Amiko SHD-8900 Alien

[ViP3R]

I'm thinking I will wait until April when the 'blind-scan' feature will be added before I order my Alien. I do tons of feed hunting and need my blind-scan ability. Otherwise, nice box.

It has blindscan now, otherwise I would not have bothered..lol

It does ac3 through HDMI and it's a STI 7111 chip.

[ViP3R]

I found this:

First Enigma 2 image for Amiko Allien-BETA
e2_Alien_RSP173_G1906 beta 04

We would like to once again express our gratitude for all TDT and active "sh4_duckbox_project" mebers for their entire work that have open our way and guided us.


- stm23_0123
- player2 179
- eplayer3
- "high bitrate" bug resolved
- AC3 and DTS (when DTS downmix is OFF) forwarded to S/PDIF and HDMI

In the new release the main benefits are : the new media player witch plays smootly any movie file and the exceptional picture stability at any bitrate !
The quality sound fans are granted with AC3 and DTS (when DTS downmix is OFF) forwarded to S/PDIF and HDMI.

The known unsolved bugs are :
- no output on the SCART
- no HD skins ...yet !
- some strange artefacts in video mode 1080i on Thor HD channels (use 720P or 1080P)
- the cardreader driver still in hold !

- U need 1 FAT32 formated USB
- create one folder named /enigma2
- Power OFF the receiver from the back switch
- plug in the USB
- press the OK button on the front panel and power ON the receiver
- hold the OK button till on the display you will see the following message:
FORC ( forced boot )
- press "down" ( V ) button and on the display, you will see "ENIG" message now press OK
- power OFF the receiver, press "OK"and power ON again
- after the FORC message appear press "right" ( > ) and wait till the upgrade is complete

_______________

It does say AC3 forwarded thru HDMI and no output on SCART yet.

Someone mentioned upgrade thru high quality USB stick. I think this is because of the HDD being mechanical and prone to more failures...Most likely will work fine.

It can be upgraded via Ethernet, USB or rs232.. They just recommend using a good quality USB stick and not the hard drive you would use for recording.

[Yankee495]

Viper got it, STI 7111 and there are other boxes with that chip...Some don't have the scart.

Blind scan...missed it and assumed it had it.

From the manual:


10.1.11 Single Scan
1. Press [RED] key, it will show up a dialog to ask you scan mode (means you want to scan all channels or only scan free channels), program type (means you want to scan all channels or only scan TV/Radio channels), scan type (means preset scan, that is searching the existed TP. Automatic Scan means blind scan. It is no need existed TP info) and NIT Search on/off. After you set up, press [ENTER] key to start scanning.


Didn't see PID edit. Probably over looked it.

[ViP3R]

Viper got it, STI 7111 and there are other boxes with that chip...Some don't have the scart.

Blind scan...missed it and assumed it had it.

From the manual:


10.1.11 Single Scan
1. Press [RED] key, it will show up a dialog to ask you scan mode (means you want to scan all channels or only scan free channels), program type (means you want to scan all channels or only scan TV/Radio channels), scan type (means preset scan, that is searching the existed TP. Automatic Scan means blind scan. It is no need existed TP info) and NIT Search on/off. After you set up, press [ENTER] key to start scanning.


Didn't see PID edit. Probably over looked it.

Yes, pretty sure I did see PID addition as well...

[Yankee495]

I am not finding anything on manual PID's. With update over network it wouldn't be so bad. I could just edit on my laptop and tell it to load it. I hate getting up and down out of my chair 10 times to fix the CW's and they get the PIDs screwed up from time to time on a my Viewsat & S9.

[ViP3R]

I am not finding anything on manual PID's. With update over network it wouldn't be so bad. I could just edit on my laptop and tell it to load it. I hate getting up and down out of my chair 10 times to fix the CW's and they get the PIDs screwed up from time to time on a my Viewsat & S9.

I did see a screenshot of the manual PID addition in the Alien..I just can't remember where..I should have saved it..lol

[Yankee495]

If it will use a different wireless keyboard here is a trackball version.

Looks just like the Amiko but with trackball. The Amiko keyboard says compatible with XP, Vista & Win7...so it looks to be a normal 2.4 Ghz keyboard. If so, you could use a full sized one.

These are available on ebay.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[el bandido]

I have counted about 3 different teams producing Enigma or E2 software for the Amiko Alien. This is in addition to the Spark firmware. Remember this receiver is dual boot???
I saw where a version of Spark found 2500 channels on a satellite in under five minutes. I think this info was in TELESat. I also saw where it locked on skinny transponders below 2000SR.
I remember seeing a pid addition also, but I do not remember which version or variety of firmware has it. We are looking at a receiver that has been developed for over 6 months. The Alien was released in the first part of 2011, so most of the bugs have been worked out. Plus, features and plug-ins have been added.

I expect other remote keyboards to work also, but I wanted to see what the factory offered first.

[Yankee495]

I was reading at another US site that the manufacturer says it will not blind scan...

The manual does say "Automatic Scan means blind scan. It is no need existed TP info) and NIT Search on/off. After you set up, press [ENTER] key to start scanning."

They recommend not buying one "at this time", posted today, because of NO BLIND SCAN. Maybe they have a ton of S9-S12 stock to unload before people discover the Amiko?

They also say they had to edit tons of stuff to get a channel. This site also claimed to have the only "Factory FW" for the S9.

[Jim S.]

Yeah, this bit about not having blind scan bothers me, since He Who Shall Not Be Named does claim to actually have a receiver, unlike anyone here. I wonder if the factory has just copied the English manual from some other receiver and forgot to change it?

He also says that USALS didn't work in the western hemisphere before he modified it, and the polarity selection voltage was 14/19 instead of 13/18 (although I'm not sure what that matters -- I would think the LNBs would be tolerant of 1 volt difference!)