The End of VuPlus Receivers?

In the last ten years, VuPlus has produced some good quality receivers that are capable of receiving fta satellite signals. VuPlus even had their own image that was based on some ancient enigma2 code. BlackHole images were built strctly for VuPlus receivers, and the BlackHole image coding was also based on the ancient enigma2 code that VuPlus was maintaining.

Enigma2 images are constructed using several sources. There is a lot of python code in enigma2 images. The VuPLus enigma2 image is coded using python 2, which is more or less obsolete. Most of the image groups now have either adopted python 3 code, or are actively working on adapting to python 3 code. VuPlus is doing absolutely nothing now. Here is a list of updates from openvuplus 3.0.git:

2021-05-27 update driver(duo4kse)
2021-04-28 update vuplus-wifi-util (duo4k, duo4kse, ultimo4k)
2021-04-27 update driver(duo4kse, uno4kse, zero4k)
2021-02-23 remove mirror archive.vuplus.com
2021-02-22 Fix SRC_URI from archive.vuplus.com to code.vuplus.com
2021-02-09 Add vuplus-tuner-turbo2 driver. (solo2, duo2, solose, zero)
2021-01-21 increase dvbapp PR.
2021-01-21 Add vuplus-tuner-turbo2 driver.
2020-12-28 [vuplus-wifi-util] fix SSID issue.
2020-10-20 [chromium] fix UA

As mentioned previously, the BlackHole enigma2 image was based on the openvuplus code, and BlackHole images were built strictly for VuPlus receivers. A few years ago, an Open BlackHole image appeared that again was built strictly for VuPlus receivers. The open BlackHole images is built using OE Alliance sources. The Open BlackHole image today seems to be heavily related to OpenVix, but the Open BlackHole image has the look and feel of the original BlackHole image that was built from ancient openvuplus sources.

VuPlus has not released a new receiver for quite some time now. We can also see that the openvuplus git is no longer active because nothing has been done with it for some seven months. Recently the Open BlackHole image group that used to only make images for VuPlus announced they will be making images for other makes/models besides VuPlus.

I applaud anyone or any group that makes open-source enigma2 images because it usually improves the experience for everyone, including North American users. Anyone that has an octagon SF8008 may now download and install an Open BlackHole image into their receiver. Most likely, other makes/models of receivers will have Open BlackHole images at some point in the future.

Putting all of this together (VuPlus not releasing any new receivers, openvuplus.git no longer supported, Open BlackHole group making images for other makes/models of receivers) leads me to think VuPlus may no longer exist soon. Regardless of what happens, the Pandemic has put a terrible stress on fta equipment that has included chip shortages and manufacturing facilities closing.

The years 2022 and 2023 may see a rebound of fta receivers and other products. Only time will tell. I would like to wish the Open BlackHole Team the best in their future endeavors. EB

VuPlus Links:
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Open BlackHole Links:
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Yes, rather sad to see such a dramatic drop in the fta equipment innovators and suppliers. I have to say that I am very grateful that my Vu+ Duo2 has and still is providing my fta receiver and recording requirements. Since November of 2013, it's been a faithful fta four tuner receiver along with iptv and atsc usb support. For me, relinquishing four tuners would be back paddling.

If Edision would introduce a four tuner blind scan fta receiver, I would jump on it. Thrice.

I can only wonder where the support money will come from to support the Open BlackHole images? At present, you have two offical Open BlackHole websites. Both of these sites are hosting Open BlackHole VuPlus images. Website storage costs money, so it makes little sense to duplicate the storage by hosting the same images at two different websites. For that matter, it makes little sense to have two websites period.

Open BlackHole VuPlus images links:
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Both Open BlackHole websites seem to have different staff. This makes even less sense to me. Are the two sites actually staffed different? Or Did the original Open BlackHole staff feel the need to change their names that have been used for years?

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Who is going to pay for this?
Websites cost a bit of money, How much depends on what is done to them, and the amount of storage space needed. Building enigma2 images for multiple boxes with public downloads costs money in several different ways. You need a decent build server to mass produce images for different brands and different makes of fta receivers. You also need the storage space to host all of these different images, and you will need a bunch of storage space to host several different sets of feeds.