My TM-TWIN experience

[jsaw]

I have easily 45 various cams in my collection

wow , please forgive my ignorance on cams,shows how much i know about them.i only thought there were a few in use and mainly for using with xxx cards.

 

[digidude]

but needs to be about a lot longer with more teams supporting it before many will take the plunge.

It wasn't aimed at you m8

this bit I 500% agree with

 

[VectorZ]

I have easily 45 various cams in my collection

You do realise that much porn is enough to kill a normal man don't you?

 

[PHEONIX]

Those arguments are the same ones that were used not ao long ago for the TM800 "works fine for how I use it" and "non owners are not allowed to have an opinion"... Everyone will use recievers in a different way and will put put more emphasis/importance on different features. The only real comparisons are do the recievers do everything they say on the box, how do they compare to similar spec recievers from other manufacturers in terms of price, features, support, performance ?
The only valid points i've seen so far is... zap times less than 1 second, ability to record 5 channels at the same time, RF output... Pretty sure Zap times less than 1 second is listed on old school satellite box recievers as far back as Enigma 1 recievers though !
Im not suprised people may have been "shocked" at the difference between the TWIN and other TM Linux products....as they were all pretty poor...not much of a achievement to out do them...
I agree the clone mannufacturers of the 800HD did indeed produce several crap tuner revisions, dont think 13 revisions were ever retailed though I only know of J,K,L3 and M never saw a H rev or below. Difference is though clone manufacturers came good and anyone with a bad tuner could easily swap a plug and play tuner for around 30 quid. I have yet to see TM fix the CCCam server issues on TM500/600 or the multitude of issues on the 800.
Also I think theres a need for much more impartial input on the TWIN, not intrested in listening to the TM Fanboy bridage who have been dished out freebies or are retailers of TM products, or may hold commercial ties to TM.
It is indeed good for their to be more competition to the twin tuner, market...also good to see TM have reversed there price increase and the TWIN is back to it's originally quoted RRP... "currency fluctuations" must have magically stabilised recently....

well you can rest assured i have no ties with TM what so ever other than the fact that i bought and own two TM600's which out perform my original DM600 in every respect. although i suspect your reply is more to gain a reaction than have a intelligent conversation about receivers as usual.

 

[theblueirish]

Why ? Does the Duo not have more support more images proven track record and the clone is nearly 100 quid less than the TWIN... Theres nothing to gain by owing a TWIN.
Might make sense if maybe you were looking at something higher spec like a DM8000 quad tuner support etc....

One week after buying the clone the power supply blew up on it. In fairness I had a replacement within a week and its back running again. I have always liked Technomate boxes, I use TM500's in 90% of installs that I do, I would have preferred to use TM800's for the HD installations I do but we all know the issues the box has had. I would use an original product over a clone any day and at the price I will be using TM Twin before I use the clones again.

We all know by your posts that you don't like Technomate products but the bashing of a new product that I suspect you haven't even tried is a bit tiresome.

I have had experience with Technomate that have replaced products that have been out of warranty, do you think that I would get that service from the Vu clone supplier?

I have a suggestion for you, go and buy a Twin, if its really as bad as you make out I will buy it off you again at the price you paid for it, as for me I'm trying to find the receipt for my TM800 so I can avail of the Technomate discount I wonder would the Chinese factory that make the Vu clones let me use it against a Vu duo?

 

[gsmtech]

One week after buying the clone the power supply blew up on it. In fairness I had a replacement within a week and its back running again. I have always liked Technomate boxes, I use TM500's in 90% of installs that I do, I would have preferred to use TM800's for the HD installations I do but we all know the issues the box has had. I would use an original product over a clone any day and at the price I will be using TM Twin before I use the clones again.

We all know by your posts that you don't like Technomate products but the bashing of a new product that I suspect you haven't even tried is a bit tiresome.

I have had experience with Technomate that have replaced products that have been out of warranty, do you think that I would get that service from the Vu clone supplier?

