AZBOX /Elite / HD / Premium

gtg60

cramp wrote: »

i can Ping it no prob, but cannot communicate with via Filezilla or Putty

Explain EXACTLY what you are doing when to try to communicate via PuTTY and I'll compare it with what I do.

1. I open the PuTTY program
2. In the 'Host name (or IP address)' box I type the IP address of the AZBox, this can be gotten from the settings page on the AZBox.
3. I select 'Telnet' from underneath, when I do this the Port number changes to 23 (I do not change it)
4. I select 'Open' from the bottom, this open's a DOS like box that displays 'NMP Login:'
5. I enter 'root' then hit enter, 'Password' appears on the next line
6. I enter 'azbox' then hit enter and 'NMP[~]$' appears indicating a Telnet connection is complete.

Is this what you have done?

cormacl

cramp wrote: »

@ slegs

I still cannot communicate with the AZBOX,

i can Ping it no prob, but cannot communicate with via Filezilla or Putty

filezilla tell iam most likely connected to the wrong port!!!
Anything else that i could be doing wrong...

haven't done a factory reset after a firmware upgrade , that's all i can think of...

On the MKV front

i have tried a lot of mkv rips 720/1080 via an external hdd and find that there is no judder now...
again Files with DTS have no sound via HDMI , but iam sure that there would be DTS pass through, so an external AMP will decode this..

Quality of MKV play is VERY good, but compared to 2 NMT players that i have it is not as good,(comparing to Popcorn hour 110/istar HD) and in saying that both these NMT players are VERY VERY good, home cinema PC is the best way to view MKV files


cramp

speaking from a generic linux perspective.. I don't own an AZBOX but have a lot of experience with Linux and own a dreambox which is also Linux-based.

Not sure what platform your computer is.. I'm going to assume Windows. If on XP, use Start->Run and enter "cmd" (without the quotes) and and press return. If on Vista, you need to enable the run command in the start menu properties first.. google for "vista run command" if unsure on what to do. AFAIK the command prompt is not in the accessories program menu (well it wasn't for me)

That will launch a DOS command prompt. Then run a direct telnet to the IP address of the azbox but to the ssh port 22.. the details below are from a telnet I ran on my mac.. but the same concept..

telnet 192.168.12.5 22

Trying 192.168.12.5...
Connected to 192.168.12.5.
Escape character is '^]'.
SSH-2.0-dropbear_0.50
^]
telnet> q
Connection closed.

.. if you are getting connected, something like the above will be seen.. the SSH version details is part of the ssh protocol and will verify that ssh daemon is running and listening on port 22 on the azbox.

To drop the connection, enter Ctrl-] (hold down control and press closed sq bracket), then at the telnet prompt, enter q and it should exit.

Try this and report back on what you see. If it works, then you are not configuring filezilla correctly.. maybe you are trying ftp or telnet to the ssh port when you should be selecting sftp or ssh as the connection method. But the above will verify that its not firewall or whatnot that is getting in the way.
Even if ping works, the firewall could still be preventing the outgoing ssh connections.

On the MKV issue. I have found the dreambox dm8000 playback of MKV files to be OK but not great.. very slight jitter. That said, the files I was using were encoded with a very high bitrate of 16,000Kbit to match the original quality levels of the AVCHD camcorder files they were derived from. Straight .mp4 format was much worse.

But I found that tsmuxer (http://www.smlabs.net/tsmuxer_en.html) will quickly convert the MKV or MP4 h.264 data into a native .ts format that the dreambox just loves. It takes only minutes to do this. It doesn't re-encode the data again. This is of no use if the azbox does not record in .ts format.. but I expect it to be writing the raw stream when recording, so it should be able to read .ts files.

slegs

cramp wrote: »

@ slegs

I still cannot communicate with the AZBOX,

i can Ping it no prob, but cannot communicate with via Filezilla or Putty

filezilla tell iam most likely connected to the wrong port!!!
Anything else that i could be doing wrong...

haven't done a factory reset after a firmware upgrade , that's all i can think of...

On the MKV front

i have tried a lot of mkv rips 720/1080 via an external hdd and find that there is no judder now...
again Files with DTS have no sound via HDMI , but iam sure that there would be DTS pass through, so an external AMP will decode this..

Quality of MKV play is VERY good, but compared to 2 NMT players that i have it is not as good,(comparing to Popcorn hour 110/istar HD) and in saying that both these NMT players are VERY VERY good, home cinema PC is the best way to view MKV files


cramp

If you can ping it then you should have no problem connecting to it with sftp

In FileZilla there are four boxes to enter connection details and a button called Quickconnect

What you enter is

Host: this is the ip address of your AZBox
Username: root
Password: azbox
Port: 22

and then press Quickconnect.

