Amiko Alien2 / SAB / GM / ST7162 SPARK Discussion Thread

if you can update to the latest firmware do your channel list and plugins are not effected

no on demand plugins just use your chromebook for now

you can copy / move recording and play them on vlc Media Player on your laptop

it works on fta and the encrypted channels if you have them

if what you want is watching tv and recording spark is better , for the odd on demand programme i want i use my laptop

deezell

Nowso's previous answer seems to say you can access the USB connected HDD from your laptop, which should be the case if you can share the drive. It would be nice to have the opposite, a view of your PC hard drive, so you can play PC stored media file.The other option is a network attached storage, NAS, a hard drive connected by ethernet which is visible to the box and to Pcs on the network. I'm interested in that setup, I'm curious as to it's performance for recording and time shifting though. I'd imagine that the USB connected drive would be more solid in this regard, there's a lot of Data slewing down the line when you time shift or record. I'll get back to Enigma when I've time and opportunity, and If i can't get what I need from spark. 99.9% of my viewing is terrestrial, with a small bit of streamed content usually via a chromebook. I had tried RTE player in Enigma and it worked first time, but the sound was slightly out of sync. Are there on demand plugins for spark?

deezell wrote: »

Just finished reading this thread, all 28 pages. Got a sab triple this weekend, after many years with an Edision combo. Enigma had me pulling out hair after a day, ( how do you edit the channels, and show the terrestrial and sat in one nice List). Anyway, I'll cut my teeth on Spark first, epg looks exactly like the Edision so the tut factor will be lower when the box is introduced. Cross epg working without a hitch, channels tuned but will download Nowso's channels database to save time. Picture definitely better than the Edision. Can this box record to a network attached storage instead of a usb? I could play back pc media files as well as recordings without plugging in usb sticks. The Rte 1+1 issue worries me, we use that a lot, often switching just before 7 Pm for the 6 news, which would be when there is no signal. I'll try it tomorrow and see if it crashes. Also, is that Lavatronics auto channel updater just for Enigma2?

Not that I'm pleased to read that you were pulling your hair out with Enigma but it is exactly my experience. With the help from posters here I reverted to Spark and am happily using the box at this stage. Now that I've learned so much I do intend tackling Enigma again soon.

Two follow on questions I have - is it worth upgrading to the latest firmware 1.2.74? And, with regards to the recordings on the HDD attached to the box, is it possible to copy those recordings via a laptop?

once you have loaded the channel list you can either edit it as it goes along or load my updates

you can record whats on rte1 and watch later

there is network drive option but i havnt set it up

hopefully the rte1+1 issue can be sorted . can it be reported ? i may have been already

i record to the hdd connected the box and with network sharing you can stream sd channels on my laptop when needed through the network funtion

deezell

Just finished reading this thread, all 28 pages. Got a sab triple this weekend, after many years with an Edision combo. Enigma had me pulling out hair after a day, ( how do you edit the channels, and show the terrestrial and sat in one nice List). Anyway, I'll cut my teeth on Spark first, epg looks exactly like the Edision so the tut factor will be lower when the box is introduced. Cross epg working without a hitch, channels tuned but will download Nowso's channels database to save time. Picture definitely better than the Edision. Can this box record to a network attached storage instead of a usb? I could play back pc media files as well as recordings without plugging in usb sticks. The Rte 1+1 issue worries me, we use that a lot, often switching just before 7 Pm for the 6 news, which would be when there is no signal. I'll try it tomorrow and see if it crashes. Also, is that Lavatronics auto channel updater just for Enigma2?

theres an issue with the amiko boxs on the uk freeview +rte1+1

if u tune in a channel thats not on 24 hours , when u tune in when its not broadcasting error will come up and you will have to reboot

its annoying

Drexl

Nowso wrote: »

1st you can mention names once its not advertising or libelous i think lol

you can still get the amiko alien 2 or Sab Triplex and use spark instead of enigma 2

another option are the ferguson arriva 252 or 153 . they are on shop websites so you can look them up easily enough

have a look nd see what you think

Cheers for info. TVTrade is a wealth of info alright. I went for the Amiko Mini HD Combo in the end, as I should be able to view the UK Freeview channels if recording on Sat, so shouldn't need the second Sat tuner.

