Clarke-Tech ET9000 My first quick review + plenty of pictures

**samoloko** · 6th June, 2011, 06:53 AM

why box Is superior to Vu duo
how good Is PIP
how good Is tuner sensitivity

**Sat-Shop** · 6th June, 2011, 07:46 AM

The main reasons the spec. is better on the ET9000 over the DUO are:

Broadcom 7405 400MHz MIPS processor (better processor than DUO)
512MB DDR RAM (a little more RAM than DUO)
Picture in Picture support (true PIP support - SD/SD SD/HD)
Blind Scan Support (a first for ALL E2 receivers)
Tuner loop-through on both tuners (neither tuner has this on the DUO)
Multi-Function universal remote control (DUO doesn't have universal remote)

The only other thing worth a mention for many is the fact the ET9000 also looks a lot nicer! I have never minded the looks of a DUO personally and wouldn't make my choice of receiver on the looks but I know many didn't/don't like the look of the DUO, so for those that don't I'm sure they'll prefer the ET9000.

Picture in picture works great, bear in mind the restrictions on having an two HD channels at a time with PIP which have already been mentioned (basically you can't!) but otherwise it works great.

With tuner sensitivity running it on my Triax 1.1m dish and fixed minidish on 28.2 East I have found it to be no worse or better than the DUO and the tuners on the DUO are generally considered to be very good so I would have to say the same about the ET9000.

I'll just finish off by saying if you read through some of my posts on this thread you might get the impression I'm trying to down play the VU+ DUO, this could not be further from the truth, they are a FANTASTIC receiver and were the one that really got the E2 market going (the first to offer DMM real genuine competition). We still sell lots of the DUO and I am convinced anyone that purchases one would not regret it at all, however the Xtrend ET9000 are better spec. and at the same price, so as they say, the choice is yours!

**Manic01** · 6th June, 2011, 12:27 PM

Keep up the good work Sat-Shop
We all know you are a genuine person as well as a trader.
Maybe some do realise you used to be DK sponsor.
Always enjoy reading your advice/info and always unbiased.
Please note I am not affilliated to Sat-Shop in any way.

**thijs** · 6th June, 2011, 12:30 PM

would there be a full 7day epg with full info on this stb or is this a copy and paste job with plug in's ,i don't know much about linux stb's yet ,but thinking of getting a vu duo or maybe
the Xtrend ET9000.

**Sat-Shop** · 6th June, 2011, 05:02 PM

Most every receiver will support a full 7 day EPG the problem is not as such with the receiver that can't display the EPG data but that the provider doesn't send the data in a standard format (they often want to charge a big licence fee for a receiver to officially suport the EPG) which is why it only tends to be an official receiver that works well with this...

What you can do with the likes of many Linux based receivers though is use a third party plugin which is normally no more than a couple of button presses to download and in a lot of cases already installed in the firmware, with this EPG plugin providing your receiver is connected to the internet you can get it to automatically download the EPG data from a third party (and totally free) source, you can set this up so it does this automatically whenever you choose, usually in the early hours of the morning so no one is disturbed by it... This downloads the data over the internet and populates the EPG with the full data so now when you browse the receivers EPG you have most every channel covered and for 7 days (or more or less as you choose) and you can use it to change channels (zap) or set timer recordings etc.

It's all very neat and only a few clicks of the remote to setup and then more or less forget about and it does work very well.

This type of plugin in one form or another is support on most every Enigma2 based receiver, VU+, Xtrend, Duolabs and of course Dreambox and more... It provides a feature that is probably as close as you are likely to get to using an official providers receiver but of course LOTS more feature besides.

**dsim112** · 6th June, 2011, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by Sat-Shop

Most every receiver will support a full 7 day EPG the problem is not as such with the receiver that can't display the EPG data but that the provider doesn't send the data in a standard format (they often want to charge a big licence fee for a receiver to officially suport the EPG) which is why it only tends to be an official receiver that works well with this...

