Amiko Alien2 / SAB / GM / ST7162 ** ENIGMA ** Discussion Thread

Zardoz

Nowso wrote: »

there is still a difference . i will leave it on to use rte player but can have it freezing for nothing

Ok fair enough .

In what way is it freezing Nowso ?

Nowso

just picture froze and couldnt do anything had to reboot

deezell

Nowso wrote: »

just picture froze and couldnt do anything had to reboot

It's an absolute must to have your hard disk or memory stick properly recognised, mounted, directories created and assigned to the various services, crossepg, timeshift, recording, swapfile. This should be mostly automatic, but. In my experience the box will sometimes default to storing stuff in the very limited memory available, and this will run out and freeze the box. Plugins like rteplayer and one channel require a good bit of memory, I avoid them TBH.

RonnieL

Hi Guys.

Before I buy it, I'd just like to confirm that this hard drive should be compatible with amiko alien 2. Also, am I right in assuming this won't need external power, it'll just be powered by usb?

Thanks!

Seagate Expansion 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - Black

Slevster

deezell wrote: »

It's an absolute must to have your hard disk or memory stick properly recognised, mounted, directories created and assigned to the various services, crossepg, timeshift, recording, swapfile. This should be mostly automatic, but. In my experience the box will sometimes default to storing stuff in the very limited memory available, and this will run out and freeze the box. Plugins like rteplayer and one channel require a good bit of memory, I avoid them TBH.

As deezell said, HDD's must always be mounted manually after a flash, even if it is your own backup which you are reflashing. Should always be part of the flashing process. I had thought folks did this as part of the process, but reading of issues as above, and other issues, perhaps it is not emphasised enough. I've seen a few posts by deezell on the importance of ensuring the correct HDD option is selected in crossepg and the such, which ties in to this.
In the pkt images, mounting can be done through the blue panel, mount drives, then manual mount your drive to sda1 (or similar) . don't assume that automount will work.
You can then easily check that all is correctly mounted by checking for free space in the utility with the blue panel .you should see your hdd listed.

So remember kids, to avoid hassle - always mount after flashing! ( may have to come up with a new catch phase, that one could be misinterpreted!)

Imstuck

RonnieL wrote: »

Hi Guys.

Before I buy it, I'd just like to confirm that this hard drive should be compatible with amiko alien 2. Also, am I right in assuming this won't need external power, it'll just be powered by usb?

Thanks!

Seagate Expansion 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - Black

I use the same seagate but mine is 500gb, works with no issues

RonnieL

Imstuck wrote: »

I use the same seagate but mine is 500gb, works with no issues

Thanks. I'll go for it so. I actually got the link to the 500GB one in this thread, but noticed the 1TB one is only €13 extra so I figured I'd go for that.

Slevster

RonnieL wrote: »

Thanks. I'll go for it so. I actually got the link to the 500GB one in this thread, but noticed the 1TB one is only €13 extra so I figured I'd go for that.

Have the very one. Am almost tempted to say that its too big. Too much stuff recorded that will never get watched. (But at the end of the day, better to be looking at it, than looking for it)
Will say that the disc has slowed a little. (Mind you , it has been connected abd the box on , bar standby, for the last 20 months) have noticed of late, that I get the dots, the odd time during rretrieva/playback. But still no hassle recording 2 channels and a tineshift simultaneously (possible to get some pixelation with 2 HD channels , where one is soarview, but think this may be an image issue)

If you buy(or which everone you do buy) do a test in spark for its speed/capability, and take a note of it. You will then have a record of it to compare, say in 20 months time, when you are giving advise on hdd's and make a statement about it slowing but you have actual evidence to back it up and not just a notion like me!

Zardoz

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

I tried this the other day when you first posted about it. To my eyes there seems to be slightly higher colour saturation in the HDMU version. It is so subtle that you would probably not notice unless you were told something had changed. Possibly a tad sharper or possibly wishful thinking on my behalf.
As always with anything of this nature, personal preference is the key ingredient.