What is the IP address you have set on your box? It should be a 192.168 type address.

gtg60

Another trivial discovery today, just noticed that if I connect up a memory card reader to a USB post on the AZBox that it will actually read information from a memory card connected to it.

Might be handy for viewing photo's directly from your digital camera's memory card.

Must try a few other USB things...

cramp

@ slegs

i was using the wrong version of Filezilla!!!!
@gtg60
putyy still wont work for!!!

thnks guys!!!

gtg60

cramp wrote: »

!
@gtg60
putyy still wont work for!!!

When you try the instructions I listed above, what happens?
At what stage does it NOT do what is expected?

cramp

i get to thE dos prompt

username:

i enter "root" then "password" pops up, but then i cannot enter ANYTHING!!!!

I have been trying to transfer files to the azbox via filezilla , and iam getting very slow transfer (700mb file is taking 30mins)
is there a faster way???
i think that there is a option to do it via an external HDD to the AZBOX , but over a network is the way that i want to do it!!!!

gtg60

cramp wrote: »

i enter "root" then "password" pops up, but then i cannot enter ANYTHING!!!!

Oh, that's not right, let me scratch my head for a bit on this.

cramp wrote: »

I have been trying to transfer files to the azbox via filezilla , and iam getting very slow transfer (700mb file is taking 30mins)
is there a faster way???
i think that there is a option to do it via an external HDD to the AZBOX , but over a network is the way that i want to do it!!!!

As I've said previously, network speed is capped until the new Sigma driver is released so (for the moment) those are your options.

ethernet

cramp wrote: »

i get to thE dos prompt

username:

i enter "root" then "password" pops up, but then i cannot enter ANYTHING!!!!

No characters are displayed on the screen for security reasons, like someone peeping over your shoulder -- just hit return when you've entered the password.

slegs

For info

Received formal word from the AZBox manufacturer that DVB-T cards and firmware to support will be available within 10 days (before end May)

cramp

@slegs
any info on DVB-C cards???
@ethernet
ahh now that might explain it.... much thanks!

slegs

cramp wrote: »

@slegs
any info on DVB-C cards???
@ethernet
ahh now that might explain it.... much thanks!

DVB-C is same timeframe..

pissed

slegs wrote: »

For info

Received formal word from the AZBox manufacturer that DVB-T cards and firmware to support will be available within 10 days (before end May)

Great news. Any indication on price?

slegs

pissed wrote: »

Great news. Any indication on price?

60EUR

pissed

slegs wrote: »

60EUR

OK will keep an eye on your forum, thanx

pissed

Sorry if this sounds stupid but how do you manually input a frequency to scan it. I have just set up my Dish and have a signal on 1W. Searching for 4.2.2 feeds I found this one.
Frequency: 11482 - Pol: V - SR: 5632 - FEC: 3/4

Category: Sport - Football

Transmitted in: MPEG-2 4:2:2

Comments: SPL: Motherwell-Kilmarnock

So i have gone to TV channel - DVB S - Advanced scan -

I have 1W as the sat but I cannot manually input the frequency. If I scroll down I have 11.434H but the next one under that is 11.747H. I cant seem to find a way of manually inserting 11.482. I am using the latest firmware
092032.

gtg60

Ha, I was just looking at that feed!
Go to Settings, over to DVB-S and hit OK
Scroll down to SAT/ TP Edit and hit OK
At Satellite name, scroll left or right until you get the Sat you want to add a TP to, in this case 1.0W Thor/ Intelsat
Scroll down once and the menu at the bottom will change from Add SAT to Add TP, press the GREEN button to do this, a Menu will pop up where you can add the TP details, once you have done this hit OK.
Press EXIT once and then highlight TP SCAN and hit OK
Highlight the SAT (1.0W) and hit OK, then scroll through the TP list and highlight the TP (11482) and hit OK, hit OK again, it will now scan the TP.
When it finds the feed, select YES to save and hit OK.
Exit to TV and it should have the channel displayed, however if it is a 4:2:2 feed then hit OK to bring up the channel selection list. Press the Menu button, scroll down to Insert HD flag and hit OK, press it again and viola!
Hurry up, it's in the 83rd minute now!

pissed

LOL got there just at the end, but at least I know how to do it now . Thanks for the guide... now to go searching for more


OK its over now, is it worthwhile keeping that stored or better to delete it? Do they use the same one often or switch around ?

gtg60

pissed wrote: »

OK its over now, is it worthwhile keeping that stored or better to delete it? Do they use the same one often or switch around ?

