VBox Home
TV gateway is a
network-enabled live
TV tuner and
PVR HDTV
set-top-box produced by VBox Communications Ltd.
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 was established in 2001 and received strategic investment from Optibase (now part of Vitec).
On Jan 9, 2002 VBox Communications acquired from BroadLogic (now part of Broadcom) its Satellite Express and DTV product lines, adding DVB core functionality 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, D.C., 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 debuted 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
A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...
providing both
front and back ends, capable of recording and streaming multiple channels to multiple devices at the same time. Unlike standard
set-top boxes 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
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...
or
terrestrial antenna and streams the decoded video over a
local area network to any
UPnP-enabled player such as a
smart phone,
tablet computer,
smart TV,
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
, or
game console
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...
.
Technical specifications
Supported DVB standards
Supported content
All VBox Home TV Gateway devices 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+ CAMs.
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
Ext, ext or EXT may refer to:
* Ext functor, used in the mathematical field of homological algebra
* Ext (JavaScript library), a programming library used to build interactive web applications
* Exeter Airport (IATA airport code), in Devon, England
...
2, EXT 3, EXT 4
* Network storage - Windows Shared folder or
NAS. Supported file system: SMB/CIFS
Simultaneous streaming of different channels
VBox guarantees 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 40 Mbit/s.
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 an m3u channel playlist for connectivity with supported applications such as
Kodi
KODI (1400 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to Cody, Wyoming, United States, the station is currently owned by the Big Horn Radio Network, a division of Legend Communications of Wyoming, LLC, and features programm ...
with the 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 view 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
*
VBRec for VBox XTi - iOS/Android 3rd party application, simplifying recording and search for EPG.
* VBox applications - iOS, Android, Android for the big screen (with remote control), Firefox add-on, VBox@TV PVR
See also
*
TiVo
*
Monsoon HAVA
Monsoon Multimedia was a company that manufactured, developed and sold video streaming and place-shifting devices that allowed consumers to view and control live television on PCs connected to a local (home) network or remotely from a broadban ...
*
Dreambox
*
DBox2
*
LocationFree Player
References
External links
Official website (VBoxComm.com)
{{Home theater PC (application software)
Digital video recorders
Set-top box
Television technology
Television placeshifting technology