Zgemma H7s Guide

StupidLikeAFox

I'm having a small issue with the saorview channels on this. My aerial is pointed at Mt Leinster, so receives saorview on two channels. One channel (rte2 etc) is absolutely perfect all the time, the other (rte1 etc) is very flaky. It used to be fine, but patchy occasionally, then got steadily worse.

When it start causing issues, signal strength for those channels go from 22db for a second, then to 19db for a second, to 0, then 22, 19, 0 and just keeps repeating this cycle every 3 seconds.

I actually just checked as I was typing and they are working fine at the moment, snr is 55%, agc is 99%, signal strength is a consistent 23db. Likely to randomly start happening again though based on past performance

greasepalm

Is your aerial suited for your region and are your connections good

Lorddrakul

Bit of a newb question here, but I have an old Vu+ Duo box, running Open BH 4.4, with an internal HD for full PVR functionality including live pause/timeshift.

It is connected to an old Sky dish from when I had the +HD service. I have all the freesat stuff set up, and it works just fine with basic EPG info.

What additional functionality would I get with something of the order of the H7?

Would there be better EPG handling with the likes of series link, etc?

TBH, I got this as a stop gap to decide whether it was worth using the old Sky dish or not. It turns out, it works well and with the BBCs, ITVs, and the main Channel 4 all in HD now, it is actually pretty good. If Film4 would only go HD on Freesat, it would be cracking.

However, there's not much point spending 200 yoyos if I'm not going to get much more from the box than I have for €40.

Gerry Wicklow

A very quick google says that V5.1 is the current openBH version for the duo+ https://www.vuplus4k.com/image-openbh-5-1-for-vuplus/

I'm not familiar with it myself. Have you looked in the menu for PLUGINS? In particular you need a plugin called CROSSEPG which may already be installed but not configured. If not try downloading and installing it from the plugins menu. Once set up that will give you full 7day EPG for the satellite channels. Series linking is called AUTOTIMERS on these boxes. Again it is normally there by default but obviously it cant work without the EPG data. If you need help configuring crossEPG get back to us.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120046785#Comment_120046785

Lorddrakul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120047065#Comment_120047065

Cheers for that.

Yeah, OBH 5.1 is not very stable on the older Solo and Duo boxes, so 4.4 is the best one.

I have CrossEPG configured to do scheduled downloads, I have the autotimer facility. It's not quite as good as the series link on Sky box, but it's useful most of the time.

Gerry Wicklow

If crossEPG is working you should have 7 day data for all channels. Check MENU>SETUP>EPG>CROSSEPG>OPENTV PROVIDERS make sure SKY UK is ticked.

I'm using Vix so the exact steps may be slightly different but you get the jist.

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120046767#Comment_120046767

Aerial is suited for the region - connections are good I assume because the rte2 channel is fine. I mean if all saorview channels were bad I'd understand it could be something to do with the aerial but I'm not sure how to troubleshoot when 50% are causing issues but the others are ok

greasepalm

I had an issue with Attic aerial and one of the RTE channels were breaking up and had an installer out fitting extra lnbs on a larger dish and added outdoor aerial and he checked the feed to my tv and said bad cable and his install fixed my issues.

Note mine is on an indoor aerial splitter to tv and H7S

3 Rock transmitter

dxhound2005

There are many reports in the Terrestrial forum where one frequency is giving a "perfect " picture, but the other one is missing or comes and goes. But people often don't check the signal readings. It usually indicates an inadequate aerial, or that the signal is marginal at the location. Below is a list of the transmitters. Mux 1 carries RTE 2 and others, Mux 2 RTE 1 and others.

https://2rn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2RN-DTT-Television-Transmission-Network-Sept-2019-Rev.1.2.pdf

Lorddrakul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120047438#Comment_120047438

Thanks for that. I had all those components, but they just weren't set up properly. Now I have a scheduled update, and the autotimers are now working. The option was there before but didn't really work and weren't really intuitive, so cheers for that!

Gerry Wicklow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120049219#Comment_120049219

Autotimers basically just search for keywords. In most cases the default settings will suffice. Once you understand that however, you can set very advanced links. My usual example is "The Great British Bake off". If you just accept the defaults it should record each week's episode. But if you disable the day requirement, it will also record the "Extra Slice" show on Fridays as well. Disable the channel setting and you will get swamped with all the old repeats on the Food network or other channels. Likewise if the show you want is on several days a week, E.G. the soaps, you will need to disable the day setting too.

Finally, as a general rule of thumb, I normally set each autotimer as 'partial match' and 'case insensitive'. Some channels change the way they name shows from one week to the next. (cough cough RTÉ cough cough)

_Kaiser_

I've been getting on with my failing H7S for a few months now (one of the satellite tuners has died which is annoying) but think I'll replace it - I bought it from WoS originally but that was pre-Brexit. Has anyone bought from there since, or are there any EU shops people have moved to? (note: I'm thinking I'll upgrade to the Vu+ Duo 4k anyway)

Cheers!

