Should I install Neutrino?, Enigma? Or stay with AZ firmware?

[upnatm]

Lately my AZ Prem-HD has been getting sluggish quickly, requiring a reboot to liven it back up.
I'm planning to erase everything and start from scratch with a fresh firmware install, but not
until the weather is calm enough for the dish (and my patience too!). lol

The topic I'd like to touch on is; should I try a different firmware this
time around?, such as Neutrino, or Enigma? Are they easy to master?

I like the AZ, its a nice machine, but could it be nicer (?) with a different firmware on it?

Are there any benefits to switching? Such as blind-scan, keyboard use, IPTV streaming or Netflix?

I've only done some light reading on Neutrino and Enigma in the forums, I found
the subject matter to be a bit daunting, a little scary even.

Have enough bugs been ironed out of them to make it painless for this noob? Or
should I stick with the AZ firmware that I am accustomed to?

I should mention that I've never done a factory reset to my AZ box, I've only
installed firmware updates 'til now. I bought it second-hand, and basically
picked up where the previous owner left off.

Any suggestions, guidance, or warnings would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Upnatm,

I personally don't recommend experimenting with anything but the factory firmware options unless you are very adept with Linux programming. There are some members here that are quite familiar with the other options and I trust them, but I don't trust myself with these matters.

I have been into the guts and electronics of the AZBox and I feel comfortable there. I can swap out files and firmware and all that and I am comfortable here, too. But, I believe that installing the Enigma and Neutrino require some more Linux based training. I don't attempt it, although I may eventually.
If you are new to your AZBox, I would sincerely wait on such things unless you are very strong on your computer programming, Linux and supporting software.

If you are interested, start reading and creating a notebook of tips and tricks and all the pitfalls and positive attributes of these alternate firmwares. Build yourself a GUIDE that is written by you from all the information you acquire here and at other sources. If it is in your own words and organized so that you understand the contents well, then you could eventually jump into such a project with a sort of safety net to recover if anything goes wrong or you simply don't like the results and want to go back.

I don't intend to scare you away from the idea. But, I do want you to inform yourself by checking the whole situation out thoroughly first. Read up on the peoples posts who had trouble and take notes on the recovery procedures that worked for them. That way you get an idea of where they made mistakes and how to back out of them as well. It is always good to have advanced knowledge when entering unknown territory.

I wish you good luck either way you go. If it works out well for you to install an alternate firmware and you like it. report back and let us know.

RADAR

 

[mr3p]

If you have a premium +, I would say only try Enigma2 if you want to experiment with something new, view your receiver as hobby and aren't afraid to get youself out of trouble. Its true you can temporarily "brick" your receiver however it can be unbricked with an inexpenisive cable and honestly you could brick your receiver just flashing factory firmware. The main reason I am reluctant to recommend E2 for general usage is that is doesn't currently have support for blindscan. RADAR is correct that it does help to have some basic knowledge of Linux buts its definitely not required. I actually think the steps/software to manage factory firmware is more convoluted but like anything else its what one is familiar. If you know how to use an FTP program or telnet you will be fine.

If you have a premium, I would say that E2 is better than factory firmware.

I wouldn't waste time with Neutrino at this time.

 

[upnatm]

Thanks guys.

Your advice is quite sound, I have virtually no experience with any kind of Linux based systems
besides that of my AZ Prem-HD. Other than updating the F/W, entering TPs, PIDs, sats, and a
bit of dabbling in FTP file transfers, you could pretty much say I know nothing of Linux.

Since the AZ is our primary source of TV viewing (FTA), I now feel I had better play safe with it.
I know for a fact that the missus would have my skin, if any haphazard experimentation upsets
the status quo. She is frustrated enough, with the six remotes sitting on the coffee table! lol
Perhaps a second AZbox will allow for experimenting, but the budget comes first.

I still feel it is necessary to do a factory reset to the machine. As I've mentioned, it becomes
sluggish, and finally unresponsive after too much bouncing around between setup pages and TV.

I'm anxious to load MarkVA's channel list to see if it helps to smooth things out. Firstly and
foremost, I will revisit the stickies in the AZ forum. Its been a while, and I need to brush-up a
whole bunch before getting into this project! Thanks Radar, for your posts in the forum!

Come to think of it, my AZ hasn't even been " North Americanized" yet, it still has the European
and Asian satellites listed from the original firmware flash. I don't doubt that this extra bulk has
something to do with my AZ getting lazy like it does.

Thanks again guys, I'm off to do some reading, I'm not going to
start a project like this without fully charged batteries!


Cheers!

 

[Lak7]

The Picture Quality with the Factory Firmware is better than either.
No more to be said.

 

[stargaze]

I still feel it is necessary to do a factory reset to the machine. As I've mentioned, it becomes
sluggish, and finally unresponsive after too much bouncing around between setup pages and TV.

I'm anxious to load MarkVA's channel list to see if it helps to smooth things out. Firstly and
foremost, I will revisit the stickies in the AZ forum. Its been a while, and I need to brush-up a
whole bunch before getting into this project! Thanks Radar, for your posts in the forum!

