Do Not Buy VU+ FTA Receivers

[el bandido]

I started this thread because every time VU+ releases a new product, someone in North America buys it and is dissatisfied with the fta performance. VU+ produces a good quality product that is pretty much useless for fta operations in North America. I am sure these products work as designed in other parts of the world where subscriptions for fta receivers are available.

VU+ products are not designed for fta use, and will not work correctly on the fta satellites in North America. We need features such as blindscan, and a decent signal meter. Vu+ does not care about a signal meter, and advertises blindscan features that either do not work at all or perform very poorly. Vu+ does have good hardware for most of their receivers, but Vu+ performance and features is designed for subscription services, and not for fta signal reception.

Vu+ has some good graphics and good skins in their flagship BlackHole image, but everything else besides the skin and graphics is old and out of date. There is no provision for c band blindscan in BlackHole images, and overall, the BlackHole image belongs in a fta museum that specializes in relics of the past. Realizing how out of date the BlackHole image is, a newer version called Open BlackHole was released a few years ago. The Open BlackHole image is pretty much an OpenVix image with a few BlackHole skins and menus installed.

Here are a few examples of being inept, and not understanding what fta features are for or how fta receivers are supposed to operate:

Blindscan working, not working or we don't know.
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Blindscan possible??? (Not answered as of today)
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Signal meter issues (seriously?)
[Only registered and activated users can see links]-271020

I really do not know ,because I am not an image coder.
I do almost exclusively skins and image testing.
I'm not sure the BH coder wants to change the VU + base coding.
In principle, these things should be fixed by VU + maybe you can send them,which they might include in the update.
You know there are a lot of things that could be changed but then we would go beyond the VU + coding base.
That's why we created the Open Black Hole image.
But if you make a fix I can ask the coder if he wants it to change.


Diseqc motor issue (Not Answered)
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Problems with C band TP (Uh, What the hell is c band?)
[Only registered and activated users can see links]-271209

Trying to contact VU+ directly about receiver problems or issues is futile. Vu+ will not answer any questions or have any kind of conversation or even acknowledgement that problems exist.

Best of luck to anyone that purchases a new Vu+ receiver for use in North America. EB

[eastof111]

"Best of luck to anyone that purchases a new Vu+ receiver for use in North America."

Haven't seen any posts lately of NA fta purchasers of new Vu+ receivers and most likely won't see any in the future.

For that matter, after visiting many south of the border web sites over the years, Vu+ never really took off in Mexico, Latin America or South America. Over the years, I don't recall Vu+ generating too much interest in Australia or Philippines either.

[el bandido]

I usually see a few posts every time a new Vu product appears, and a new VU+ Duo4K SE is being advertised now.U.S. Ebay has several VU+ receivers available for purchase from other parts of the world. VU+ does not advertise any features to work or not work, so if something like blindscan does not work, then you cannot say the seller sold something that does not work as advertised.

This is what VU+ advertises as features for the Duo4k receiver:
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Features
Quad Core 2.1GHz
Transcoding
HDMI In & HDMI Out
Detachable 2.5” HDD
4GB eMMC/2GB LPDDR4
HDR10/HLG
2 x USB 3.0(Rear) & 1 x USB 2.0(Front)
2 x Common Interface/1x Smart Card
3.5” LCD for Mini TV

These receivers would be the best for fta if they were supported. VU+ receivers have great hardware and nice skins. Just looking at it, you would think it is the fta product to have, and maybe one day it will be. But not today.

[Megatron817]

Only thing is someone has buy it N.America and test it and post the results because we can't find much info from over seas. But I we know the support is not good then best to stay away from all their products. I also say stay away from the Mutant/AX stuff. Not good support.

[el bandido]

Some other things to consider:
A FTA Store, FTA Dealer, FTA Seller...etc will probably not sell you a New receiver for testing because once you open the packaging and connect the receiver to an antenna system to test it, the receiver is no longer New. It is then considered to be Used. So if a seller offers to send you a receiver to test and offers to accept a return due to a failed test, then the receiver is probably "used" instead of "new".

To date, FBC or Full Band Capture tuners have no practical use in a North American FTA satellite system. The FBC tuner will work, but none of them have a proven DVB-S blindscan, and the overall sensitivity will probably be reduced as compared to Non-FBC tuners.
Receivers with FBC tuners can and will offer blindscan, but the blindscan feature is for DVB-C and DVB-T tuners only. This can be confusing, and has tricked me before.

Unicable is another item that has no practical use in a North American FTA system.

[eastof111]

From the looks of things I hope my Duo2 lasts (6 years and counting) or I may have a withdrawal episode considering my dish setup and currently available receivers.

There was a post (arlo) on WOS regarding a vu+ 4k receiver with plug in tuners for blindscan, but he couldn't get an answer from WOS or other posters as to which tuners (plug and play) he should buy.