Tango One

I've been looking at amazon.de and price look good for most boxes. I'm leaning toward a gigablue ue 4k over a vu box due to price difference. Bluetooth remote on the vu is the main missing feature I can see

greasepalm

https://www.hm-sat-shop.de/en/receiver/sat-receiver/?gclid=CjwKCAiA-8SdBhBGEiwAWdgtcGmx45uiLjAyUrikndMUt-0aE-GTUNki7aAw2bMZwgguF5cixtv11xoC_W0QAvD_BwE&p=3

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120054190#Comment_120054190

If it's this one..

https://www.hm-sat-shop.de/en/receiver/sat-receiver/1763/gigablue-ue-uhd-4k-2x-dvb-s2-fbc-tuner-e2-linux-receiver?c=107

then it seems to have less RAM (2GB vs 3GB) and Dual-Core CPU as opposed to the Quad on the Vu+ but still better than the H7s (1GB/Dual-Core)

Looks like a good middle-ground.. hmmm

Tango One

That's the one just note like the vu box you need to buy the extra dvb t tuner.

Tango One

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/GigaBlue-UE-4K-Receiver-without-black/dp/B0764N31NR/ref%3Dsr_1_3?crid=247BX7ORIV9WS&keywords=GigaBlue%2BUe%2B4k&qid=1672747682&sprefix=gigablue%2Buhd%2Bue%2B4k%2B%2Caps%2C39&sr=8-3&th=1

Down to 224 on amazon.de at the moment

Gerry Wicklow

Just remember they do not include Saorview tuners so you will need a DVB-T2 USB dongle also

DopeTech

And a hdd.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120030269#Comment_120030269

You were spot on, it was the outdated image. Had to reflash with the newest Pure2 image and now working flawlessly again. Thanks!

Muahahaha

Bought a new tv and on set up tried to pair its smart remote with the Zgemma H7 but it wasnt on the list of cable boxes thrown up by the tvs menu. Any ideas how to do it manually, is there is a code that would help the tv to recognise it?

Also I really need to sort the box out in that at the moment my Saorview channels are in one menu and Freesat in another. What do I need to do to get them amalgamated all into one EPG and then to be able to order them myself. The box has OpenVix on it

swoofer

Can you say image version and skin, go menu , information, about, and have you box hooked to internet/network.

greasepalm

If running ABM there is a section on second page to add your channels to that wont get touched if abm is rerun

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120074511#Comment_120074511

Had a look there and it is saying Virtuosso Image Extreme, image version is 5.4.003 and the skin is ViX-Night-HD.

Havent got it connected to the internet but I have a yellow ethernet cable somewhere in the house to do so. Whats the jist if I want to have an all in one EPG, I need to download some software from somewhere? Read before it is possible to get an interface that is identical to Skys blue interface, any tips on where/how to get that would be helpful.

Also regarding the box is there a code I need to manually input into my new tv (Samsung) to be able to change channels with the Samsung smart remote.

greasepalm

That box is running an ancient image as up to 6 3 011 now and not to sure if its an internet flash on box or usb flash and you will need a lan cable to find out

https://www.openvix.co.uk

Gerry Wicklow

@Muahahaha if you connect the box to your home network you can access a utility called WEBIF by simply typing the network address (192.168.xxx.xxx) into anything with a browser. That will allow you to edit the channels lists, create or edit timers. You can also stream live TV or recordings to your PC, tablet, phone or whatever on your home network

spaced

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120079771#Comment_120079771

Box needs to be connected to the internet for EPG to work.

There are "plugins" (apps) you can download which give you the EPG

To get your TV remote to work the box you need to turn on "HDMI CEC" in the settings of both the box and TV . The Tv remote won't do everything , depending on the remote, but should do the basics (mine won't do record) .

The Sky interface can be downloaded from "skins" .( I'm not a fan of it myself, i think it's too blue and not easy on the eyes) . The Sky skin i tried had sections that didn't work , only there to look like Sky, it wound me up having menu items i couldn't select.

Gerry Wicklow

The box DOES NOT need internet for the EPG. It gets the data direct from the satellite using the crossEPG plugin. See post 1087 above.

Muahahaha

@spaced thanks for the tips. Will give the Sky skin a go anyway if I can find it (is it called Sky or something else?), anything would be better than the current set up with satellite and saorview channels in two separate menus. Out of interest what skin are you on now that you find better? Also thanks for the tip on the remote, I'll go looking for that HDMI CEC setting to see if I can at least get EPG and change channel functionality through the tv remote

@Gerry Wicklow yeah the EPG updates fine without being connected to the internet. When you say 'network' my set up is just a TP Link Archer M600 with a few wifi devices connected to it. To access the TP Link network do I need to go to a browser and key in 198.xxxxxxxx and connect the Zgemma to the network that way or is it the case that just by running an ethernet cable between the box and router that it is then connected and I can go straight to the WEBIF utility

Gerry Wicklow

@Muahahaha Connect the box to your router by cable. If it wont reach you could temporarily move the router beside the box. The router doesn't need to be plugged in to anything else other than power. On the Zgemma look at MENU>INFORMATION>NETWORK and see what address it has 192.168.xxx.xxx (this varies to your own setup).

On any other device connected to the network, laptop, phone or whatever type the numbers above into the address bar of a web browser to access the WEBIF functions. A permanent cable to the box is well worth considering as it open up a lot of other useful features. It is possible to get a WiFi dongle for the Zgemma but they can be contrary beasts.