Zgemma h7 uhd 4k review

There are 109 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 33,273 times. The last Post () by seagen.

    • Official Post

    just received this Zgemma h7. Massive thanks to my friend @airdigital.


    First impressions have been very good, the box comes well packaged with all your usual requirements, UK plug, hdmi lead, user manual, the sata cable connection for the h/drive and screws.

    However when installing the hard drive, the plate supplied dose not take into account the hard drive electrics, usually there is little "o" rings for the screws, without these there is a potential for a short, so either insulate the drive itself with some tape or find some little "o" rings to suit, which i what i did as that will also limit vibration/noise from the drive spinning.


    Upon plugging in and turning on it is immediately apparent how fast the box boots up. Full cold boot to display of a channel takes 33 seconds (on atv 6.1 image)


    Please note for all testing i will be using the latest openATV 6.1 image (unless the image lets me down lol)


    New to the Zgemma range is full Kodi so i start there, in the plugin feed is Kodi 17.3 krypton which installs to the hard drive without any drama. As im not much of a kodi user, i installed a well known "lite" build done by @wookie_wizardry. This build works very well on the zgemma but still utilises the enigma2 media player, just like any other enigma2 kodi capable box i have used.

    Swapping from enigma2 to kodi again is very fast, way quicker than my VUduo2 was and is comparable to my VUuno4k which is unsurprising as they share similar chipsets.


    A gigabit ethernet connection is also a first for this Zgemma


    So ran a telnet test:



    So all good there:thumbup:


    As this is a 4k UHD box best i test that...., i plugged in my motor and install a motorised channel list, there are a few FTA 4k channels which work great on the H7, so nice to finally have some 4k channels on my UHD telly lol....


    c8e3a97241.jpg



    Multi stream dvbSX was new in the zgemma h5 plus models, this also works well in the h7 as tested on the 5W satellite.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYpD8CZ9RD4


    Blind scanning of sats works well (software based) and is very fast, arm chipsets simply work way better than the old mips ones....


    Dvb/c also tested and works well on UK cable...


    SOME THOUGHTS FROM A AMERICAN USER ............. (thx supwiddiss )


    The H7.AC is the USA version which has a single plugin dual tuner Si2169D DVB-S2 and MSB1237 ATSC tuner.

    For my region it came loaded with OpenATV 6.1

    I did not think (uneducated at the time) to backup the unit before upgrading to version 6.2.

    Preloaded channels and transponders are not the same as what is provided in OpenATV 6.2

    So, please perform a complete backup before you upgrade.

    Hard drive. I have installed a 2.5" 1tb laptop drive. Yes, they only supplied 3 screws and no spacers to protect the drive pc board.

    Certainly getting a small bag of washers is easy. Job done once I scoured my pc parts bin for the missing screw.

    The rest is just simple drive initialization and setup in the menus. I'm running a swap file on my setup, although it's said it's really not needed.

    Do not consider an SSD for your box. Platter drives are more suited for sequential reads/writes that recording and playback does.

    Okay. Blind scan. NO. I put a post on tvrosat to address a very detailed blind scan how-to.

    It will not do a hardware blindscan. Something hard to believe after using Dreamlink and Linkbox receivers.

    And for me, turbo8psk is out of the question also. I've searched for a plug in tuner with the capability and drivers for the H7.

    For now, the H7 is c band only for me. And that's cool.

    I'm using a Titanium Satellite ASC 1 dish mover.

    If you use a dish motor and setup diseqc to move it. Using the blindscan files as is then moving your last scanned to bouquets (mine are labeled by satellite)....your dish will not move if you choose a blindscan channel. Easy fix!

    As for all of the other things mentioned, it really has a nice picture. Mine was a bit expensive, but within my budget.

    PIP? 4:2:2? Perhaps in the future. Or drop a pile more samolians and find one that does now.

    I have lots to learn still. I'm an EE, so this is a fun piece of equipment.

    I wish full blown Kodi, Kodi builds could be moved entirely to my HDD. Initial Krypton install all but exhausted internal storage.

    A brief trial with IPTV watching 4K content was nice with the gigabit ethernet port.

