Can the box do, what I am looking for?

Hi, I am thinking of purchasing this machine instead of building a HTPC but I am a Sat-newbee. I am looking to do the following:

- watch pictures and DIVX/XVID/DVD videos via an external USB DVD drive (if seen a plugin in for E2) with subtitles e.g. *.srt
- record directly on my USB DVD recorder from a HDD
- use a bluetooth device like a keyboard, I have an USB dongle
- use any wireless keyboard
- receive/record streams from the BBC iPlayer, e.g. via XBMC's BBC iPlayer plugin or Youtube website or Airplayer or BBC Bigscreen website, if this is not possible will it become possible once a HTML5 version is available
- receive email or facebook notifications on the front panel display in standby mode
- listen to satellite radio and internet radio (will flash streams work with Opera Flash Lite) without switching the TV on/off
- watch German, Italian as well as UK SatTV (I am based in the UK)
- cut out adverts on recorded programmes automatically either during recording or afterwards
- access the box from the WAN, either to stream from or to the box, or copy material onto HDD
- use the keypad of an android phone (e.g. samsung galaxy mini) to type messages, google, or flip channels

Also,
- how does channel switching compare to other machines
- is the third tuner always a combo T/C
- are video recordings done in *.TS, if so can the easily be converted into mp4
- what is the format of radio recordings
- will an external HDD go into a low power mode when a recording is scheduled
- when a recording is scheduled will the USB wake a HDD that is in deep-mode
- is it worth getting this machine at all with what I am looking for or would you recommend me getting stand-alone machines, e.g. streamer, sat receiver, dvd player etc.
- can you upgrade the machine with ram or processing power?

Many thanks.

Sorry for rushing just into this.

I guess I should ask, does "S"omeone know if you can play/record DVDs via an USB DVD-Writer with the Amiko Alien 2 and if streaming of content from the BBC iPlayer is possible with this machine. I had asked Amiko but did not receive an answer. Thanks for sharing this info with me.

Quote from ergo

Hi, I am thinking of purchasing this machine instead of building a HTPC but I am a Sat-newbee. I am looking to do the following:
...well, for anyone who is in the same position, I am nowin a position to answer some of my own questions as I bought the receiver about a week ago.

I am very new to all this and I hope that I will figure out how to do the things I'd like to use Alien2 for in the future when my experience has grown and updates/plugins have come along. So, at the moment, many things are not "click and go" but this is okay for me but surely not for everyone.

First I want to say the inital setup of tuners and the like was pretty straight forward.
Second, the picture quality in SD and HD using the DVB-S2 tuners is on my old Samsung LE74 as good as can be. I found the quality better in Spark as in E2 though.
Third, Enigma2 is not on the machine. I installed an alpha version, again this worked fine, but the image has crashed a few times, downloadable plugin choice is pretty limited and I am not yet clever enough to install them from another source. But I believe that there are some sharp mind in this forum and elsewhere at work, so thanks to all developers in advance.

- watch pictures and DIVX/XVID/DVD videos via an external USB DVD drive (if seen a plugin in for E2) with subtitles e.g. *.srt
This works well from my Iomega eGo drive. Under Spark, subtitles can be downloaded conveniently.
I have however been unable to gain access to my LG DVD Burner and hence cannot play anything from it. There is a response from the DVD drive (with external power) when I connect it via USB but that's it.
- record directly on my USB DVD recorder from a HDD
I don't think this will ever become possible but then it is not really necessary with an external HDD that can be plugged into a computer.
- use a bluetooth device like a keyboard, I have an USB dongle
not tried yet
- use any wireless keyboard
I connected a RF wireless mouse but the mouse wouldn't work.
- receive/record streams from the BBC iPlayer, e.g. via XBMC's BBC iPlayer plugin or Youtube website or Airplayer or BBC Bigscreen website, if this is not possible will it become possible once a HTML5 version is available
BBC iPlayer doesn't work in Opera (the Flash issue) and I alos cannot get streams to work on the BBC's BIGSCREEN website. The XBMC plugin is not available for download in the E2 image I am running, so I haven't been able to try their iPlayer plugin.
- receive email or facebook notifications on the front panel display in standby mode
- listen to satellite radio and internet radio (will flash streams work with Opera Flash Lite) without switching the TV on/off
- watch German, Italian as well as UK SatTV (I am based in the UK)
This is obviously down to my set-up but certain content from ARD Mediathek, for example, was unavailbe for streaming as I have a UK IP addess. I wonder if a proxy server plugin exist though?!
- cut out adverts on recorded programmes automatically either during recording or afterwards
I dont think this option exists in Spark, yet.
- access the box from the WAN, either to stream from or to the box, or copy material onto HDD
I think this will be possible in the future according to the Amiko website.
- use the keypad of an android phone (e.g. samsung galaxy mini) to type messages, google, or flip channels
I successfully used the SparkRcu plugin which gives you a remote control on your Android. Works great. Streaming with WebTV or VLC to/from devices is I think possible but my attempts have not been fruitful...so it is not child's play.

Also,
- how does channel switching compare to other machines
I read somewhere that it takes up to 2s to switch channels. Well, it is not instant but probably somewhere between 1-2s. Completely acceptable in my view.
- is the third tuner always a combo T/C
As far as I am aware, the answer is yes. The seller had written DVB-T but this is a combo tuner. I haven't seen a 3xDVB-S advertised anywhere.
- are video recordings done in *.TS, if so can the easily be converted into mp4
Recordings are MPEG-2 TS Video (.ts) are Timeshift TRP File (.trp) Both works well on my Iomega eGo. In Spark, the file size is not shown only how much storage is left on the HDD. Recoding using FormatFactory works.
- what is the format of radio recordings
- will an external HDD go into a low power mode when a recording is scheduled
- when a recording is scheduled will the USB wake a HDD that is in deep-mode
- is it worth getting this machine at all with what I am looking for or would you recommend me getting stand-alone machines, e.g. streamer, sat receiver, dvd player etc.
It is a work in progress :) I hope.
- can you upgrade the machine with ram or processing power?

Many thanks.

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...to be continued...