Technomate 5402HD MK2 Upgrade?

Current setup:
Technomate 5402HD MK2 (single tuner), with external HDD, Patch 1.37
Motorised dish – Technomate motor
Humax Freesat box connected to old Sky dish
I’ve had myTechnomate box for 2.5 years now, so have got used to the workings of it now.Its been very reliable - most of the issues I’ve had have been ‘user errors!’ The picture quality is excellent, however the EPG is not great and only a single tuner means I use the old Humax box to record stuff on 28.2. I don’t tend to record much on the non 28.2 satellites but if I had a twin tuner I would.
I'm interested in hearing the views / recommendations of anyone who had startedwith this box and upgraded to another box (not just Technomate ones) with a twin tuner and how they compare. Now that I understand the difference between Linux and non-Linux boxes (I didn’t initially). It looks like there is more customization on the Linux boxes in terms of the ‘skin’ which I don’t mind learning how to install and it would improve on my current setup IMHO. I can then just use the one box for everything.
An upgrade box would need to work with a motorised dish and ideally one where I can just transfer my channel list / favourites over. It would also need an optical audio output (I know some of the boxes don’t have this) and be able to take an external HDD for recording.
One thing I don’t understand is, if I get a twin LNB as a replacement for my motorised dish,would I have to get a 2 to 1 connector so both leads from the LNB go into the motor or could one of the leads just go straight from the LNB to the receiver? Currently the single lead goes from the LNB into the motor and then a lead comes out from the motor to the receiver.
The alternative would be to use one of the cables from my old Sky dish as the additional feed along with the feed from my motorised dish but I wouldn’t be able to watch / record the euro satellites.
I think I paid about £130 for my box 2.5 years ago and now I think they are only £80. Budget would be £150 - £200.
Cheers!

270+ views and no replies, Wow

On your motorised system, what satellites are you getting (do you go for the same few). With this info, you may get a few more replies on the best way to go, with your system.

Den

If you want to re-use your channels list & favourites, then you don't have much choice- it's TM, DrHD or Blade. TM do (did?) make a triple-tuner (2 sat & 1 terr) box based on the workings of the 5402, in the shape of a 7102HD-T2. Nice looking box & excellent pq, but shares many of the issues you may have encountered on the M2. Int. or ext HDD, but too many IMO for a flagship model at the price they ask. Mine is doing an impression of a vacuum cleaner now- collecting dust!
So I suspect you may have to cross your channel list requirement off the wish list.

Hi, i can live without using my channel list / favourites as i can create a new one. It would be more important to get a better EPG than the current one.
Are there any compatibility issues that I need to be aware of with using other receivers with Technomate motors?
My viewing arc runs from 1w to 39e.

Can anyone answer this from my original post:-
One thing I don’t understand is, if I get a twin LNB as a replacement for my motorised dish,would I have to get a 2 to 1 connector so both leads from the LNB go into the motor or could one of the leads just go straight from the LNB to the receiver? Currently the single lead goes from the LNB into the motor and then a lead comes out from the motor to the receiver.
The alternative would be to use one of the cables from my old Sky dish as the additional feed along with the feed from my motorised dish but I wouldn’t be able to watch / record the euro satellites.

If you install a Twin LNB then yes one feed has to go from LNB - Motor - Receiver for you to be able to retain control of the Motor itself, your second feed from the twin LNB would go directly to the receiver.

The problem with the TM closed source receivers and the EPG is you can get 7 day epg no problem but because it is stored in the RAM as soon as you turn the TM to standby the RAM gets flushed so you end up with no EPG and have to re-download, the better option for EPG is a linux Enigma2 receiver that can store the data to a USB and then once switched off and on again the EPG is automatically reloaded to RAM.

Thanks Digi247,

I know its been said before about the 5402 but it really is poor that the EPG cant be stored (unless you leave the box on all the time). Such a basic function but really lets down an otherwise decent box. I'll look at the linux Enigma2 receivers I think with twin tuners.