Fairly new to this feedhunting stuff but I think you may as well keep it, you'll get much quicker at adding them too after a few goes.

Can't wait til they implement a Blind Search function into the firmware though!

pissed

Yeah I will have to practice more, heres another one from the same site but when I enter the details I dont get a lock on the signal, I put the dish up in a hurry and came in when it started to rain.. maybe thats the cause?

Frequency: 11490 - Pol: V - SR: 6666 - FEC: -

Category: Sport - Football

Transmitted in: MPEG-2 4:2:2

gtg60

Only back now but looking to find the Rugby on something!!

slegs

There is one for the Leinster game on 12.5W here

http://www.satelliweb.com/index.php?section=livef

Are any of the FTA French stations covering it?

gtg60

slegs wrote: »

Are any of the FTA French stations covering it?

On this post says there 'may' be:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055572926

guv69

Having ditched my Technomate 6900HD in preference for a Linux box (albeit SD), I've been looking half heartedly for a while for a HD Linux box. Given the DM800 was the same price as my TM6900 when I bought it a year ago, I decided I couldnt justify the hike in price, so looking for an alternative.

Found a few that have been of interest, but none have smacked me in the face like this one has!!! (Thats a good thing!!!!)

Anyway, i've got a handfull of questions that I'm hopeing you can help out with.

Am I right in thinking the only difference between the Elite and Premium is WiFi and Internal Sata? Whats the WiFi like on it? (ie range)

I currenly have sky+ - which is served by its own dish and a 1.2m motorised. Both are attached to the Linux box via a V-Box (as Im using an actuator.) I've never really thought about going without the sky+ box, but is it realistic with this receiver? (And can a valid NDS card be used in it!!)

I read the comments about network limits (which is a downer as one of the attractions is the use as not only sat, but as a media player from drives on my network.) Anyway, is this likely to be fixed? Stuff as ISOs - are they are likely to be supported (without Daemon tools on the host PC)?

I appreciate this is a new box - but I'd imagine many of you have had a play with a DM800.... Is it really the dreambox killer that it sounds like it is?

Any idea of the cost for a second sat card? (Need that if I want to rid myself of sky+ !!!!)

I've seen mention of feeds and 4.2.2 quite a few times, but never really understood what it all means (other than the receiver needing the ability to play them!) With 1000s of channels and frequencies to scan... how exactly do you find them?


OK.. I've a million more things to ask..... so hopefully not over stepped the mark with so many questions here!!

Many thanks

gtg60

guv69 wrote: »

Am I right in thinking the only difference between the Elite and Premium is WiFi and Internal Sata? Whats the WiFi like on it? (ie range)

Range as good as any WiFi enabled thing I use, picks up my WiFi (in attic) and my neighbours.
Premium has better remote, front USB, is slightly nicer looking than Elite and the things you mention above, I have both, Premium definately worth the extra money.

guv69 wrote: »

I currenly have sky+ - which is served by its own dish and a 1.2m motorised. Both are attached to the Linux box via a V-Box (as Im using an actuator.) I've never really thought about going without the sky+ box, but is it realistic with this receiver? (And can a valid NDS card be used in it!!)

I am planning to stop using my Sky boxes and use my Sky sub in my AZBox's eventually, at the moment it doesn't support NDS cards directly (I use my Dragon CAM) but new firmware is coming out all the time and worth seeing what happens with new Sky cards, I am very confident it will be resolved.

guv69 wrote: »

I read the comments about network limits (which is a downer as one of the attractions is the use as not only sat, but as a media player from drives on my network.) Anyway, is this likely to be fixed? Stuff as ISOs - are they are likely to be supported (without Daemon tools on the host PC)?

All this stuff will be resolved soon, officially box doesn't come out of Beta until late June. Works very well at the moment as a media player and I can stream stuff very successfully, look back through this thread, I can get both my AZBoxes to record to the hard drive on my PC and then both play back from the PC!

guv69 wrote: »

Any idea of the cost for a second sat card? (Need that if I want to rid myself of sky+ !!!!)

59.99 for tuners, DVB-T, DVB-S2 or DVB-C but not available for a few weeks.

guv69 wrote: »

I've seen mention of feeds and 4.2.2 quite a few times, but never really understood what it all means (other than the receiver needing the ability to play them!) With 1000s of channels and frequencies to scan... how exactly do you find them?

