Review: Azbox Elite HD FTA Receiver

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am really thinking about picking one of these units up. I only have a Mercury Fortec II receiver which is a great receiver but does not do all the HD stuff.

I have been using a Matchbox USB tuner on a laptop to tune into stuff that the Fortec cant handle.

My Birthday is next week and this is on my list for things I would like to have.

 

[linuxman]

Stogie allowed my Linux Group and I to login to his AZBox remotely yesterday to look around and see what we can see.

What follows is the information we got from just being SSH'ed into the box from the command line. Most of you who are not familiar with the Linux operating system will not understand any of it, but those who are, might find something interesting.

We also managed to FTP the entire operating system down to my hard drive for later perusal.

I have the system zipped up in a 316MB file, and would be happy to share it to those who are really interested. I do not know off-hand of somewhere to place it on the web for downloading, so I would be willing to burn and mail a CD to those interested in paying a couple of bucks for the CD and postage. Be aware that the FPT user on the box may have not had permissions to copy some of the files, so I doubt if it is totally complete.

If you know of somewhere I could upload it and others could download it, I would be happy to do that too.

Please PM me if interested.

Here is the information file we gleaned:

MMP[~]$ uname -a
Linux MMP 2.6.15-sigma #138 PREEMPT Thu Jan 22 21:35:07 KST 2009 mips unknown

MMP[~]$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mtdblock5 1.0M 332.0k 692.0k 32% /DISK1
/dev/hda1 131.7M 110.5M 14.4M 88% /MMP
/dev/hda2 15.5M 1.0M 13.7M 7% /EMU
/dev/hda3 7.7M 2.7M 4.6M 37% /DISK2
/dev/hda4 82.3M 48.0M 30.1M 61% /Download

MMP[/]$ ls sbin
fdisk@ init@ lsmod@ start-stop-daemon@
freeramdisk@ insmod@ makedevs@ sulogin@
getty@ iwconfig* mkswap@ swapoff@
halt@ iwgetid@ modprobe@ swapon@
hdparm@ iwlist@ pivot_root@ sysctl@
hwclock@ iwpriv@ poweroff@ syslogd@
ifconfig@ iwspy@ reboot@ udhcpc@
ifdown@ klogd@ rmmod@ vconfig@
ifup@ ldconfig* route@

MMP[/]$ ls /bin
addgroup@ date@ getopt@ mktemp@ rmdir@ touch@
adduser@ dd@ grep@ more@ run-parts@ true@
ash@ delgroup@ gunzip@ mount@ sed@ umount@
bash* deluser@ gzip@ mt@ setxenv* uname@
bashbug* df@ hostname@ mv@ sh@ unsetxenv@
busybox* dmesg@ kill@ netstat@ sleep@ usleep@
cat@ echo@ ln@ pidof@ stty@ vi@
chgrp@ egrep@ login@ ping@ su@ zcat@
chmod@ false@ ls@ ps@ sync@
chown@ fgrep@ mkdir@ pwd@ tar@
cp@ genxenv* mknod@ rm@ tobin.bash*

MMP[/]$ ls /usr/sbin
boot_auth* flash_info* mkfs.ext3* rdate@
chroot@ flash_lock* mkfs.jffs* sfdisk*
doc_loadbios* flash_unlock* mkfs.jffs2* sumtool*
docfdisk* flashcp* mtd_debug* telnetd@
fbset@ ftl_check* nandwrite* udhcpd@
flash_erase* ftl_format* nftl_format*
flash_eraseall* jffs2dump* nftldump*

