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

.G.

deezell wrote:

Good question, the default startup channel seems to bring with it the bouquet that it was selected from, e.g , select RTE 1 in favourites, exit the EPG, then press OK to bring up the basic channel list, the press Menu which gives the option to set the startup channel. Box will start up on this channel and this bouquet. This works fine as long as you use the epg to change, but using the numbered buttons will select the corresponding channels from the first bouquet on the list, usually the irish channels on 28.2 Sky, not much use if you want terrestrial. I've tried moving my custom list to the top of the bouquets to counter this using dreambox edit. It worked, but next day the bouquets are back on their old order ( Sky numbered ones followed by others), and I'm back to where I started. I think it has something yo do with the nightly update.

Yeah it's the auto update doing that. I turned it off after I set up the bouquets the way I wanted them.

Slevster

deezell wrote: »

Good question, the default startup channel seems to bring with it the bouquet that it was selected from, e.g , select RTE 1 in favourites, exit the EPG, then press OK to bring up the basic channel list, the press Menu which gives the option to set the startup channel. Box will start up on this channel and this bouquet. This works fine as long as you use the epg to change, but using the numbered buttons will select the corresponding channels from the first bouquet on the list, usually the irish channels on 28.2 Sky, not much use if you want terrestrial. I've tried moving my custom list to the top of the bouquets to counter this using dreambox edit. It worked, but next day the bouquets are back on their old order ( Sky numbered ones followed by others), and I'm back to where I started. I think it has something yo do with the nightly update.

The double edge sword of auto bouquets!
Disable or curtail its update schedule. Or just don't use it (channel freq don't change very often, especially the BBC's and ITV's )

Apart from setting the startup channel (which is easy to do) what is the issue with EPG exactly? Ie as you say, use the OK button to bring up list of channels in current bouquet. Then press the blue button or "favourites" to bring up list of bouquets. Or press the EPG button (then change bouquet by pressing the play button or which ever colour button is assigned) several ways to get what you want. Or am I missing the point?


One of the best things about this box and these systems is the ability to arrange channels as you want them, not as sky has them for commercial reasons. Eg put all the bbc s together. FTA channels really don't change their freq , bar adding a HD version or the likes. Use dreambox edit to create bouquet s as you want them. Eg I watched the Connacht game on BBC wales earlier. I have it and BBC alba and BBC ni in a bouquet so I can watch the pro12 games easily. I don't have auto bouquets installed, but haven't noticed any channel missing in a long time.(there was a period last year where channels changed a little, but a quick scan corrected, or better yet, a update of the satellite. XML fixes all).
however, I know most folk are coming from sky and want to keep things familiar (to pass the family test!) And I do have similar sound bouquets myself, but there is a lot of broadcast channels that I never watch and so, don't have them in the bouquets. It's also handy to have Bouquet's set up for steaming (SD channels only).

Rant over ( danger of posting after a few!)


Edit only seeing post above by superg. As he said!

.G.

This might be long winded so bear with me!

I like to have my "all channels " bouquet starting with channel 101 for the first one, 251 for the next one, 301 , 351 etc. In order to do this I need something in numbers 1-100 and numbers 280-300 and so on. Autobouquets puts data channels with no name in these positions. So I arrange everything the way I want them and upload to the box which is all fine. However if I pull the channels back from the box all the data channels disappear and I'm left with just the TV channels starting from number 1 and carrying on in sequence. What this means is if I need to make changes to a bouquet I have to re do everything from scratch ( run autobouquets to get the no name data channels back and then re order everything). Naturally this is a pain in the hole so I put named data channels in places 1-100 instead. This means they don't disappear when I save my file in dreambox edit or when I pull the channels back from the box.

The problem is these data channels show up in the on screen epg whereas the no name ones didn't. This is why I wanted the epg to start from the entertainment bouquet rather than the all channels bouquet as I don't have the data channels in the individual bouquets, only in the main "all channels" bouquet.

It's only a minor complaint but it's a complaint nonetheless

Slevster

superg wrote: »

This might be long winded so bear with me!

I like to have my "all channels " bouquet starting with channel 101 for the first one, 251 for the next one, 301 , 351 etc. In order to do this I need something in numbers 1-100 and numbers 280-300 and so on. Autobouquets puts data channels with no name in these positions. So I arrange everything the way I want them and upload to the box which is all fine. However if I pull the channels back from the box all the data channels disappear and I'm left with just the TV channels starting from number 1 and carrying on in sequence. What this means is if I need to make changes to a bouquet I have to re do everything from scratch ( run autobouquets to get the no name data channels back and then re order everything). Naturally this is a pain in the hole so I put named data channels in places 1-100 instead. This means they don't disappear when I save my file in dreambox edit or when I pull the channels back from the box.