Either way thanks Zardoz for your ongoing hard work.;)

Yeah Gerry ,the colour saturation is definitely higher ,colours look richer.
HD looks to have more punch ,SD has more life too,but may be slightly noisier.

I guess what type of set you have plays a part too.
I find that the Hyperion video.elf looks a bit lifeless on my plasmas ,especially during the day,it isnt bright enough.

Plasmas arent as bright as LCD/LED tvs though so perhaps the picture on an LCD/LED is ok.
Anyway its good to have the choice .

TheDoc

Imstuck wrote: »

I use the same seagate but mine is 500gb, works with no issues

I've a Western digital 500GB passport device. I have been told to enable "recording" you need to have a hard drive.

I'd be fine with a USB powered one? And do they need any sort of special formatting or can I just plug it in, and it will be pickedup and used for recording?

RonnieL

Slevster wrote: »

Have the very one. Am almost tempted to say that its too big. Too much stuff recorded that will never get watched. (But at the end of the day, better to be looking at it, than looking for it)
Will say that the disc has slowed a little. (Mind you , it has been connected abd the box on , bar standby, for the last 20 months) have noticed of late, that I get the dots, the odd time during rretrieva/playback. But still no hassle recording 2 channels and a tineshift simultaneously (possible to get some pixelation with 2 HD channels , where one is soarview, but think this may be an image issue)

If you buy(or which everone you do buy) do a test in spark for its speed/capability, and take a note of it. You will then have a record of it to compare, say in 20 months time, when you are giving advise on hdd's and make a statement about it slowing but you have actual evidence to back it up and not just a notion like me!

Just back from Argos. I need to get my configuration sorted for the rugby world cup!

I'm not overly familiar with the workings of the box, although I am generally technical, so if you feel like pointing me towards some steps to follow to capture the speed in spark, then I'll happily capture that information and share it here. Comparing my figures to yours might confirm your suspicion?

What are "the dots" that you refer to? I still have a sky box which we use mostly, but when I have used my amiko box I've seen this logo in the top left corner sometimes, which seems to be like a "loading" type event when the OS is struggling with something. I'm hoping I'll see less of that when I configure the HD because at the moment I've got no HD, and an image that I got on here about a year ago which I think has some of the epg functionality enabled. Apologies if I'm making little sense at this point!

Slevster

RonnieL wrote: »

Just back from Argos. I need to get my configuration sorted for the rugby world cup!

I'm not overly familiar with the workings of the box, although I am generally technical, so if you feel like pointing me towards some steps to follow to capture the speed in spark, then I'll happily capture that information and share it here. Comparing my figures to yours might confirm your suspicion?

What are "the dots" that you refer to? I still have a sky box which we use mostly, but when I have used my amiko box I've seen this logo in the top left corner sometimes, which seems to be like a "loading" type event when the OS is struggling with something. I'm hoping I'll see less of that when I configure the HD because at the moment I've got no HD, and an image that I got on here about a year ago which I think has some of the epg functionality enabled. Apologies if I'm making little sense at this point!

Yes, the dots are the processing symbol. Different on different images. (And can be customised)
You can boot into spark, menu, then hdd recording settings (I think, so long since I used it) and there is an option to format your drive in ext 3 and also test its speed.
You can format your disc to NTFS or ext 3. These formats have been discussed on this thread a few times.

Slevster

TheDoc wrote: »

I've a Western digital 500GB passport device. I have been told to enable "recording" you need to have a hard drive.

I'd be fine with a USB powered one? And do they need any sort of special formatting or can I just plug it in, and it will be pickedup and used for recording?

Format it to ext 3 or NTFS. You can use the utility in spark to initialise and format in ext3 or PC if you go the NTFS route.
A lot of folks here , including myself , use a drive powered via the USB without significant issues.

