Tiviar Alpha Plus Combo STB

sligojoek

Ya. I tried that. Works no bother with a normal TV recording but not on radio.

The high horse brigade

sligojoek wrote: »

Also , is there a way of recording as an mp3 format instead of .ts?.

No. Mp3 is a compressed audio format. The box saves raw data recordings without any compression in .ts format

TS is a video stream file format that is used for storing video on DVDs. TS stands for Transport Stream. TS files can also store audio and data information. TS files are specified for MPEG-2 part 1 systems, which compresses the video data. TS files hold multiple pieces of data in a container-format.

sligojoek

The high horse brigade wrote: »

No. Mp3 is a compressed audio format. The box saves raw data recordings without any compression in .ts format

Thanks. It's not a big issue. I can listen on laptop or phone anyway. Just would be handy to be able to skip FWD on the box.

corsav6

Just looking for a little advice please. Currently have an Amiko Alien 2 with HDMU and sky theme. It's painfully slow sometimes so need an upgrade. Satworld.ie have this with enigma2 for €146, is it worth buying? And is the vendor any good?
Appreciate any advice.

greasepalm

Yes bought plenty from Satworld and the Tiviar will be better.

Sconsey

corsav6 wrote: »

Just looking for a little advice please. Currently have an Amiko Alien 2 with HDMU and sky theme. It's painfully slow sometimes so need an upgrade. Satworld.ie have this with enigma2 for €146, is it worth buying? And is the vendor any good?
Appreciate any advice.

I had the same setup as you (Alien 2 with HDMU), replaced with Tiviar about six months ago. I think it is worth the change, the Alien box was constantly giving trouble, need to re-flash, and slow. Tiviar is fast and has not given any hassle since the day I set it up (I just took the image from this thread, never did any of my own modifications).

whoami1

It seems that every week or so, I have to re-tune my Saorview connection to get RTE1 working again as the signal has degraded to the point of being unusable. The OSD indicates a SNR of c. 45%.

I have an internal antenna, so it's not being affected by wind or rain. Also, whatever is happening doesn't affect RTE2, so I'm guessing it's something to do with the Mux it uses. I know that a couple of the other Saorview channels also go dodgy, but can't remember which ones as I seldom watch them.

Is anyone else seeing this, or is there a way I can automate this to happen overnight?

sligojoek

There's been a change of frequencies from Saorview transmitters . You might need a different aerial. Although being indoors you'd need a good signal in the first place.

vimes

whoami1 wrote: »

It seems that every week or so, I have to re-tune my Saorview connection to get RTE1 working again as the signal has degraded to the point of being unusable. The OSD indicates a SNR of c. 45%.

This is precisely the problem I mentioned earlier in the thread.

whoami1 wrote: »

I have an internal antenna, so it's not being affected by wind or rain. Also, whatever is happening doesn't affect RTE2, so I'm guessing it's something to do with the Mux it uses. I know that a couple of the other Saorview channels also go dodgy, but can't remember which ones as I seldom watch them.

RTE1, RTE1+1, RTE2+1, one of the Virgins, and the alternates.

whoami1 wrote: »

Is anyone else seeing this, or is there a way I can automate this to happen overnight?

I'd be hugely interested in

• How you retune the channel at all
• How to automate it

dulpit

Would autobouquetsmaker not work? Can be scheduled to run nightly if you want...

WeleaseWoderick

Thinking of making the jump from Sky Q after the latest price increases. The multi-room aspect is used quite a bit in our house so just wondering is there any similar solution i.e. linked boxes with only one wired to the satellite or would I need two independently wired boxes?

The high horse brigade

WeleaseWoderick wrote: »

Thinking of making the jump from Sky Q after the latest price increases. The multi-room aspect is used quite a bit in our house so just wondering is there any similar solution i.e. linked boxes with only one wired to the satellite or would I need two independently wired boxes?

That depends on whether you want to watch the same channels. The box has 3x tuners, 2x satellite, 1x terrestrial (Saorview) so that dictates what you can watch, record or stream at the same time. Note that Saorview is now 2 Muxes, this means you cannot watch/stream/record both Rte1 and Rte2 at the same time from the same box

Johnboy1951

WeleaseWoderick wrote: »

Thinking of making the jump from Sky Q after the latest price increases. The multi-room aspect is used quite a bit in our house so just wondering is there any similar solution i.e. linked boxes with only one wired to the satellite or would I need two independently wired boxes?

The 'parts' are easily available if you want to join them up yourself.
The media can be distributed on the LAN if you have the facility.

Wifi can be used but it is not ideal for such use, yet in most situations it does work.
Wired LAN is preferred.
Home plugs, if they work in your dwelling would be the next option.
Wifi if the above not available.

It is great to be able to be in any part of the house, or immediate environs, and watch live TV, stream, or play media from a storage drive, on any laptop, tablet, PC, or even phone.
Heck you can even log in while on holidays if you have internet there, and watch live tv or any of your stored media.

Only negative is you need to be able to maintain the system yourself.
The plus side is that you are in total control.