I have a suggestion for you, go and buy a Twin, if its really as bad as you make out I will buy it off you again at the price you paid for it, as for me I'm trying to find the receipt for my TM800 so I can avail of the Technomate discount I wonder would the Chinese factory that make the Vu clones let me use it against a Vu duo?

You might want to re-read my post. I didnt say the TWIN was bad, I dont own one so i woudnt know. I was asking why you want to buy one if you already had a clone VU DUO considering the featureset is almost identical and the VU originals have proven track record of support and good feedback, to be fair even the clones seem to be getting good feedback im not a fan of Feraari team clone products either... Plus they are 100 quid cheaper that a TWIN..so it doesnt seem to make much sense to spend more for no real advantage...
So basically what im asking is if I was in the market for a twin tuner reciever...what in particular is better about a TWIN over other recievers that makes it the better buy.. By this I mean against an Xtrend/clarke tech, VU DUO original, VU DUO clone or any other Twin Tuner reciever.
"buy one and sell it back to you" is not really a convincing reason to buy a TWIN..now is it. Plus you've already admitted you have a prefrence fot TM products so your opinion is obviously biased in ther TM direction ...So far from Digidudes post i've gathered the following as potential advantages of the TWIN:

- Fast zap times...
- RF Output.
- Ability to record 5 channels at the same time.

Anything else anyone has to add to this list ?

 

[F1Mad]

Anything else anyone has to add to this list ?

The TWIN is BRITISH?? Seriously, that's a HUGE plus for me!! When comparing 2 options, if it came down to the items being identical in all other respects, but 1 was British, I'd probably even spend a little more to get the British one.

 

[digidude]

dual boot abilities (NOT like barry allen multiboot, it can be linux OR closed source patches)
extra flash memory
1080P (i know nothings broadcast in P yet)
extra 'hotkeys' on the remote (not a biggie i know)
I.F. loop-thru on Tuner 1

off the top of my head

 

[gsmtech]

The TWIN is BRITISH?? Seriously, that's a HUGE plus for me!! When comparing 2 options, if it came down to the items being identical in all other respects, but 1 was British, I'd probably even spend a little more to get the British one.

Not really...it's Korean produced still DAGS/ITGate as far as I know....Might have TM badge..dont make it british though. No big deal though...your not likely to find any British made electronic products these days...

 

[F1Mad]

1080P (i know nothings broadcast in P yet)

Actually, I was going to post about this... I've found the picture to be jerky if 1080p is selected as the mode. What mode have others got theirs set to?

Anyway, in 1080i mode (which is what is mostly broadcast, right?), everything is very smooth - I'd even say that the picture looks better than my ASRock HT330 Media Center using DVB-T2.

 

[F1Mad]

Not really...it's Korean produced still DAGS/ITGate as far as I know....Might have TM badge..dont make it british though. No big deal though...your not likely to find any British made electronic products these days...

Well, if you put it *that* way, NOTHING other than software can be completely produced in the UK, as the raw materials will almost certainly need to be imported. Bottom line is that, if the company behind it are in the UK, then they almost certainly are employing people in the UK, and probably even paying tax in the UK.

Incidentally, if you want an interesting insight into why producing stuff in the UK is so difficult, Google for a blog about the Raspberry Pi - I found it shocking that there are more tax breaks on importing ready made products, rather than ordering components from abroad and assembling here!

 

[gsmtech]

Well, if you put it *that* way, NOTHING other than software can be completely produced in the UK, as the raw materials will almost certainly need to be imported. Bottom line is that, if the company behind it are in the UK, then they almost certainly are employing people in the UK, and probably even paying tax in the UK.

Incidentally, if you want an interesting insight into why producing stuff in the UK is so difficult, Google for a blog about the Raspberry Pi - I found it shocking that there are more tax breaks on importing ready made products, rather than ordering components from abroad and assembling here!

Agreed...bit of a shame really...but you can see why companies get their products made out of the UK the costs savings are significant,..they would never be able to compete if they used solely UK sources.. It's not Just TM in this regard nearly every manufacturer of satellite gear and other electronics is using far east sources.
The Software probably is coded in Korea as well...doubt it's UK based either....

