Tiviar Alpha Plus Combo STB

john_doe.

greasepalm wrote: »

Yes i had a few misses as epg was wrong or program was on at a different time and 00.00 in recording.Sometimes program list changes as to what is on epg.

Okay thanks . It's very annoying, is there anyway to correct for it - I guess not

FastFullBack

john_doe. wrote: »

Okay thanks . It's very annoying, is there anyway to correct for it - I guess not

Probably broaden the criteria? Maybe just record all instances of the show on the channel it's on. You might record some repeats but you shouldn't miss anything

greasepalm

A number of times i had to delete my epg on my usb and downloaded a fresh copy,program change on a channel say like extra time on a footy match they might put something else on in place of it.
Some people have said record all instances of it say eastenders how many variations of bbc1 are there and multiple recordings may happen? Curious how you setup a timer on your image as there are many ways.

Ph3arTh35k1llz

Ho Folks,
Where's the best place to buy one of these STB's?

Is there much of a difference between the Tiviar Alpha and the SAB Alpha STB?

sligojoek

I got mine from World of Satellite. e127 delivered. I think there's aink on the first few pages here. Using phone now and can't copy link.

Ph3arTh35k1llz

Thanks for the reply was looking at the SAB Alpha but this box looks to do the same job for ~€90 cheaper. just to confirm I can plug in 2x Sat feeds and 1x Saorview feeds?

greasepalm

I have an older sab great picture,no bouquets and now and next epg sucks,best to check what the specs are as e2 boxes can do more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyf5JaQ6-is

Mars A7X

Is this better than a saorview box?

greasepalm

Yes as Saorview is only irish tv via aerial.
If you have a sky dish [ not sky q ] then you have freesat like itv and bbc programmes.
Combo boxes can have sat and irish Saorview.

I still have my saorview boxes and other e2 receivers for extras.

Johnboy1951

Mars A7X wrote: »

Is this better than a saorview box?

There is a 'Saorview Connect' box, which IF they roll out the promised upgrades, AND implement them to suit the users, could well be a contender.

At present the Connect box is lacking functions.

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

There is a 'Saorview Connect' box, which IF they roll out the promised upgrades, AND implement them to suit the users, could well be a contender.

At present the Connect box is lacking functions.

Only if they add 7 day EPG on satellite, which is very doubtful

Mars A7X

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

There is a 'Saorview Connect' box, which IF they roll out the promised upgrades, AND implement them to suit the users, could well be a contender.

At present the Connect box is lacking functions.

So at the moment this box is the best?

The high horse brigade

Mars A7X wrote: »

So at the moment this box is the best?

Definitely, if you put the time into getting it setup right, it's not plug and play

greasepalm

But there are better models and higher priced ones but down to what you want.
Boxes of years ago were slow and maybe had an internal hdd if box was big,small boxes had to use usb port and maybe only 1 fitted?
Today boxes have more grunt and quicker to use and may come with more usb ports.

FastFullBack

Is it possible to make the recordings on the HDD available on internal network another devices can play them?

Gerry Wicklow

FastFullBack wrote: »

Is it possible to make the recordings on the HDD available on internal network another devices can play them?

Yes. The easiest way is to use any web browser and open the boxes network address 192.168.xxx.xxx. You will open a page called Webif which allows you to control and stream the box live or recordings.
Most PCs will also show the box in the file explorer if you wanted to copy/backup/share a recording.
Click the small screen icon beside a channel name to stream that channel. The other icon is that channels EPG. Clicking the channel name itself will zap the box to that channel.
In the top left is the movie section which works in a similar way.
You can also edit bouquets, set timers/autotimers and much more from Webif.

FastFullBack

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Yes. The easiest way is to use any web browser and open the boxes network address 192.168.xxx.xxx. You will open a page called Webif which allows you to control and stream the box live or recordings.
Most PCs will also show the box in the file explorer if you wanted to copy/backup/share a recording.
Click the small screen icon beside a channel name to stream that channel. The other icon is that channels EPG. Clicking the channel name itself will zap the box to that channel.
In the top left is the movie section which works in a similar way.
You can also edit bouquets, set timers/autotimers and much more from Webif.

Thanks I’ve been using webif and it’s great. What I’m hoping to do is to male my HDD available as a NAS so that my other smart tv can play the content. Is that possible?

greasepalm

you can have a dedicated nas connected to router and all internal or external hdd from boxes network mounted via samba.

FastFullBack

greasepalm wrote: »

you can have a dedicated nas connected to router and all internal or external hdd from boxes network mounted via samba.

Ok but you need a dedicated nas for this? No way to do it just using internal drive on tiviar?

The high horse brigade

To share the drive to another Enigma 2 satellite box is pretty easy, NFS the Linux network file system is built in. All you need to do is mount the path on the other box, it will be the IP of the box with the path like the following nfs://192.168.0.xx/media/hdd/movie. Use this if you're devices support NFS. I'm using this on my own network and have my recordings showing up on another Edison combo box in the kitchen that I don't record on.