4:2:2 is a professional broadcast standard, up til now there hasn't been a STB to decode it at anything close to this price, in fact you'd have been hard pushed to find something other than a PC to do it.
You don't have to find them, they're all here:
http://www.satelliweb.com/index.php?section=livef&langue=en

Lots and lots of features of this box coming in the next few months that will make them sell like hotcakes, a lot of people are (quite rightly) waiting for all of these things to be confirmed and once they are watch this become the DM killer! Have a good read of this thread as I've listed a load of stuff already and am constantly updating, finally I cannot recommend SaorTV enough if you decide to go with one, he's on these boards as 'slegs' and has always gone out of his way to help me.

fez1975

Can these boxes be used in the uk instead of the virgin media box? I'm a total newbie to these systems but I'm very keen on upgrading my home system without paying the extra for V+ box to get hdmi output for my lcd tv.

guv69

gtg60 wrote: »

Range as good as any WiFi enabled thing I use, picks up my WiFi (in attic) and my neighbours.
Premium has better remote, front USB, is slightly nicer looking than Elite and the things you mention above, I have both, Premium definately worth the extra money.

OK. I have my current Linux hard wired, but guess as I only have one cable that could feed an Xbox 360, receiver and HTPC, its better to have than not. Its whether its fast enough with CCCam (when its available) thats the important issue for me on this front.

I am planning to stop using my Sky boxes and use my Sky sub in my AZBox's eventually, at the moment it doesn't support NDS cards directly (I use my Dragon CAM) but new firmware is coming out all the time and worth seeing what happens with new Sky cards, I am very confident it will be resolved.

Cool. I have a Dragon Cam too! So it works ok in this? How good is the EPG and recording features? Presumably things like season passes are never gonna be available, but as long as everything else is there, its good enough.

All this stuff will be resolved soon, officially box doesn't come out of Beta until late June. Works very well at the moment as a media player and I can stream stuff very successfully, look back through this thread, I can get both my AZBoxes to record to the hard drive on my PC and then both play back from the PC!

That'll be good with a HTPC sitting under the TV next to the receiver!

59.99 for tuners, DVB-T, DVB-S2 or DVB-C but not available for a few weeks.

Great stuff.

4:2:2 is a professional broadcast standard, up til now there hasn't been a STB to decode it at anything close to this price, in fact you'd have been hard pushed to find something other than a PC to do it.
You don't have to find them, they're all here:
http://www.satelliweb.com/index.php?section=livef&langue=en

But how do people find 4.2.2? Do people just sit and scan frequencies?

Lots and lots of features of this box coming in the next few months that will make them sell like hotcakes, a lot of people are (quite rightly) waiting for all of these things to be confirmed and once they are watch this become the DM killer! Have a good read of this thread as I've listed a load of stuff already and am constantly updating, finally I cannot recommend SaorTV enough if you decide to go with one, he's on these boards as 'slegs' and has always gone out of his way to help me.

OK.. many thanks. I'm probably 99% certain to go for this. DM800 is too damned expensive for what it is.

Dont suppose you know if it works with a V-Box? I noticed someone say they couldnt get it to drive their dish with the AZbox - but he did comment that he'd seen someone else being successful!

gtg60

guv69 wrote: »

Cool. I have a Dragon Cam too! So it works ok in this? How good is the EPG and recording features? Presumably things like season passes are never gonna be available, but as long as everything else is there, its good enough.

Season passes? Do you mean 'Series link'? Anyway Freesat EPG being integrated soon with Sky EPG plus Series link to follow

guv69 wrote: »

That'll be good with a HTPC sitting under the TV next to the receiver!

Your PC can be anywhere in the house as long as it's on the same network.

guv69 wrote: »

But how do people find 4.2.2? Do people just sit and scan frequencies?

Yep! That's all they do, it's lots of peoples hobbies.

guv69 wrote: »

Dont suppose you know if it works with a V-Box? I noticed someone say they couldnt get it to drive their dish with the AZbox - but he did comment that he'd seen someone else being successful!

No idea as I use an 8 way DiSEqC switch, you'll have to look around and see if it is or will be supported.

guv69

gtg60 wrote: »

Season passes? Do you mean 'Series link'? Anyway Freesat EPG being integrated soon with Sky EPG plus Series link to follow

Yeh, sorry, that's what I meant! Thats good news. And are all freesat HD channels fine to receive? I know there have been issues with ITV - but think thats been resolved now? (Though it was never a problem with my TM6900)

Your PC can be anywhere in the house as long as it's on the same network.

True.

No idea as I use an 8 way DiSEqC switch, you'll have to look around and see if it is or will be supported.

Yeh, will keep 'em peeled. I don't want to replace my 1.2m channel master if I can help it!

gtg60

guv69 wrote: »

Yeh, sorry, that's what I meant! Thats good news. And are all freesat HD channels fine to receive? I know there have been issues with ITV - but think thats been resolved now? (Though it was never a problem with my TM6900)

No problems, although there's never anything on ITV HD