MMP[etc]$ ps ax
PID Uid VmSize Stat Command
1 root 404 S init
2 root SWN [ksoftirqd/0]
3 root SW< [events/0]
4 root SW< [khelper]
5 root SW< [kthread]
6 root SW< [kblockd/0]
9 root SW< [khubd]
58 root SW [pdflush]
59 root SW [pdflush]
61 root SW< [aio/0]
64 root SW< [xfslogd/0]
65 root SW< [xfsdatad/0]
66 root SW< [xfsbufd]
60 root SW [kswapd0]
62 root SW [cifsoplockd]
63 root SW [cifsdnotifyd]
649 root SW< [cqueue/0]
650 root SW< [kseriod]
691 root SW [mtdblockd]
785 root SW [kjournald]
787 root SW [kjournald]
789 root SW [kjournald]
791 root SW [kjournald]
822 root 172 S telnetd
829 root 376 S /sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200
851 root 804 S /MMP/usr/sbin/sshd
853 root 388 S /MMP/usr/sbin/vsftpd /MMP/etc/vsftpd.conf
863 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
865 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
866 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
867 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
875 root DW [scard]
889 root 748 S /MMP/usr/bin/app_control
890 root 932 S /MMP/usr/bin/ir_control -td210
891 root 2380 S /MMP/usr/bin/file_control
892 root 748 S /MMP/usr/bin/app_control
893 root 748 S /MMP/usr/bin/app_control
894 root 932 S /MMP/usr/bin/ir_control -td210
895 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
896 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
897 root 932 S /MMP/usr/bin/ir_control -td210
898 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
899 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
907 root 2380 S /MMP/usr/bin/file_control
908 root 2380 S /MMP/usr/bin/file_control
909 root 2380 S /MMP/usr/bin/file_control
910 root 2380 S /MMP/usr/bin/file_control
951 root 12384 S /MMP/usr/bin/SDecoderServer
965 root 2380 S /MMP/usr/bin/file_control
966 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
967 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
972 root 27068 S < /MMP/usr/bin/DStar
977 root 12384 S /MMP/usr/bin/SDecoderServer
978 root 12384 S /MMP/usr/bin/SDecoderServer
979 root 12384 S /MMP/usr/bin/SDecoderServer
980 root 12384 S /MMP/usr/bin/SDecoderServer
981 root 27068 S < /MMP/usr/bin/DStar
982 root 27068 S < /MMP/usr/bin/DStar
983 root 27068 S < /MMP/usr/bin/DStar
984 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
985 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
992 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
993 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
997 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
998 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
1007 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1013 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1014 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1035 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1036 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1037 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1038 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1039 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1040 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1041 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1054 root 920 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVSetup
1061 root 920 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVSetup
1062 root 920 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVSetup
1278 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
1279 root 1160 S /MMP/usr/bin/event_dispatcher
1898 root 8636 S /MMP/usr/bin/CRTVCore
1933 root 1568 S /MMP/usr/sbin/sshd: root@pts/0
1935 root 1172 S -sh
1944 root 400 R ps ax

MMP[~]$ dmesg
prod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2103): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2106): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2100): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2106): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2106): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2106): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2106): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2106): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found
em8xxx0 [/DATA/Yellow/Working/SigmaDesign8634/SMP8634-2805/mrua_SMP8634_2.8.0.5_GCC4_facsprod_legacy_dev.mips.nodts/MRUA_src/rua/emhwlib_kernel/kernel_src/krua.c:1031] EMhwlibUnregisterCleanable mem_area (0x17964c98) (from rmmod em8xxx_id 2135): not found

MMP[~]$ lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
ftdi_sio 32704 0 - Live 0xc80e6000
usbserial 30432 1 ftdi_sio, Live 0xc80dd000
sckernel 28672 0 - Live 0xc80d5000
em8xxx 2336336 6 - Live 0xc8b51000
llad 112032 15 em8xxx, Live 0xc80b8000
ehci_hcd 39120 0 - Live 0xc809c000
uhci_hcd 37280 0 - Live 0xc8015000

MMP[~]$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
system type : Sigma Designs TangoX
processor : 0
cpu model : MIPS 4KEc V6.9
Initial BogoMIPS : 296.96
wait instruction : yes
microsecond timers : yes
tlb_entries : 32
extra interrupt vector : yes
hardware watchpoint : yes
ASEs implemented : mips16
VCED exceptions : not available
VCEI exceptions : not available
System bus frequency : 200250000 Hz
CPU frequency : 300375000 Hz
DSP frequency : 300375000 Hz