The problem is these data channels show up in the on screen epg whereas the no name ones didn't. This is why I wanted the epg to start from the entertainment bouquet rather than the all channels bouquet as I don't have the data channels in the individual bouquets, only in the main "all channels" bouquet.

It's only a minor complaint but it's a complaint nonetheless

When you say "all channels " are you taking about the list of all available channels ? ( available by pressing the red button once you are in a channel list eg when you press the OK button)
Have you set up your "favourites" bouquet, which if I remember correctly does not get altered by an autobouquet update. So you can arrange any amount of channels in whatever order you like without them been moved.Also isnt there a custom feature in the autobouquet plugin? Others would know better about this.
And with regard the EPG. It will start with whatever bouquet you are viewing. Do if you are viewing rte 1 , selected from your favourites bouquet, for example, then the EPG will show channels in the favourite bouquet.
But there will be a repository of channels which will live in the all channels. From this list , you create your various bouquets. That is what bouquets are for ( so that you don't have to wade through all the channels available on 28.2e , and can group certain channels together for convienience)
Any scan or update of channel list (eg update of satellite. xml ) will re populate this "all channel" list with everything available from that 28.2e .

.G.

Autobouquets makes one big main bouquet "28.2e channels" and then all the smaller ones grouped under it. Thats what I mean by all channels. So for example RTE one is in the main bouquet as channel 101 but its also in the Entertainment bouquet with another number. RTE 1, channel 101 is my startup service so I suppose if I chose the other RTE 1, the epg would open on the entertainment bouquet. Its the all channels bouquet that uses the channels numbers I'm familiar with. The smaller ones uses channel numbers over and above 800. I use the keypad to change channels more than the epg.

I selected custom in autobouquets but it doesn't seem to do anything.

I don't have a favourites bouquet, just the standard ones and I have them ordered the way I want with BBC's together and ITV's together etc. The main issue for me is keeping the sky numbering system cos I use the keypad a lot for channel changing so the system I have now allows that but with the undesirable effect of loads of blank channels appearing in the bouquets where I used data channels as fillers in numbers I don't want.

I can delete the all channels bouquet and just have the individual smaller ones but they still start from channel number 1 and I want to start from 101, 251,301 etc. Only way to do that it seems is to filled the undesired numbers with a service of some sort.

Is there a way to hide bouquets in the epg if i set some up with just data channels in them to use up numbers 1-100 for example.

Its such a small issue but I'm anal about it

Slevster

I see what you mean.
Its sorting the small issues that makes these boxes better! And its the small things that annoy me as well.
I think (again others more familiar with the workings of AB may correct) if you set up a bouquet called favourites using dreamboxedit and place the channels as you are suggesting 101 rte 1 etc in it, then AB won't reorder that particular bouquet

Look into the alternative channel numbering option as well

On re reading your post, I see what you are after. Hmmm ....

.G.

Just run auto bouquets on my new OS3+ box and it seems to be doing it differently than on the Alien so I might have something to work with here to get what I want.

jayo26

superg wrote: »

Just run auto bouquets on my new OS3+ box and it seems to be doing it differently than on the Alien so I might have something to work with here to get what I want.

Ahh you got the optimus after how are you finding it? Is it same setting it up as the amiko?

.G.

jayo26 wrote: »

Ahh you got the optimus after how are you finding it? Is it same setting it up as the amiko?

Yeah its a good piece of kit. Amiko is in the bedroom now. Being able to put the harddrive inside is great and its alot faster for things like the epg opening which was a big bugbear of mine with the Amiko.

As for setting up, just plug it in . I had to do a lot less arsing around with this then I did the Alien but maybe thats because I know where most things are now having learned enigma 2's intricacies with the Alien. The image is very stable, only one plugin causing me issues but its not one I use so no biggy.

jayo26

superg wrote: »

Yeah its a good piece of kit. Amiko is in the bedroom now. Being able to put the harddrive inside is great and its alot faster for things like the epg opening which was a big bugbear of mine with the Amiko.

As for setting up, just plug it in . I had to do a lot less arsing around with this then I did the Alien but maybe thats because I know where most things are now having learned enigma 2's intricacies with the Alien. The image is very stable, only one plugin causing me issues but its not one I use so no biggy.