Come to think of it, my AZ hasn't even been " North Americanized" yet, it still has the European
and Asian satellites listed from the original firmware flash. I don't doubt that this extra bulk has
something to do with my AZ getting lazy like it does.


Cheers!

The new firmware 0.9.5308 has the sat tiles in it differently then previous versions and that version requires you to do a factory reset for it to take hold properly.
Then if you upgrade immediately to 0.9.5309 and once again do the factory reset you should see a major difference in your receivers sluggishness.
As for North Americanizing your list, while using someone elses list may work for some it may not work for all since we all have different setup's and not all of them are alike.
I put up instructions for North Americanizing the Azbox a long while back. It is a procedure that should be done with care and it take time to do it properly. I am afraid there is no quick cure all for everyone as even with someone else's list there will be some settings that need to be re-done.
However, once you get it to the point you like it for your settings you must download it out of your receiver so that in the future you have your own starting point to begin all over again if you ever need to.

I am still using my N.A. sat channel list from a year ago without mishap nor problems others are encountering. And with 4 different Azbox's that is not bad!
The biggest problem is people not wanting nor using the programs that are out there to perform these actions.

Everything is in the Az Users Guide to do just about whatever someone wants to do with their Azbox. You will find it on the sticky section above in this forum.
I highly suggest downloading it and reading it over several times as there is a wealth of info in there and by following the instructions in the Az Users Guide you should save yourself a lot of time and hassle with your receiver.

 

[upnatm]

Thanks for the input Stargaze, my apologies for not mentioning a credit towards your
post in the AZ stickies. I downloaded a copy of it quite a while back, and it seems I've
been overlooking it for too long now.

I remember it being mentioned, when 5308 came out, that a reset was needed for it to load
completely. Again, it was something I didn't do, I am running 5309 on top of it now too.

I feel that reloading a previous channel list might just put some headaches back into the box,
so I am planning to rescan all of my favorite sats, after resetting, "North Americanizing", and
updating. Maybe I'll try MarkVA's channel list at that time, just to see how it works in my AZ.
If it doesn't work, then its not too far back to square-one.

Good point Lak7, I'd rather not sacrifice any picture quality!

Heh heh, contrary to what my "Upnatm" name implies, I've been dragging my butt quite
a bit lately!

Thanks again guys, it's time to get up and at 'em, (soon).

Cheers!

 

[stargaze]

While some are 'experimenting' with other firmwares none of them are ready for "Prime Time".
You WILL lose some features that the original firmwares have in them.

Now back to to sat/channel lists.
When I created the first North Americanized sat/channel list I found out there were some minor pitfalls for those who were using them.
That was not all our setups are exactly the same and while it helped those who needed one and could not do it themselves it did require a bit of adjustments in different areas. They are not plug and play when putting in someone else's sat-channel list.
Expect to make adjustments to the antenna setup areas and other things.
for instance some people use a DiSEqC switch and you have to remember to change that setting if using someone else's list or their lnb may not be as exact as yours if they have a full set of channels in their file. Then you get nothing when putting it in as you eventually have to delete all the tp's anyway.
Then of course it depends on what You want for your viewing pleasure.
The latest firmware does split C & ku sat tiles but I had gone one better long ago and actually split my sat tiles into H-Polarity and V-Polarity. For me this was the best! Since I am used to switching my sats by pressing 'ok' then hitting exit when the channels come up I view my channels by the different satellites.
So if I know my main dish mover is on V-polarity and I am on 97.0W I can scan only the V-polarity when I go to the V side of that sat either C or ku. Then when I am channeling up or down I am on a single polarity and no longer changing the master receiver if the polarity is out of order as it happens so often if the sats are not split up that way.
Also it is important to write down those important FTA channels you like to view all the time.
Then when setting things back up you know the parameters that work for your dish.
It is much easier when doing an North Americanization to completely dump all the channels out of the receiver and leave only one dummy TP on each sat. for instance I would put a dummy on each C-band sat of say 3600 :: 30000 and save it so I know after I scan in a real TP I can go back and delete the dummy.

After I finish I pull out the sat/channel list by Maz and save it to my pc as my rescue if I ever need it later on.
Creating a new sat list takes time and I won't deceive you on that as it can be hours of work but in the end you have exactly what you need.

If your azbox is getting sluggish I have found that by removing all my channels by installing a clean N.A. sat-channel list and re-scanning my channels always improves the performance. Maybe over time when we scan there is so many data tp's we fail to delete or whatever it seems to weigh the receiver down and it goes slower as time goes on.

Then I also have a few dummy sat tiles that I use when scanning and take that info for those scans and put it on the proper sats then delete the tp's scanned in on the dummy sat. This also keeps the receiver from installing those extra channels on the real satellites that never come in anyway.

Now with all that said you have another option:
A second Azbox !
The first one scans in everything, then you take what you want and manually input it into the second one.
The 2nd receiver NEVER blind scans anything. It only gets manually inputted info for channels that work for your system.

Of course that is easy for me to say as I have 4 Azbox's and I had the time to play around with different scenarios.

You are only limited by your own imagination, and the ability to use the proper programs that are used with the Azbox so computer skills are a necessity with the Azbox.