Amiko Alien 2 Triple Tuner Combobox

smee again

reaper12 wrote: »

Well, I was away saturday and sunday and was going to change from the yellowking open pli image to the new hyperion image but I don't think I have any reason to. It's fast, stable and hasn't given me any problems. I setup a load of stuff to record over the couple of days and they all recorded fine.

So, are there any must have reasons for switching to the hyperion image?

As someone who's used both, Hyperion is more stable, can be updated and has very good looking bootlogo and spinner. It's a long term keeper, Hybrid is just a stop gap image that fixed the judder first.

Realalemadrid

Am I right in saying if I use the Hyperion image in the Firmware thread and then update it via the "software update" from within the image this will fix the judder ?

Cheers for the replies - I am using the HDMU image at the moment and it's not bad but I'm having issues with WebIF. Not doing a whole pile else with it.

championc

Realalemadrid wrote: »

Am I right in saying if I use the Hyperion image in the Firmware thread and then update it via the "software update" from within the image this will fix the judder ?

Correct.

reaper12 wrote: »

Well, I was away saturday and sunday and was going to change from the yellowking open pli image to the new hyperion image but I don't think I have any reason to. It's fast, stable and hasn't given me any problems. I setup a load of stuff to record over the couple of days and they all recorded fine.

So, are there any must have reasons for switching to the hyperion image?

Hyperion is very actively being developed, not only for this box but for many others and so, I would expect any future gotchas, once resolved by someone, to be incorporated within their images. AR-P was the first of the Python 2.7 OE2.0 images and they did a fine job but it just seems to have completely died. They've not updated a thing since last April and while they opened up a Bug Reporter / Tracker, nothing ever happened to issues logged so I can only assume that the people behind it jumped ship into PKT or ....

Redriddick

Lads,
Anyone using wifi on the pkt tam image.I'm pulling my hair out trying to get it to connect???

Dublin Deluge

Is there a way of changing the root password in Hyperion? Maybe via a command line on telnet? In HDMU there was a Change root password plugin that you were able to download. I didn't find a similar plugin in Hyperion (installed or available to download) and didn't find an option via the menus.

smee again

Dublin Deluge wrote: »

Is there a way of changing the root password in Hyperion? Maybe via a command line on telnet? In HDMU there was a Change root password plugin that you were able to download. I didn't find a similar plugin in Hyperion (installed or available to download) and didn't find an option via the menus.

Telnet in and use "passwd root", it will ask for new pass

championc

passwd at command prompt

PapaSmurf1

Hi Guys,

Apologies for my basic questions below. I'm sure a lot of it comes across as being lazy but I have spent a lot of time searching and reading and have read most posts in this thread (except for maybe the 70 in the middle!).

I'm fairly technically competent but I've no idea about satellites and am trying to get up to speed.

Alot of my confusion is really around the OS. i.e. spark, enigma etc.

Would I be right in saying that the OS that ships with this box is spark ? and that enigma/enigma2 is another platform but exists not as 'enigma2' but as versions of 'enigma2' (eg hyperion) and you choose one and install it & it's plugins etc ?

Also with regard to the 'dual linux OS' that this receiver advertises - does this mean that when you turn it on you pick what os boots ? (i.e. you could have the original os and another enigma2 os installed?) Or has this feature just got something to 2 with the 2 built in receivers ?

What I'd like to do with this is have Saorview, FreeToAir BBC etc from one satellite dish and German FTA channells from another dish (19,2)

is this possible or are the 2 receivers only used for recording while watching a different channel ? (this is all i have ever read that people do!)

ALso on the website they list that the plus has DVB-T (optional) / DVB-C (optional) - does it have both or do I need to buy one with either DVB-T or DVB-C ? (i persume its the DVB-T i need for saorview ?)

And finally I have read alot of different things about the EPG. Is it correct that its not possible to get saorview epg as there is no MHEG ?
Also does the EPG automatically come through the satellite or must i set it up to come through from the internet.