Nice one. Does the Ts media player work any better on it? Yhh it gets easier first time I flashed an image on amiko it took me a day haha.

.G.

jayo26 wrote: »

Nice one. Does the Ts media player work any better on it? Yhh it gets easier first time I flashed an image on amiko it took me a day haha.

Ts media wasn't on the image built in. I installed it but haven't used it yet. The openatv image pre installed was pretty much good to go, just a small few tweaks I had to make to get it how I wanted it, skin mainly.

jayo26

superg wrote: »

Ts media wasn't on the image built in. I installed it but haven't used it yet. The openatv image pre installed was pretty much good to go, just a small few tweaks I had to make to get it how I wanted it, skin mainly.

Ah yh I get you. Cool best of luck with I mate.

WexfordWarrior

hiya folks,

I have just bought an Amiko Alien 2+ and having a nightmare getting it to function how I want (complete newbie).

I bought it for the 7day epg and the cool guide which I have installed and is working to a certain level on enigma2.

My problem is that the Picons are not showing on the epg and also I want to get the channel preview box where it shows the thumbnail video screen in the top left hand corner on the epg when viewing it. I think this might be a HDMU skin or something like that?

I also really want to keeps things as simple as possible on the box and have the irish channels listed first on the epg and then all other uk channels thereafter.

Still haven't been able to set up favourites but i found some info on needing to download dreambox edit to my pc to do this?

Also, how do i set up my wireless adapter to connect to my home router from within the enigma2 setup?

Anybody got any advice for a novice?

Thanks in advance!

amd64

superg wrote: »

This might be long winded so bear with me!

I like to have my "all channels " bouquet starting with channel 101 for the first one, 251 for the next one, 301 , 351 etc. In order to do this I need something in numbers 1-100 and numbers 280-300 and so on. Autobouquets puts data channels with no name in these positions. So I arrange everything the way I want them and upload to the box which is all fine. However if I pull the channels back from the box all the data channels disappear and I'm left with just the TV channels starting from number 1 and carrying on in sequence. What this means is if I need to make changes to a bouquet I have to re do everything from scratch ( run autobouquets to get the no name data channels back and then re order everything). Naturally this is a pain in the hole so I put named data channels in places 1-100 instead. This means they don't disappear when I save my file in dreambox edit or when I pull the channels back from the box.

The problem is these data channels show up in the on screen epg whereas the no name ones didn't. This is why I wanted the epg to start from the entertainment bouquet rather than the all channels bouquet as I don't have the data channels in the individual bouquets, only in the main "all channels" bouquet.

It's only a minor complaint but it's a complaint nonetheless

Always happens to to me when I send back bouquets back to box from dreambox edit(data channels show on screen as N/A).
Might be easier way to fix this but what I do is go ftp to my bouquets (etc/enigma2),
find the bouquets that end with ukcvs00.tv and edit,then highlight one of the data channels and then edit,replace,enter the data channel in the find box and replace with this
#SERVICE 1:832:d:0:0:0:0:0:0:0: then just hit replace all.

Griffinx

WexfordWarrior wrote: »

hiya folks,

I have just bought an Amiko Alien 2+ and having a nightmare getting it to function how I want (complete newbie).

I bought it for the 7day epg and the cool guide which I have installed and is working to a certain level on enigma2.

My problem is that the Picons are not showing on the epg and also I want to get the channel preview box where it shows the thumbnail video screen in the top left hand corner on the epg when viewing it. I think this might be a HDMU skin or something like that?

I also really want to keeps things as simple as possible on the box and have the irish channels listed first on the epg and then all other uk channels thereafter.

Still haven't been able to set up favourites but i found some info on needing to download dreambox edit to my pc to do this?

Also, how do i set up my wireless adapter to connect to my home router from within the enigma2 setup?

Anybody got any advice for a novice?

Thanks in advance!

I had trouble with the picons too and decided they were more trouble than they were worth.

Download Dreambox edit from dreamboxedit.com and youll be able to set your epg and favourites the way your want.

I have my box on Ethernet...theres no wifi receiver in the Alien...have a look back in this thread, there was some talk of using it with wifi using a wifi receiver

.G.

WexfordWarrior wrote: »

hiya folks,

I have just bought an Amiko Alien 2+ and having a nightmare getting it to function how I want (complete newbie).

I bought it for the 7day epg and the cool guide which I have installed and is working to a certain level on enigma2.

