AZBOX First Look: AzBox miniMe American edition

[Babadem]

I can not justify shelling out for a new receiver until they can prove to me they are serious and fix some of these current problems on the receivers out there now.

I have done that twice. First it was the Elite, and then the ME. Until they fix the current issues and I enjoy the benefits of having a stable AZBox Me, I'm not spending an additional red cent on any other Opensat product.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I'am blaming those who put profit before functionality Scott....namely Opensat!

Opensat didn't want to sell it here in the US. The greedy dealers who needed to sell a new model brought it here. I am sure in the markets where OpenSat wanted to see the model it did fine for viewing there. The US FTA Market is WAY different then the rest of the world.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The Elite for the most part worked well for me. And they were fast with updates.

I am looking forward to seeing what this Mini Me can do.

 

[pwrsurge]

2 things-
1. was that the signal bar?? if so, cant u make it HUGE?? that does help, to have it big.
Thanks

Duly noted... This is now fixed and as we made the signal bars bigger in both the channel info bar and especially in the signal analyzer where we have more space on the screen for larger bars.



Regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[Jim S.]

I see that the blind scan screen lists channels as TV, Radio, and Data. Will the software allow you to record a data channel so that you can download it to your PC to try to decode it?

 

[pwrsurge]

I see that the blind scan screen lists channels as TV, Radio, and Data. Will the software allow you to record a data channel so that you can download it to your PC to try to decode it?

Not for the initial release but this is something we can add in future software updates. We could even potentially code a custom parser for these streams so that you could decode it directly from the receiver without a PC and/or stream it to a PC.
This would take a bit of time to do so we would only try once we resolve all priority software defects first.


Regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[pwrsurge]

Opensat is the real one to blame here as their firmware guy left the company before the ME was finalized and Opensat continued on expecting the end user to write their firmware for them.

Opensat still has some very capable developers working for them even though one of their employees left the company as you noted. People are free to leave the company they work for any time they wish by providing notice and this happens every day with companies around the world.

When you have a receiver that should be capable of pulling in and playing certain signals and it does not then you have a real problem.
Certain CBS feeds do not play properly and even eScapes still does not play right on the ME.
Couple this with the fact that the other azbox's do not play the Luken mux on SES-2 and the video problems on channels like eScapes which other low cost receivers can pick up with no problems and no fixes for these speaks volumes that this is a receiver to stay away from until these are remedied.

In order to try and fix most of these issues, you need access to the problematic feeds. As Opensat's main developers are located in Europe, they can't receive these feeds. This is why we at AzBox Canada are doing development on behalf of Opensat for the North American market. We are aware of the issues you noted and will try to resolve them as soon as possible.


Best regards,


PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[Jim S.]

Does the composite output work in 480i mode while the HDMI output is in a higher mode?

Will the firmware support wifi adapters at release time?

 

[pwrsurge]

Looks nice! Does it have any internet features?

Yes the initial release will have an internet radio player capable of playing most online radio streams with a customized list of north american online radio stations along with stations being streamed at http://www.icecast.org This already has been tested and is working fine. Other features enabled with a network connected STB include:

- Online firmware updates.
- Online date & time update via NTP instead of using the satellite transponder's time which is sometimes inaccurate.
- Ability to browse and play media off of network shares mounted via nfs. (i.e. linux shares)


Future updates will include:
- Youtube player
- Web browser
- IPTV
- Ability to browse and play media off of network shares mounted via cifs (i.e. windows shares)



Regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada


P.S. If you know of any online radio stations that you listen to on a regular basis and would like to have added to the list, please post them here and we will add it if possible.

 

[Pixl]

How many satellites and channels can be programed in?
And of particular interest how many motorized sat positions can it work with?
Can you have diseqc 1.2 motor positions mixed with a Usals dish, and fixed positions?

 

[pwrsurge]

How many satellites and channels can be programed in?
And of particular interest how many motorized sat positions can it work with?
Can you have diseqc 1.2 motor positions mixed with a Usals dish, and fixed positions?

I don't believe there's a limit for the amount of satellites or channels which can be programmed in as satellite and channel data does not take a lot of memory. Yes, you can mix and match fixed dish positions, DiSEqC 1.2 and USALS satellites. There is currently a limit of 64 DiSEqC 1.2 motor positions but we will look into increasing it to 99 in a future firmware update.


Regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[Pixl]

I don't believe there's a limit for the amount of satellites or channels which can be programmed in as satellite and channel data does not take a lot of memory. Yes, you can mix and match fixed dish positions, DiSEqC 1.2 and USALS satellites. There is currently a limit of 64 DiSEqC 1.2 motor positions but we will look into increasing it to 99 in a future firmware update.


Regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

Thank you for the reply. I have diesqc 1.2 dish for C band, and a second diseqc 1.2 dish for Ku, and a third dish USALS for the DBS sats. I have a clear view of the arc and with careful editing need 63 sat positions. Sure could use the extra positions if you can get it up to 99, I will be there!

 

[pwrsurge]

Just a heads up that as per our thread at http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/298179-Happy-thanksgiving-from-AzBox-Canada,
the AzBox miniMe American edition has now been officially launched as of yesterday. We would like to thank all SatelliteGuys.US members who contributed feedback so far as we already had the chance to incorporate some of it before yesterday's launch such as increasing the size of the signal level meters.


Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Please feel free to continue providing feedback as we will be releasing regular firmware updates in order to resolve any issues and add new features.



Best regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[scopus]

Any chance of a release of the firmware on your site so we can try it on our MiniMe's here in Europe?

 

[Jim S.]

I'd be interested in hearing how well the media player works, and what types of files it can play, since that's (in my opinion) the main reason for getting a Linux-based box instead of something cheaper. (Some of the cheap boxes have media players too, but I'm interested in playing from a network disk, which they don't seem to support -- on that note, I don't remember anybody answering my question of whether the Mini-Me supports wifi adapters with the existing firmware...)

 

[kodaz]

, I don't remember anybody answering my question of whether the Mini-Me supports wifi adapters with the existing firmware...)

and if it can run bandstacked LNB's?

for some reason, that info is lacking in new box roll outs...

 

[LittleBob]

azbox mini me available on Ebay from Dr. Sat in Canada for $199 (sale ends on Monday after that they are $229)

 

[Pixl]

Got one on the way from DR. Sat. With shipping to the US and currency exchange total price $229.13 USD.

 

[LittleBob]

Got one on the way from DR. Sat. With shipping to the US and currency exchange total price $229.13 USD.

I got one coming too.

 

[toucan-man]

Bring on the reviews. :