Apologies again for the basic questions but as with a lot of technology almost anything seems to be possible if you tweak and mess around with systems to try get it working but I guess my questions are mostly around the out of the box experience or if i put on a popular opensource os - I dont forsee myself spending late nights trying to get cool features working etc !! (not at first anyway - i want a family box that works well and is simple to use, to switch channels & record etc.

Thanks for reading and i hope i haven't annoyed you with the questions.

championc

Would I be right in saying that the OS that ships with this box is spark ? and that enigma/enigma2 is another platform but exists not as 'enigma2' but as versions of 'enigma2' (eg hyperion) and you choose one and install it & it's plugins etc ?
Correct for all

Also with regard to the 'dual linux OS' that this receiver advertises - does this mean that when you turn it on you pick what os boots ? (i.e. you could have the original os and another enigma2 os installed?) Or has this feature just got something to 2 with the 2 built in receivers ?
Correct - boots the OS you pick

What I'd like to do with this is have Saorview, FreeToAir BBC etc from one satellite dish and German FTA channells from another dish (19,2)

is this possible or are the 2 receivers only used for recording while watching a different channel ? (this is all i have ever read that people do!)
Correct - Receive channels from BOTH satellites and Terrestrial simultaneously - you might need a multiswitch or something (someone else will know)

ALso on the website they list that the plus has DVB-T (optional) / DVB-C (optional) - does it have both or do I need to buy one with either DVB-T or DVB-C ? (i persume its the DVB-T i need for saorview ?)
Correct - take your pick of T or C

And finally I have read alot of different things about the EPG. Is it correct that its not possible to get saorview epg as there is no MHEG ?
Also does the EPG automatically come through the satellite or must i set it up to come through from the internet.
I think Terrestrial comes from the Terrestrial. Sat comes from the Internet for sure

Apologies again for the basic questions but as with a lot of technology almost anything seems to be possible if you tweak and mess around with systems to try get it working but I guess my questions are mostly around the out of the box experience or if i put on a popular opensource os - I dont forsee myself spending late nights trying to get cool features working etc !! (not at first anyway - i want a family box that works well and is simple to use, to switch channels & record etc.
Can be as simple or as complicated as you choose but really, once done, walk away and it runs

FlexMcMurphy

PapaSmurf1 wrote: »

Is it correct that its not possible to get saorview epg as there is no MHEG ?
Also does the EPG automatically come through the satellite or must i set it up to come through from the internet.

I think it depends on what 'provider' you choose to download the epg data from. When I was playing around with trying to get crossepg working on Spark I noticed that the epg for all channels was downloading even though my Alien 2 was not connected to the internet. I was selecting the OpenTV provider for 28.2E and seemingly it uses a satellite channel called 'Sky Background Audio Channel', or something like that, to get the epg data for all channels broadcast on the Sky platform.

I'm not sure if crossepg combines epg data from the saorview terrestrial signal and the satellite signal from the dish... but either way it gives a 7 day epg for the Irish and Satellite channels on 28.2E.

If you look in PogMoThoins HDMU set up guide in the firmware thread there is a screenshot that gives an idea of what the epg can be made to look like. Satellite channels can be mixed in together with terrestrial channels in the epg view depending on how you arrange them on your Alien 2 after you have scanned them all in.

Flex

bappelbe

PapaSmurf1 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

And finally I have read alot of different things about the EPG. Is it correct that its not possible to get saorview epg as there is no MHEG ?
Also does the EPG automatically come through the satellite or must i set it up to come through from the internet.

The EPG for the fta UK (freesat) channels- which you say you will be viewing- comes down automatically by viewing one of the channels, as it does Saorview -ie no need to use crossEPG or other plugins unless you are viewing sky channels. I do not know about your German channels.

This box works well as a family box for viewing/recording etc, download one of the images and there will be a small amount of work to get it running the way you want

Agueroooo

My cool TV guide will no longer display?

Everything looks OK in the settings but my remote epg button just pulls up the stock epg.

bappelbe

Agueroooo wrote: »

My cool TV guide will no longer display?

Everything looks OK in the settings but my remote epg button just pulls up the stock epg.

is the Multiquickbutton plugin setup to launch cool tv for that button?

championc

bappelbe wrote: »

The EPG for the fta UK (freesat) channels- which you say you will be viewing- comes down automatically by viewing one of the channels, as it does Saorview -ie no need to use crossEPG or other plugins unless you are viewing sky channels. I do not know about your German channels.

