrypt, Fortis et al) seems to get the job accomplished very well? This would include categories of speed and accuracy.

[Pale-Rider]

several factors really.

Enigma 2 has never really paid much attention to blindscan as previous attempts were poor software based attempts instead of hardware based, this meant that many serious users ignored Enigma2 all together for blind scanning and many still do, plus it just was not a selling point under enigma 2 until very recently with the release of dedicated hardware supported tuners for the Vu+ Uno, Ultimo, Duo2.

Another issue is the software support to go along with the new tuners has always been very lacking from the manufacturers, it took Huevos a great deal of his own time to create a working Blindscan plugin for ViX as our support requests to Vu+ were falling on deaf ears or they just did not understand what he was asking for. Then there is the likes of pli who want fully functioning plugins from the manufacturer and they poo poo all others works unless its specifically coded for their own image.

so to sum it up, poor support from the manufacturers and the perception that Enigma2 was not for the serious user meant that no one really paid any attention to enigma 2 for blind scanning, and most still dont.

[eastof111]

Thanks, so technically there's no reason why E2 eventually should not be able to be as good as the Fortis blindscan.

[Pale-Rider]

Thanks, so technically there's no reason why E2 eventually should not be able to be as good as the Fortis blindscan.

Eventually, yes.