The Vu+ (pronounced VuPlus), is a series of Linux-powered DVB satellite, terrestrial digital television receivers (set-top box), produced by Korean multimedia brand Ceru Co., Ltd.

History and description

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All older Vu+ hardware set-top boxes are MIPS-powered, newer are all ARM-powered and uses Enigma2 image based software as firmware.

Its firmware is officially user-upgradable, since it is a Linux-based computer, as opposed to third-party "patching" of alternate receivers. Firmware is based on Enigma 2, which was originally designed for Dreambox by Dream Multimedia. All units support Conax conditional access (CA) system, with software-emulated conditional-access modules (CAMs) available for many alternate CA systems. The built-in Ethernet interface allows networked computers to access the recordings on the internal hard disks and stream live picture from the tuners. It also enables the receiver to store digital copies of DVB MPEG transport streams on networked filesystems or broadcast the streams as IPTV to VideoLAN and XBMC Media Center clients. Unlike many PC based PVR systems that use free-to-air type of DVB receiver cards, the built-in conditional access allows receiving and storing encrypted content.

In the beginning of September in 2011, Dream Multimedia obtained a temporary injunction against the Satco Europe GmbH company for using their "Enigma 2" name in an advertising flyer to promote the Linux operating system installed on the Vu+ set-top-boxes, as "Enigma"(2) is a registered trademark name of Dream Multimedia GmbH.

Models

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Vu+ Ultimo Ultimo 4K Uno Uno 4K Uno 4K SE[1] Solo Solo2 Solo SE Solo SE V2 Solo 4K Duo Duo2 Duo 4K Duo 4K SE Zero Zero 4K
Production Discontinued Discontinued Discontinued Discontinued Available Discontinued Discontinued Discontinued Discontinued Available Discontinued Discontinued Discontinued Available Available Available
Life cycle 2011 - 2013 2016 Dec.- 2011 - 2014 2016 Dec.- 2017- 2010 - 2013 2012- 2014- 2015- 2015- 2010 - 2013 2012- 2018- 2020- 2014- 2018-
SoC BCM7413 BCM7444S BCM7413 BCM7252S BCM7252S BCM7325 BCM7356 BCM7429 BCM7429 BCM7376 BCM7335 BCM7424 BCM7278 BCM7444S BCM7362 BCM72604
CPU type MIPS ARM MIPS ARM ARM MIPS MIPS MIPS MIPS ARM MIPS MIPS ARM ARM MIPS ARM
CPU (MHz) 2x400 4x1500 2x400 2x1700 2×1700 333* 2x1300 2x1300 2x1300 2x1500 400 2x1300 4x2100 4x1500 742 2x1500
RAM (MiB) 512 3072 512 2048 2048 256 1024 1024 1024 2048 384 2048 2048 3072 512 2048
Flash (MiB) 1024 4096 128 4096 4096 128 256 256 512 4096 128 1024 4096 4096 256 4096
Flash type NAND eMMC NAND eMMC eMMC NAND NAND NAND NAND eMMC NAND NAND eMMC eMMC NAND eMMC
Default OS Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2 Enigma2
DVB 3 ×P&P(S2/C/T) 2xP&P Dual FBC DVB-S2 or
DVB-C + 1xP&P Dual DVB-S2 or
Dual DVB-C/T2
1×P&P(S2/C/T) 1xP&P Dual FBC DVB-S2 or DVB-C 1 x Dual FBC DVB-S2X or FBC DVB-C or Dual T2 (Pluggable) 1×S2 2×S2 1xS2/C/T/T2 1xS2/C/T/T2 1×Fixed Dual S2 FBC + 1xP&P Dual DVB-S2 or Dual DVB-C/T/T2 2×S2 2×P&P(S2/C/T) 2xP&P slot: Dual FBC DVB-S2X,Dual DVB-T2, Dual FBC DVB-C 2xP&P slot: Dual FBC DVB-S2X,Dual DVB-T2, Dual FBC DVB-C 1×S2 1xFixed S2X or DVB-C/T/T2 tuner
HDTV                                
UHDTV   4K   4K 4K         4K           4K
3D TV                            
PiP   Yes/HD         Yes/HD         Yes/HD      
Common Interface 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 0 1
Smart card 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
USB 3 x 2.0 2x3.0 + 1x2.0 3 x 2.0 2 x 3.0 2 x 3.0 2 x 2.0 3 x 2.0 2 x 2.0 2 x 2.0 2x3.0 + 1x2.0 3 x 2.0 3 x 2.0 2x3.0 (back) + 1x2.0 (front) 2x3.0 (back) + 1x2.0 (front) 2 x 2.0 1 x 2.0
RS-232         RJ11      ***  ***           (RJ11)    
LAN (Mbit/s) 100 1000 + WIFI N/AC 2.5/5 + BT 4.0 100 1000 1000 100 1000 100 100 1000 100 1000 + WIFI-N 1000 + WIFI N/AC 2.5/5 + BT 4.0 1000 + WIFI B/G/N/AC 2.5/5 + BT 4.0 100 100
HDD 2.5/3.5" 2.5/3.5" 2.5/3.5"   2.5" Detachable   2.5"     2.5" Detachable 3.5" 2.5/3.5" 2.5" Detachable 2.5" Detachable    
ATA SATA II SATA II       SATA III     SATA III SATA II SATA III SATA III    
eSATA         -                      
SCART 1   1     1 1       2 1        
HDMI 1.4 2.0 OUT/IN 1.4 2.0 1 x (2.0) IN 1 x (2.0) OUT 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 2.0 1.4 1.4 2.0 OUT/IN 1 x (2.0) IN 1 x (2.0) OUT 1.4 2.0
Display graphical VFD LCD (4.0") VFD Status LED LCD (3.5" 240 x 400)   VFD Status LED Status LED LCD (3.5") VFD LCD/VFD LCD (3.5") TFT (3.5"- MiniTV) Status LED Status LED
LNB pass-thru                                
Other connectors 1 x YPrPb Digital Audio: S/PDIF 1 x YPrPb 1 x YPrPb 1 x YPrPb Digital Audio: S/PDIF Remote IR Remote IR
Dimensions, WxHxD (mm) 380 x 60 x 290 380 x 70 x 278 340 x 60 x 272 230 x 41 x 170 280 x 50 x 222 280 x 50 x 200 280 x 50 x 200 211 x 45 x 185 211 x 45 x 185 315 x 65 x 255 380 x 60 x 280 380 x 60 x 290 310x60x241 310 x 68 x 255 160 x 30 x 145 140 x 50 x 115
  • Note that Vu+ Uno and Vu+ Ultimo have a dual core processor BCM7413.
  • * in most cases Solo is underclocked to 220.67MHz[2]
  • *** in Solo SE standard 9-pin D-sub connector is changed to 6-pin RJ11