This box works well as a family box for viewing/recording etc, download one of the images and there will be a small amount of work to get it running the way you want

From memory, I thought only Now and Next comes down for Freesat channels when viewing them.

bappelbe

championc wrote: »

From memory, I thought only Now and Next comes down for Freesat channels when viewing them.

no, the full 7 days come down, you have to watch one of the channels for about 20 mins for it to be fully populated.

Gerry Wicklow

Every TP carries now/next info so any box can read it.
Depending how you have it configured, CrossEPG uses XMLTV to download from the web or OpenTV reads the full 7 day info from 11778V27500

championc

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Every TP carries now/next info so any box can read it.
Depending how you have it configured, CrossEPG uses XMLTV to download from the web or OpenTV reads the full 7 day info from 11778V27500

A very interesting debate and I'm glad we now have a definitive answer. Thanks Gerry, I never realised the difference between the CrossEPG providers.

BopperSnr

I'm using Championc hyperion 2 image and having a few issues , so wondering anyone else having these:

- Watching videos - fast forward/rewind does not work properly in that it does not match the x speeds. it hardly moves at all when fast forward from x 2 to x 64 etc
- in EPG, can't use the fast forward button on remote to change the bouquets favourites (movies, entertainment etc). so have to use the OK button and the built in epg to change favourites.
- EPG button very slow to open cool guide (approx. 5 secs)

Any help appreciated as it looks like a good image apart from these at the moment.

smee again

Freesat is a branded product, not to be confused with "Free to Air" satellite. Freesat is a joint venture between BBC and ITV, the UK equivalent of our Saorsat. Freesat branded products will have 7 day EPG. These boxes can access this Freesat EPG if left on a Freesat transponder for a time.

Realalemadrid

Just got the dual streaming function going last night on the Hyp image - only problem is when I had one channel running on the TV and another running on the laptop - the two channels somehow locked and I couldn't access any other channel and a record button started flashing on the info bar. When I turned off the channel i was streaming all returned to normal again. Seems a bit wierd. Tried this straight after I uploaded the image.

Any ideas ? Thanks.

Fresh Pots

Realalemadrid wrote: »

Just got the dual streaming function going last night on the Hyp image - only problem is when I had one channel running on the TV and another running on the laptop - the two channels somehow locked and I couldn't access any other channel and a record button started flashing on the info bar. When I turned off the channel i was streaming all returned to normal again. Seems a bit wierd. Tried this straight after I uploaded the image.

Any ideas ? Thanks.

Not weird, both tuners were in use so all other channels would be greyed out. The recording light must be a glitch alright.

smee again

TheTechGuy wrote: »

Not weird, both tuners were in use so all other channels would be greyed out. The recording light must be a glitch alright.

You should be able to use the third terrestrial tuner (if it's setup)

Irreverent

Hi lads. Does the same rte player plugin that worked on HDMU work with the Hyperion image? I must say it's working flawlessy now since updating.

Realalemadrid

TheTechGuy wrote: »

Not weird, both tuners were in use so all other channels would be greyed out. The recording light must be a glitch alright.

Thanks for the reply - I suppose I didn't explain myself very well. When I started streaming on the laptop I could only watch the channel on the tv that I was tuned into when I started streaming.

For example - I start watching channel 4 on the TV - this is coming from tuner B, I then switch on the laptop and start watching bbc3 on that - presume this is coming from tuner C. While the laptop is running bbc3 - I cannot change channel on the TV using Tuner B. I just get a black screen. Presumably I should be able to swtich channels using tuner B on the TV while the laptop gets its feed from tuner C? Thanks again.

smee again

Realalemadrid wrote: »

Thanks for the reply - I suppose I didn't explain myself very well. When I started streaming on the laptop I could only watch the channel on the tv that I was tuned into when I started streaming.

