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

deezell

Imstuck wrote: »

I'd suggest though, that if you had two feeds to the two tuners, and your hard disk already formatted to ext3, then the image would have worked straight off with all good. It certainly has done with me, after 3 boxes installed, just the fourth for my friend causing epg problems.
I'm thinking that he has a faulty tuner though......

That's probably true, I definitely had issues with the disk and the mounted device. I'm thinking some of epg problems could also be due to the fact that one tuner had no feed, so it couldn't read the Epg channel. I'm guessing the box uses tuner C to scan the epg channel if it's already using Using B for viewing or for a timer event. I had an oddity earlier, the box seemed to think I had a recording in progress or one due shortly, I had previously recorded from astra28.2. When I tried to watch saorview, I could only see half the channels, the ones from the rte1 Mux were greyed out. Got a message, ' no tuner available' or similar. Pressed restart and got a warning about ' a current recording or one due shortly '. There were no more events due. It was acting as if I was recording from the RTE2/Tv3 Mux. Restarting cured it. I had tried to set recordings from Openwebif last night, and it was unresponsive, and had set the timer instead with Dreamdroid app. Perhaps there was a partial flag set for a recording event, but both my actual events were on sat channels.

AngryDiMaria

Slevster wrote: »

Possible that its your hdd.
Boot into spark, and use the utility in there to test your hdd's ability.

I ran the test and it says 'Can support two HD channels Record or one HD Record and one HD Timeshift'

Slevster

AngryDiMaria wrote: »

I ran the test and it says 'Can support two HD channels Record or one HD Record and one HD Timeshift'

I have come to my own conclusion that v4 handled simultaneous recordings/viewing better than the current version. I have noticed some pixalation or stalling while viewing and recording HD channels. But it has been relatively minor, and just put it down to the box or hdd been a little overworked. It doesn't happen all the time, nor is it too disruptive.
At those times of pixilation, try going into plugins , and go to the cashe flush , and manually clearing to see it helps.
Some one here made an interesting comment about the swap file a few pages back, and the accumulative effect of use. I wonder if it may be related/result/cause of such issues. Periodical rebooting of the system may help.

Zardoz

Slevster wrote: »

I have come to my own conclusion that v4 handled simultaneous recordings better than the current version. I have noticed some pixalation or stalling while viewing and recording HD channels. But it has been relatively minor, and just put it down to the box or hdd been a little overworked. It doesn't happen all the time, nor is it too disruptive.
At those times of pixilation, try going into plugins , and go to the cashe flush , and manually clearing to see it helps.

Well spotted Slevster.
The issue with recording is primarily lack of memory and for some reason Hyperion 4.5 uses more memory than V4 ,I'd say at least 5-7Mb extra with the same plugins and setup.

On my V4 backup ,there was ~20MB of free memory in normal usage,this has dropped to around 14MB on V4.5 and even at that I had to tweak a few things to get it that high.
If you add extra plugins it will use extra memory to run them if they are background plugins,permanent timeshift will use extra memory too.

The problem with swap is that its usually created using Hard drive space so if you are using the same drive to record it can create issues .

Swap file is what you use if you haven't got enough RAM to do an operation. It is miles slower than RAM though, so you can only use it when it doesn't matter if your application runs slow. That's not the case with recording though because your application is running in real time so anything that causes a slow down is going to make the situation worse.
This is the main weakness of the Alien 2 receiver in my opinion ,the lack of RAM for multiple recordings .

The Alien 2 actually has 256MB of Ram it would seem but 128MB is reserved for Spark and 128MB for Enigma 2 ,it would be ideal if this extra 128MB of Ram could be utilised at the same time .

Are you running Permanent timeshift AngryDiMaria by any chance ?
I will try to replicate what you are encountering .
I have seen what you have encountered when I record 2 sat channels and watch Saorview ,the box just cant cope but I found this to be the case with numerous images and numerous hard drives ,it just doesnt have enough memory.
But recording one channel and watching another should be ok .

AngryDiMaria

Zardoz wrote: »

Are you running Permanent timeshift AngryDiMaria by any chance ?
I will try to replicate what you are encountering .
I have seen what you have encountered when I record 2 sat channels and watch Saorview ,the box just cant cope but I found this to be the case with numerous images and numerous hard drives ,it just doesnt have enough memory.
But recording one channel and watching another should be ok .

I'm not sure if I'm using permanent time shift I just use the pause button the odd time. I re flashed your image a few days ago so I'm sure whatever time shift setting was there is the same as yours? I haven't got a clue about this enigma stuff yet I've only really changed the skin and other minor things so go easy on me lads! I will try to flush the cache as Slvester suggested and I will take a look at the amount of free RAM available tomorrow.

Thanks lads

how.gareth

Lads I am getting an EPG error when I try download, it says "no valid NIM found" any ideas please?

SteJay

I'm hoping someone can help me with the AA2,last night all the channels disappeared from the service list,now when I try to rescan it throws up a green screen every time, I have checked the coax signal strengt and they seem fine

is there anything else that might be causing it?

thanks

NegativeOne

SteJay wrote: »

I'm hoping someone can help me with the AA2,last night all the channels disappeared from the service list,now when I try to rescan it throws up a green screen every time, I have checked the coax signal strengt and they seem fine

is there anything else that might be causing it?

thanks

Have you tried running ab without doing a scan?