My problem is that the Picons are not showing on the epg and also I want to get the channel preview box where it shows the thumbnail video screen in the top left hand corner on the epg when viewing it. I think this might be a HDMU skin or something like that?

I also really want to keeps things as simple as possible on the box and have the irish channels listed first on the epg and then all other uk channels thereafter.

Still haven't been able to set up favourites but i found some info on needing to download dreambox edit to my pc to do this?

Also, how do i set up my wireless adapter to connect to my home router from within the enigma2 setup?

Anybody got any advice for a novice?

Thanks in advance!

What image and skin are you using? I use a sky skin, SKyHDBlue its called on my image (freshpots image found in the firmware thread) and the preview shows up in the epg as well as the picons. I have my picons folder stored on the root of harddrive and the epg picks them up from there.

As for the bouquets, as mentioned above, use dreamboxedit to sort them the way you want and send them to the box.

Imstuck

@Wexfordwarrior

I have a wireless adapter in mine, (plugged into amiko with Ethernet from adapter)
The easiest way to connect adapter to router is using your phone's wifi. Select the adapter and follow your nose to input router password etc. should take less than a minute.

Capt'n Midnight

Stupid question time 'cos I know it depends on the software used

from what I've read the next step up is the Edison at twice the price so the Amiko treble tuner is the cheap and chearful box to beat for now ?
Are the other similar priced receivers any faster / offer better features

is it really slow / unresponsive - coming from an old SKY box, not sky+

can it be controlled from an android / pc app ? instead of a remote control

how many channels can it record at a time HD/SD ?
can it stream one tuner while watching another ?
can it stream a recording while watching another / tuner ?

won't need wireless as will be wired into a network switch
would be recording to a USB hard drive , or is there any point in considering a NAS ?

The must have feature is EPG / series link or at least 3 day EPG reliable + recording of the program from EPG at same time every week

Zardoz

Stupid question time 'cos I know it depends on the software used

from what I've read the next step up is the Edison at twice the price so the Amiko treble tuner is the cheap and chearful box to beat for now ?
Are the other similar priced receivers any faster / offer better features
Yes there are quite alot of receivers on the market now ,its opened up a good bit in the last year ,see my post here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showp...2&postcount=12
There are quite a few well priced twin tuners around,some (zgemma star and Xpeed lx2) will work with a usb saorview tuner so you can have three tuners. but the Alien 2 is the cheapest dedicated triple tuner by some way
is it really slow / unresponsive - coming from an old SKY box, not sky+
It blows an old Sky box away ,its much faster than a Sky HD box too
For general tv viewing ,zapping,epg browsing,its very slick
I could never go back to a Sky box
can it be controlled from an android / pc app ? instead of a remote control
Yes
how many channels can it record at a time HD/SD ?
The most I have recorded is 3 recordings simultaneously but its pushing the receiver and hard drive to the limit to be honest.
2 simultaneous HD recordings is fine as recording is memory intensive and the achilles heal of the receiver.
can it stream one tuner while watching another ?
Yes
can it stream a recording while watching another / tuner ?
Yes
won't need wireless as will be wired into a network switch
would be recording to a USB hard drive , or is there any point in considering a NAS ?
USB hard drive is far better than nas in my opinion ,far more reliable.
The must have feature is EPG / series link or at least 3 day EPG reliable + recording of the program from EPG at same time every week
It has a 7 day epg on all satellite and saorview channels and it can search the epg for a specific programme to record automatically or record at a set time each week.

Most Enigma 2 receivers have the same functionality ,but the more expensive ones have faster processors and more Ram so they can handle the more demanding tasks better like multi tasking better or big plugins that are memory intensive.

mass_debater

The box is plenty fast but the first thing to do is get rid of the laggy sky skin that seems to be used in most images from here

lucast2007us

mass_debater wrote: »

The box is plenty fast but the first thing to do is get rid of the laggy sky skin that seems to be used in most images from here

What skin would you recommend??

lucast2007us

mass_debater wrote: »

The box is plenty fast but the first thing to do is get rid of the laggy sky skin that seems to be used in most images from here

What image would you recommend??

mass_debater

lucast2007us wrote: »

What skin would you recommend??

Kerni is definitely the lightest and therefore the fastest, but I myself prefer and use pli-hd which is a little slower because if the transparencies. Can't understand people who like the sky skin, it's rotten IMO.

jayo26

mass_debater wrote: »

Kerni is definitely the lightest and therefore the fastest, but I myself prefer and use pli-hd which is a little slower because if the transparencies. Can't understand people who like the sky skin, it's rotten IMO.