For example - I start watching channel 4 on the TV - this is coming from tuner B, I then switch on the laptop and start watching bbc3 on that - presume this is coming from tuner C. While the laptop is running bbc3 - I cannot change channel on the TV using Tuner B. I just get a black screen. Presumably I should be able to swtich channels using tuner B on the TV while the laptop gets its feed from tuner C? Thanks again.

Sounds like you only have one working tuner. Check your tuner configuration, tuner c must be set at equal to tuner b. You can also easily check both tuners in sat finder, make sure they both have SNR reading

Dublin Deluge

championc wrote: »

What I'd like to do with this is have Saorview, FreeToAir BBC etc from one satellite dish and German FTA channells from another dish (19,2)

is this possible or are the 2 receivers only used for recording while watching a different channel ? (this is all i have ever read that people do!)
Correct - Receive channels from BOTH satellites and Terrestrial simultaneously - you might need a multiswitch or something (someone else will know)

I actually have a setup similar to this. I can receive 13E, 19.2E and 28.8E. But you don't really need the two tuners to watch the two satellites, you could do it with a one-tuner box, you just need a DISEQ (the switch that Champion mentioned) so that the box can automatically switch between the two satellites. In my setup I can receive three satellites, but I only have two tuners. The box automatically switches between the satellites. The two tuners allow you to watch one satellite channel and record another satellite channel (Whether or not the two channels are in the same satellite or not is immaterial).

Basically what you will need is a dish with two LNBs on it, one for 19.2 and one for 28.8 (or alternatively two dishes each pointing to different positions, but I believe the multi-LNB solution is better and perhaps cheaper). The LNB is the device that sits on the arm of the dish, the part that actually receives the satellite signals. (I of course have a dish with three LNBs, one per satellite position). Because you'll have more than one LNB, you'll need a bigger dish than normal (the size of the dish also depends on where you live in the country), so you won't be able to use the usual "oval" sky dish you see almost everywhere, but a standard one (the kind you see in most European countries). Since I have three LNBs and I live in Dublin, my dish is 85cm. Your satellite installer will be able to advise you on the size of the dish you require, the DISEQ thingy, etc.

The DISEQ is a little piece of equipment that is installed near the dish itself that automatically switches between LNBs or something to that effect. I actually don't really know exactly how it works since everything is done by the box automatically. For you it's transparent. When you configure enigma, you configure tuner by tuner. My tuner B is set to DISEQ A/B/C/D with A=13, B=19.2, C=28.8, D=not connected. And tuner C is set to "same as tuner B". (Tuner A is the terrestrial tuner).

Then all you have to do is organise your bouquets (your list of favourite channels) in whatever order you like. One of my bouquets mixes terrestrial channels with UK channels in 28.8 and various French, German, Spanish and Polish channels on 13 and 19.2. For me, changing from one channel to another is completely transparent. The box does all the work.

Champion's Hyperion image is only configured to use the 28 satellite. So, after flashing it, you'll have to generate a satellites.xml from this website (choose 28.8 and 19.2) and FTP it to the box to /etc/enigma2. After copying and rebooting the box, I recommend you to do a scan of both satellites (I think it's called "service search" in the Setup menu), which will take a long time. After this, you'll have lots of channels to choose from in both satellites.

Also, Champion's crossEPG configuration is only set to download the EPG for the 28.8 channels via that Sky background audio channel somebody mentioned. So you'll only get the 7 day EPG for these channels and when you watch a terrestrial channel, you'll get the 7 day EPG for the terrestrial channels as well. When I was running HDMU I couldn't get crossEPG to work for the 13 or 19.2 satellites (you only get now and next on these satellites). I haven't yet tried with Hyperion. If I succeed, I'll post it here.

Good luck!

Dublin Deluge

BopperSnr wrote: »

- Watching videos - fast forward/rewind does not work properly in that it does not match the x speeds. it hardly moves at all when fast forward from x 2 to x 64 etc

Haven't tried watching videos in Hyperion, but observed the same behaviour in HDMU. You press FF or REW and nothing happens. However, what you can do is to press the FF or REW button for a few seconds and a box will appear asking you for how many minutes you want to skip the video. E.g. you can set 1 min, 2 mins, etc. It's not as handy as fully working FF / REW buttons, but it's a good workaround.