Obviously it is not for everyone

jspuds

Hi, I'm in the same boat and want to cancel my Sky Q multiroom.

Ideally would like to keep the same functionality of Irish and UK TV stations, recording centrally and ability to distribute both live and recorded TV around the house. All the TV locations are serviced by network cables so a LAN solution would be ideal.

Any suggestions on best set-up as started to look into this but not sure where to start?
I already have a NAS that I can use for recording plus a Nvidia Shield TV.

Thanks
J

Johnboy1951

jspuds wrote: »

Hi, I'm in the same boat and want to cancel my Sky Q multiroom.

Ideally would like to keep the same functionality of Irish and UK TV stations, recording centrally and ability to distribute both live and recorded TV around the house. All the TV locations are serviced by network cables so a LAN solution would be ideal.

Any suggestions on best set-up as started to look into this but not sure where to start?
I already have a NAS that I can use for recording plus a Nvidia Shield TV.

Thanks
J

There are threads on the subject here

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=643

Ben Done

I have a spare one of these to sell, complete with 500gb hard drive - I know they're getting harder to find, so thought I'd mention it on this thread, before I throw it up on Adverts - pm if interested.

What does the factory image mean when you are buying the box..Does it mean it doesnt work until you flash it?

The high horse brigade

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What does the factory image mean when you are buying the box..Does it mean it doesnt work until you flash it?

This is the stock image they ship the box with that nobody here uses. All chat and links in this thread are about the enigma 2 software that can be flashed on the box

swoofer

what you need to do is update the bootloader and then it is flashable. look here on how to convert to enigma2

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=108782393

you may have to scroll down.

taytobreath

Is this the best all round box on the market at the moment?

Johnboy1951

taytobreath wrote: »

Is this the best all round box on the market at the moment?

No, but certainly is near the top at the price point.

There are other boxes, costing more, which are likely better, but I guess it all depends on your use and the value you put on different functions.

kindalen

Keep getting a little blue circle turning, in top left of screen. It appears and goes in a few seconds. Any ideas what this means? Thanks.

greasepalm

Box is under stress,where do you have your epg saved too.

The high horse brigade

greasepalm wrote: »

Box is under stress,where do you have your epg saved too.

Also is the drive filled up with timeshift recordings?

kindalen

Say it is the timeshift alright, thanks.

greasepalm

In my 15 years with boxes never needed timeshift.

The high horse brigade

greasepalm wrote: »

In my 15 years with boxes never needed timeshift.

I don't use it much but it is handy to be able to pause and run to the toilet and then catch up to real time on the next ad break

kindalen

How do I fix the timeshift? can I delete them?

The high horse brigade

kindalen wrote: »

How do I fix the timeshift? can I delete them?

If they're not gone after a reboot just delete them. You need to check the settings. There's timeshift (pausing) and auto timeshift (continual timeshift allows you rewind at any time). I don't bother with auto timeshift myself it just trashes the drive

kindalen

Thanks, am using your build. Thanks for all your work. Have it over a year now, been delighted with it.

Will check settings when I get home

Gerry Wicklow

greasepalm wrote: »

In my 15 years with boxes never needed timeshift.

I use it when watching Formula 1 on German Tv and commentary of BBC5 radio. Timeshift allows you to sync the few seconds difference.

Zardoz

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

I use it when watching Formula 1 on German Tv and commentary of BBC5 radio. Timeshift allows you to sync the few seconds difference.

What do you listen to the radio on ?

NewClareman

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

I use it when watching Formula 1 on German Tv and commentary of BBC5 radio. Timeshift allows you to sync the few seconds difference.

First good reason I’ve got to consider multi-satellite. What satellite do you use?

NewClareman

kindalen wrote: »

Keep getting a little blue circle turning, in top left of screen. It appears and goes in a few seconds. Any ideas what this means? Thanks.

It means that the box is carrying out an activity that is taking some time. I’ve never given it with timeshift, which I use continuously. It’s no big deal, and can be turned off, if it is annoying you.

kindalen

Cool, how do you turn it off? It is annoying me. Thanks

Gerry Wicklow

Zardoz wrote: »

What do you listen to the radio on ?

I have 2 sat boxes. I have a basic Bluetooth PC speaker system. Depending on circumstances I can either
1. use an audio cable direct from the rear of the sat box
2. use a laptop and webif to stream audio

NewClareman

kindalen wrote: »

Cool, how do you turn it off? It is annoying me. Thanks

Set the setting “ Show animation while busy”, to off. It can be found under OSD settings on the Web Interface.

kindalen

Thanks Newclareman.

I have my EPG location in Internal Flash, should I move to the hdd?

sligojoek

On this image it's :

Menu > Setup > Recordings & Timeshift > Timeshift Settings.

The high horse brigade

kindalen wrote: »

Thanks Newclareman.

I have my EPG location in Internal Flash, should I move to the hdd?

Yes, that's definitely what's causing the spinner. The epg is a huge file and you're loading it from internal flash every channel press

sligojoek

sligojoek wrote: »

On this image it's :

Menu > Setup > Recordings & Timeshift > Timeshift Settings.

