Mutant HD2400 Quad Tuner Combo Box - Sky Replacement Thread

Henry Ford III

yabadabado wrote: »

..One bit of advice I wouldn't use wifi to connect unless you really have to,run a cable from modem to box.It will gibe a better more stable connection.

Loads of info on the Enigma 2 thread and you will get plenty of advice there also.

Good advice.

Homeplugs are 100% reliable in my experience.

54and56

Thanks Gerry,

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

You only need 'OpenTV provider "Sky UK OpenTV(Astra2 on 28.2)' for crossEPG. That reads the data directly from the satellite, no need for a web connection.

That's great as that's the source I'm currently using.

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Saorview channels will read their own data directly from the signal once you have it tuned in.

Cool, I look forward to getting that piece of the setup sorted.

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

For Dublin you are most likely using either 3Rock or Kippure. As mentioned above in each case you need to scan two (mux) frequencies. 30 + 33 for 3Rock, 54 + 58 for Kippure with bandwidth set to 8.

3 Rock is the only transmitter which finds channels when I do a manual scan. I also tried Kippure and Greystones but they returned nothing whatsoever.

I guess the issue I have boils down to the fact that ABM only allows me to specify the area I want the Saorview tuner to search for i.e. (Dublin, Three Rock) but doesn't allow me to specify which mux or indeed both mux's if that's possible. Perhaps it automatically scans both I don't know but the upshot seems to be that using the indoor ariel I currently have only returns a SNR of +/- 35% and an AGC of 0% which facilitates an acceptable picture when I manually tune it in but it isn't above the minimum SNR / AGC thresholds for ABM to get a signal lock which is a bit of a pity but should be rectified by putting up an external ariel in the near future.

54and56

Hi The Alm,

Thanks for the info.

THE ALM wrote: »

If you go into your settings-service searching-Tuner configuration and select you tuner. Under the settings here you will be able to set the channel as 30, make sure to set clear before scan to 'yes' and then do a scan. Repeat this process although this time select channel 33 and set clear before scan to 'no'. If you don't do both channels then some of the stations will be stuttery as I think you are finding.

I'll give this a go tonight.

THE ALM wrote: »

Although I am using an OS3+ I find the the less plugins you use the better and the reason I don't use abm or cooltvguide for that matter. I found cooltvguide in particular caused me problems in the early days and I haven't used it since.

I think if you go back to basics and get it set up then you can try the additional plugins and see how they go for you.

I do continually try different images, plugins and skins etc and do find that not all are successful

The only plugins I'm trying to use are ABM and CrossEPG, I haven't tried installing CoolTV Guide yet and may or may not do so later once I have the basics up and running.

Gerry Wicklow

Given the amount of grief ABM is giving you, I'd be inclined to forget it for now. Channel changes are relatively rare for the main ones. Get the box up and running first then when you are more familiar with it worry about such niceties. It's no big chore to manually scan a satellite change if and when the time comes.
As for the internal aerial, you have a perfect example of how contrary they are and why they are not recommended. You will see people here saying 'mine works great and I'm 2000Km from the mast' blah blah. In truth even someone sitting in a particular spot in the room can disrupt them. That's the nature of the beast.
Either way,fair play to you for sticking with it. It WILL be worth it in the end and the feeling of achievement is priceless.

lertsnim

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

It's no big chore to manually scan a satellite change if and when the time comes.

Indeed. It only takes a minute to scan and add to a bouquet if needed.

The_B_Man

Do you find this box better than the VU solo 2? I'm looking for a box with 2 satellite tuners in the back for watching and recording.
Was looking at the Vu box but this might be another option.

54and56

The_B_Man wrote: »

Do you find this box better than the VU solo 2? I'm looking for a box with 2 satellite tuners in the back for watching and recording.
Was looking at the Vu box but this might be another option.

I can't comment as this is my first ever satellite box, excluding Sky boxes, but having done my research I felt this box offered the best performance and support for the money but I was looking specifically for a quad tuner i.e. the ability to watch one satellite channel and record another or watch one Saorview channel and record another.