SteJay

NegativeOne wrote: »

Have you tried running ab without doing a scan?

Thanks for the reply

I'm not sure what ab is

bappelbe

you probably need to reflash as it is greenscreening on a scan

NegativeOne

SteJay wrote: »

Thanks for the reply

I'm not sure what ab is

Autobouquets

SteJay

when I run AB I get this screen attached

NegativeOne

SteJay wrote: »

when I run AB I get this screen attached

Basically your box is running low on space. If you installed any new plugins lately you could try uninstalling them and see if there is any improvement but it may just be as easy to flash a backup again.

Slevster

Zardoz wrote: »

............
This is the main weakness of the Alien 2 receiver in my opinion ,the lack of RAM for recording .

The Alien 2 actually has 256MB of Ram it would seem but 128MB is reserved for Spark and 128MB for Enigma 2 ,it would be ideal if this extra 128MB of Ram could be utilised at the same time .

Are you running Permanent timeshift AngryDiMaria by any chance ?
I will try to replicate what you are encountering .
I have seen what you have encountered when I record 2 sat channels and watch Saorview ,the box just cant cope but I found this to be the case with numerous images and numerous hard drives ,it just doesnt have enough memory.
But recording one channel and watching another should be ok .

Thanks for all that explanation. Would have taken you a minute or two to put that together.
Makes sense. Would agree about the fewer plugins, seems better. Also, why not use the baked in time shift instead of using a plugin? (Option is is in "user interface".)

I did up a v4.5 image for my brother in law, and put on all the audio fixes, various plugins , everything basically. And ran the same image myself (for "call centre support " purposes !) . then re done a new image for myself last weekend with just the bare neccessities. And the speed of the box improved markedly.would tie in with what you said.

Zardoz

AngryDiMaria wrote: »

I'm not sure if I'm using permanent time shift I just use the pause button the odd time. I re flashed your image a few days ago so I'm sure whatever time shift setting was there is the same as yours? I haven't got a clue about this enigma stuff yet I've only really changed the skin and other minor things so go easy on me lads! I will try to flush the cache as Slvester suggested and I will take a look at the amount of free RAM available tomorrow.

Thanks lads

What skin did you change to ,some are more memory intensive than others .
The Metrix HD skin for example is a memory guzzler.

I tried recording a satellite channel this morning and watching a Saorview channel and it worked fine .Both HD.
Even recording both channels was fine.

I usually only encounter picture breakup when trying to record 2 channels simultaneously and watching a third .

If you press the Find button on the remote ,it will show you the current cpu ,memory ,swap and flash usage.Its a nice feature of the Hyperion images,handy to monitor things.

I didnt install Permanent timeshift on my backup ,as its an old and inefficient plugin ,the built in timeshift mentioned by Slevster is better .

deezell

how.gareth wrote: »

Lads I am getting an EPG error when I try download, it says "no valid NIM found" any ideas please?

I'd say it's your second tuner is not set up right, this is needed if the first is locked due to a recording or a stream or just viewing. The epg is downloaded from a sat channel. If connection type for the tuner is loopthrough this will prevent LNB switching signals from passing up the cable. If the second tuner was not scanned independently, you need to set C=B as connection type for C assuming you have two feeds from the dish. This gives C the channel lists tuned on B.

AngryDiMaria

Zardoz wrote: »

What skin did you change to ,some are more memory intensive than others .
The Metrix HD skin for example is a memory guzzler.

I tried recording a satellite channel this morning and watching a Saorview channel and it worked fine .Both HD.
Even recording both channels was fine.

I usually only encounter picture breakup when trying to record 2 channels simultaneously and watching a third .

If you press the Find button on the remote ,it will show you the current cpu ,memory ,swap and flash usage.Its a nice feature of the Hyperion images,handy to monitor things.

I didnt install Permanent timeshift on my backup ,as its an old and inefficient plugin ,the built in timeshift mentioned by Slevster is better .

I am using the SkyBlue skin and while watching a HD channel the free RAM is 12.5MB Flash usage is 69.6MB and SWAP is using 2.66MB.

Which skin would use the least memory?

While recording a HD sat channel the free RAM is fluctuating from 1.5 to 3.5.

I just changed from the SkyBlue skin and saorview is fine while recording the sat channel.

I set another HD sat channel to record and saorview became pixelated again. I stopped one recording and saorview is fine again.

I changed back to the SkyBlue skin and set one HD sat channel to record, saorview has gone bonkers again. I think I've found the culprit!

NegativeOne

AngryDiMaria wrote: »

I am using the SkyBlue skin and while watching a HD channel the free RAM is 12.5MB Flash usage is 69.6MB and SWAP is using 2.66MB.

Which skin would use the least memory?

While recording a HD sat channel the free RAM is fluctuating from 1.5 to 3.5.

I just changed from the SkyBlue skin and saorview is fine while recording the sat channel.

I set another HD sat channel to record and saorview became pixelated again. I stopped one recording and saorview is fine again.

I changed back to the SkyBlue skin and set one HD sat channel to record, saorview has gone bonkers again. I think I've found the culprit!

Which image? and which sky skin?

AngryDiMaria

NegativeOne wrote: »

Which image? and which sky skin?

Zardoz Hyperion 4.5 image with SkyHdblue skin that was already installed.

NegativeOne

AngryDiMaria wrote: »

Zardoz Hyperion 4.5 image with SkyHdblue skin that was already installed.

Did you install the latest update via the pkt bluepanel? I'm having pixelation problems here and there since I updated the other week. Might do a reinstall at some stage and not update to the latest and see if that makes any difference. I don't think its the skin as I've been using that one for years and the pixelation has only started recently.

AngryDiMaria

NegativeOne wrote: »

Did you install the latest update via the pkt bluepanel? I'm having pixelation problems here and there since I updated the other week. Might do a reinstall at some stage and not update to the latest and see if that makes any difference. I don't think its the skin as I've been using that one for years and the pixelation has only started recently.

No I didn't do that update, I just re checked with the other skins and saorview has gone pixelated again so you are right about it not being the skin, my mistake.

Edit: I just ran cache flush and everything is fine again

derek214

Anyone running freshpots Hyperion 4.5 image had any issues playing MP4 files? I've had issues with no sound.
Any decent player plugins with a wide rage of codecs that might help?
Thanks,
D

jayo26

derek214 wrote: »

Anyone running freshpots Hyperion 4.5 image had any issues playing MP4 files? I've had issues with no sound.
Any decent player plugins with a wide rage of codecs that might help?
Thanks,
D

I'm using the enhanced media center plugin it plays mp4 video no problem. I think freshpots had it disabled because it crashed or something I'm not sure but I've never had any issues with it, you use the emc plugin to set it up I think its already on your image.

championc

Hi all

I've just completed an OpenATV 5.0 Based Image. I haven't scanned any channels or even configured the Service Searching area at all. But all settings are setup and plugins loaded and configured, just waiting for the channels to be scanned.

Please PM me if you want a copy to road test.

Do you think it's better to have a scanned or unscanned image ? I might just leave it with Satellite ONLY scanned so users can do their own Terrestrial to their own areas.

jayo26

championc wrote: »

Hi all

I've just completed an OpenATV 5.0 Based Image. I haven't scanned any channels or even configured the Service Searching area at all. But all settings are setup and plugins loaded and configured, just waiting for the channels to be scanned.

Please PM me if you want a copy to road test.

Do you think it's better to have a scanned or unscanned image ? I might just leave it with Satellite ONLY scanned so users can do their own Terrestrial to their own areas.

I'll load it up tomorrow at some stage if you have it ready mate.

Personally myself I don't use terrestrial so don't bother me that way.

derek214

Thanks Jayo, I see the EMC configuration/setup in plugins and this may seem like a stupid question but how do I actually run it?

I see "show EMC in extensions menu" in the config but I'm not sure where that is?

derek214

@Champ & Jayo

What are you opinions on OpenATV Vs Hyperion?

Personally Hyperion4.5 is the most stable image I've used and it does everything I need (apart from the most recent MP4 issue )

jayo26

derek214 wrote: »

Thanks Jayo, I see the EMC configuration/setup in plugins and this may seem like a stupid question but how do I actually run it?

I see "show EMC in extensions menu" in the config but I'm not sure where that is?

When viewing a channel press the red button and emc setup is at the bottom of the list mate.

jayo26

derek214 wrote: »

@Champ & Jayo

What are you opinions on OpenATV Vs Hyperion?

Personally Hyperion4.5 is the most stable image I've used and it does everything I need (apart from the most recent MP4 issue )

Same as yourself Derek I'm not an expert on it but I've been using freshpots image for the last few months its 100% reliable and the mp4 issue is fixed with emc. I liked open ATV but I feel that the alien 2 just don't seem to have enough memory to run it in my opinion its just very slow for me and get alot of green screens but I don't mind trying out 5 because I do regular backups of my own image so I always have somewhere to go back to I mess up.

derek214

jayo26 wrote: »

Same as yourself Derek I'm not an expert on it but I've been using freshpots image for the last few months its 100% reliable and the mp4 issue is fixed with emc. I liked open ATV but I feel that the alien 2 just don't seem to have enough memory to run it in my opinion its just very slow for me and get alot of green screens but I don't mind trying out 5 because I do regular backups of my own image so I always have somewhere to go back to I mess up.

Agree with you on Amiko memory & OpenATV speed!!

Right so I have 3 options in the EMC setup:

Start EMC with - Timeshift button......this doesn't seem to work as the time shift button starts time shift :roll eyes:

Show plugin config in extension menu you - NO

Show EMC in extensions menu - YES ......Despite this being set to yes it doesn't seem to show up in my extensions menu. I've tried deleting and reinstalling EMC plugin but have the same issue. Any ideas?

Thanks for the help!
Derek