My Amiko Experience - Month 1

There are 6 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 2,467 times. The last Post () by nano.

    I've had my Amiko Alien2, plugging away with the Spark system for just about a month now and I thought I would post a message and let you know my findings of how I am getting on with the system and what I have found...or not. A lot of people have been on here asking people for a review of the system, without much detail.


    I have also posted the below on the Official Spark forum for their information. If you have answers to my list of dislikes / improvements, or in fact you know of a solution which can remedy them then please do let me know.


    Likes

    • Spark OS. This is very reliable, I think in the time I have used it, is has crashed perhaps 3 times. These have tended to be when I am asking the Box to do two things - so, Record and view the the EPG Schedule.


    • Install process was pretty easy and straight-forward - straight in and working.


    • Quality of the tuner. S2 is perfect, HD is beautiful. DVB-T, picture quality is greatly improved on my other STB, that surprised me.


    • Updating. Updating the Spark system is a breeze, gives me confidence when an update is available.


    • Recording TV shows to a NAS - this does work very well and the folders are named pretty well so I can then watch them on different tools, e.g. Phone, laptop, Smart TV


    • Playing content back off the NAS AVI files stream perfectly, MKV's.....not so much!


    • TV Wall. that is pretty good and the ability to group and search for channels


    • Plugins. Automated functionality of picking up a plugins when I put my memory stick in the back of the box is very nice indeed - E2 is not so user friendly at all


    • Portal function is a good idea, love the button on the remote.


    • YouTube. Like this, works well.



    Dislikes / areas for Improvement

    • Opera Browser. The inbuilt bookmarks are helpful, but you cannot bookmark pages, so I have to use the in-built keyboard all the time.


    • Opera Browser. it doesn't seem to have flash-player on the browser either, so it will not play content off BBC website (I've tried the browser because I cannot get WebTV or Portal to work!) I am trying to create shortcuts to the UK free-to-air On-Demand services, but nothing seems to work


    • Recording. If I am recording one thing I cannot watch another channel, whether it is DVB-S2 second tuner or the DVB-T. In my mind, what is the point of having the triple tuner is I cannot do this basic function.


    • Recording. There is no 'series link' option, and with the inability to view a TV schedule over a period of days makes it hard to record at all to be honest!


    • EPG. The interface is extremely poor, even the EPG on my 6 year old LG TV is much better. CrossEPG isn't working, so no data is listed every time I turn the box on.


    • EPG. The channels listing is in a complete mess, there is no way to import a bouquet to order them (my wife is massively breaking my ball over this one, she cannot find what she want - hahaha!). The interface on the box is cumbersome to say the least and because you need to do a channel update almost weekly it is a thankless task trying to order them manually, I'm going to pull a Favourite's list for her this weekend


    • EPG. Only allows Now and Next - no schedule view. This is probably because CrossEPG doesn't work. Also within the 'Schedule' view it would be greatly improved if it showed more than one channel at a time, so you could see what was on this evening.


    • Portal. While it is a good idea, and has the potential to be mighty, it lacks basic functionality which render it almost useless for me right now. I cannot add my own portal pages (by the way, why not?), I want to add all the UK free to air on-demand services to it, so that it is easily accessible.


    • WebTV. No real instructions as to what this is, what is can be used for or how to get it work. How does it differ from the Portal?? I think it might work for me, I've read that I can edit / create an XML file for website, but there is no detail as to what I need to point it too. Can it be a website, RSS feed??


    I think in summary it is a decent box. For £150 it does a good job excellent picture quality for even standard definition over *** TV and BT Vision boxes, but has lacks in two very big ways which stop the system being a massive hit (EPG and Online services - Portal or Browser). At the moment it probably isn't good enough to be my main STB, it isn't giving me what I want and I've no information as to when it potentially will (when will the EPG be fixed and when will the browser work and stream content).

    I like what you have written, but unfortunately my experience of the Amiko Alien 2 is not quite so good.


    I can't really say anything about Spark as i don't use it. On the Enigma 2 side i wasn't impressed one little bit.


    Basically from what i can tell since these boxes run a SH4 type architecture which is not Enigma2s native platform the E2 images are very buggy indeed, with constant green screening regardless of what image you use. No idea if they will get any better, although i think the Alien 2 is going to be another Technomate TM800, although thats just my opinion which i'm sure others will probably disagree with.


    There are constant threads on this and other forums regarding difficulties installing firmware on them, and also loads of other issues. I can categorically say its the worst receiver i have ever had the displeasure of owning and i've purchased some right lemons in the past few years, although on the other end of the Spectrum i have purchased some really good ones to. The only good thing about the Alien 2 i found, when it worked correctly was the picture quality was slightly better than my Gigablue, but only marginally.