 

[digidude]

Assembled in korea, coded in korea, fixed in kitchens and bedrooms across the UK, lol

 

[sargie]

Actually, I was going to post about this... I've found the picture to be jerky if 1080p is selected as the mode. What mode have others got theirs set to?

Anyway, in 1080i mode (which is what is mostly broadcast, right?), everything is very smooth - I'd even say that the picture looks better than my ASRock HT330 Media Center using DVB-T2.

I think its to do with the refresh rate being 24hz? Might be wrong though. Thing is if your watchin a 1080i boradcast it will have to be upscalled to 1080p first.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin.]

Remember no satellites as such transmit in 1080P so bit of a myth really for all stb's saying full 1080p output.

 

[Bally12345]

Actually, I was going to post about this... I've found the picture to be jerky if 1080p is selected as the mode. What mode have others got theirs set to?

Anyway, in 1080i mode (which is what is mostly broadcast, right?), everything is very smooth - I'd even say that the picture looks better than my ASRock HT330 Media Center using DVB-T2.

As already mentioned its down to the refresh rate I think you will need to tweak the settings on your tv or box someone did talk about once upon a time. Also kudos for owning the ASRock HT330 Media Center I have one too which I run XBMC on but havent got round to updating it in awhile.

Remember no satellites as such transmit in 1080P so bit of a myth really for all stb's saying full 1080p output.

Correct nothing actually broadcasts in 1080p but you should be able to stream full 1080p movies from your pc however I doubt you will notice the difference lol unless your a true videophile in which case you wouldnt be using a sat box to watch 1080p movies lol

 

[F1Mad]

[SIGN][/SIGN]

As already mentioned its down to the refresh rate I think you will need to tweak the settings on your tv or box someone did talk about once upon a time.

I *think* you're *almost* right, in that it's to do with refresh, but I don't think it's the refresh "rate" - it's to do with how the refresh is performs. Basically, the "I" in 1080i stands for "interlaced", so the repainting of the screen is done differently to 1080p (which itself can have different refresh rates, tat obviously have to be matched to a multiple of the TV's refresh rate). Here's a nice explanation: 1080i vs 1080p - Similarities and Differences - What You Need To Know About 1080i - 1080p/60 - 1080p/30 - 1080p/24

Also kudos for owning the ASRock HT330 Media Center I have one too which I run XBMC on but havent got round to updating it in awhile.

Thanks, mate. iON-based systems certainly promised a lot, what with low power consumption yet good 1080p graphics capability, but it's the software (and implementation) that holds them back (eg having to have the bloat of a full Win7 OS, just so that you can use MediaCenter!). Also, because the IONs don't have any PCi slots, youre forced to use alternative tuners. I have a pair of HDHomeRuns (giving me 4 DVB-T networked tuners), 2 x USB DVBT2, and 1 x USB DVBS2 tuner (what a load of problems the last one as caused me!), so had a big array of tuners to play with, but I found that using 2 HD streams simultaneously on te ASRock grinds the system to snail pace. The TWIN's fast UI is a revelation after putting up with the AsRock in this state for a few months! :s

Correct nothing actually broadcasts in 1080p but you should be able to stream full 1080p movies from your pc however I doubt you will notice the difference lol unless your a true videophile in which case you wouldnt be using a sat box to watch 1080p movies lol

To be honest, it's not a biggy that the Twin doesn't work so well when set to 1080p, for the reasons we've all already mentioned, but take *my* usage, for example... I've got a server here with About 30TB of storage (that's a LOT of recorded content!). Now, with the Twin (or ny Open Linux receiver for tht matter) being able to run plugins and do so much more other than watch/record satellite, it's a shame you can't set it to be 1080p (just as I have with the ASRock) and it'll upscale (or adjust to a lower setting where necessary). That way I can enjoy my satellite in 1080i, but can stream some 1080p content for te server without having to switch to another box and set of remote controls.