What you can do with the likes of many Linux based receivers though is use a third party plugin which is normally no more than a couple of button presses to download and in a lot of cases already installed in the firmware, with this EPG plugin providing your receiver is connected to the internet you can get it to automatically download the EPG data from a third party (and totally free) source, you can set this up so it does this automatically whenever you choose, usually in the early hours of the morning so no one is disturbed by it... This downloads the data over the internet and populates the EPG with the full data so now when you browse the receivers EPG you have most every channel covered and for 7 days (or more or less as you choose) and you can use it to change channels (zap) or set timer recordings etc.

It's all very neat and only a few clicks of the remote to setup and then more or less forget about and it does work very well.

This type of plugin in one form or another is support on most every Enigma2 based receiver, VU+, Xtrend, Duolabs and of course Dreambox and more... It provides a feature that is probably as close as you are likely to get to using an official providers receiver but of course LOTS more feature besides.

I'm leaving SKY (HD) I'm really torn between a foxsat hdr (for ease of use and wife points) and an ET9000.

How friendly is the EPG and how successful is the series link features?

Thanks
D.

**Sat-Shop** · 6th June, 2011, 06:07 PM

I would say the EPG is as easy to navigate as it gets, exactly how the EPG looks to you will depend on the image (firmware) and 'skin' you use, I like the default skin personally on the OpenPLi image but other's like to use other skins and other images, choice is yours in that respect but the EPG is easy to browse and use to set timers etc. so you should have no problems with that and the EPG plugin to download this data I've mentioned is very easy to setup and then forget about and works very well by all accounts!

The series link thing, again it's not quite a series link like you would have on a Sky receiver, it will search the EPG and record programmes with the same name, say you pick 'Eastenders' then anything with that name in the EPG will be automatically recorded... So it's not quite the series link on a Sky receiver but it's as close as you get and much more than most third party receivers are capable of...

Add to that the massses of other things you can do with these receivers, the list is endless and there is just no comparison between these and the likes of the Humax you mention though I will be fair in saying that if you are 100% sure a Freesat receiver offers you everything you are ever likely to want again then it may be worth it for you, I would say chances are most users that end up of this type of forum and are even considering the likes of the ET9000 will more than likely not be happy with just Freesat for ever, and that's when the ET9000 would really come into it's own....

**dsim112** · 6th June, 2011, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by Sat-Shop

I would say the EPG is as easy to navigate as it gets, exactly how the EPG looks to you will depend on the image (firmware) and 'skin' you use, I like the default skin personally on the OpenPLi image but other's like to use other skins and other images, choice is yours in that respect but the EPG is easy to browse and use to set timers etc. so you should have no problems with that and the EPG plugin to download this data I've mentioned is very easy to setup and then forget about and works very well by all accounts!

The series link thing, again it's not quite a series link like you would have on a Sky receiver, it will search the EPG and record programmes with the same name, say you pick 'Eastenders' then anything with that name in the EPG will be automatically recorded... So it's not quite the series link on a Sky receiver but it's as close as you get and much more than most third party receivers are capable of...

Add to that the massses of other things you can do with these receivers, the list is endless and there is just no comparison between these and the likes of the Humax you mention though I will be fair in saying that if you are 100% sure a Freesat receiver offers you everything you are ever likely to want again then it may be worth it for you, I would say chances are most users that end up of this type of forum and are even considering the likes of the ET9000 will more than likely not be happy with just Freesat for ever, and that's when the ET9000 would really come into it's own....

Thanks. I'm a former networked tivo user, so would prefer something open rather than something closed. Already have a DM500 clone and a TM9800hd but want a twin HD box with good pvr features.

**aftermath** · 17th October, 2011, 07:52 PM

just got my Xtrend/Clarke Tech ET9000

took about 30 mins to set up.. it does everything it says on the box.
recordings work
7 day EPG works
HD channels look amasing

first impressions are its a great box, easy to set up

only downside so far are , it works so i cant mess around with it.
and Youplayer gives me "no video " when i search for something.

but all in all i am 100% happy