I don't personally think having a 3.5" disk is necessarily an "advantage" particularly as the 2.5" disks use less power and generate less heat. Also the VU+ Solo2 has an external power supply as opposed to the Ultimo's internal PS, which again is going to generate more heat, decreasing reliabilty. As has been said the Solo2 has 2 fixed tuners but is considerably faster, having a twin-core processor. I would wait for the VU+ Duo2 if you need more than 2 tuners (The Duo 2 has 3 tuner slots and can take cable and terrestrial tuners.) The picture quality on the Solo2 is first rate, much better than my neighbour's VU+ Duo.