AMIKO Amiko A3 Owners Thread

[Babadem]

And I’m back to having motor issues again. The motor works perfectly on my MicroHD. Not so much on the A3.

It seems to be stuck on 87w now. It just will not move back west. I’m baffled.
However, I did install the plugin for my Mac and I’m able to watch TV in a browser window using Safari. Pretty cool.View attachment 100901

Also on my little chinese tablet.

What OS is the Chinese tablet running. I'm able to download and install the 2 plugin files (VLC and FBVLC) in Windows 7, but the FBVLC file(s) isn't installing on my S4 Android OS. IT is not opening either the file with a *.msi or *.dmg extensions. Am I missing something?

Edit: I just saw in the About Section of the WebServer the following Info.

"It can support IE(IE8 above),Firefox,Chorme,Safari Opera on Windows,and Firefox,Safari on Mac."

That explains why I'm unable to install the FBVLC plugin on my Android Phone.

 

[Dee_Ann]

On the tablet I just used the Spark 2 app.

It works great except on the HD channels. LPBHD was breaking up very badly. It wasn’t watchable. There should be an option to send HD at a lower bit rate or lower resolution or both.
My A3 is connected by ethernet wire and my WIFI is the fastest speed, 11n 5ghz. I haven’t tried it at the slower 2.4ghz. It’s not a big deal, I have no interest in watching TV on my tablet unless I’m out in the yard checking dish alignment. My meter tells me what I need to know but I can use Spark2 to move the dish from out in the yard and see the channel too. Very cool tool.

 

[Babadem]

The operating system on the tablet must have been a mac or windows I take it, but not Android?

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[Jim S.]

She's not using a browser on her Android tablet, she's using the Spark2 app.

 

[Babadem]

She's not using a browser on her Android tablet, she's using the Spark2 app.

Oh! That makes sense then. I will try that later. Thanks, Jim S.

Edit: Eureka!!!! Just as Jim S. prescribed!!!

 

[Dee_Ann]

The tablet is a cheapy Android. Actually it’s a giant cell phone but I use it as a little tablet. I’ve seen them called “phablets” It was less than $90.
I’ve played 1920x1080 blu-ray rips on it and it’s really, really smooth playback. It was well worth the money, in my opinion.

The Spark 2 app is in the google play store for free.

 

[Jim S.]

OK, those of you who have had yours for a while now, I'm curious as to whether the A3 fixes these longstanding A1/A2 bugs:

1) Timer recordings fail if the dish isn't already parked on the satellite to be recorded.
2) Radio channels cannot be streamed from the web interface (locks up when trying).
3) Android remote-access app doesn't even offer access to radio stations.
4) Box sometimes fails with nothing but an "ERROR" message when channel-surfing a long channel list, requiring a complete powerdown to receive any signal thereafter.

Also, since the A3 is such a good media-player box, how's the speed when playing files from a network share via wifi? On the A2, using SMB/CIFS shares is a dodgy situation for HD files -- the throughput is terrible, so any scene with complex motion stutters. Using NFS is better, allowing playing of almost anything I have on my server. (I don't have uncompressed blu-ray rips -- those would probably fail via wifi on any machine with any protocol.) For that matter, does the A3 support NFS?

 

[Jim S.]

To answer the network throughput question: I haven't done any timings, but I tried the files that were giving me a problem with SMB on the A2, and they played much smoother on the A3 -- not 100% glitch-free, but enough to be watchable. I then switched to NFS, and everything played fine, and a few files that were totally unwatchable on the A2 even with NFS were tolerable. (Although, some of this may have been due to the A3 being able to handle more complex video decoding, not just due to better network throughput. Sometime I'll have to do an actual numerical test by ftp upload/download.)

As for the satellite performance, I'm pleased so far. The blind scan is noticeably faster than the A2 on some satellites, and in no instance is it slower. It also finds transponders more reliably, for the most part. There are only two anomalies I've found so far (though I'm only about halfway through the arc). The first one is on 15W -- blind scan didn't find the 45000-SR transponders. It locks them when selecting them manually though. I don't think I can report this one to Joe, because there's no way he's seeing 15W from where he is.