Here is an overview of my purchase criteria - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=98714099&postcount=1

Whilst I haven't got it up and running as I'd like that is down to my lack of knowledge of OpenVix and satellite hardware/software in general but I'm trying!!!!

The_B_Man

Ye I was looking at your criteria and found they matched my own.

Quick question, with these boxes do you have to buy a separate wifi module? I see there's options there to add them. Would prefer an internal wifi card though, rather than having a silly USB wifi dongle hanging off it constantly.

54and56

The_B_Man wrote: »

Ye I was looking at your criteria and found they matched my own.

Quick question, with these boxes do you have to buy a separate wifi module?

As far as I know the only WiFi options are external dongles. I got one but haven't installed it yet as I've a temporary (so my wife tells me anyway) Ethernet cable running around the house to the box at the moment. I figured I'd set it up as straightforwardly (is that a word?) as possible and then when I have the hang of all this I'll introduce the WiFi dongle and then start playing with XBMC/KODI etc. That was almost a week ago and I still haven't got the FreeSat and Sorview channels on one EPG yet nor have I figured out how to ensure the FreeSat channels come up when I press the "Guide" button as sometimes the Saorview channels come up albeit mostly empty

I'm on the steep part of the learning curve and thankfully the family are ok with it, they have great faith in me!!!

With the help of Dubrov, Gerry from Wicklow and others who have been kind enough to give me their input I'm sure I'll get there in the end and when I do I promise to write a post which is a Dummies step by step guide to setting up one of these boxes :eek:

GY A1

The_B_Man wrote: »

Ye I was looking at your criteria and found they matched my own.

Quick question, with these boxes do you have to buy a separate wifi module? I see there's options there to add them. Would prefer an internal wifi card though, rather than having a silly USB wifi dongle hanging off it constantly.

edison os mini has buily in wifi,
but you really need a wired ethernet fo r better conection,
you cam also use homeplugs for internet away from the router

The_B_Man

Do you really need proper internet for these? I assumed you just needed any old connection for downloading of the EPG and the AutoBouquets.

This is for someone I know who has really bad internet. They're very rural and only have one of those 3G dongles. No broadband, so there'll be no video streaming or anything. Just the Saorview and Freesat stuff, since they can't get the UPC MMDS anymore.

GY A1

need proper internet if u want to get the most out of the box and what it can do,
loads of great plugings for enigma2 that need internet,
im sure you can get something more reasonable for your friends needs,

The_B_Man wrote: »

Do you really need proper internet for these? I assumed you just needed any old connection for downloading of the EPG and the AutoBouquets.

This is for someone I know who has really bad internet. They're very rural and only have one of those 3G dongles. No broadband, so there'll be no video streaming or anything. Just the Saorview and Freesat stuff, since they can't get the UPC MMDS anymore.

54and56

THE ALM wrote: »

You will probably have to do a Manual Scan in this case. I personally don't use ABM as I don't see the need and it seems to be the cause of your problems. I find if a channel changes frequency (not to often thankfully) then I will do a full new scan every couple of months.

OK, three questions if I may:-

1. If I do a factory reset and forget about ABM (for now) how do I tune both the Saorview and FTA channels?

2. How do I get the tuned channels so they are listed in some sort of logical order with the Irish Channels first, then the main UK channels (BBC's etc) then the News channels and then all other available channels EXCLUDING channels which I can't view FTA e.g. Sky Sports etc? Will CrossEPG still do this for me? Will I still use the sat_282_freesat_CustomMix.xml file Dubrov provided me with which I've already FTP'd to the box?

3. What is the differnece between CrossEPG and CoolTVGuide? Are they both EPG managers/settings? Do I have to choose between one and the other or does CoolTVGuide somehow enhance CrossEPG?

54and56

dubrov wrote: »

For channel numbering go to Menu->Setup->System->Channel selections.
Then make sure the option "Show channel numbers in channel selection" is set to Yes.

Have that setting selected all right but no channel numbers in the EPG just channel names. BTW, how do I get the channel icons (Picons) displayed on the EPG?

Also, I expected to be able to pause and rewind live TV with the remote control but when I press the rewind button on the remote I just get an icon with a circle and a diagonal line going through it which I take to mean "this isn't an option/function". Do I need to set up pause/rewind somehow?

Gerry Wicklow

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

OK, three questions if I may:-

1. If I do a factory reset and forget about ABM (for now) how do I tune both the Saorview and FTA channels?

2. How do I get the tuned channels so they are listed in some sort of logical order with the Irish Channels first, then the main UK channels (BBC's etc) then the News channels and then all other available channels EXCLUDING channels which I can't view FTA e.g. Sky Sports etc? Will CrossEPG still do this for me? Will I still use the sat_282_freesat_CustomMix.xml file Dubrov provided me with which I've already FTP'd to the box?

3. What is the differnece between CrossEPG and CoolTVGuide? Are they both EPG managers/settings? Do I have to choose between one and the other or does CoolTVGuide somehow enhance CrossEPG?

1. SETUP>SERVICE SEARCHING>MANUAL SCAN. you've done this before in earlier posts.
2. Don't know about custom mix.xml (sorry)
3. CrossEPG is the background bit that downloads the EPG information. CoolTVGuide is the bit that organises and displays that information on screen.

54and56

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

1. SETUP>SERVICE SEARCHING>MANUAL SCAN. you've done this before in earlier posts.
2. Don't know about custom mix.xml (sorry)
3. CrossEPG is the background bit that downloads the EPG information. CoolTVGuide is the bit that organises and displays that information on screen.

Thanks Gerry, I feel another Factory Reset on the way!!

THE ALM

The_B_Man wrote: »

Do you really need proper internet for these? I assumed you just needed any old connection for downloading of the EPG and the AutoBouquets.

This is for someone I know who has really bad internet. They're very rural and only have one of those 3G dongles. No broadband, so there'll be no video streaming or anything. Just the Saorview and Freesat stuff, since they can't get the UPC MMDS anymore.

If you are using kodi or ts media on these for streaming and the like then a decent internet connection would be advisable. Having said that I have a OS3+ connected using a wifi dongle and we only have a 4G dongle (the joys of living in the sticks) and everything works on it as required and don't see a problem if only downlaoding epg data.

THE ALM

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

OK, three questions if I may:-

1. If I do a factory reset and forget about ABM (for now) how do I tune both the Saorview and FTA channels?

2. How do I get the tuned channels so they are listed in some sort of logical order with the Irish Channels first, then the main UK channels (BBC's etc) then the News channels and then all other available channels EXCLUDING channels which I can't view FTA e.g. Sky Sports etc? Will CrossEPG still do this for me? Will I still use the sat_282_freesat_CustomMix.xml file Dubrov provided me with which I've already FTP'd to the box?

3. What is the differnece between CrossEPG and CoolTVGuide? Are they both EPG managers/settings? Do I have to choose between one and the other or does CoolTVGuide somehow enhance CrossEPG?

1/ As Gerry has said. When you do the factory reset does it go through the setup wizard at the start again? If so I would go through the steps of setting up the tuners and letting it do an automatic scan especially for the sat tuners. Once you are through all this process and it has booted up then I would do the manual scan for the soarview selecting both channels as required.

2/ The easiest way to do this is with openwedif. You sound like you want the channels organised in a similar way to what I have done. If you open up webif on a pc/laptop you will probably have a list of bouquets in the top right hand column with the various channels placed into these, I deleted most of these. I then created a bouquet called favourites. In the left hand column I selected all channels I wanted and added these to the favourites bouquet. You will see these appear in the bottom right panel and these can be organised into whatever order you want.

3/ Again as Gerry has said the crossepg downloads all the epg data and saves it to where you have specified, a USB in your case I think and the cooltvguide makes it look pretty. I would ignore the cooltvguide as the image you load with have a good epg guide already built in to the image and you can edit these to get them to look how you want.

Like you I went through all this when I first purchased one of these boxes and like you I don't like to be beat so I admire your patience:rolleyes: Once they are initially set up then the hard work is done and then everything else will be getting it to look how you want and to try out whatever plugins you want. I find that not all plugins work with the different boxes and it can be a bit of trial and error. I have being trying out different images over the last few weeks and have had to abandon some of them and start over again.
webif.jpg

THE ALM

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Have that setting selected all right but no channel numbers in the EPG just channel names. BTW, how do I get the channel icons (Picons) displayed on the EPG?

Also, I expected to be able to pause and rewind live TV with the remote control but when I press the rewind button on the remote I just get an icon with a circle and a diagonal line going through it which I take to mean "this isn't an option/function". Do I need to set up pause/rewind somehow?

For the pause and rewind you will have to set up timeshift. Setup-System-Timeshift. This will bring you to a screen where you can set up where you want it stored, hdd I would think, and when you want it to start etc.

For the picons I downloaded a set and placed them in a folder, will get the details.

54and56

THE ALM wrote: »

Like you I went through all this when I first purchased one of these boxes and like you I don't like to be beat so I admire your patience:rolleyes: Once they are initially set up then the hard work is done and then everything else will be getting it to look how you want and to try out whatever plugins you want. I find that not all plugins work with the different boxes and it can be a bit of trial and error. I have being trying out different images over the last few weeks and have had to abandon some of them and start over again.
webif.jpg

Thanks THE ALM, that's very helpful, I don't mind a bit of manual ordering via OpenWebif so I'll give that a go and I'll leave CoolTVGuide off the agenda for now. The Blue HD skin, once I get things settled down, will do a grand job I think.

Thanks also ref the Time Shift issue (I wondered what that was ) and the Picon info.

The_B_Man

GY A1 wrote: »

need proper internet if u want to get the most out of the box and what it can do,
loads of great plugings for enigma2 that need internet,
im sure you can get something more reasonable for your friends needs,

Do you reckon the Mutant isn't worth it if they're just going to be watching telly, and not streaming anything?

Maybe the zgemma H2S would be more suitable. Although I was looking to get a good box so it would last them years!

THE ALM

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Thanks THE ALM, that's very helpful, I don't mind a bit of manual ordering via OpenWebif so I'll give that a go and I'll leave CoolTVGuide off the agenda for now. The Blue HD skin, once I get things settled down, will do a grand job I think.

Thanks also ref the Time Shift issue (I wondered what that was ) and the Picon info.

Regarding the picons. If you create a folder on the usb called 'picon' then download these and extract the zip folders directly into the picon folder on the usb then you should be good to go. You should end up with a folder called picon on the usb filled with the picons.

yabadabado

The_B_Man wrote: »

Do you reckon the Mutant isn't worth it if they're just going to be watching telly, and not streaming anything?

Maybe the zgemma H2S would be more suitable. Although I was looking to get a good box so it would last them years!

I would go for the Edision OS Mini. €138 delivered and it's very good for the price.Zgemma should be perfect as well butI think for the few quid more it's worth going for Edision.

54and56

OK, got a few minutes to spend on this earlier so did the following:-

- Factory reset
- Standard wizard setup
- Network scan which found 1009 channels
- Manual scan of the DVB-T2 tuner on both Channel 30 and 33 for Three Rock.
- Configured CrossEPG using the Sky UK OpenTV (Astra2 on 28.2) as the provider.
- Set the Skin to Blue HD

I then used OpenWebif to delete all bouquets, set up a "Favourites" Bouquet and added about a dozen channels to it but when I then pressed "Guide" on the remote control all I get is a more or less empty EPG with just a few Saorview channels on it and none of the channels I transferred to it via OpenWebif.

Here are the screenshots



and



I'm feeling pretty stupid that I can't figure this out at all

THE ALM

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

OK, got a few minutes to spend on this earlier so did the following:-

- Factory reset
- Standard wizard setup
- Network scan which found 1009 channels
- Manual scan of the DVB-T2 tuner on both Channel 30 and 33 for Three Rock.
- Configured CrossEPG using the Sky UK OpenTV (Astra2 on 28.2) as the provider.
- Set the Skin to Blue HD

I then used OpenWebif to delete all bouquets, set up a "Favourites" Bouquet and added about a dozen channels to it but when I then pressed "Guide" on the remote control all I get is a more or less empty EPG with just a few Saorview channels on it and none of the channels I transferred to it via OpenWebif.

Here are the screenshots



and



I'm feeling pretty stupid that I can't figure this out at all

When you hit the guide button it is probably loading the channel list from the last scanned bouquet so therefore you want to select the favourites bouquet that you created.

To do this on my remote you hit the up arrow where the ok button is which should load a list like in the picture attached (I am assuming you are using openvix with the skin like the picture). It may be a different button on your remote depending on how the hotkeys are set up. You are looking for the screen with All, Satellites, Providers and Favourites along the bottom.

When this list appears select the Favourites(blue button) which should show all the bouquets that you have. Select the favourites bouquet you created and then select a channel from this bouquet to view it live. Now if you go into setup - crossepg and force a reload and exit out of that, when you hit guide hopefully you have you favourites epg.

Looking at what you did I would say that you have the box set up correctly and it is now a matter of getting the look right for you so hopefully the hard work is done.

54and56

^^ Your encouragement is encouraging

I know I'm making progress but I'm not "seeing" it if that makes sense. I fully expect to have a "Eureka" moment soon when all this will just fall into place and who knows, in a few months time I might be on here sounding all expert guiding some other newbie through the maze of terminology and terms some of which are counter intuitive.

Until then I'll keep plodding along :pac: :pac: :pac:

bored_stupid

ok back to basics

just use the remote to sort your channels out when on said channels press up on the remote then press menu pick add service to bouquet then pick favourites or what ever best for you .

When you pick favourites channels press up on the remote then press menu you can pick enable move mode then move channels around
anyway you like .

THE ALM

The_B_Man wrote: »

Yeah it could be that you just have to reload the bouquets.

Quick question, why do you need separate saorview input? Can you not get those channels via Satellite?
The reason I ask is that I reckon I'll get the mutant with 2 satellite inputs, but considering throwing in a DVB-C/T module as well.

The Saorview channels are encrypted on satellite so you need the DVD-C/T Tuner.

54and56

The_B_Man wrote: »

Yeah it could be that you just have to reload the bouquets.

How do I do that? THE ALM said I should "go into setup - crossepg and force a reload and exit out of that, when you hit guide hopefully you have you favourites epg." but I don't see a reload button or is that the same as the "Download" option?

The_B_Man wrote: »

Quick question, why do you need separate saorview input? Can you not get those channels via Satellite?
The reason I ask is that I reckon I'll get the mutant with 2 satellite inputs, but considering throwing in a DVB-C/T module as well.

Look at me attempting to answer my first question ever :P

My understanding is as follows:-

Saorview is terrestrial and therefore uses a DVB-C/T type tuner (the type you are considering throwing in) whereas Saorsat is indeed a Satellite service you would receive using the satellite DVB-S type tuners but (and it's a big but) Saorsat is broadcast (if that's even a correct terms when talking about signals from satellites) from a different satellite than the UK FreeSat and Sky channels so you would need one dish pointing to the FreeSat satellite and another pointing at the Saorsat satellite or a motorised dish which could switch between the two. Another issues (as I understand it) is there may not be a way or it may be very difficult to get a single combined 7 day EPG for the FreeSat and Saorsat channels.

Marks out of 10 for this answer???

54and56

bored_stupid wrote: »

ok back to basics

just use the remote to sort your channels out when on said channels press up on the remote then press menu pick add service to bouquet then pick favourites or what ever best for you .

When you pick favourites channels press up on the remote then press menu you can pick enable move mode then move channels around
anyway you like .

Thanks BS, that points me in the right direction for loading the favourites bouquet.