There is a firmware download from lavatronics available, which seems to provide online automatic channel updates, I'll check it out when I get the box.

Anyway, very informative forums, keep it up :-))

not a lot of difference except from those stated

still some other issues exist

Nowso wrote: »

on the menu option . using it on alien 2 and 8900 already

Hey Nowso, found anything weird or wonderful on the AA2 with the new FW?

on the menu option . using it on alien 2 and 8900 already

Nowso wrote: »

loading it now

universal channel was one that froze that way

good to see spark still being updated

Aye, good stuff, is it available via the menu option or just via website/usb ?

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Dave.M, I've seen this mentioned here & elsewhere but luckily it's never happened to me yet.

On another note I checked http://amikostb.com/?q=product&id=153 this morning & it appears a 1.2.74 is now available.

So maybe . . . . . just maybe

loading it now

universal channel was one that froze that way

good to see spark still being updated

Nowso wrote: »

recordings freezing can be caused by low usb speed . dont go to fst and you will be ok and by repeated pressing of the right direction button it fast forwards bit by bit getting bigger gaps s you go

My write speed is ample for 2 glitch free HD recordings and the read speed registers faster still plus it freezes on occasion when using either straight FF or the right button which I'd mostly use so not sure that's the reason in my case anyway.

Grats wrote: »

Thanks for that.

In relation to recordings, in my few recordings to date I found the box freezing when fast forwarding. Will be very interested to see if the latest firmware solves this issue.

recordings freezing can be caused by low usb speed . dont go to fst and you will be ok and by repeated pressing of the right direction button it fast forwards bit by bit getting bigger gaps s you go

1st you can mention names once its not advertising or libelous i think lol

you can still get the amiko alien 2 or Sab Triplex and use spark instead of enigma 2

another option are the ferguson arriva 252 or 153 . they are on shop websites so you can look them up easily enough

have a look nd see what you think

Drexl

Nowso wrote: »

enigma 2 is something that needs usually needs frequent attention and not suited to what you say?

even the most stable image can have issues

Thanks Nowso. I'll give it a miss so. I'll go for a standard Combo box. Can I please ask, could you recommend one based on the following, they probably can't all be met, but which box might be closest?

- Can receive Saorview, Free To Air Sat, and Freeview(near border), and have all these on the one easily accessible program list, no switching between i/p's.

- PVR (I have the hard disk), with live pause, play, etc.

- In lieu of 7 Day on Sat EPG, can I get a box that can set up a manual timer for e.g. every Wed, at 7pm, for 1Hr?

- Fast box, no lag on menus, etc., and fast, easy to use, remote. Box to be as easy as possible to use in general

- If possible a remote that can be programmed, so they don't need a seperate TV remote, although no sacrifice of usability for this

- If not much more expensive, could you recommend a Tri, dual Sat i/p box, the wiring is there for it.

Thanks in advance. It's hard to find answers to these specific questions on-line or in the forums.

Thanks.

PS- Can I mention a company name on the forums? Nothing to do with me personally.

That's interesting, although Spark firmwares have been know to introduce new bugs too so thread with caution but it does sound promising

** and interestingly not yet noted on sparkfans.net so must be hot off the press, good spot.

Dave..M wrote: »

Probably Nowso suggested already but in Menu under basic settings/misc I think you can select power save standby option, this puts the stb into deep standby, more energy efficient when off for long periods or if always left in standby but will still wake for recordings.

Thanks for that.

In relation to recordings, in my few recordings to date I found the box freezing when fast forwarding. Will be very interested to see if the latest firmware solves this issue.

Shiraz 4.99

Dave.M, I've seen this mentioned here & elsewhere but luckily it's never happened to me yet.

On another note I checked http://amikostb.com/?q=product&id=153 this morning & it appears a 1.2.74 is now available.