The only real head-scratcher I've found is 87W Ku. It didn't find KTEL and Florida, but that didn't bother me because those have always been tough. But it also didn't find the Patient Channel, which is an average transponder, and LPBS, which is really strong! (And yes, they're on the air, it locks and scans it fine manually.) I really have no idea what's going on there, unless it was a momentary glitch -- I'm not going to go back and re-try anything til I get the rest of the way across the arc.

 

[jorgek]

Do you get the feeling this is a better media box than a sat receiver?

 

[Dee_Ann]

Can someone tell me why I can not find this app on the play store?
I see the app when viewing the store via my Mac. I see the app (and installed it) on my cheap little Chinese tablet.
But when I search for the app through play store on my A3 it does not show up, at all. It's not available for me to download or install or use.


Searching for "OpenVPN Connect" on the Playstore via the A3 gives me this results.

Searching for "OpenVPN Connect" on the Playstore via my little chinese tablet gives me this results.

I need THAT SPECIFIC APP on my A3. I already subscribe to a VPN service and I'm not going to subscribe to a second one just to watch the BBC once a week.
There is a VPN app that was included with the A3 but it requires you to subscribe to THEIR service which I do not want to do.

Oh, and also, now the Spark3 app no longer allows me to 'type' text to the A3 through my tablet. It will do everything else except accept text input. What's up with that?

Thanks.

 

[Titanium]

Do you get the feeling this is a better media box than a sat receiver?

Overall, it is better than any other satellite receiver that I have owned in the versatility and options. Certainly as sensitive and blind scans as fast and finds services that my best receivers log. I only had an issue with the manual addition of multiple audio services on the same mux, which has now been enabled. Add this to the media center features and million plus Google Play apps, I am very happy!

Why do you ask? Do you not like the satellite receiver functions? Specifics?

 

[Titanium]

Can someone tell me why I can not find this app on the play store?
<<<<Snip>>>>
the Spark3 app no longer allows me to 'type' text to the A3 through my tablet. It will do everything else except accept text input. What's up with that?

What ROM and Spark3 versions are you using? I'll search for this VPN later and see what I find. Are you on a VPN service when searching (is is a geo issue)?

Current release NA ROM and Spark3 app allows me to type text and control with my tablet.

 

[Babadem]

What ROM and Spark3 versions are you using? I'll search for this VPN later and see what I find. Are you on a VPN service when searching (is is a geo issue)?

Current release NA ROM and Spark3 app allows me to type text and control with my tablet.

Spark3 App? I thought Spark2 was the latest? A search of Google play doesn't bring up Spark3.

 

[mc6809e]

Dee_Ann,

When I checked the Play Store on my A3 just now, searching for "vpn", that app was number 13 on the list.

When searching for "openvpn connect" it was the first app in the list.

Don't know why it's not showing up for you.

Ernie

 

[Titanium]

Same here on the VPN app search. Many apps listed!

I meant Spark2. The post got me thinking the wrong name...

 

[Jim S.]

Is everybody but me just using the backup utility to backup your channel lists? Because I just ran into one heck of a shock using the Database Transformer (like I always did on the A2) and I haven't seen anybody else mention it.

When I got my A3, I downloaded the nice big satellite list that Joe set up for us, then went through it and selected only the satellites I thought I would ever use (only having a Ku-band system, and being out of the footprint for some of them too.) Then I blind-scanned all of them. Along the way I switched a few of the weak ones (like 99, 103, 113 through 117, and 125) from USALS to DiSEqC 1.2 and tweaked the positions for the maximum signal. Afterward, I went through the channels and deleted all the feeds, then used the Database Transformer to save all the permanent channels, so that, like I did on my A2, I can be lazy and never delete feeds, just load a clean list when I get too many inactive feeds accumulated. It saves a LOT of button clicking that way!

Well, tonight I decided to re-load the clean list. Afterward, when I tried to go to any of the birds that I had set to DiSEqC 1.2, the motor took off to some other position! I went back into the satellite edit screen, and I realized that the position numbers weren't what they used to be. After pondering this a moment, I realized that when I set it up, the automatically-assigned position numbers were relative to the FULL satellite list, but now, they were relative to MY selected list.