    An app-to-sd like Android application has would be a plus. You eat up internal storage and the box gets sluggish.

    Oscam works well on it. Once you find all of the right settings. Plugins are in ipk format. Not widely supported here.

    The above mentioned compatible chipset receiver files for Oscam sometimes don't work so well.


    Please feel free to ask any questions, if i can help answer i will.






    Specification



    FEATURES

    • Linux Operating System
    • Multimedia plug-in supported
    • CVBS video mit R/L Audio
    • Spdif Optical Audio
    • USB3.0 and USB2.0
    • 1 Gbit Ethernet Interface
    • Advanced EPG (Electronic Program Guide
    • User-friendly linux Menu syste
    • Full automatic service scan
    • Various OSD skins supported
    • Various Channel Editing Programs
    • Easy and fast software-upgrade via USB or Internet
    • 4-digit 7segment display LED
    • Low deep-standby power consumption under 1 W

    Specification

    • ARM Brahma 15 Dual Core 1700Mhz 12K DMIPS
    • BCM7251S Dual Core Mainchipest
    • More than 4.01x linux kernel
    • DVB-S2/S2X + 2*DVB-T2/C Hybrid tuner built-in
    • HD Connection
    • AV Connection
    • Support 4K- 2160p
    • MPEG-2 / H.264 and H.265 Hardware Decoding
    • HD HEVC / H.265 2160p60 Main-10 multi-format decoder
    • 1 x Smartcad-Reader
    • 1 x Common Interface slot
    • 1 x USB3.0 and 2 x USB2.0
    • SPDIF for digital bit stream out(optical)
    • 4GB EMMC NAND Flash/ 1GB DDR3
    • Timeshift
    • Electronic TV programmes ( EPG ) support
    • Parental Control
    • Plugin Service
    • OSD into many languages and graphics (Skins)
    • Webinterface, WEB Remotcontrol
    • DISEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 22Khz and USAL's
    • External power supply12V 2.5A

    PACKING

    • 1 x Zgemma H7C box
    • 1 x Remote Controller
    • 1 x Power Supply
    • 1 x HDMI Cable
    • 1 x User Manual




    93171f.jpgd17658db1d93db1.jpg9891cb74de518d4ae4c7c5f8.jpgff31bc5e80705bdefb1f2.jpg9e571f.jpgf4590e8942a2.jpg

    93171f.jpgd17658db1d93db1.jpg9891cb74de518d4ae4c7c5f8.jpgff31bc5e80705bdefb1f2.jpg

  • show a picture of the blackpool illuminations airsat logo on the front ;)

    When I was looking this week. These are currently priced at £200 in the UK at the moment.

    This price will obviously drop once the bulk shipments start arriving.

    ** A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected **

    • Official Post

    Updated first post


    THE FUGITIVE added specs to post mate


    renshai where / how do i test 4.2.2 , more detail please mate, the best price i have seen so far is £164 from aliexpress website... still too expensive IMHO... there are a few boxes in that price bracket.


    KiddaC yes mate, that logo is crap,,,,it would be okay if it dimmed in standby like the clock dose or better had an off switch

    e0920ec8211f5f9b7cf4.jpg

  • The Broadcom chipset in this receiver does not support 4:2:2 broadcasts in fact none do any more apart from the early now discontinued AZbox


    All enigma2 receivers can support 4:2:2 feeds but you must relay them back to either a laptop/PC or other device that can use an external Player

  • "All enigma2 receivers can support 4:2:2 feeds but you must relay them back to either a laptop/PC or other device that can use an external Player"


    Is there a tutorial on how to do this for dim of brain like myself as I am cracking up attempting to view 4:2:2?

    If there is, could some kind soul copy and Paste same here or a link

    Thanks

    • Official Post

    Hi Jenseneverest m8,


    Which one is better 4k box? Zgemma h7 or Mecool kiii pro

    Could you do some comparison.

    Hi mate, long time hope your well:hello

    I dont know the Mecool kiii pro, a quick google search shows me a android based arm box, there is no enigma2 support....

    Better to compare that box with wetek play not the zgemma, i personally prefer e2 platform and image support from the enigma2 teams.

    BR

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