I'm using sky skin on hyp 4.5 for last 3 months and have no problems with lagging or slow or anything for that matter, the only problems I had with the box was when I was using it on open ATV I found it so slow and buggy but never had a problem on hyp 4.5 as for liking it I like it because its what my family are used to it appeased the misses at the start because it had sky wrote all over it so she didn't kick up a fuss haha.

.G.

Switched to Pli-HD last night myself and its very good alright.

cyndale

superg wrote: »

Switched to Pli-HD last night myself and its very good alright.

I like that it shows HD 1080/576 Standard/Dolby Digital.

Zardoz

Ok guys here is a copy of a Hyperion 4.5 backup I made for the Alien 2 aka Golden Media Triplex aka Sab Triple

Its quite similar to my Hyperion 4 backup but has a few slight changes but its mostly the same .

I've included a few mods and tweaks in this image to improve performance over the basic Hyperion 4.5 build.

Firstly it has the amixer audio boost script running so the audio levels are 60% louder than the stock Hyperion image and more like Spark and other receiver levels.
Also included is the alternative audio.elf file by Muitler to improve sound playback via an amp .
This doesnt provide dts audio playback so I am enclosing the original audio.elf file too (it goes in /boot)

Improved tuxtext.ttf file for a better teletext font.

History Zap Selector v1.8 is included ,handy for channel browsing .(Prev/Next Button or Recall)
Use 0 to switch between 2 channels.

Record Infobar is also included

I have also tweaked a few of the button mapping configurations and settings .

It is configured for 28 East Satellite and Saorview ,all picons are installed (usr/local/share/enigma2 )as is an up to date channel list inc some Iptv links.
An upto date satellites.xml file covering 30w to 45e is also installed.

Autobouquets (Sept 29 2014 build) is installed if you'd prefer to use this to generate channel lists,its configured for the Republic of Ireland but its easy to change..

Installed Plugins
AutoTimer
Autobouquets
Automatic Volume Adjustment
CacheFlush
CrossEPG 0.8.1 ( configured to update when the box is in standby )
CoolTVGuide v7.3 (opens on EPG,Green button also opens Single EPG)
RTE Player
1channel (latest version;wont work in certain countries due to isp blocking)
IPTV List Updater v1.63
Enhanced Movie Centre
Media Portal v6.76
Media Player
History Zap Browser
Open Web Interface

Softcam
Oscam v10000 is installed and running,you just need to edit the oscam.server file with your details
Oscam port: 8888 user: root, pass: oscam

FTP: user:root ,pass:pkteam

I've set the default skin as PLi-HD but there are a few other skins to try inc Sky Blue HD ,if you'd prefer.
Plenty of free flash space to install other plugins .
I tried to keep an average free memory of ~15Mb in normal usage so didnt install too many superfluous plugins

The image is setup to use DHCP automatically and is also set for HDMI at 720p.

This is an extremely solid image and very quick ,I have been running it for the last 2 months .
Many thanks to the PKT team,data devil, and other plugin developers who have put in sterling work with the different code involved in this backup.
Enjoy

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ajkyf04regcsaut/AAD_I351j_yPbIlSkcvtQICQa?dl=0

Some sample screenshots

mass_debater

Zardoz, the 8900 is the Alien 1 not the Alien 2

championc

If it's of any help, my image has picons for all channels. I had to go and create / save a fair few that were missing. I'm also deligted to report that the nice guys over in OpenATV have fixed the running of backround jobs (CrossEPG and AutoTimer). I use both and neither were working but both appear to be OK after the latest online updates.

So if you use my image, go into Menu > Setup > Software Management and update it. There may well be up to 150 files to be updated, but it will be worth it



** The Ideal beginners image - everything you could possibly need all setup and working **
** See Post #2 of this thread or the Readme file in the download directory **

_______________________________________________
Champions OpenATV AA2/7162 Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/j8y5fW

Champions OpenAR-P AA2/7162 Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/2DuVm0
Champions OpenAR-P SAB Solo/8900 Image Download Link - http://goo.gl/up5tIu

Zardoz

mass_debater wrote: »

Zardoz, the 8900 is the Alien 1 not the Alien 2

Sorry m8 ,that was a typo,now corrected.
My Alien 1 Hyperion 4.5 backup is here for anyone interested.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jrebpmrcfotpkjs/AABdlKi29vezpPQ58fkCqCiea?dl=0