I would be willing to buy the receiver he mentioned and any plug and play tuners just to test and see if they worked here.

Will be keeping an eye for any other arlo postings.

[el bandido]

GigaBlue has a nice receiver that will work here. But the tuners for it that support blindscan are not going to be the best.

The Vu+ receiver will be fine IF you use it like it is designed to be used, which is subscription services. I do not see anything from Vu+ right now that has a DVB-S blindscan and a decent tuner. So you would have to import your channels, and would probably not have an extremely sensitive tuner or the ability to receive apsk transponders. (Really hard to say about apsk transponders because DVB-S2X tuners should support them.) Then anything else that does not work in North America or anything that you wanted to add such as ATSC tuners would be on you as no one else is supporting it.

[eastof111]

Too bad athoik didn't support it with his SDG image. I would have tried one just to see.

[el bandido]

Tried one of what? SatDreamGr supports these models of Vu+. They may add one if you ask.
VU+ Duo
VU+ Duo2
VU+ Duo4k
VU+ Solo
VU+ Solo2
VU+ Solo4k
VU+ SoloSE
VU+ Ultimo
VU+ Ultimo4k
VU+ Uno
VU+ Uno4k
VU+ Uno4kSE
VU+ Zero
VU+ Zero4k

I expect new receiver makes & models may be out in the first quarter of 2021.

[eastof111]

"GigaBlue has a nice receiver that will work here. But the tuners for it that support blindscan are not going to be the best."

Too bad athoik didn't support it with his SDG image. I would have tried one just to see.

"They may add one if you ask."

The Gigablue is nearing its life cycle too.

"I expect new receiver makes & models may be out in the first quarter of 2021."

Would be a nice surprise.

[el bandido]

The Duo 4KSE is the latest Vu+ receiver. It has nice features, but will be a poor performing FTA receiver for North America.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Price = £349.00 or about 462.00 United States Dollar.

This receiver has FBC tuners for satellite reception. There are no other advertised satellite tuners at this time.
What is a DVB-S2 FBC Twin Tuner?
A DVB-S2 FBC Twin Tuner has 8 demodulators.
With two conventional (e.g., Twin-LNB) satellite feeds, the tuner is comparable to 2 conventional and 6 additional tuners operating in loop-through mode. You can watch, stream or record simultaneously stations from 8 different transponders from 2 different Sat levels.
In SCR operation (Unicable) with 8 frequencies, this corresponds to 8 conventional tuners.
Users that have tested FBC tuners in North America report a decrease in signal sensitivity as compared to tuners without FBC capability.

These are the advertised features of the Duo4KSE from WOS:
Very fast switching times
WebKit Browser
Chromium OS
Dual HD transcoding
HbbTV
HDMI 2.0 output
HDMI 2.0 input
Gigabit LAN
DualBand WiFi (2.4 / 5 GHz)
Simultaneous decryption of 2 CI modules
Bluetooth 4.1 for e.g. Bluetooth soundbars or headphones
3.5 "TFT LCD Display - MiniTV
2x tuner slot for e.g. DVB-S2 / DVB-C * Full Band Capture (FBC) or DVB-T2 Dual Tuner
USB 3.0
ARM CPU (4x 1,500 MHz)
eMMC flash memory
HEVC / H.265 video decoding
Plug & Play removable frame for 2.5 "SATA HDDs (maximum height of HDD 15 mm)
External 12V power supply

This will be a good receiver for North America if you can accept the lack of satellite blindscan, little if any support, and a bit of decrease in tuner sensitivity.

[el bandido]

A good FTA receiver is wanted in other parts of the world besides North America.
Simple questions about tuner capabilities will not be answered.

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Hi all,

We are considering a VU+ DUO4K SE to access Optus D1 here in Australia.

The question is the feeds we want have a symbol rate of 47,300, multistream, 16 APSK, in clear.

Am I correct in assuming the VU+ would have no difficulty with this service?

If so, bye bye VAST (expensive CAM controlled FTA television).

Thanks.


Talk to Evo he has the box - but be very clear about your multistream requirements e.g. do you need a receiver with a Multi Stream T2MI Tuner? In which case its probably Edision/Octagon


I can't really help as on wrong side of the world.

The box certainly has the options for 16apsk and to tune 47,300 SR, but I couldn't confirm if that works or not.


I don't think there are any transponders in the Northern hemisphere that have symbol rates that high so there is no way for us to confirm that. You are really better off asking down under what others are using.

Most likely, the tuner in the Vu+ receiver would allow the reception of apsk transponders and symbol rates above 45,000. The problem is the Closed Source Vu+ drivers would need to allow it.

[el bandido]

We are not the only ones looking for a FTA receiver.
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