AMIKO Amiko MINI HD se observations.

[egnard]

On return from my most recent trip (about a week) I was delighted to find it had held the time. It did not record as programmed, perhaps due to cloudy weather or something. Who knows?

It did delete about half of my weekly timers. I speculate when it does not find the signal, it does you the "favor" of deleting the timer.

Yup, I know where the problem is. I am done trying to record with this junk. Time to start shopping, again...

I think I may have discovered the reason (or maybe one reason) I am having problems with this unit. I've been recording to a WD 3TB hard drive. I've also been storing my PC backup files on this drive. Now the Amiko will not record or even read from this drive, presumably because there are too many files on the drive (I gather from info. in the manual, and the drive still works on my PC). I switched to a 1TB Passport drive I was using with an OTA recorder and it performs much better. Another thing is the smaller unit is powered from the USB and not from it's own power supply, perhaps that's another factor.

I don't have a clue why this would affect the clock but it seems to. It evens seems to keep time better, but that may be my imagination, I haven't measured it. So, I guess ideally it is best to use the external drive exclusively for recording with no other files on the drive. It looks like a 1 hour show recorded from an HD channel uses about 6 Gigs, if you are considering getting one of these devices and want to size it. I mean, bigger may not be better considering this limitation.

 

[fred555]

I think I may have discovered the reason (or maybe one reason) I am having problems with this unit. I've been recording to a WD 3TB hard drive. I've also been storing my PC backup files on this drive. Now the Amiko will not record or even read from this drive, presumably because there are too many files on the drive (I gather from info. in the manual, and the drive still works on my PC). I switched to a 1TB Passport drive I was using with an OTA recorder and it performs much better. Another thing is the smaller unit is powered from the USB and not from it's own power supply, perhaps that's another factor.

I don't have a clue why this would affect the clock but it seems to. It evens seems to keep time better, but that may be my imagination, I haven't measured it. So, I guess ideally it is best to use the external drive exclusively for recording with no other files on the drive. It looks like a 1 hour show recorded from an HD channel uses about 6 Gigs, if you are considering getting one of these devices and want to size it. I mean, bigger may not be better considering this limitation.

I am surprised you were able to record to a 3TB drive to begin with.
I have a thread around here somewhere addressing issue with trying to record to a drive larger than 2TB. I had bought a 3TB drive and had issues.
Where you using a single 3TB partition?
The HD SE cannot see/use larger than a 2 TB partition in my tests.
Its just a imitation of the file systems used.

I always wished manufacturers would move on up to the Linux ext fie systems that don't have such size limitations.

 

[KE4EST]

It really also needs to have an external drive that has it's own power source. You can shorten the life on the STB's power supply by not you an externally powered USB drive.

 

[fred555]

It really also needs to have an external drive that has it's own power source. You can shorten the life on the STB's power supply by not you an externally powered USB drive.

Good catch KE4EST, I missed that.

So use an external drive with its own power source of size 2TB or less and you should be OK.

 

[egnard]

I am surprised you were able to record to a 3TB drive to begin with.
I have a thread around here somewhere addressing issue with trying to record to a drive larger than 2TB. I had bought a 3TB drive and had issues.
Where you using a single 3TB partition?
The HD SE cannot see/use larger than a 2 TB partition in my tests.
Its just a imitation of the file systems used.

I always wished manufacturers would move on up to the Linux ext fie systems that don't have such size limitations.

Single partition. I wasn't aware of your thread. I already had the 3TB drive for my PC. I plugged it in and it worked, so I just kept using it. I also used it with a Geosat Micro SD which read from it, but eventually crapped out. I wonder if it was a factor.

 

[egnard]

[QUOTE="I've been recording to a WD 3TB hard drive. factor.[/QUOTE]

Just to be correct, it was a Seagate 3TB drive, not WD.

 

[Titanium]

Ali chipsets do not properly index drives larger than 2TB.

 

[fred555]

Ali chipsets do not properly index drives larger than 2TB.

I found out the hard way. Brick and mortar stores I went to only sell larger than 2TB drives.
Thank goodness for Amazon.

 

[radio]

Wandering topic just a bit here, has anyone found that if they "ignore" their Amiko mini too long (a week or so)...with it "on" (not standby) that the clock freezes on the front panel and the video shown in the picture is rendered? It needs a reboot when this happens. Seems to be the answer to "life" lately....REBOOT. (though if you ask Amazon Echo what is the meaning of life, Alexa will answer, "42.")
By the way, the receiver is nowhere near the fireplace...so it's not heat.

 

[fred555]

Wandering topic just a bit here, has anyone found that if they "ignore" their Amiko mini too long (a week or so)...with it "on" (not standby) that the clock freezes on the front panel and the video shown in the picture is rendered? It needs a reboot when this happens. Seems to be the answer to "life" lately....REBOOT. (though if you ask Amazon Echo what is the meaning of life, Alexa will answer, "42.")
By the way, the receiver is nowhere near the fireplace...so it's not heat.

No. I have two that stay on 24x7x365 and a third on part time.
Currently on v 2.2.14.

What is standby?