Certainly one of the best satellite receivers on the market.  A great piece of engineering!

Certainly one of the best satellite receivers on the market. A great piece of engineering!

VU + ® Solo² Full HD 1080p Twin Receiver Linux PVR ready (Electronics)

Customer Review

Hello!

Today I would like to share my experiences with the twin satellite receiver VU + Solo² here.

I own the Solo² for over a year.
I bought the device as a substitute for a Kathrein UFS 913. As with already two other Kathrein receivers (923 and 903) I actually only had trouble with the UFS 913. Mir is incomprehensible why Kathrein is still considered a brand in the upscale segment. I certainly had nothing but trouble with self-extinguishing recording timers, as formatted by magic external drives, reboots, freezes And last complete with hangers. I'm actually more than technically savvy but the problems were not to fix even with assistance from the Kathrein Forum and Kathrein himself has made my complaint are left plain.

So I turned my back as an informed consumer of the brand Kathrein and threw myself into the adventure VU +.
I think each of a Solo² At length leaves the original firmware are immediately left and plays the current image on VTI.
The original firmware lifts the receiver already significantly out from the crowd, with VTI is from Solo² but an absolute exception receiver. Adventure is therefore only meant positively, because just happened a lot and incredibly exciting opportunities with the box.

First of all, to the optics.
The receiver comes surprisingly small and therefore I really like with his monolithic black design. The display is very easy to read and dimmed in several stages. Status messages and information about the current program are shown very informative and thoughtful. Even the running speed of the text may be varied.

The power switch is designed as a touch button, which looks very classy.
Behind the small flap that can be opened via a notch in the upper right corner to see the card slots and an additional USB 2.0 port.
On the back, the two Coax satellite connections, a Scart connection, 2 times USB 2.0, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, video / audio are analog, SPDIF optical, an HDMI-out and a power switch and a RS-232 interface for maintenance

Here are the technical data in short form:
Tuner: 2 (2x DVB-S2 HDTV)
Display: 12-digit VFD
Smart Card Reader: 2
Common Interface: 1x CI
PVR: internal functions: EPG, teletext, HbbTV
Control signal: DiSEqC 1.2 / USALS (1.3)
Video connectors: 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x component, 1x SCART, 1x composite video Audio connectors: 1x optical, 1x Composite audio
Other connectors: 2x USB 2.0, 1x RS-232, LAN, WLAN (optional)
Power consumption: 35W (maximum), 0.5W (standby)
Dimensions (WxHxD): 28x5x20cm
Weight: 1.42kg

The (definitely recommendable) installation of a 2.5-inch hard disk or SSD designed completely unspectacular. The housing Screw, connecting the plate and lock, close the housing again and finished.

The remote control may not quite fit the otherwise very upscale appearance of Solo². All necessary functions are indeed clearly and logically structured yet, but I lack for example, a key illumination, or at least an option button for not having yet very often watching TV in the dark. Meanwhile, I can remote control even almost blind use, but it lacks but by landmarks such as other surfaces or an illumination.

Starting with an attached external hard drive takes me almost exactly 30 seconds without external disk there are approximately 5 seconds less. This is a decent time but not great, especially if you dual-core MIPS processor regarded the Solo². (Read correctly, twice 1300 MHz in a satellite receiver).

Note the two possible Standby modes of Solo². I've been using the so-called deep standby, in which the box only very little power (
Before one ever makes an adjustment after the initial start of any I recommend clearly the direct uploading of alternative firmware VTI Image. The most recent image, see [...] a great forum for VU + devices. Daily is mandatory here :-)

Thus, the functional scope is extended by the Solo² fascinating functions that search the satellite receiver range second to none. Ultimately Solo² is indeed a legend box descendant and are thus almost completely adapted to your needs in the situation by the user.

The VTI panel has, in my view the following key benefits

- A fully customizable interface: You can choose choose the colors and fonts free, for example, make the expandable info display almost at will, adjust the whole Menu to your needs and much more among hundreds of skins.
- Hundreds of extensions: About so-called feeds (ie Internet channels) can be system enhancements such as Media Player, Image Viewer, EPGs, Internet radios, etc. retrofitted. Here the choice is simply overwhelming. In VTI Forum can be found very quickly useful lists of the most useful software extensions. That's why I do not go here on a long.
- Very detailed system settings. From the fan speed, the display brightness, color and tone fine adjustments to measurement and Einstelltools for SAT reception. The functional scope is simply breathtaking and can only begin to be portrayed.
- Excellent update function via the VTI system feed. The receiver will be in an existing Internet connection, the latest software packages itself together and makes them available for updating. Extremely comfortable!
- Backup and restoration of channel lists, system settings, timers etc. Exemplary solved!
- Excellent recording functions. In conjunction with one of the many great EPG extensions actually no more to be desired. Direct recording, manual or automatic always subsequently save timeshift recording with the option these recordings, default recording length / end time, setting the lead and lag time in minutes, shooting of any kind, select the recording location (eg on internal or external disk, USB flash drive, NAS ) etc. etc.
The possibilities are literally unlimited, something I've never experienced!

I would like to highlight the small but nice option to assign own key functions of the remote control. The required plugin is Multiquick button. Thus, each button can be assigned on the remote control a dual function. For example, a short press on the red Record button, a direct recording of the current program trigger, a long press but opening the Record Menu for advanced shooting features. This fascinating settings can make, because really each key can be freely assigned and the scope of the available allocation functions is huge.
The option the numeric keypad on the FB for different jump times to use in photography is fascinating. I have for example the following setting. 1 and 3 are back or front for 30 seconds, 4 and 6 for one minute each, 7 and 9 for five minutes leap. I am delighted every time over the disbelieving face of my friend, if I deliberately skip a commercial break in a few seconds :-)

Also noteworthy is the network functionality. About an open Web Interface the Solo² can be controlled from any browser on your home network. So you can, for example, view on the PC or the tablet the recordings. It is even possible the current TV to stream live !! This works great in my gigabit network and saves more satellite receivers in the house.
Also managing the shots is no problem with the Internet Explorer / Firefox / Chrome. Delete / copy / move, everything no problem at all. I'll be on data transfer rates of more than 25 MB / sec, so in some of the full USB 2.0 speed. For me quite sufficient to store the files from the Solo² on the computer or external drives.

The connection to my Zyxel NAS 325 V2 works perfectly, the NAS can even be given as a recording destination. Through DLNA player the Solo² can be used as a full-fledged media player. All previously used audio / video formats are played without complaint.

You can also use the well-known tools for the DreamBox such as DreamBox Edit via ftp to the box access to there, for example Channel lists, boot logos etc. edit. Exemplary!

In the last year my Solo² is lubricated just once and that was for a Festplattenanstöpseln during operation. Otherwise, they ran like clockwork so far, nothing compared to my experience with Kathrein and Technisat.

Important to this spot is certainly following.
The Solo² can what you dreamed of just about anything, but she's still of any normal users use. It has countless expansion options, but you do not use. Already upon delivery, it is one of the best satellite receivers on the market, to familiarize themselves with the VTI-image and the readiness in the issue is the Solo² for me become technology in recent years become one of the most fascinating pieces.

Therefore, there is of mine, the full 5 stars, I would have gladly given a lot more!

If this review has assisted in their decision, I would be happy with a click on "vote". Thank you!

Juicy J Can !!! Heyyyyy Ho Rank: 4/5
April 10
Happy Birthday! 2 Rank: 4/5
May 18
I just use it Rank: 1/5
August 26

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