TheDoc

Slevster wrote: »

Format it to ext 3 or NTFS. You can use the utility in spark to initialise and format in ext3 or PC if you go the NTFS route.
A lot of folks here , including myself , use a drive powered via the USB without significant issues.

I've been reading the thread from page one. I noticed some posts mentioning that to record and watch another channel, you need to have "two cables" coming from the dish?

I've a Sky dish up outside, and still have an active sky sub. Just moving away from them as most of my TV viewing is done digitally via NEtflix etc., and this is just to cover the free/terrestrial channels etc.

Is two cables coming from the dish part of the "normal" sky setup, or is that something I'd have to do myself (I'd have no intention of doing this myself, rented acomm, so wouldnt be drilling holes in external walls)

Also from what I read there is some difference regarding saorview and other freeview channels. Will the Sky dish only really catch the UK freeview channels? Do I need something additional to get saorview channels? (Never read into saorview, is that your RTE's and TV3's etc) again, would have little intention of getting another aerial or satellite put out on the side of the house. Especially when I consider my TV has a HTPC hooked up, so could just use RTe/ TV3 player on that for Champions league. But would be nice to have on the box itself.

Slevster

TheDoc wrote: »

I've been reading the thread from page one. I noticed some posts mentioning that to record and watch another channel, you need to have "two cables" coming from the dish?

I've a Sky dish up outside, and still have an active sky sub. Just moving away from them as most of my TV viewing is done digitally via NEtflix etc., and this is just to cover the free/terrestrial channels etc.

Is two cables coming from the dish part of the "normal" sky setup, or is that something I'd have to do myself (I'd have no intention of doing this myself, rented acomm, so wouldnt be drilling holes in external walls)

Also from what I read there is some difference regarding saorview and other freeview channels. Will the Sky dish only really catch the UK freeview channels? Do I need something additional to get saorview channels? (Never read into saorview, is that your RTE's and TV3's etc) again, would have little intention of getting another aerial or satellite put out on the side of the house. Especially when I consider my TV has a HTPC hooked up, so could just use RTe/ TV3 player on that for Champions league. But would be nice to have on the box itself.

If you look at the back of your sky box you will see a co ax cable from your dish with a f -type screw connection to your box. If you can record one channel and view another at the same time , then there should be 2 of these feeds into your box. Which is a very common sky set up. (Sky+ essentially)
The sky dish can pick up channels broadcast on the astra satellites in this part of the world, with includes all the freeview channels eg BBC's ITV's etc. And sky subscription channels eg sky sports, Irish domestic channels are also broadcast via a terrestrial digital service , soarview, and can be received via an ariel . these boxes are capable of received the terrestrial and satellite feeds and presenting them in a unified and customisable manner.
The ariel may need to be no more than a hanger, if the signal is strong in your area. 2 sat feeds allow you to record and view different sat channels simultaneously. Its not required, but great to have.

dav32cs

TheDoc wrote: »

I've been reading the thread from page one. I noticed some posts mentioning that to record and watch another channel, you need to have "two cables" coming from the dish?

I've a Sky dish up outside, and still have an active sky sub. Just moving away from them as most of my TV viewing is done digitally via NEtflix etc., and this is just to cover the free/terrestrial channels etc.

Is two cables coming from the dish part of the "normal" sky setup, or is that something I'd have to do myself (I'd have no intention of doing this myself, rented acomm, so wouldnt be drilling holes in external walls)

Also from what I read there is some difference regarding saorview and other freeview channels. Will the Sky dish only really catch the UK freeview channels? Do I need something additional to get saorview channels? (Never read into saorview, is that your RTE's and TV3's etc) again, would have little intention of getting another aerial or satellite put out on the side of the house. Especially when I consider my TV has a HTPC hooked up, so could just use RTe/ TV3 player on that for Champions league. But would be nice to have on the box itself.