BTW, the FF / REW buttons do work when watching stuff you recorded with the box.

v10

Hi, I just picked up one of these Amiko Alien 2 boxes and intend to put Champions Hyperion v2 image on it. Is there any guide available online to do this ?

Thanks.

Zardoz

What do people think of the HD picture quality on these receivers ?
On my Triplex it seems to be a very dull and lifeless picture .Whites looks cream and the picture doesnt look HD .

I have to turn the contrast up very high on my high end plasma to get the picture bright enough and even at that HD is still poor ,skin colours look off,and the picture is lacking detail seen on my other HD receivers.
I have tried alot of setting changes but the picture just isnt good enough.

I have it on the correct HD settings ,1080p and have tried a number of hdmi cables to rule that out .
Its outputting a hd picture to the set but its just a disappointing picture .

Have I a duff box ?

zefer

v10 wrote: »

Hi, I just picked up one of these Amiko Alien 2 boxes and intend to put Champions Hyperion v2 image on it. Is there any guide available online to do this ?

Thanks.

Search for pogmothoin's guide in this thread, its near the start

Edit: Here it is but you don't really have to do as much anymore as championc's image has it nearly all done for you. You really only have to boot up in spark and upgrade from a usb key
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82445809&postcount=185

NUTZZ

Zardoz wrote: »

What do people think of the HD picture quality on these receivers ?
On my Triplex it seems to be a very dull and lifeless picture .Whites looks cream and the picture doesnt look HD .

I have to turn the contrast up very high on my high end plasma to get the picture bright enough and even at that HD is still poor ,skin colours look off,and the picture is lacking detail seen on my other HD receivers.
I have tried alot of setting changes but the picture just isnt good enough.

I have it on the correct HD settings ,1080p and have tried a number of hdmi cables to rule that out .
Its outputting a hd picture to the set but its just a disappointing picture .

Have I a duff box ?

On Spark the HD picture quality is possibly the best I've ever seen compared to any Sky HD/VU/Dreambox etc.

Enigma2 does't quite match up to the Spark side.

v10

zefer wrote: »

Search for pogmothoin's guide in this thread, its near the start

Edit: Here it is but you don't really have to do as much anymore as championc's image has it nearly all done for you. You really only have to boot up in spark and upgrade from a usb key
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82445809&postcount=185

ah I hate when threads get big ! .. I assume this it it HERE .. thanks.

edit .. seen you're edit thanks!

championc

Sounds like you need to calibrate your Screen - http://www.avsforum.com/t/948496/avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration

v10 - there's a separate Enigma2 thread. I wish the mods would Sticky it

Zardoz

NUTZZ wrote: »

On Spark the HD picture quality is possibly the best I've ever seen compared to any Sky HD/VU/Dreambox etc.

Enigma2 does't quite match up to the Spark side.

Yes Spark seems slightly better ,its definitely brighter and white does look white but its still not as good as my Dm800 .

I had been led to believe that SH4 receivers had better picture quality than Mips based receivers but I prefer the picture on the Dm800 .

I flick between a HD and an Sd version of the same channel on the Triplex but the difference in quality isnt as noticeable as on my Dm800 .
On the Dm800 you can see the pores on a persons face ,the detail is excellent but on the Triplex it looks smoother and less detailed.

Sounds like you need to calibrate your Screen - http://www.avsforum.com/t/948496/avs...p4-calibration

I actually did that but as I said I had to drive the contrast levels dangerously high to get the picture bright enough on the HD channels but as a result the SD channels looked crap.I tried tinkering with the settings in Hyperion too ,brightness,tint and saturation but couldnt really get the picture right.
More experimentation is required i think.

PapaSmurf1

Thanks to everyone for the detailed info - I think I'll definitely get this box and I'm looking forward to setting it up especially seeing so many of you guys are so happy with yours.

Great to hear you have a similar setup to what I'd like Dublin Deluge. Thanks for explaining everything about the larger dish and the 3 lnb setup that is possible.

I currently have a single lnb on an old sky disk and a cheap old receiver picking up the german channels but I'll definitely look into a setup like you have described.