Release Notes for v1.2.74:
New Features:
- Added possibility to load M3U lists in WebTV

Fixes:
- Fixed an issue causing audio/video freezing on certain channels with high bitrate EPG data

Improvements:
- Fixed several small bugs

So maybe . . . . . just maybe

Has anyone else noticed how flakey the playback of recording is on Spark? My box freezes a lot if you start to fast forwarding using arrows or ff buttons a lot in one go for example if you try to skip to start of program past a 2/3 min recording buffer and hit ff or arrow forward a few times to get to start of movie, I find sometimes it can freeze i.e. HDD icon stops spinning and I need to flip on off switch to reboot. I'm pretty sure my drive is fine (USB 2.0/3.0 Toshiba) so wondering if it's just my box going on the blink or something dodgy in 1.2.73 (recordings are generally HD kids movies from BBc so maybe it's a HD glitch). Also whenever I record BBC's I end up with blooming Narrative as the default audio, I recorded a lot over chrimbo from the HD BBC's and all have it as default (I already have audio priority set to DD set in settings), I can switch audio to DD via red but it's very annoying indeed. Have flipped back to 1.2.72b and back and it seemed the same on that FW (have not really used the box much for recording or playback in a while so maybe it's normal now).
Would be good to know if it's just me, the box is a secondary unit now so not the end of the world either way but it has me perplexed- tks.

Grats wrote: »

Perfect! All your advise working. Many thanks.

Probably Nowso suggested already but in Menu under basic settings/misc I think you can select power save standby option, this puts the stb into deep standby, more energy efficient when off for long periods or if always left in standby but will still wake for recordings.

Nowso wrote: »

1 once you leave it plugged in on standby it will be fine

2 +3

to select all channels hit the ok button in the middle and then hit the left arrow until ur on the list startin wit all , fav,sat.a-z

you will probably have satellite highlited in orange

push up to highlight and select all and them hit right to get back to the channel list

Perfect! All your advise working. Many thanks.

1 once you leave it plugged in on standby it will be fine

2 +3

to select all channels hit the ok button in the middle and then hit the left arrow until ur on the list startin wit all , fav,sat.a-z

you will probably have satellite highlited in orange

push up to highlight and select all and them hit right to get back to the channel list

As I posted earlier, I'm new to this and reverted to Spark as I found Enigma2 too technical for me, for the present at least! I've already received very helpful advise on this thread for which I am most grateful. I do lots of research and searching of previous posts before I post a question. In doing so I find I learn a lot but sometimes it can be confusing if you're still at the early stages.

Anyway what I leading up to is a request for more help! It's to do with recording. Just to point out I'm using Spark and just one of the satellite tuners.

1. Does the box have to be left on at all times if you have a number of recordings set up e.g. If you're away on holidays?

2. When I set up a recording on a satellite channel and it kicks in, the box won't let me change to a terrestrial channel without cancelling the current recording? Any solution?

3. What is the best way of accessing ALL channels, terrestrial and satellite, under one list on box? I wonder if this would allow be switch between terrestrial and satellite during recordings?

Regards and thanks.

Nowso wrote: »

thats only the instructions

here is the latest firmware 1.2.73
http://www.amikostb.com/download.php?id=1234

Only got around to carrying out this now. It worked, thank you.

thats only the instructions

here is the latest firmware 1.2.73
http://www.amikostb.com/download.php?id=1234

Nowso wrote: »

download here and follow the offline method

http://amikostb.com/download.php?id=854

I don't see any download on that link!

Grats wrote: »

I did that and I get a message - upgrade type error??

download here and follow the offline method

http://amikostb.com/download.php?id=854

Drexl wrote: »

Apologies firstly if this is off immediate topic... let me know if I should have started a new thread.

Do you think I could purchase one of these Amiko Alien + boxes and set it up for my folks, with Enigma 2, to allow 7 day EPG and series link, then walk away? I'd leave written instructions for use, I'm mainly asking, is it stable? Could they mess the setup up fairly easily? I live at the other end of the country and don't fancy driving back and forth to retune/setup this box.

If the answer is generally yes, they could mess it up, or it's likely to become unstuck, is there a more stable Enigma 2 box?

Your help is much appreciated, I've been trawling these forums and can't seem to find a rough answer.

Thanks.

enigma 2 is something that needs usually needs frequent attention and not suited to what you say?

even the most stable image can have issues