Amiko Alien 2 Triple Tuner Combobox

mcbod · 15-09-2013 10:07PM

championc wrote: »

Have you tried using the EPG button ?

Yeah it works ok, just showing the now and next single and multi epg. But I'd like to get the cool TV guide grid back

championc · 15-09-2013 10:40PM

I created both of my AR-P and Hyperion images with the EPG button opening CoolTVGuide so that's what they should be opening so I'm not sure why they aren't.

However, I think smee shared a keymap file a few pages back which remapped CoolTVGuide to the EPG button (plus a few other key changes too)

mcbod · 15-09-2013 11:42PM

championc wrote: »

I created both of my AR-P and Hyperion images with the EPG button opening CoolTVGuide so that's what they should be opening so I'm not sure why they aren't.

However, I think smee shared a keymap file a few pages back which remapped CoolTVGuide to the EPG button (plus a few other key changes too)

But mine is a hdmu image?

illdoit2morrow · 15-09-2013 11:42PM

championc wrote: »

I created both of my AR-P and Hyperion images with the EPG button opening CoolTVGuide so that's what they should be opening so I'm not sure why they aren't.

However, I think smee shared a keymap file a few pages back which remapped CoolTVGuide to the EPG button (plus a few other key changes too)

Hi Champion,

I don't have this box yet but was looking at getting one to replace sky and just go with whats available for free. Do you know of any youtube video that that demo's your image or something similar.

My brother has this box but has some satstation image and has the sky stuff going, I'm not interested in getting that, just putting up an aerial to get saorview and using my existing dish for the freesat stuff. Does your image do this 'out of the box' so to speak?

Thanks in advance.

championc · 15-09-2013 11:52PM

All images being discussed are versions of Enigma. Satstation image is based on the HDMU Enigma. My image is based on the Hyperion Enigma.

With skins, both can look identical but Hyperion uses Python 2.7 while HDMU uses the older 2.6 so coding can be quite different

bappelbe · 16-09-2013 09:43AM

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

Hi Champion,

I don't have this box yet but was looking at getting one to replace sky and just go with whats available for free. Do you know of any youtube video that that demo's your image or something similar.

My brother has this box but has some satstation image and has the sky stuff going, I'm not interested in getting that, just putting up an aerial to get saorview and using my existing dish for the freesat stuff. Does your image do this 'out of the box' so to speak?

Thanks in advance.

I don't know of a youtube video of championc's setup but your brothers image will give you a good idea.

To take championc's image and get it working for saorview you will (probably) need to scan the terrestrial channels as you will most likely be pointing at a different transmitter to championc.
The "Freesat" channels will be tuned in but will be set up looking like your brothers setup, meaning that there will be channels in your guide that you cannot view (sky etc). you will need to run Autobouquets plugin again and select the "FTA" option, I have a custom.txt file that I can post that arranges the channels in a better order for those of us who use the free to air channels only.

It should be noted that the same steps can be performed on the satstation image.

reaper12 · 16-09-2013 12:31PM

Hi All,

I am changing from Sky and having been following this thread for the last few weeks. Sky gets shut off tomorrow. Currently I have narrowed down my choices to two settop boxes and am hoping that somebody on this thread has tried both. I was going to start a new thread, but thought I might get a quicker answer in here.

I am deciding between getting the Amiko Alien 2 plus or the VU+ Solo 2(and installing a USB DTT tuner for saorview)

Bascially I am just watching TV and want the ability to use the timeshift/record and pause functions to a network drive. I don't need any of the media playing abilities or youtube or rte player.

So, if you had a choice which of the two receivers would you choose?

smee again · 16-09-2013 12:50PM

reaper12 wrote: »

Hi All,

I am changing from Sky and having been following this thread for the last few weeks. Sky gets shut off tomorrow. Currently I have narrowed down my choices to two settop boxes and am hoping that somebody on this thread has tried both. I was going to start a new thread, but thought I might get a quicker answer in here.

I am deciding between getting the Amiko Alien 2 plus or the VU+ Solo 2(and installing a USB DTT tuner for saorview)

Bascially I am just watching TV and want the ability to use the timeshift/record and pause functions to a network drive. I don't need any of the media playing abilities or youtube or rte player.

So, if you had a choice which of the two receivers would you choose?

Ah, come on, this is the Amiko alien 2 thread, of course we're all going to go with that. Saying that, I know of 2 people who sold theirs and opted for the much more expensive Vu Duo over the judder issue, they're happy, but wonder if they're sorry now for wasting money now a fix is imminent.