    I have had other SH4 boxes before that have given me no problems, but hand on heart i can honestly say that non have ever been as bad as the Alien 2. My Alien SHD 8900 is a really good box which is a pleasure to use and gives me no trouble at all. How did Amiko get it so wrong with the Alien 2. I thought the idea when releasing a newer box is for it to be better than the last one, not worse.


    In my opinion the Alien 2 just doesn't relate to what i would call a useable box at this moment in time. Whether that will change in the future i don't know. At the moment its just a hardcore enthusiasts box. If you can put up with the bugs you may enjoy it.



    Nano

    Have you tried this image Nano?
    http://linuxsat-support.com/am…lien-2-a-5.html#post89712


    I'm using it and find it very decent. It's not without it's small bugs, the box needs an E2 restart daily, but with all it's plugins (autobouquets, crossepg, cool TV guide, autotimers) it's a great experience that makes it worth it. I can use all 3 tuners at the same time, no problem. I can record 2x HD DVB-S feeds and watch or stream DVB-T at the same time. It's working as it should
    Also, to flash E2 use the e2upgrade plugin, this allows you use any usb key and flash from within Spark. It's even passed the Missis test for usability, which says a lot. See my guide on setting it up (hope the mods don't mind posting a link to elsewhere):
    boards.ie - View Single Post - Amiko Alien 2 Tripple Tuner Combobox
    boards.ie - View Single Post - Amiko Alien 2 Tripple Tuner Combobox

    Hi Pog22


    I've tried all the E2 images for this box, non are any where near as stable as i would call useable for everyday use, when compared with my other MIPS based receivers. I like a box i can setup and leave it, without the fear of it going tits up half way through a film.


    This is something my Alien 2 was not capable of doing. I know i can leave my Gigablue or my DM800 on for days on end with out either of them falling over. Even my old and decrepit DM7020Si can manage it without to many issues.


    I only used my Alien2 for about 10 hours and that was enough for me. Every image has one or another bug which just annoyed me, to the point where i felt it wasn't suitable for what i had bought it for.


    I have found other annoying issues with both my Alien boxes, where as if for any reason decoding stalls whilst reading from the card in my DM800 or Gigablue you have to change channel and flick back for it to start decoding again without stuttering. This is whilst using OSCam on the Alien. I have no problems like this with my DM800 under OSCam, if it stalls it picks up again and then continues as it did before.


    I would say with the amount of development thats going on with these boxes that there is a good chance it may become a good useable Enigma2 box in the future, but at the moment i'm not convinced. I'm just hoping that one day they do become usable considering the amount of people that now own them.


    I've had a lot of linux based boxed in the past, so i know what I'm doing with them, i just felt at this moment in time the Alien2 wasn't for me and wasn't worth pursuing any further. I'm just in the middle of buying another new receiver that will replace the little Alien SHD-8900, which is a great box,even if it does have a few issues.


    I'm just staying with MIPS boxes now. I've had enough of the SH4 ones.


    I will also give a bit of friendly advice against posting live links to other forums (Rule 4). Its a big no no on most forums, this one included.


    Nano

    10 hours and you've tried a few images, you really haven't given it much of a chance, have you. It's early days for E2 on the new hardware in this box, with a few updates it will be better. I'm using it as my daily runner and I've not had any lockups halfway through films.

    Guys,


    I posted this on the official Spark Forum. The forum moderator contact me and advised that they are working on improving the Portal / WebTV, but they need to identify feeds to be able to configure a stable app, but they are continuing. They understand the problems I'm having with a poor EPG and are going to provide further CrossEPG fixes apparently .61 does now work, but not on HDD. The issue over the triple tuner is a bug, they have had this reported and are testing solutions now.


    I wasn't given dates, so I've idea when things will be released, but at least they had the decency to reply - so less wait and see.

    Quote from Pog22

    10 hours and you've tried a few images, you really haven't given it much of a chance, have you. It's early days for E2 on the new hardware in this box, with a few updates it will be better. I'm using it as my daily runner and I've not had any lockups halfway through films.


    I'm glad its working for you and that your really happy with your Alien 2 Pog22, i really am.


    I know in a few hours if i'm going to like a box, and this one just didn't float my boat like all the other ones i've had in the past. I'm was really happy with my SHD-8900 so it was a huge surprise that the Alien 2 turned out to be such a big disappointment. Saying that though, the SHD-8900 was a bit of a pain to get it into a good working shape. Other than its daily reboot, it usually behaves itself.


    To me the Enigma 2 on the Alien 2 is like Enigma2 was on the MIPS boxes 3 years ago. I really don't want to go back to that when my other boxes perform like i would expect them to.


    Nano

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