VBox Home TV Gateway (XTi 3342) Review

[hodg100]

This unusual take on a set-top-box/personal video recorder can distribute live and recorded TV content to virtually any device on your home network, integrates with KODI well and offers a very flexible solution. It is also far more polished for the UK market than the previous product.
Read the review.

Write your own review for VBox TV Gateway XTi 3342

 

[Trollslayer]

Nice but it doesn't seem to be able to record so limited, how much of a market is there?
Dual tuner and USB recording would make it much more useful.

 

[AJBek]

according to their product page there are twin tuners and you can add usb storage for recording.
Terrestrial
It is an interesting product. Do you know if the android app works on android tv, such as the new sony models as that would be pretty essential for me.

 

[MartinH32]

looks more like the sort of alarm clock you'd have on your bedside cabinet

 

[garyc]

how was it running on the shield tv box? any issues

would there by any epg issues with freesat channels?

cheers

 

[BrightonChris]

Can someone explain to me the point of this? You can already watch freeview on any device with a multitude of apps giving you the ability. There's Sky Go and BT Sport for those services. Recording seems a bit pointless these days with most things available on demand. I would I imagine anyone tech savvy enough to bother with something like this would look at it as being a little redundant.

 

[RichardWiz]

would there by any epg issues with freesat channels?

cheers

Freesat provides 'now and next' standard DVB EPG, so you will need to use Atlas' free EPG to get full program guide

 

[RichardWiz]

Can someone explain to me the point of this? You can already watch freeview on any device with a multitude of apps giving you the ability. There's Sky Go and BT Sport for those services. Recording seems a bit pointless these days with most things available on demand. I would I imagine anyone tech savvy enough to bother with something like this would look at it as being a little redundant.

Both Sky go and iPlayer don't come close to the picture and sound quality of broadcast TV and with this device you get the full quality, also it doesn't use your internet or data plan as it connects to your aerial.

I have a vbox for almost 6 month and I use it to distribute freeview from one aerial on my roof to all my TVs and mobile devices at home and I also watch offline recordings on the way to work on my tablet.
They've recently added remote access feature which I use to schedule recordings and watch live TV from work

 

[BrightonChris]

Fair enough. You've done well to find enough worth watching on freeview

 

[RichardWiz]

My guess is that with freesat it's even compelling as distributing of satellite feed over multiple devices is more complex

 

[RichardWiz]

Do you know if the android app works on android tv, such as the new sony models as that would be pretty essential for me.

I think that the NVIDIA SHIELD TV is an Android TV device so you should be able to use it on the Sony Android TV too

 

[invisiblekid]

The way Mark describes it last week in the podcast I thought this could be connected to a TV directly and this would have been an instant purchase.

But if it only connects to mobile devices it's completely useless to me. Shame

 

[DpM]

@RichardWiz you say you have it working on all your TV's, could you tell me how your delivering it to these TV's?

This could be a solution for me if I can make it easy enough for my wife to just turn on the TV and use. Since I binned Sky off she says she misses being able to just put the TV on select channels from the remote.
I have a Sony W829B so not sure just how well this would work directly to the TV. In my head I see it working like my Synology in that you just select it as a network device but at that point can you then use the TV remote to change the channels on the vbox?

Thanks

 

[hodg100]

Nice but it doesn't seem to be able to record so limited, how much of a market is there?
Dual tuner and USB recording would make it much more useful.

All that info is in the review - it's dual tuner and can record to USB or to NAS

 

[hodg100]

according to their product page there are twin tuners and you can add usb storage for recording.
Terrestrial
It is an interesting product. Do you know if the android app works on android tv, such as the new sony models as that would be pretty essential for me.

I can't guarantee it will work on the Sony TVs but it works with the NVIDIA Shield Android TV so it should. The only issue with it is that you need to tap in the IP address of the VBox every time you open the app which you don't on 'lower' Android versions.

 

[hodg100]

how was it running on the shield tv box? any issues

would there by any epg issues with freesat channels?

cheers

Answers to Shield above Gary. I don't have a dish (and nor does this model accept the connection) but I'll ask the manufacturer for you. I assume the DRM is also on the Freesat EPG but there is a fix coming.

 

[hodg100]

Can someone explain to me the point of this? You can already watch freeview on any device with a multitude of apps giving you the ability. There's Sky Go and BT Sport for those services. Recording seems a bit pointless these days with most things available on demand. I would I imagine anyone tech savvy enough to bother with something like this would look at it as being a little redundant.

If you rely on catchup services 100% then there probably is little point. You could just use it as a TV signal distribution device to cut down on wires and it has a couple of other features like being able to download recordings to Android devices and remote access of recordings wherever you have an internet connection that might make it attractive to some.

Also, as Richard says, the picture quality surpasses iPlayer etc


It's definitely not for everyone though.

 

[hodg100]

The way Mark describes it last week in the podcast I thought this could be connected to a TV directly and this would have been an instant purchase.

But if it only connects to mobile devices it's completely useless to me. Shame

Not just mobile devices - anything running KODi (hundreds of devices) and Android TV boxes too.

 

[hodg100]

@RichardWiz you say you have it working on all your TV's, could you tell me how your delivering it to these TV's?

This could be a solution for me if I can make it easy enough for my wife to just turn on the TV and use. Since I binned Sky off she says she misses being able to just put the TV on select channels from the remote.
I have a Sony W829B so not sure just how well this would work directly to the TV. In my head I see it working like my Synology in that you just select it as a network device but at that point can you then use the TV remote to change the channels on the vbox?

Thanks

Nope, it won't work that way sorry. You'll need a device in between to receive the IP feed of the VBox - there are numerous ones that would fit the bill, pretty much all mentioned in the review.

 

[DpM]

Thanks Mark

 

[invisiblekid]

Not just mobile devices - anything running KODi (hundreds of devices) and Android TV boxes too.

Duh I forgot about Kodi.

So this does take everything from Sky and you can get it via Kodi?

 

[hodg100]

Duh I forgot about Kodi.

So this does take everything from Sky and you can get it via Kodi?

I'm sorry ik, I don't really understand the question but it will allow you to access free to air TV via KODI and you can also use KODI for all the PVR functionalities too. Is that what you meant?

 

[Trollslayer]

It looks like a good niche product, I hope it does well.

 

[garyc]

Answers to Shield above Gary. I don't have a dish (and nor does this model accept the connection) but I'll ask the manufacturer for you. I assume the DRM is also on the Freesat EPG but there is a fix coming.

thanks Mark

 

[del_86]

It might be me being a bit thick but am I right in thinking that as it has a dual tuner, you can distribute these 2 signals around your home (unless recording, then it would only be one)??

I'm looking for an alternative to Media Centre (which I will lose if I upgrade my HTPC to windows 10), so this could potentially be interesting.

Also, the missus is looking at adding a tv to the kitchen, which is nowhere near an ariel socket and I don't want to start drilling holes in walls and ceilings.
It would all come down to ease of use I think.

So could I potentially add kodi on a USB stick for the "new" kitchen tv and it could pick up the signal ok without any more input from me?