FlexMcMurphy · 16-09-2013 01:21PM

Looking at the specs of the Vu+ boxes they are better in every department compared with the Alien2... but it sounds like those improvements probably won't make any difference to you if you just want to watch TV and make recordings.

With the Vu+ you can record to an internal Sata hard-drive... that might make permanent-timeshift (pause live TV) work better than to a USB key or network drive but then it has gigabit ethernet also. It also boots up faster which I would see as its main advantage.

The Alien2+ comes with two Sat tuners and a DVB-T2 terrestrial tuner included. Others on this forum have got it working recording to a network drive also. If you aren't fussy about specs and a few other whistles then I'd say the Alien2+ is better value for money.

Flex

championc · 16-09-2013 01:51PM

Item ; Amiko ; VU+

Price ; Clear Winner ; Loser
DVB-T Tuner Built in ; Clear Winner ; Loser -USB stick could be crap quality[/td]
HDD ; Winner - Can use USB HDD and use in another device too ; Loser - It's stuck inside the box

Setup ; Loser - can be frustrating ; Winner - but you miss all the fun !!

gazzer · 16-09-2013 03:45PM

I was wondering if anybody else was having this issue when trying to scroll through a list of channels within a bouquet or a list of movies on the likes of 1Channel?

Up until a couple of weeks ago whenever I was going through a channel list, movie list etc I used the right directional arrow to go through a page at a time rather than just using the down arrow to go through the list.

I don't know what happened in the last 2 weeks but whenever I use this right arrow button now it either doesnt work or else when I am on a list of channels it skips to the next bouquet.

I have another plugin called Muzu.tv which has a load of different categories of music on it. When you select a category it then gives a list of songs on the right hand side of the screen that you can use the right key to get to and then the up and down key to select a song. Now when I use the right key in this plug in it brings me back to the EPG.

I have gone through all the settings I can think of but cant find how to fix this. Has this happened to anybody else? I am using a HDMU image.

Zardoz · 16-09-2013 03:51PM

championc wrote: »

Item ; Amiko ; VU+

Price ; Clear Winner ; Loser
DVB-T Tuner Built in ; Clear Winner ; Loser -USB stick could be crap quality[/td]
HDD ; Winner - Can use USB HDD and use in another device too ; Loser - It's stuck inside the box

Setup ; Loser - can be frustrating ; Winner - but you miss all the fun !!

Having an internal hard drive option in the Duo is a big plus.
An internal hard drive performs much better than an external harddrive and doesnt take up a usb port.

The Duo also has an extra usb port at the back.

Having the terrestrial tuner built into the Alien2 is a big plus though ,no faffing about with a usb tuner as you correctly say.

It also boots up faster which I would see as its main advantage

I dont see much difference in boot speeds,the Alien2 is very fast to load ,~70 seconds.
My Dm800 in comparison takes over 3 minutes to boot.

smee again · 16-09-2013 04:00PM

Zardoz wrote: »

Having an internal hard drive option in the Duo is a big plus.
An internal hard drive performs much better than an external harddrive and doesnt take up a usb port.

The Duo also has an extra usb port at the back.

Having the terrestrial tuner built into the Alien2 is a big plus though ,no faffing about with a usb tuner as you correctly say.

Plug a usb hub into the Amiko and you have more ports

Having an extra port doesn't give each port 5v, it means they share 5v

reaper12 · 16-09-2013 04:08PM

smee again wrote: »

Ah, come on, this is the Amiko alien 2 thread, of course we're all going to go with that. Saying that, I know of 2 people who sold theirs and opted for the much more expensive Vu Duo over the judder issue, they're happy, but wonder if they're sorry now for wasting money now a fix is imminent.

Well, I know it's an amiko forum, and that's why I posted here

And I will probably get the Amiko, but I just want to make sure before I buy. I won't be going for the Duo it's out my price range.

FlexMcMurphy wrote: »

Looking at the specs of the Vu+ boxes they are better in every department compared with the Alien2... but it sounds like those improvements probably won't make any difference to you if you just want to watch TV and make recordings.

With the Vu+ you can record to an internal Sata hard-drive... that might make permanent-timeshift (pause live TV) work better than to a USB key or network drive but then it has gigabit ethernet also. It also boots up faster which I would see as its main advantage.