To share using CIFS which is common shares on all Windows OSes you'll need to install and configure the Samba plugin. This will mean editing the file /etc/samba/smb.conf with your own network info and restarting the plugin. Windows devices will then see your Tiviar under network or can browse to it in file explorer using \\192.168.0.xx\.

Gerry Wicklow

Quite often Samba is already installed by default but may need to be started.
BLUE>NETWORK>NETWORK SERVICES>SAMBA
Once running it is possible to mount the HDD on a PC as a network drive like THHB says.

Another option for a Smart TV is to install the DLNA plugin on the box. Any DLNA compatible device should then be able to see the movies folder. In practice I've had mixed results with a Sony Tv not recognising/handling all recording formats.

FastFullBack

Thanks guys . I'll give those ideas a go. The DNLA one sounds exactly what I need

FastFullBack

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Another option for a Smart TV is to install the DLNA plugin on the box. Any DLNA compatible device should then be able to see the movies folder.

Sweet this worked perfectly

Mars A7X

Is this easy enough to set up? And if not, is there a setup guide?

Gerry Wicklow

Mars A7X wrote: »

Is this easy enough to set up? And if not, is there a setup guide?

There is a fair learning curve if you are not computer literate. Like many things a lot of it is simply getting used to the jargon. If the supplier hasn't done a basic setup beforehand, the box will "talk you through" the initial setup. You WILL need to scan the terrestrial channels for your local Saorview region and probably update the satellite scan. You will also need to set up your home network, preferably wired, to get the best from the box although it is not essential.
If you've ever setup a PC or laptop, you'll cope with this.
In terms of an online manual, this forum is one of the best

Tigerandahalf

Can I ask how are ye casting this to tvs in spare rooms?

NickNickleby

Hello All,

Some time ago I bought a AA2+ and with great guidance here, I configured it. However, I've never really been delighted with it. Timeshift and recording are problematic. If I have a program recording, then change to another channel, no problem. But do something else like open the EPG and (not always) BOOM! the little spinning icon appears, gradually the picture-in-picture starts to stutter, then the sound, then a flickering message about a crash. MrsNN goes nuts, especially as the message says the box will reboot in 10 seconds - but doesn't. Presumably that's because time has slowed down for the box due to CPU being hammered. After about 5 minutes, it will reboot - if I'm allowed wait that long

(as an aside, everything is writing to disk, so that's not the problem and I'm using the latest VIX).

So, I'm thinking of an upgrade. Might go for this one. See there are options for OpenATV or VIX. Does anyone here have experience of both ON THIS BOX, and would you have an opinion as to which is better. I'm thinking of performance rather than looking good. Also ease of recording and playback is a must-have for SWMBO. I see the basic box is now on offer at £99, so this might be a good time to jump.

Thanks in advance everyone!
Nick

Gerry Wicklow

NickNickleby wrote: »

Hello All,

Some time ago I bought a AA2+ and with great guidance here, I configured it. However, I've never really been delighted with it. Timeshift and recording are problematic. If I have a program recording, then change to another channel, no problem. But do something else like open the EPG and (not always) BOOM! the little spinning icon appears, gradually the picture-in-picture starts to stutter, then the sound, then a flickering message about a crash. MrsNN goes nuts, especially as the message says the box will reboot in 10 seconds - but doesn't. Presumably that's because time has slowed down for the box due to CPU being hammered. After about 5 minutes, it will reboot - if I'm allowed wait that long

(as an aside, everything is writing to disk, so that's not the problem and I'm using the latest VIX).

So, I'm thinking of an upgrade. Might go for this one. See there are options for OpenATV or VIX. Does anyone here have experience of both ON THIS BOX, and would you have an opinion as to which is better. I'm thinking of performance rather than looking good. Also ease of recording and playback is a must-have for SWMBO. I see the basic box is now on offer at £99, so this might be a good time to jump.

Thanks in advance everyone!
Nick

Personally I prefer openATV as I find it more versatile with more options and plugins. However AFAIK both atv and vix have the same core components so performance etc should be similar.
As for your AA2 crashing, I wonder if you are saving your EPG data on the internal memory rather than HDD. It could also just be the HDD isn't fast enough to cope with a recording and other demands at the same time. Is it an actual HDD or just a USB key? Many USB keys are too slow for this use.

NickNickleby

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for taking the trouble....

I've triple checked that everything is writing to the HDD, including the EPG.

The HDD is a USB connected device, without separate power. (the hardware config was recommended by the shop I bought it from in Dublin). I suppose I could try getting a second HDD or even USB stick and pointing the EPG at that, as the scenario I described might be as you say, down to conflicts when too many processes are trying to use the HDD. But...... if throwing money at it solves the problem, well 100+ euro would be cheap enough if it works AND makes my boss happy!

If I solve the problem using second storage device for EPG, I'll post about my experience in the AA2+ forum.

If I buy the Tiviar and set it up to 'our' satisfaction, then I'll post here.

Thanks again.

The high horse brigade

The AA2 was slow and had lots of issues. It needed a regular image reflash to keep it running well as the longer it was installed the slower it got. The Tiviar is miles ahead of it on both speed and stability.