"Well THIS is annoying", I thought to myself, "what's going to happen if I select or de-select any more satellites? Are the position numbers going to get reassigned again?" So I went to try it. Imagine my shock when I saw that the full satellite list was GONE! My selected satellite list was now THE satellite list! I never expected this -- I had assumed that the full satellite list would be exported, with the selected satellites flagged.

I have a backup (done with the backup utility, not the database transformer) of the full system with everything scanned, but I'm not sure whether I'm going to re-load it or just leave things as they are. Why? Well, before exporting the clean channel list tonight, I had just gone through everything, including 30W and 97W, and set up favorites lists, with news stations, music stations, miscellaneous English stations, etc. I just don't know if I can bring myself to go through that again so soon after doing it the first time! It might be simpler to just manually add a satellite to the list if the need ever arises. (I don't see myself ever getting a C-band system, and if I were to do, it would probably be a fixed dish.)

By the way, after finding this situation, I didn't complete the exercise to determine whether removing a satellite from the list will result in re-numbering the positions again on export. Also undetermined is whether moving a satellite's position in the list will result in its DiSEqC 1.2 position following it.

 

[Titanium]

What ROM? Did you assign your own DiSEqC 1.2 positions or allow the receiver to automatically assign the DiSEqC 1,2 motor position number? Sounds like you allowed the STB to set the DiSEqC 1.2 position rather than assigning a custom position?

In the automatic DiSEqC 1.2 assignment, mode, most receivers assign the position number according to the satellite position in the satellite list. If you delete or add a satellite, the DiSEqC motor assignment changes. If a custom DiSEqC 1.2 motor position is assigned, this is retained if the satellite list is modified.

Like you, I would expect that the full satellite list would still be available unless I physically delete the satellite.

 

[Babadem]

What ROM? Did you assign your own DiSEqC 1.2 positions or allow the receiver to automatically assign the DiSEqC 1,2 motor position number? Sounds like you allowed the STB to set the DiSEqC 1.2 position rather than assigning a custom position?

In the automatic DiSEqC 1.2 assignment, mode, most receivers assign the position number according to the satellite position in the satellite list. If you delete or add a satellite, the DiSEqC motor assignment changes. If a custom DiSEqC 1.2 motor position is assigned, this is retained if the satellite list is modified.

Like you, I would expect that the full satellite list would still be available unless I physically delete the satellite.

That's what I discovered too.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Sorry, I am using 2.0.61, dated 2014-10-20
Also, Spark2, not 3. My mistake. Oops..

When I searched for just "vpn" it gives me tons of shady looking chinese apps.
When I search for "openvpn connect" it just gives me two apps, Torguard VPN and FinchVPN

Something is definitely wrong here.

Also, I am not going through any sort of VPN or proxy on the A3, it's connecting directly through my LAN just the same as my Mac and my tablets and iPhone. Even on my iPhone I can go to the google play store and see the app. Something is waaaaaaaay wrong with this A3. It's seriously restricting what I can do with it. My gut instinct is to wipe it clean. But having learned from past, MASSIVE mistakes, I know that's not a good idea. So now I'm wondering what now? Maybe it's infected and I'm being sent to a fake google play store? Considering the results you guys get and how I am getting different results on different devices through the same connection, I'm pretty sure this thing has a virus. And seriously, I have not tampered with it at all, not even a little. After I got it back from repair I've left it alone except to setup my satellites. I've barely even used it. And I have not at all used it to browse the internet, I know it can do that but it's too clumsy for that, with the air mouse thing. I have a Mac that's hundreds of times more powerful than the A3, it would be silly to use it for anything other than watching TV.


Edit: In checking the settings to see if there is a connectivity problem (there isn't) I found buried in the settings and option to set a VPN.

BUT, there is zero information about the nature of this VPN app. It doesn't say who wrote it, what version it is, what privacy issues may exist, etc. Being that it is so obscure, I do not want to trust it blindly.
I may be overly paranoid but that's my nature, I trust nothing.

 

[Dee_Ann]

It appears that when I updated the spark2 app on my tablet I lost the ability to control my A3.
It worked fine before. Now, not at all. DO NOT UPDATE TO THE NEWEST SPARK2 APP! IT'S BROKEN!!!


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