MMP[~]$ cat /proc/modules
ftdi_sio 32704 0 - Live 0xc80e6000
usbserial 30432 1 ftdi_sio, Live 0xc80dd000
sckernel 28672 0 - Live 0xc80d5000
em8xxx 2336336 6 - Live 0xc8b51000
llad 112032 15 em8xxx, Live 0xc80b8000
ehci_hcd 39120 0 - Live 0xc809c000
uhci_hcd 37280 0 - Live 0xc8015000

MMP[proc]$ cat ioports
00022398-00022398 : ide0
000223c0-000223c0 : ide0
000223c4-000223c4 : ide0
000223c8-000223c8 : ide0
000223cc-000223cc : ide0
000223d0-000223d0 : ide0
000223d4-000223d4 : ide0
000223d8-000223d8 : ide0
000223dc-000223dc : ide0
58000000-5800ffff : tangox pci IO space
58000000-5800001f : 0000:00:02.0
58000000-5800001f : uhci_hcd
58000020-5800003f : 0000:00:02.1
58000020-5800003f : uhci_hcd

MMP[proc]$ cat iomem
10020000-16bfffff : System RAM
10020000-10472437 : Kernel code
10472438-1056e09f : Kernel data
60000000-7fffffff : tangox pci memory space
60000000-600000ff : 0000:00:02.2
60000000-600000ff : ehci_hcd

MMP[etc]$ cat mipsutils_version
2.8.0.0

 

[wildboys]

That did it for me... I gotta have one of these! Someday soon I hope.

The box will now do DVB-S2 4.2.2 HD feeds with the
new software even the CBS feeds.This is great news.

 

[alesch1]

Web browser question

I am definitely wanting to get one of these boxes. My question is, will the web browser play video from sites like Hulu? This would make it a must for me.

 

[stogie5150]

I am definitely wanting to get one of these boxes. My question is, will the web browser play video from sites like Hulu? This would make it a must for me.

No, it will not. At least not that I have been able to. No plugins for flash, either. JUST youtube.

 

[zamar23]

It sounds like a super FTA Box! I've seen on another forum that AZBox has no support for Turbo 8psk / Turbo FEC, and neither for IKS. Any comments? I've seen some posts so that Turbo 8psk tuner is in the works.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Whats IKS?

I dont think there is anything up there broadcast in Turbo 8PSK that is not scrambled anyways so thats no big deal.

I am going to order one of these soon.

 

[SatinKzo]

I personally don't care if it has IKS, it serves no purpse to me as I don't know of any legal use of Internet Key Sharing (or whatever the acronym actually stands for). Turbo 8psk etc is fun to have to search for stuff dish leave FTE, but it's not a selling point to me either as it's a rarely used feature and most FTE stuff is not Turbo 8psk from dish at least nothing I have seen. I'm sure someone will correct me as I admitedly have been behind on FTA stuff as my setup has been working so well. But it's spring and I'm in the upgrade mood now.

However based on it's connectivy features, I'm sure the programmers could easily devise a way to add IKS to it.

I want one of these, but I feel I need to get a c-band setup going too. I'm looking at a setup, but right now my budget allows one or the other.

 

[Lak7]

It sounds like a super FTA Box! I've seen on another forum that AZBox has no support for Turbo 8psk / Turbo FEC, and neither for IKS. Any comments?

Box is designed for the European market. I don't think they use all that fancy stuff over there.

 

[ghia]

I've enjoyed the azbox so far. It is still a bit buggy but works good for FTA and the 4:2:2 support has improved with the latest firmware. I would not look to much into the other features of the unit such as the web browser, as they are very basic right now. You can play movies and music from an attached usb devices which is nice, but I have not been able to stream such things form a NAS yet. Using it to watch FTA and control an HH motor works well!

 

[gillham]

It sounds like a super FTA Box! I've seen on another forum that AZBox has no support for Turbo 8psk / Turbo FEC, and neither for IKS. Any comments?

Turbo 8PSK could be supported via the 2nd tuner slot, but I don't think it would be worth developing (or buying) for the handful of legally available unencrypted channels in Turbo 8PSK.

From what I can find on Google about IKS, it is only used by thieves to steal programming, so not supporting would be a good thing.

 

[zamar23]

Thanks for clarifying things, guys!
BTW, there are two models on the market: AZBox Elite and Premium. The second tuner slot mentioned above - is it occupied by DVB-T tuner in Premium or empty in both? Will they add a second tuner as an option? ATSC Tuner would be a good one. Do they plan to develop it, or someone else will?