The Alien2+ comes with two Sat tuners and a DVB-T2 terrestrial tuner included. Others on this forum have got it working recording to a network drive also. If you aren't fussy about specs and a few other whistles then I'd say the Alien2+ is better value for money.

Flex

Oh, I am 100% sure the Amiko is better value for money. Yeah I will be just watching TV and recording. I won't be ever recording to a USB drive, and if possible I would like not to get an internal drive, I have a good NAS and want to use it, the gigabit ethernet would surely be a plus for this?

championc wrote: »

Item ; Amiko ; VU+

Price ; Clear Winner ; Loser
DVB-T Tuner Built in ; Clear Winner ; Loser -USB stick could be crap quality[/td]
HDD ; Winner - Can use USB HDD and use in another device too ; Loser - It's stuck inside the box

Setup ; Loser - can be frustrating ; Winner - but you miss all the fun !!

Well, if the DVT-T tuner were both of equal quality and weren't recording to USB would the Amiko still be better? Your last one sums up my reasons why I don't want to get the Amiko. I don't mind doing a bit of tricking around to get it working, but I really want as little frustration as possible.

Thanks for the replies guys

smee again · 16-09-2013 04:23PM

Gigabit isn't necessary, Ethernet does 100mbit, HD is about 25-30mbit

Zardoz · 16-09-2013 04:56PM

smee again wrote: »

Plug a usb hub into the Amiko and you have more ports
Having an extra port doesn't give each port 5v, it means they share 5v

I dont like usb hubs and I presume I need a powered one.
The last one I bought exploded after a few weeks .:(

Your last one sums up my reasons why I don't want to get the Amiko. I don't mind doing a bit of tricking around to get it working, but I really want as little frustration as possible.

Just use one of the preconfigured backup images available,it will take alot of the work out of it for you.
There will some new ones coming out soon with the judder fix incorporated.

championc · 16-09-2013 04:59PM

reaper12 wrote: »

Your last one sums up my reasons why I don't want to get the Amiko. I don't mind doing a bit of tricking around to get it working, but I really want as little frustration as possible.

In my experience, if you start off with something and use only 10% of it's options, you'll be likely to use more even if you only use something like recording once every six months.

This box is the absolute dogs b****x and the only side of negativity has been with juddering on HD CHannels, which was finally resolved on Friday.

Given the fact that you can also flash the box with images, it gives you the option to Flash an image like mine with all the main stuff pre-loaded and so, the only tricking around from that point onwards might be with adding further plugins - particularly ones which are NOT hosted on the Images' download server.

smee again · 16-09-2013 05:02PM

Zardoz wrote: »

I dont like usb hubs and I presume I need a powered one.
The last one I bought exploded after a few weeks .:(

Don't buy the "made in China" crap on Ebay. There's no problem with a decent one. USB is a rail, once you've enough power you can daisy chain as many as you like

Zardoz · 16-09-2013 05:09PM

championc wrote: »

This box is the absolute dogs b****x and the only side of negativity has been with juddering on HD CHannels, which was finally resolved on Friday.

Some people say that the Enigma 2 images are very unstable and crash alot.
That may have been true in the beginning but the images are very stable now.

I find the HDMU and Hyperion images very solid and hardly ever crash .

It takes a while to configure the receiver but once its setup correctly its as stable as my Dm800 but alot faster .

Don't buy the "made in China" crap on Ebay. There's no problem with a decent one. USB is a rail, once you've enough power you can daisy chain as many as you like

Does the Alien2 require a powered usb hub or will an unpowered one work ?
Could you recommend one ?

FlexMcMurphy · 16-09-2013 06:37PM

Zardoz wrote: »

I dont see much difference in boot speeds,the Alien2 is very fast to load ,~70 seconds.
My Dm800 in comparison takes over 3 minutes to boot.

Boot time isn't a deal breaker for me but I have to say it feels like any enigma2 image takes a while to load up on my Alien2... much longer than a Sky receiver. That's a bit of an adjustment to make if you're used to just turning on your box and TV and being able to watch a program straight away.

The DM800 might take 3mins to start up and the Alien2 around 70 seconds but the Vu+ Solo is reported to take about 30secs.

reaper12 wrote: »

I have a good NAS and want to use it, the gigabit ethernet would surely be a plus for this?

The gigabit ethernet of the Vu+ Duo would be useful if you wanted to stream several HD channels at the same time from the box to other devices or to copy recordings off an internal HD faster for instance. The Alien2 has megabit ethernet (10M/100M) and I've found it is perfectly able to stream live HD content to my laptop.

