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VBox Home TV Gateway

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VBox Home TV gateway is a network TV tuner Live TV and PVR HDTV set-top-box, produced by VBox Communications Ltd.

Contents

The VBox Home TV Gateway is also known as:

  • V@Home TV Gateway PVR
  • V@Home TV Gateway
  • VHome TV Gateway
  • VBox TV Gateway
  • XTi

    • History

    VBox Communication established in 2001 and received strategic investment from Optibase (now part of the Vitec Group). In Jan 9, 2002 VBox Communications acquired from BroadLogic (now part of Broadcom) its Satellite Express(TM) and DTV product lines adding DVB core to VBox's IP

    VBox TV Gateway technology was first used in its XLV Professional product line unveiled at the Satellite 2006 Show in Washington DC, targeting the hospitality, digital signage and enterprise markets.

    The VBox Home TV Gateway is based on VBox's 6th generation XLV Professional product line, It was debut at the Mobile World Congress, ShowStoppers event in Barcelona, Spain on February 23, 2014 and was first reviewed by cnet UK

    Overview

    VBox Home TV Gateway is a network TV tuner and digital video recorder providing both Front and back ends, capable of recording and streaming multiple channels to multiple devices at the same time. Unlike standard set-top box it does not have an HDMI or other video or audio outputs that directly connect a television, instead its multiple DVB tuners receives the live TV RF signal from Satellite, Cable TV or Terrestrial Antenna and streams the decoded video over the local area network to any UPnP enabled player such as smart phone, tablet computer, smart tv, computer, or game console.

    Main features

  • Live TV - Stream multiple broadcast live TV channels simultaneously over the home network without using the internet or data plan
  • Remote Access - Watch live TV and manage the VBox TV Gateway from anywhere in the world
  • Whole World PVR - Record live or scheduled (with series) TV to a USB attached storage or a NAS (SMB/CIFS)
  • Multi-Device - Connect to any UPnP player device or application devices such as iPad, iPhone, tablet, smart phone, Smart TV and applications such as Kodi (formerly XBMC), VLC
  • Multi-Room - Distribute live TV over IP network avoiding complex TV installations and reception issues
  • Timeshift - Pause and rewind live TV using the Kodi VBox PVR add-on
  • Quality - Full broadcast quality up to UHD with 3D and surround sound
  • TV Guide - Free EPG captured from the DVB transport stream and provided as XMLTV or EIT
  • Offline Playback - Watch recorded program on an Android mobile device without connecting to the home network or the internet
  • Simple Installation - No need for drivers, setup is done by scanning for available channels using the quick setup page

    • Supported content

    All VBox Home TV Gateway support Free-To-Air (FTA) content, models that end with CI also support encrypted Pay TV content with single or dual Conditional-access module (CAM) Common Interface (CI) slots, there is no support for CI+ CAM

    Supported recordings

    Recording of live or scheduled TV program is available from any of the free VBox apps, the recordings are stored on an external storage and can be played from any device. Supported recording devices:

  • USB attached storage such as USB Flash Drive or External HDD. Supported file systems - FAT32, FAT16, EXT 2, EXT 3, EXT 4
  • Network storage - Windows Shared folder or NAS. Supported file systems - Windows File system (SMB/CIFS)

    • Simultaneous streaming of different channels

    VBox guarantee a single channel per tuner, however in reality the tuner locks on a transponder or MUX and can stream all the available channels in that bouquet up to about 40Mbit/s

    Configuration

    The VBox Home TV Gateway is a Linux-based TV DVB to IP server and a web server the web server is used to configure the device, change settings, see device status and to connect to developer API. To access the Home TV Gateways's web page:

  • On Windows - Right click on the device icon in Windows network folder
  • Write device IP in web browser
  • Use the VBox free applications

    • Compatibility and apps options

  • UPnP - Any UPnP device or application (and DLNA although not officially supported) can discover the device and play live or recorded TV programs
  • m3u - The device generates a link to a m3u channel playlist for connectivity with supported applications such as, Kodi IPTV Simple PVR add on, VLC, DVBLogic
  • XMLTV - The device generates a link to an EPG XML TV program file for integration with 3rd party applications
  • Web browser - A web browser with the VLC web plugin can connect directly to the device to watch and record live or scheduled TV and see the EPG
  • Kodi - VBox PVR add-on, provided as part of Kodi Isengard and provides live TV, EPG, timeshift, remote access, external EPG source
  • MythTV - VBox is supported from MythTV version 0.2.28
  • TVHeadend - Is supported using m3u or manually using Conf -> DVB Inputs -> Network -> Add IPTV Add each channel as a mux for IPTV
  • VBox applications: iOS, Android, Android for big screen (with remote control), Firefox add-on, VBox@TV PVR

    • References

    VBox Home TV Gateway Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA