Amiko Alien 2 Triple Tuner Combobox

Zardoz

how.gareth wrote: »

has anyone got a link for a recent HDMU image please? i am being driven insane by this volume issue, even with the TV at max volume some channels are still barely audible and i couldnt get my LG amp to work properly with the box, i would sacrifice stability for loudness at this stage! i have tried looking online for any new HDMU images but cant find any downloads freely available, thanks lads

I am using a HDMU image at the moment ,pretty reliable and lots of plugins working,I will upload it in the next few days for you.

championc

Hey @gareth

Have you tried maybe replacing your HDMI cable from your box to the TV, or maybe tried connecting to another HDMI port on the TV because your issue makes no sense.

On an SD channel, with the box volume at full, you should only need your tv volume a third of the way up.

Try with Spark to rule out Enigma as being the culprit.



_______________________________________________
Champions Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/2DuVm0

how.gareth

championc wrote: »

Hey @gareth

Have you tried maybe replacing your HDMI cable from your box to the TV, or maybe tried connecting to another HDMI port on the TV because your issue makes no sense.

On an SD channel, with the box volume at full, you should only need your tv volume a third of the way up.

Try with Spark to rule out Enigma as being the culprit.




_______________________________________________
Champions Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/2DuVm0

sorry yeah im not explaining it very well, its the HD channels that are the main problem, SD channels arent as bad, spark is a lot louder than enigma, i had sky atlantic HD on the other night with the TV and box at full volume and it was quiet! TV is an LG plasma. if i could get the amp running ok i would be happy, the amp worked perfectly with my UPC box

how.gareth

Slevster wrote: »

Have you tried the volumeadjustment plugin?
How have you connectected to your amp ? directly or feed back from your tv?
if from your tv, can you check volumes by playing back from some other source e.g usb stick,, if the tv has a usb slot.
Try connecting the box directly to the tv if possible. see if the issue is with the box or amp[/QUO

the amp is connected to the box via the two aux cables? the sound is great from the amp until i change channel which results in a "bang" from the amp speakers,the box is connected to the tv via a hdmi cable, i have tried volume adjust and have gotten it a little bit better but its still very low

Slevster

how.gareth wrote: »

Slevster wrote: »

Have you tried the volumeadjustment plugin?
How have you connectected to your amp ? directly or feed back from your tv?
if from your tv, can you check volumes by playing back from some other source e.g usb stick,, if the tv has a usb slot.
Try connecting the box directly to the tv if possible. see if the issue is with the box or amp[/QUO

the amp is connected to the box via the two aux cables? the sound is great from the amp until i change channel which results in a "bang" from the amp speakers,the box is connected to the tv via a hdmi cable, i have tried volume adjust and have gotten it a little bit better but its still very low

I think the bang you hear is due to type of signal received. when you turn to a channel carring an encoded audio stream (usually on HD channels), the box is converting it to analogue to transmit over th l/r channel output. Your amp then receives the analogue signal, but also hears the a small bit of the digital (and conversion) resulting in a bang. The solution (i think) is tho try and let your amp do the conversion. By connecting your amp via the optical interface or hdmi lead should do the job. The other option is to turn off any circuitry in your amp which is looking for a digital signal, eg digital dolby. if your amp is an all-in-one amp /player, you may not have the option to do this.
Also in the a/v settings of the image, you have the option of switching from pcm to s/pif output. I know you have tried this already, but this should help too.

how.gareth

Slevster wrote: »

how.gareth wrote: »

I think the bang you hear is due to type of signal received. when you turn to a channel carring an encoded audio stream (usually on HD channels), the box is converting it to analogue to transmit over th l/r channel output. Your amp then receives the analogue signal, but also hears the a small bit of the digital (and conversion) resulting in a bang. The solution (i think) is tho try and let your amp do the conversion. By connecting your amp via the optical interface or hdmi lead should do the job. The other option is to turn off any circuitry in your amp which is looking for a digital signal, eg digital dolby. if your amp is an all-in-one amp /player, you may not have the option to do this.
Also in the a/v settings of the image, you have the option of switching from pcm to s/pif output. I know you have tried this already, but this should help too.

yeah i think its an all in one player type thingy, is there any way to connect it via hdmi? the box and amp only have one hdmi port each?

Slevster

Also if possible try connecting your amp to your tv instead (as a trial). The audio signal will be carried by the hdmi , and your tv will then convert the signal to your amp. The tv may be better at this than the box. may give you an idea of where the problem lies. Also try without your amp (i.e unplug connections) and see how the volume reacts with the tv speakers only

Slevster

how.gareth wrote: »

Slevster wrote: »

yeah i think its an all in one player type thingy, is there any way to connect it via hdmi? the box and amp only have one hdmi port each?

depends on the inputs it takes. the box has optical out, l/r out, scart out and hdmi out. I'm guessing from your description that you have hdmi connection from box to tv. And l/r connection from box to amp. is this correct?

how.gareth

Slevster wrote: »

how.gareth wrote: »

depends on the inputs it takes. the box has optical out, l/r out, scart out and hdmi out. I'm guessing from your description that you have hdmi connection from box to tv. And l/r connection from box to amp. is this correct?

yep thats the way i have it, i am a bit restricted with what connection options i have as the tv is mounted on the wall and the cables are buried in behind the plaster, i will try the l/r connections from tv to box and see what happens, thanks, Nigel

championc

If your TV has 2 x HDMI, then hopefully one of them is ARC compatible and if your AMP is too (likely given it has a HDMI port), then you should have the box to TV and then TV to Amp, all using just HDMI connections

You a quick explanation on the AutomaticAudioAdjustment plugin. In it you set a percentage level (maybe 50%) for which you want to increase the sound level for HD channels. If you set the BOX audio level to Max, then you have no ability in increase it, and so the plugin is rendered useless.

The idea is that you set the box audio level to 65% or so. The hope / idea is that when you switch to a HD channel, the sound level on the Box will be increased to 100%, which is then hopefully fairly similar in level then to the SD channel level. So this should also mean that your volume level changing on your TV is kept to a minimum



_______________________________________________
Champions Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/2DuVm0

how.gareth

championc wrote: »

If your TV has 2 x HDMI, then hopefully one of them is ARC compatible and if your AMP is too (likely given it has a HDMI port), then you should have the box to TV and then TV to Amp, all using just HDMI connections

You a quick explanation on the AutomaticAudioAdjustment plugin. In it you set a percentage level (maybe 50%) for which you want to increase the sound level for HD channels. If you set the BOX audio level to Max, then you have no ability in increase it, and so the plugin is rendered useless.

The idea is that you set the box audio level to 65% or so. The hope / idea is that when you switch to a HD channel, the sound level on the Box will be increased to 100%, which is then hopefully fairly similar in level then to the SD channel level. So this should also mean that your volume level changing on your TV is kept to a minimum



_______________________________________________
Champions Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/2DuVm0

ok thanks for that, i will give the volume adjust another go as i must be doin it arseways. i think the tv has a pretty crap volume anyway which isnt helping, so is there not a standard setting on the volume adjust plugin that everyone uses? at the moment i have it at default volume 10%. and max volume 60%

cyndale

Is it possible to fast forward if you are watching a programme on the RTE Player, if I press fast forward nothing happens? I'm using Hyperion V4.

Zardoz

cyndale wrote: »

Is it possible to fast forward if you are watching a programme on the RTE Player, if I press fast forward nothing happens? I'm using Hyperion V4.

You can use the numbers on the remote to jump back/forward.
No 7 goes back 5 minutes ,no 9 goes forward 5 minutes .
4 goes back 1 minute and 6 goes forward 1 minute.
This works for 1channel too .
You can change the time each button jumps in the recording setup.
I like to have no 9 set as 4 minutes ,grand for skipping through ads .

cyndale

Thanks for that! Will try it later!

cyndale

Zardoz wrote: »

You can use the numbers on the remote to jump back/forward.
No 7 goes back 5 minutes ,no 9 goes forward 5 minutes .
4 goes back 1 minute and 6 goes forward 1 minute.
This works for 1channel too .
You can change the time each button jumps in the recording setup.
I like to have no 9 set as 4 minutes ,grand for skipping through ads .

Tried it, works a treat, thanks!:cool:

dr_funk

Here's a hard drive question! What drives are people using with the Alien 2?

I have a USB powered Lacie 500GB portable, and it works (and seems to record fine) but there's been a persistent playback problem that I haven't been able to solve, where after a while the playback freezes. I can sometimes get it going again by pressing pause and then rewinding a bit, but other times the box just locks up and I have to switch the power off at the back.

I'm using the latest martinxp openpli image, but this happened with Hyperion and HDMU too.

hallo dare

dr_funk wrote: »

Here's a hard drive question! What drives are people using with the Alien 2?

I have a USB powered Lacie 500GB portable, and it works (and seems to record fine) but there's been a persistent playback problem that I haven't been able to solve, where after a while the playback freezes. I can sometimes get it going again by pressing pause and then rewinding a bit, but other times the box just locks up and I have to switch the power off at the back.

I'm using the latest martinxp openpli image, but this happened with Hyperion and HDMU too.

Samsung M3 500GB. Works grand for me on Hyperion 3.

Slevster

Seagate expansion (USB) works fine for the most part.
However, I have noticed that if I am watching something that was over a hour in length eg a film, it would pause at just after the hour mark. I thought it may be something to do with file size. Wasnt an issue, as pressing play resumed it.That was with V3 . haven't noticed it on V4 , but haven't watched a recording of huge length on V4 yet.

Zardoz

HDMU Backup

Here is a backup of a recent HDMU image if anyone wants to give it a go

It is configured for 28e and Saorview ,all picons are installed as is an up to date channel list .

The following plugins are installed and working well:
AutoTimer,AutoVolumeAdjustment,AutoBouquets,CacheFlush aka Clearmem,CrossEPG,CoolTVGuide v7.0 (opens on EPG) ,Rats Picons,RTE Player,1channel,IPTV Loader,Virtual Zap,TMDB,TVDB,TS Media 5.9,Oscam status and WebInterface

Oscam is installed and running,you just need to edit the oscam.server file.

Crossepg is configured to update when the box is in standby .

It is running PLi-HD skin but there are a few other Skins to try if you dont like that.
The image is setup to use DHCP automatically and is also set for HDMI at 1080i.
Saorview is tuned for Mullaghanish

I made a few alterations to the keymap to make it more like Hyperion ,F1 button is teletext btw.

Oscam port: 8888 user: root, pass: oscam
FTP: user:root ,pass:HDMU
Audio is set to AC3 downmix
Streaming and recording two $ channels working

A swap file is not being used

Its a nice image ,quite fast and stable ,the only issues I have had were the odd tune failed with Saorview when sometimes recording a satellite channel which is an old failing of HDMU.
The sound on HDMU is louder than the other images ,and the picture is also the closest to Spark I have found .
The download server is also excellent ,a vast amount of plugins.

Please note that HDMU requires you to label your HDD as RECORD for it to use it correctly so you will need to run the command
tune2fs -L RECORD /dev/sdxy ,where where sdxy is the partition you wish to rename (usually sda1)
This will not remove any of you files on the drive so you can keep your existing recordings and use the drive with other images .

http://www.2shared.com/file/cnPEGArN/HDMU_Backup.html

Nowso

nice image any idea how to select wireless lan

Zardoz

Nowso wrote: »

nice image any idea how to select wireless lan

I think it has to be enabled in the HDMU Control Center,have a look in there.
Menu-Setup-HDMU Control Center

Nowso

Zardoz wrote: »

I think it has to be enabled in the HDMU Control Center,have a look in there.
Menu-Setup-HDMU Control Center

thanks got it going

just need to work out to get oscam setup on eigma2 pity theres no cam config etc for enigma

same ol sh1te

Nowso wrote: »

thanks got it going

just need to work out to get oscam setup on eigma2 pity theres no cam config etc for enigma

Cccam cannot deal with two tuners but oscam can emulate cccam

Nowso

same ol sh1te wrote: »

Cccam cannot deal with two tuners but oscam can emulate cccam

ccam2.14 and mgcamd are working on the 2 tuners on spark . not perfect but ok

even if u had an easier oscam interface
will have another go at oscam later

same ol sh1te

Nowso wrote: »

ccam2.14 and mgcamd are working on the 2 tuners on spark . not perfect but ok

even if u had an easier oscam interface
will have another go at oscam later

Oscam is no harder than any other. Google is your friend

Nobody uses Spark btw

Nowso

i do atm lol

Nowso

you left 2 expired timers on the image

Fresh Pots

Nowso wrote: »

you left 2 expired timers on the image

Were they something particularly embarrassing?!

same ol sh1te

Nowso wrote: »

i do atm lol

Your on your own, 99% of the info here is based on Enigma. This box has come a long way, was a buggy POS once so users stuck with Spark, but there's no reason to now. Enigma offers so much more and is now so stable it's foolish not to use it, especially when there's preconfigured images, oscam is even configured, you just edit one file and restart it in the alternative softcam manager.

Zardoz

Fresh Pots wrote: »

Were they something particularly embarrassing?!

Some Spanish football highlights ,hardly an issue .:)

FlexMcMurphy

same ol sh1te wrote: »

This box has come a long way, was a buggy POS once so users stuck with Spark, but there's no reason to now. Enigma offers so much more and is now so stable....

Most of us on this thread are enthusiasts and don't mind tinkering but the majority of people resent technical talk of any kind when it comes to TV viewing and are also very unforgiving if anything ever goes wrong. For those people I would still recommend Spark or a closed system that never ever breaks like those Xoro9000 boxes etc..

Flex

Nowso

Zardoz wrote: »

Some Spanish football highlights ,hardly an issue .:)

was expectind something on climax !!LOL

Nowso

FlexMcMurphy wrote: »

Most of us on this thread are enthusiasts and don't mind tinkering but the majority of people resent technical talk of any kind when it comes to TV viewing and are also very unforgiving if anything ever goes wrong. For those people I would still recommend Spark or a closed system that never ever breaks like those Xoro9000 boxes etc..

Flex

Its good to have spark as a backup . and as want to use the box for recording greyhound racing for my youtube channel and then watching tv aswell rather than rte player etc

i will tinker about with enigma but if theres an issue i can switch to spark still

Zardoz

dr_funk wrote: »

Here's a hard drive question! What drives are people using with the Alien 2?

I have a USB powered Lacie 500GB portable, and it works (and seems to record fine) but there's been a persistent playback problem that I haven't been able to solve, where after a while the playback freezes. I can sometimes get it going again by pressing pause and then rewinding a bit, but other times the box just locks up and I have to switch the power off at the back.

I'm using the latest martinxp openpli image, but this happened with Hyperion and HDMU too.

I've encountered this issue on Ar-P,Hyperion and now HDMU and with 2 different types of hard drives ,an Iomega eGo 320Gb and a WD Scorpio in a caddy.
The playback stops every so often ,it seems worse on HD programming and I can get it going again by pressing the right button a few times.
It doesnt lock up on me .

I think the Samsung M3 drives are recommended ,I have a 1.5TB one ,so I must setup an EXT3 partition and see if that works better.

dr_funk

@Zardoz, yep, that's the exact same problem I'm having. Same as you, I've had the problem with Hyperion, HDMU and also the current martinxp openpli image - which I'm really liking, apart from this one issue.

I'm seriously thinking of getting a Samsung M3. They've been recommended before for these boxes.

Let us know how you get on with it?

Kevin!

Having issues installing the e2upgrade.plugin on my second Alien box.

It's an Alien 2 Triple + box.

(1) I opened spark, upgraded just 'App' from USB from this image:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vf62n7z8tbnp0hu/5SgKgKvHJY/AMIKO_ALIEN2_1.2.51_E2_Boot_Upgrade - process ran successfully.

(2) I stuck the upgrade plugin on the USB drive and Spark prompted me to install it - process ran successfully.

(3) I stuck the e2jffs2.img and uImage file on the USB stick, went into the plugins folder where two additional plug-ins have been created ._plugin_e2upgrade.s and plugin_e2upgrade.s - attempted to run plugin_e2upgrade.s by pressing red (Start OSD) nothing happens - then attempted to click OK - plugin attempts to start, screen briefly flashes and then returns to the plug-in menu where the plugin is still off


Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? should I have upgrade the Database+Plugin's when I upgraded spark or anything else?

thanks

Kev

SYSTEM INFORMATION:
System Version: 1.2.51
App Version: 1.2.51
Dbase Version: 1.1.0
Kernel Version 2.6.32-00
U-Boot Version 1.1.002-4

Am I at much of a disadvantage by just installing the enigma image through the manual boot steps?

how.gareth

Kevin! wrote: »

Having issues installing the e2upgrade.plugin on my second Alien box.

It's an Alien 2 Triple + box.

(1) I opened spark, upgraded just 'App' from USB from this image:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vf62n7z8tbnp0hu/5SgKgKvHJY/AMIKO_ALIEN2_1.2.51_E2_Boot_Upgrade - process ran successfully.

(2) I stuck the upgrade plugin on the USB drive and Spark prompted me to install it - process ran successfully.

(3) I stuck the e2jffs2.img and uImage file on the USB stick, went into the plugins folder where two additional plug-ins have been created ._plugin_e2upgrade.s and plugin_e2upgrade.s - attempted to run plugin_e2upgrade.s by pressing red (Start OSD) nothing happens - then attempted to click OK - plugin attempts to start, screen briefly flashes and then returns to the plug-in menu where the plugin is still off


Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? should I have upgrade the Database+Plugin's when I upgraded spark or anything else?

thanks

Kev




Am I at much of a disadvantage by just installing the enigma image through the manual boot steps?

Have you got the two files called e2jffs2.IMG and ulmage in a folder called enigma2 on your USB stick? Sorry just spotted it's the plug-in itself your having trouble with

Kevin!

how.gareth wrote: »

Have you got the two files called e2jffs2.IMG and ulmage in a folder called enigma2 on your USB stick? Sorry just spotted it's the plug-in itself your having trouble with

Can't get the plug-in going unfortunately, but thanks for trying!

Nowso

Kevin! wrote: »

Can't get the plug-in going unfortunately, but thanks for trying!

delete it and try reinstall it from this link - This is Champs dropbox and worked on my new triple +


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vf62n7z8tbnp0hu/jmibFN6GsA/plugin

Kevin!

Nowso wrote: »

delete it and try reinstall it from this link - This is Champs dropbox and worked on my new triple +


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vf62n7z8tbnp0hu/jmibFN6GsA/plugin

Legend, you and champ haha worked flawlessly! had been having that issue with countless others in this thread for months, good to finally have it resolved

illdoit2morrow

I run a scan every once in a while on this image and it comes back with a different number of channels on different occasions. The channels that I've noticed that don't scan all the time are the BT Sports HD channels and a few of the other channels in the sports bouquet.

Is this down to my dish or the weather conditions at the time or something else altogether?

TIA

FlexMcMurphy

satellite.xml in etc/tuxbox stores all the satellite transponder frequencies and may need to be updated. You can get the latest version from here and FTP it to etc/tuxbox using FileZilla then reboot and scan your channels again. It could also be down to your lnb and dish alignment too.

Flex

Agueroooo

Hi my 'sealion' provider is offering 13months for the price of 12months.

would I be mad to pay for 12months in case the cat catches the mouse?

illdoit2morrow

FlexMcMurphy wrote: »

satellite.xml in etc/tuxbox stores all the satellite transponder frequencies and may need to be updated. You can get the latest version from here and FTP it to etc/tuxbox using FileZilla then reboot and scan your channels again. It could also be down to your lnb and dish alignment too.

Flex

Thanks for that, I'll try the new xml file when i get home.

I previosuly had sky before getting the AA2, i'm using the same dish, just with a quad LNB now. I assumed that this setup would be alright. All the other channels are fine.

When i had a look at the signal strength, the 'bar' that shows the strength is constantly moving, from around 60% to 80%, would this indicate that the dish might need adjusting or is this the norm?

how.gareth

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

Thanks for that, I'll try the new xml file when i get home.

I previosuly had sky before getting the AA2, i'm using the same dish, just with a quad LNB now. I assumed that this setup would be alright. All the other channels are fine.

When i had a look at the signal strength, the 'bar' that shows the strength is constantly moving, from around 60% to 80%, would this indicate that the dish might need adjusting or is this the norm?

My signal strength sits between 74-75% for the "foreign" channels and never changes from that

NUTZZ

Agueroooo wrote: »

would I be mad to pay for 12months in case the cat catches the mouse?

Absolutely

Nowso

one really annoying thing is on the terrestrial tuner if you go onto a channel thats not got full reception for or not on Error messages come up and i have to power off and on the box

same ol sh1te

Nowso wrote: »

one really annoying thing is on the terrestrial tuner if you go onto a channel thats not got full reception for or not on Error messages come up and i have to power off and on the box

You are using a backup of someone else's image with the channels they receive, you need to do a terrestrial scan and create your own bouquet with your own channels

illdoit2morrow

A little help getting the correct satellite.xml file.

When i go to http://satellites-xml.eu/, do i just select Astra 2A/2E/2F/Eutelsat 28A (28.2E) or select the 'Europe, Africa & Middle East' option?

Nowso

same ol sh1te wrote: »

You are using a backup of someone else's image with the channels they receive, you need to do a terrestrial scan and create your own bouquet with your own channels

these are tuned in myself on spark - does simular happen with e2