There's probably no way to avoid a bit of tricking around with either of these boxes. That's why I have my good old Xoro 9000 to hand in case of emergencies. Has no fancy features but never once given me trouble and boots in about 10 seconds!

Flex

reaper12 · 16-09-2013 07:06PM

Well, what can I say only thanks again for all the answers.

My worry about the 10/100 ethernet is if I am recording one HD channel, while playing a HD program that I recorded earlier. Will that be ok?

70 second boot time, wow, it's pretty long :-) I think I will just leave it on all the time.

Going to be an interesting day tomorrow!!

brian ireland · 16-09-2013 08:34PM

Came home from work and turned on the box and it said downloader. I though I may have pressed some button on the remote while turning it on. I tried to exit out of the download menu but it wouldn't let me. I powered it off and on again, now it just says starting and does nothing. I am using Hyperion image.

championc · 16-09-2013 08:49PM

How long did you leave it ? Sounds like an upgrade although I wouldn't have expected it to kick off itself.

brian ireland · 16-09-2013 08:56PM

championc wrote: »

How long did you leave it ? Sounds like an upgrade although I wouldn't have expected it to kick off itself.

When I turned it on and saw the downloader I only left it for a few minutes and tried to exit. After I restarted it I waited about 15 minutes and it was doing nothing except saying "Starting" then I had to switch to spark for the Liverpool game.

FlexMcMurphy · 16-09-2013 09:21PM

reaper12 wrote: »

My worry about the 10/100 ethernet is if I am recording one HD channel, while playing a HD program that I recorded earlier. Will that be ok?

This definately wouldn't be a problem if you were recording to a Vu+ internal hard disk as you wouldn't have HD traffic running in both directions between the receiver and the NAS!

I can't test this as I don't have a NAS but if what smee says is correct (that HD is about 25-30mbit) I'm fairly sure that wouldn't be a problem for you either.

Flex

Wisesmurf · 17-09-2013 08:28AM

brian ireland wrote: »

When I turned it on and saw the downloader I only left it for a few minutes and tried to exit. After I restarted it I waited about 15 minutes and it was doing nothing except saying "Starting" then I had to switch to spark for the Liverpool game.

Not sure how champion's image is set up but that sounds like an epg download that got stuck. I used to set it to download nightly at about 4am and the odd time the box would freeze mid-download. I'd have to power off and restart.

Dublin Deluge · 17-09-2013 11:13AM

Zardoz wrote: »

Does the Alien2 require a powered usb hub or will an unpowered one work ?
Could you recommend one ?

You do need a powered USB hub. I got my Alien2 in December and tried to use an unpowered USB hub I had lying around the house, but it didn't work, it woudln't recognise the hard drive. I just bought a powered USB hub from PC World in Jervis and it's been working great since then.

Zardoz · 17-09-2013 01:33PM

Dublin Deluge wrote: »

You do need a powered USB hub. I got my Alien2 in December and tried to use an unpowered USB hub I had lying around the house, but it didn't work, it woudln't recognise the hard drive. I just bought a powered USB hub from PC World in Jervis and it's been working great since then.

Thanks for that info ,I guessed an unpowered hub wouldnt work .
I will have to get a powered hub down the line so.

Agueroooo · 17-09-2013 04:50PM

weird problem

when my Amiko alien 2 (using championc image) is switched on my whole LAN and WLAN network slows to a snails pace.

upc 50mg upc3925 bridged to a Asus N router.

I cant diagnose the problem, and this could be a real show stopper as I have invested a lot of money on dishes, boxes, cabling and sat/ter switches for a multi-room system.

anyone ever heard of similar - dont know if hardware or software issue.

smee again · 17-09-2013 04:53PM

Agueroooo wrote: »

weird problem

when my Amiko alien 2 (using championc image) is switched on my whole LAN and WLAN network slows to a snails pace.

upc 50mg upc3925 bridged to a Asus N router.

I cant diagnose the problem, and this could be a real show stopper as I have invested a lot of money on dishes, boxes, cabling and sat/ter switches for a multi-room system.

anyone ever heard of similar - dont know if hardware or software issue.

IP conflict? Did you remove the static IP champion had on the box and re-enable DHCP?

@champion, you really should re-enable that setting before you make a backup. Also, as some use scart, you should set it to composite too, not HD, some TV's will have trouble with it set to 1080p. Can easily be re-enabled when flashed

Amiko Alien 2 Triple Tuner Combobox

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