If you've been running a Sky+ box you will already have the two cables running in. If you have only been using a single tuner Sky, you will have to get a second line in from the dish if you want to be able to record and swap to a different channel at the same time. Just check your connections to see how many are there currently or look at the LNB at bottom of dish(but bear in mind just because there is two there doesn't mean they are both going to the one room - could be single feeds to two rooms)


It's easy enough to do yourself if you already have a line in and access to dish. You won't really need to go drilling because it's already done from the initial line in unless you need to widen it a little bit if the second line can't feed through.

Sky dish will get all the free UK channels, if you want Saorview (RTE,RTE2,TV3,3e,TG4,Rte News Now,Radio) you will need a separate terrestrial antenna(or Saorsat dish if you are unlucky enough in your location) to get these.

MayoForSam

Is it possible to record one Saorview channel while watching another Saorview channel? I tried this and some of the other channels were blanked out e.g. while recording RTE 1, I could watch UTV but not RTE 2 (if I remember correctly).

mass_debater

MayoForSam wrote: »

Is it possible to record one Saorview channel while watching another Saorview channel? I tried this and some of the other channels were blanked out e.g. while recording RTE 1, I could watch UTV but not RTE 2 (if I remember correctly).

No, there is only a single terrestrial tuner

TheDoc

dav32cs wrote: »

If you've been running a Sky+ box you will already have the two cables running in. If you have only been using a single tuner Sky, you will have to get a second line in from the dish if you want to be able to record and swap to a different channel at the same time. Just check your connections to see how many are there currently or look at the LNB at bottom of dish(but bear in mind just because there is two there doesn't mean they are both going to the one room - could be single feeds to two rooms)


It's easy enough to do yourself if you already have a line in and access to dish. You won't really need to go drilling because it's already done from the initial line in unless you need to widen it a little bit if the second line can't feed through.

Sky dish will get all the free UK channels, if you want Saorview (RTE,RTE2,TV3,3e,TG4,Rte News Now,Radio) you will need a separate terrestrial antenna(or Saorsat dish if you are unlucky enough in your location) to get these.

Cheers folks.

Yeah I have Sky+ so I guess that means two cables, which is happy days regards recording.

The aeriel crack doesn't sound great, although maybe I'm thinking of old aerials. Be a horrible site seeing one around the TV. Maybe there is something I can get to throw into a corner or something to do the trick, behind the TV

Slevster

mass_debater wrote: »

No, there is only a single terrestrial tuner

If a channel is on the same MUX as the one you are recording, then you can view it/record it at the same time.
So rte 1, utv, rtejr, rte 1+1 are on MUX 1 and rte 2, tv3, tg4,3e , rte news are on MUX 2

So (haven't tried this) I think you should , in theory,. be able to record all five channels on MUX 2 at the same time (the box may fall over though) and record a sat channel, while viewing another. (Have tried recording 4 streams, while timeshifting a 5th before. Did work. Selected SD channels)

mass_debater

Slevster wrote: »

If a channel is on the same MUX as the one you are recording, then you can view it/record it at the same time.
So rte 1, utv, rtejr, rte 1+1 are on MUX 1 and rte 2, tv3, tg4,3e , rte news are on MUX 2

So (haven't tried this) I think you should , in theory,. be able to record all five channels on MUX 2 at the same time (the box may fall over though) and record a sat channel, while viewing another. (Have tried recording 4 streams, while timeshifting a 5th before. Did work. Selected SD channels)

In theory yes, but I've tried it and the box isn't capable if it

zehuds

Hi all
I'am getting a tune failed on Enigma2 on all channels...When I switch to SParc it is fine tried a couple of enigma2 images as well and still the same problem
Any Ideas on how this can be fixed

Slevster

zehuds wrote: »

Hi all
I'am getting a tune failed on Enigma2 on all channels...When I switch to SParc it is fine tried a couple of enigma2 images as well and still the same problem
Any Ideas on how this can be fixed

Do a rescan of your channels.

thewheel2.0

With the World Cup coming up...