 

[Lak7]

Premium has internal space and connection for SATA drive, and wireless ethernet.

 

[zamar23]

What's under the hood of this beauty? It feels like a Media Center PC rather than a plain sat receiver. What Front End and MPEG 2/4 Decoder chips it uses? If we know its chips - then we know how it performs, i.e. tuner sensitivity and the pic quality.

Also, it was mentioned that AZBox does Blind Scan in hardware, while PCI Sat Cards do it slowly in software. Can we clarify that? I've never seen "Blind Scan feature" in any tuner chip spec. Am I wrong that any receiver does Blind Scan or Auto Scan in software (firmware) by repeating freq scan with a given step, or going through the preset list of freqs (TPs) for a selected sat or all sats from its list. Some have a Network Search feature, where Auto Scan is done through the list of a selected sat's TP freqs given by a Broadcaster. A PC Proc is usually more powerful than of a receiver's. So, may be Blind Scan speed mostly depends on a Sat Card's drivers quality?

 

[Lak7]

I don't know the sepcifics, but the Sat tuner in the same as the Vantage, which has Blind Scan.
And the Video tuner is a Sigma tuner, same as in the Popcornhour unit, which does 4:2:2

Pic quality is excellent.
As for sensetivity, I get all the channels that the Vantage and Diamond got, with exception to 1 TP, only the Vantage gets.

 

[wildboys]

What's under the hood of this beauty? It feels like a Media Center PC rather than a plain sat receiver. What Front End and MPEG 2/4 Decoder chips it uses? If we know its chips - then we know how it performs, i.e. tuner sensitivity and the pic quality.

Also, it was mentioned that AZBox does Blind Scan in hardware, while PCI Sat Cards do it slowly in software. Can we clarify that? I've never seen "Blind Scan feature" in any tuner chip spec. Am I wrong that any receiver does Blind Scan or Auto Scan in software (firmware) by repeating freq scan with a given step, or going through the preset list of freqs (TPs) for a selected sat or all sats from its list. Some have a Network Search feature, where Auto Scan is done through the list of freqs given by a Broadcaster. A PC Proc is usually more powerful than of a receiver's. So, may be Blind Scan speed depends on Card drivers quality?

The Azbox does not have blindscan software or hardware.

 

[zamar23]

Can anyone give a specific tuner chip example that has Blind Scan routing integrated in its silicon? I haven't seen any sat tuner Chip Spec with such feature, while many sat receivers offer Blind Scan, possibly all via firmware. So it looks like a satellite Blind Scan speed depends on the receiver's Proc power, and how fast its tuner chip is in scanning a fixed freq and locking to a signal on each step of the Blind Scan routing. And the tuner sensitivity will determine how many TPs it misses in Blind Scan, especially if their freqs are close, but signal strength is different.

 

[Lak7]

Here are the spec's
AZBOX HD Premium | HD Premium / Elite

EDIT: a little searching produced: "cpu will be ST7109"
* SIGMA processor SMP 8634 LF SIGMA processor SMP 8634 LF
* 32 MB Flash Memory 32 MB Flash Memory
* EEPROM 256 KB EEPROM 256 KB
* SD RAM 256 MB SD 256 MB of RAM

 

[zamar23]

I've seen some reports on .de forums that used in AZBox Sigma proc can't handle 2 tuners simultaneously. Are there real life examples of using this box with 2 tuners? I know, DVB-T tuner is offered for its second slot, and ATSC is on the way, but can they work together under this Sigma proc, especially with higher bit rates? I know, it doesn't support Enigma2 Web UI to control the box from a PC. But does it have enough power to handle HD signals from 2 tuners?

 

[Lak7]

I've seen some reports on .de forums that used in AZBox Sigma proc can't handle 2 tuners simultaneously.

I've seen that too, but it's the same comment in multiple places, always the "users" first / second post.
Everyone has referred to him as a troll, or Dreambox seller.
As for real world results, I don't think anyone knows 'cause the Firm is known to still be in Beta.
Just have to wait and see.