Alien SHD 8900 review

There are 4 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 1,801 times. The last Post () by justanotherjohn.

    Hi Friends,
    This is a review from me I have had almost all boxes so this is a fair comparison.


    In my view the spark is okay but not great, if you are used to e2 or decent boxes then i doubt you will grow to use spark although it is 100% better then openbox etc


    It is NOT worth £100 as the company making the boxes should ate LEAST support emus!!, this box will run oscam for CCCAM users and mgcamd also works but ONLY mgcamd 1.33, no 1.35 or 1.38.


    The remote look great BUT it is cheaply made and once you start using it you will notice the build quality by the horrible cheap clicking sounds, ANOTHER thing to note especially for E2 users is that the colour buttons are located in the wrong place (ie blue button for favorites etc), it is too low. (nothing major but potential buyers should know the pros & cons)


    E2 images are simple to install but are all in alpha state at the minute, in saying that the PKT v3 image seems to work great on this box.


    1 channel also works fine in e2.


    Spark works well but most of the online functions do not work in europe.


    In short the box is 100% an openbox killer and very good alternative, BUT it is not as slick as a vu solo/duo or dreambox dm800.


    It is not worth £100 rrp due to limited support from the manufacturs and VERY limited Emu support and also the low build qyuality. If you can get for £70/80 then it is worth it over openbox etc, but seeing as a dm800hd is now £100 (from china), i would stick with that as it is tried and tested.


    Any questions please feel free to ask.

    Have to say got one of these boxes on friday have it running ok but wouldnt buy another dont think its very good in many areas and people would be better off paying a bit more for a VU+solo which has far better support ,images etc

    The only thing i dont like about the solo is that there is no display on the front panel. Ie like a clock. Other then that the solo is a great box

    Give it time. At the moment i hate my Alien2 with a passion, although my Alien SHD8900 is in regular use and works very well indeed. i will still play with the Alien 2 for a while yet, before i throw in the towel.


    As for the price, these boxes can be got for as little as £75 on a well known online auction site, I got mine second hand so that's even better for me as when it arrived it looked like new and still had all the cellophane wrapping on the front of it.


    As for the emus, you have to remember the SH4 architecture this box uses means that a lot emus just simply won't work with it as they are now mostly designed to work with MIPS architecture.


    The build quality is also definitely superior to that of the Openbox and other cheap Chinese clones. Just persevere with the box and you will find its better qualities.


    Quote

    its very good in many areas and people would be better off paying a bit more for a VU+solo which has far better support ,images etc


    Give it time, the images will come. The Gigablue used to be the same, mine is now as stable as you like and is on a par with my old Vu+ for usability.


    Nano

    After finally getting my box to work how I want (in enigma2 mind NOT Spark) I think your review is about right. I paid £79.99 for mine (SHD-8900) including next day delivery from that famous auction site. Brand new in sealed box.
    Previously I've had an openbox s9 which had to go back as wouldn't drive my motor, then a Dreambox 800HDSE Clone which was superb but then stold in a burglary which then lead to a purchase of a ***box F3 as a short term solution. Against these the Alien kills the openbox and ***box but is absolutely shamed by the Dreambox clone. Like you said the enigma2 images are not great at the moment but also as you said the PKTeam nebula 3 image seems the exception to this. I'd avoid the HDMU images though as tried a few and all dreadful and unstable imo.
    Spark doesn't play well with softcams and even using the sh4 friendly Oscam I consistently failed to get a steady service. So anyone looking to use a softcam I'd recommend flashing Nebula 3 from pkteam and installing Oscam on it from plugins menu and just stick with that. To me Spark is useless for anything other than FTA services or maybe with a card but haven't tried its card abilities to comment.
    The remote is awful both in design and use (very slow).


    But definitely worth £80 if you plan on using enigma2.

Spark STI 7111 Support

Support for ADOH R1, Amiko Alien SHD 8900, Amiko Alien Mini, Goldmaster HD 1200, Golden Media 990 CR HD PVR Spark LX, Golden Media Spark Reloaded, Edision Argus Pingulux, Edision Argus Pingulux Plus, Galaxy Innovations GI S, SAB Unix F+ Solo, Dynavision Spark, Dynavision Spark Plus, Fulan Spark I+, Truman Premier 1+, Samsat Linux 1, Startrack SRT 2020 HD, FullHD FH 2020 HD, Yumatu Spark, Visionnet Hammer, Visionnet Fireball, Superbox S750, Sogno Spark Revolution, Spark STI 7111 Receivers.

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