Quality wise which is better on a 1080p TV?

TV3 SD on Saorview or TV3 SD on satalite? Did I read somewhere that SD channels is better from the satellite?

RonnieL

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

With the World Cup coming up...

Quality wise which is better on a 1080p TV?

TV3 SD on Saorview or TV3 SD on satalite? Did I read somewhere that SD channels is better from the satellite?

This is precisely why I'm in the middle of getting my amiko set up at the moment, with a hard disk for recording. Perhaps you want to watch the Irish coverage, but I'm thinking ITV HD and ITV4 HD would be the way to go for the world cup?

techdiver

RonnieL wrote: »

This is precisely why I'm in the middle of getting my amiko set up at the moment, with a hard disk for recording. Perhaps you want to watch the Irish coverage, but I'm thinking ITV HD and ITV4 HD would be the way to go for the world cup?

Yeah, ITV HD is the only way to watch for those of us with no TV3 HD. Especially if you have anything larger than a 40" TV. The SD feed on both saorview and satellite are terrible. It's not even broadcast at "Full SD" resolution and the bitrate is terrible.

As far as I have heard, all the Ireland games are on the FTA ITV HD channel as opposed to the encrypted ITV 4HD. Can't find where I read that though...

deezell

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

With the World Cup coming up...

Quality wise which is better on a 1080p TV?

TV3 SD on Saorview or TV3 SD on satalite? Did I read somewhere that SD channels is better from the satellite?

In the case of TV3 sd, its rubbish on either. Normal SD is 706 or 720 pixels across the horizontal of the screen. Thats pretty good to look at, and most SD channels on Astra are 720. TV3 only transmits at 544 pixels Saorview and Sat, which is technically worse than a clean feed of the old analogue signal. TV3 also restrict their bit rate on saorview, so anything with lots of image movement, such as football, is blurred and grainy. Lasts nights humiliation of United was a good example. Perfect on 1920 BTsports HD, excellent on 720 BT sports SD (had to watch some of it on a stream), awful on TV3 sd and shocking on TV3 sd on saorview. Theres a whole thread dedicated to this; http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057205314&page=119
I referred to TV3's SD picture as ShtD, the mod edited my post!

RonnieL

techdiver wrote: »

As far as I have heard, all the Ireland games are on the FTA ITV HD channel as opposed to the encrypted ITV 4HD. Can't find where I read that though...

Slightly off topic I know, but I looked at this yesterday and I can confirm all the Ireland games are on ITV HD, and ITV4 is not showing any of the games after the group stage.

deezell

RonnieL wrote: »

Slightly off topic I know, but I looked at this yesterday and I can confirm all the Ireland games are on ITV HD, and ITV4 is not showing any of the games after the group stage.

ITV4 SD is FTA, and in 720 pixels. The obscure matches are in better quality on ITV4 FTA than TV3. Heres a tip. Watch the match on ITV HD. Stream TV3 or RTE Radio 1 from the boxto a phone/pad/laptop. If using VLC you can select audio only from TV3. Plug into speakers, adjust the pause on VLC if the audio is slightly ahead, it won't be much if from Astra, it'll be huge if from saorview. Watch match in HD with Irish commentary.

MayoForSam

deezell wrote: »

ITV4 SD is FTA, and in 720 pixels. The obscure matches are in better quality on ITV4 FTA than TV3. Heres a tip. Watch the match on ITV HD. Stream TV3 or RTE Radio 1 from the boxto a phone/pad/laptop. If using VLC you can select audio only from TV3. Plug into speakers, adjust the pause on VLC if the audio is slightly ahead, it won't be much if from Astra, it'll be huge if from saorview. Watch match in HD with Irish commentary.

What do you use to stream from the Amiko to a phone - EnigmaTV? Is there a guide for setting up local streaming to an Android device?