Triple tuner

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  • Vu+ Ultimo (3 x pluggable DVB-S2 or DVB-T,T2/C tuners)
  • Vu+ Ultimo 4K (2 x pluggable FBC DVB-S/S2 tuner or dual FBC DVB-C tuner and 1 x p&p DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuners)

Twin tuner

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  • Vu+ Duo 4K (2 x p&p slot for dual FBC DVB-S/S2X tuner, dual DVB-T2 tuner, dual FBC DVB-C tuner)
  • Vu+ Solo 4K (2 fixed DVB-S/S2 tuner and 1 x pluggable DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuners)
  • Vu+ Duo2 (2 x p&p DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuners)
  • Vu+ Solo2 (2 x fixed DVB-S/S2 tuners)
  • Vu+ Duo (2 x fixed DVB-S/S2 tuners)
  • Vu+ Uno Twin (1 p&p DVB-S2 Twin tuner)

Single Tuner

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  • Vu+ Solo (1 fixed DVB-S/S2 tuner)
  • Vu+ Solo SE (1 p&p DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuner)
  • Vu+ Solo SE v2 (1 p&p DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuner)
  • Vu+ Uno (1 p&p DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuner)
  • Vu+ Uno 4k (1 p&p DVB-S2 or DVB-T/C tuner)
  • Vu+ Uno 4k SE (1 fixed DVB-S/S2X tuner or DVB-T/T2/C tuner)
  • Vu+ Zero (1 fixed DVB-S/S2 tuner)
  • Vu+ Zero SE (1 fixed DVB-S/S2 tuner)
  • Vu+ Zero 4k (1 fixed DVB-S/S2X tuner or DVB-T/T2/C tuner)

XBMC4STB project by Vu+

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In September 2011, at "Vu+ Day", in Amsterdam, it was publicly announced that the generation of Vu+ DVB satellite receivers to be released publicly in the end of 2012 would be ARM-powered and use XBMC Media Center (now renamed to Kodi Entertainment System) software for its main GUI, an OpenEmbedded-based development-project that they call "XBMC4STB" (XBMC for Set-Top-Boxes), with beta releases of both the software and new hardware said to be made available to XBMC developers before they will be released to the public.[3]

However it took two more years before a native source port of XBMC was available on the newer Vu+ (VuPlus) based set-top box models SoloSe, Solo2, and Duo2, all of which are MIPS instead ARM based. XBMC will not be made available for older Vu+ set-top boxes due to hardware limitations with missing OpenGL graphics acceleration.[4][5]

Open Black Hole

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"Open Black Hole" is an open source project for making unofficial third-party OpenPLi based images for newer Vu+ set-top boxes. Using the XBMC4STB software fork of Kodi/XBMC from Vu+, the images are designed as a hybrid integration between Kodi/XBMC media center software and Dreambox's Enigma2 PVR software scripts, forked from OpenPLi (based on OpenEmbedded Linux operating system for embedded systems), it is as such also fully compatible with PLi plugins and coding infrastructure. The project was first announced on 25 May 2015 and is maintained by the Black Hole Team, a team of independent developers of long popular community driven firmware images for Vu+-based set top-boxes, however these Open Black Hole project images are completely separate from the original Black Hole image for Vu+.[6][7][8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "VU Plus". vuplus.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  2. ^ "VU Solo and BCM7325 specifications".
  3. ^ "Vu+ Day in Amsterdam – VUplus XBMC". Vuplus-community.net. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  4. ^ http://www.satnigmo.com/2787/xbmc-kodi-vu-coming-soon/ XBMC (Kodi) for Vu+ coming soon!
  5. ^ http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/01/17/linux-based-vu-dvb-set-top-boxes-now-support-xbmckodi/ Linux based Vu+ DVB Set-top Boxes Now Support XBMC/Kodi
  6. ^ http://git.vuplus-community.net/ Open Black Hole git source code repository
  7. ^ https://www.facebook.com/BlackHoleTeam Black Hole Team [user-generated source]
  8. ^ http://www.prismcube-community.net PrismCube-Community.Net
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Official

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Image

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