Apologies. I thought you were looking for Timeshift settings.

kindalen

Thanks guys, really appreciate all the help. Problem completely solved now.

greasepalm

You may have to reflash box if you notice it is getting slower,epg to internal flash does that.

whoami1

vimes wrote: »

This is precisely the problem I mentioned earlier in the thread.


RTE1, RTE1+1, RTE2+1, one of the Virgins, and the alternates.

I'd be hugely interested in

• How you retune the channel at all
• How to automate it

I don't know about automation. As far as I can see, the AutoBouquetMaker won't do a retune for Saorview frequencies.

As for a Saorview retune, this is how I do it:

• Press the 'Menu' button on the remote
• Select 'Setup' and click OK
• Select 'Reception' and click OK
• Select 'Automatic scan' and click OK
• Set the first 4 options to 'No' by pressing the left or right arrow button and press down to go to the next menu entry
• With the last option (Scan Tuner C) set to Yes, press the green button on the remote.
• Wait for the retune to finish and click OK or close to get out of the menu. (I'm writing this step blind as my system is working fine at the moment).

The scan should only take a moment or two and when it completes, your reception should be improved.

This works for me anyway.

NewClareman

whoami1 wrote: »

It seems that every week or so, I have to re-tune my Saorview connection to get RTE1 working again as the signal has degraded to the point of being unusable. The OSD indicates a SNR of c. 45%.

I have an internal antenna, so it's not being affected by wind or rain. Also, whatever is happening doesn't affect RTE2, so I'm guessing it's something to do with the Mux it uses. I know that a couple of the other Saorview channels also go dodgy, but can't remember which ones as I seldom watch them.

Is anyone else seeing this, or is there a way I can automate this to happen overnight?

An SNR of c 45% is low, and indicates a marginal signal. You are most likely correct that all Channels on one frequency/mux, are impacted as a group. The standard answer in this case is to use a higher gain aerial, maybe even moving it outside.

I can only speculate as to why a retune helps. Maybe you are picking up signals from two different transmitters, with the relative strength of each varying from time, to time. (It would be worth your while checking the frequencies that are locked, after each retune, to see if they are the same.)

whoami1 wrote: »

I don't know about automation. As far as I can see, the AutoBouquetMaker won't do a retune for Saorview frequencies.

As for a Saorview retune, this is how I do it:

• Press the 'Menu' button on the remote
• Select 'Setup' and click OK
• Select 'Reception' and click OK
• Select 'Automatic scan' and click OK
• Set the first 4 options to 'No' by pressing the left or right arrow button and press down to go to the next menu entry
• With the last option (Scan Tuner C) set to Yes, press the green button on the remote.
• Wait for the retune to finish and click OK or close to get out of the menu. (I'm writing this step blind as my system is working fine at the moment).

The scan should only take a moment or two and when it completes, your reception should be improved.

This works for me anyway.

How Saorview tuning works, depends on your configuration. If ABM is set up for Saorview, which I would recommend, then it recreates the Saorview Bouquet, on each scan. It uses the Saorview frequencies corresponding to the Saorview region you have configured. If you had selected the wrong region, it is feasible that the manual process you describeabove, would select a stronger region. However, on the next ABM scan, the configured mux’s/frequencies would be reused.
(Thinking about it, that might be the cause of your original issue.)

whoami1

NewClareman wrote: »

I can only speculate as to why a retune helps. Maybe you are picking up signals from two different transmitters, with the relative strength of each varying from time, to time. (It would be worth your while checking the frequencies that are locked, after each retune, to see if they are the same.)

How Saorview tuning works, depends on your configuration. If ABM is set up for Saorview, which I would recommend, then it recreates the Saorview Bouquet, on each scan. It uses the Saorview frequencies corresponding to the Saorview region you have configured. If you had selected the wrong region, it is feasible that the manual process you describeabove, would select a stronger region. However, on the next ABM scan, the configured mux’s/frequencies would be reused.
(Thinking about it, that might be the cause of your original issue.)

Some good information there, thanks for that. I'll look into it some more.

PacMan

I am back again with another question.

I have read the thread, and re read and cannot understand how to do the following (If it is indeed possible.)

Is it possible that I can add a streaming tv station from the E2 player directly to the main EPG please ? (Bouquet/favourites0

It would be great if I could. And if it can be explained in easy baby steps, even better

Many Thanks

NewClareman

PacMan wrote: »

I am back again with another question.

I have read the thread, and re read and cannot understand how to do the following (If it is indeed possible.)

Is it possible that I can add a streaming tv station from the E2 player directly to the main EPG please ? (Bouquet/favourites0

It would be great if I could. And if it can be explained in easy baby steps, even better

Many Thanks

It is possible to do either. I did it briefly, but gave up as Arte is now geo blocked. Can’t provide baby steps, I’m afraid.

Shefwedfan

Are these really that hard to pick up? it seems like very few people supply

Atlantic Dawn

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Are these really that hard to pick up? it seems like very few people supply

Satworld have them...
https://www.satworld.ie/tiviar-alpha-plus-triple-tuner-combo.html