I'll be checking in here a bit more often to keep up with whats going on!

Thanks again.

Realalemadrid

smee again wrote: »

Sounds like you only have one working tuner. Check your tuner configuration, tuner c must be set at equal to tuner b. You can also easily check both tuners in sat finder, make sure they both have SNR reading

Thanks - I thought that when I was able to view 2 different channels the tuner must have been ok - but the connection was a bit loose - and she's purring now after a bit of diy to the cable - thanks for the help.

Digidol

Quick question about AutoBouquets, I have my channels organized into a list I like, can I use this plugin just to keep the channels up to date without it organizing it into the Sky channel numbers?

smee again

Digidol wrote: »

Quick question about AutoBouquets, I have my channels organized into a list I like, can I use this plugin just to keep the channels up to date without it organizing it into the Sky channel numbers?

Yes, read the instructions for autobouquets for custom channel order, the readme is in the direcoory

Agueroooo

why oh why wont my coolTV guide work?

stanley1

Could anyone have a go at address below, I need to update Rat's picon amd channel list, keeps timing out for me.

Thanks

www.digitalworldz.co.uk

Fresh Pots

stanley1 wrote: »

Could anyone have a go at address below, I need to update Rat's picon amd channel list, keeps timing out for me.

Thanks

www.digitalworldz.co.uk

Download link just coming up as a blank page for me on my phone.

stanley1

Thanks for that, I guess it's down.

v10

Ok not really getting anywhere with this ... hopefully someone here can help

Got Amiko Alien 2 today .. read through various threads (may have missed some!) and tried to follow the setup guide posted by PogMoThoin here.

first problem was ''go to Menu-->Spark-->Upgrade Software. Do a downgrade to 1.2.51 E2 Boot Upgrade'' .. I couldn't do this because when I went to Menu-->Spark it tries to do 'online login' but fails and upgrade software is then greyed out.

So the box came with 1.5.54 installed some other forums seemed to suggest I could just upgrade from this so I put the e2upgrade plugin on, enabled it, put Champions Hyperion v2 on the root of my kingston usb stick and clicked Start OSD. It seemed to install ok. I changed the boot to enigma. so far so good .. it booted to a Hyperion screen and my amiko display says load 60 ..65 .. 70 .. 90 etc .. then box reboots and amiko display says 'Starting' and stays like that ..

any help appreciated

Fresh Pots

stanley1 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I guess it's down.

its working now

championc

v10 wrote: »

Ok not really getting anywhere with this ... hopefully someone here can help

Got Amiko Alien 2 today .. read through various threads (may have missed some!) and tried to follow the setup guide posted by PogMoThoin here.

first problem was ''go to Menu-->Spark-->Upgrade Software. Do a downgrade to 1.2.51 E2 Boot Upgrade'' .. I couldn't do this because when I went to Menu-->Spark it tries to do 'online login' but fails and upgrade software is then greyed out.

So the box came with 1.5.54 installed some other forums seemed to suggest I could just upgrade from this so I put the e2upgrade plugin on, enabled it, put Champions Hyperion v2 on the root of my kingston usb stick and clicked Start OSD. It seemed to install ok. I changed the boot to enigma. so far so good .. it booted to a Hyperion screen and my amiko display says load 60 ..65 .. 70 .. 90 etc .. then box reboots and amiko display says 'Starting' and stays like that ..

any help appreciated

This image was built at 1080p. If you want to use 720p, do the following on the remote after the receiver has fully booted:-
Press Menu, Up, Up, Up, Ok, Ok, Ok, Down, Right, Green

For Scart
Press Menu, Up, Up, Up, Ok, Ok, Ok, Left, Green

stanley1

TheTechGuy wrote: »

its working now

not for me.

Fresh Pots

stanley1 wrote: »

not for me.

I got to the page where it said i couldn't download as i don't have more than 5 posts. Its further than i got earlier so i assumed it was back.

championc

I thought I had got Rat's in my Hyperion and from what I can tell, it hasn't changed from that version.

stanley1

won't update cause site is down.

Zardoz

stanley1 wrote: »

won't update cause site is down.

The server may be down ,try again later,its not that urgent is it ?