Fortec P+ vs Amiko

[icarusi]

I'm currently checking out an Amiko SHD-7900 as a backup/alternative to the Fortec P+. I wasn't expecting much having tried last years Ross and whatever Aldi stocked but the similar looking Amiko is looking good, with a couple of caveats:-

_http://www.avforums.com/forums/14507981-post4.html

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[juclarie]

I'm curious. If your fortec star is functioning OK (with the O-zzz exception of C4HD which may or may not get fixed but probably will eventually) why are you looking for a similar box?

The only possible next best thing is a SKY HD box or possibly a realdigital box... hmmm...

 

[icarusi]

I'm curious. If your fortec star is functioning OK (with the O-zzz exception of C4HD which may or may not get fixed but probably will eventually) why are you looking for a similar box?

The only possible next best thing is a SKY HD box or possibly a realdigital box... hmmm...

The Fortec has never been 100% so I could do with a reasonably priced backup. The Amiko seems to check a lot of the boxes the Fortec doesn't. NHK HD apart, the recorder HD files play back in native form on my PC, AC Ryan mini and Philips 3100 Bluray USB (although the Philips needs the .ts replacing with .mpg). The NHK HD files play on all the above after passing through TsRemux, *and* play back on the Amiko.

The Amiko does record to an NTFS drive or partition but still breaks files at 4Gb. The AC Ryan recognises the Amiko split format and plays back 'almost' seamlessly, just a single line of blocky pixels at the join. With the 4Gb splits giving 45-55min HD this only happens twice in a 2hr recording.

The blind search is genuine, so good for a bit of DX-ing too. I think I'll probably relegate the P+ to backup now, reformat the HD to 20-25% FAT32 for the P+ and 75-80% NTFS for the Amiko. I've been keeping native P+ files on the FAT32 partition and P+ copies and TsRemuxes on the NTFS partition. With the native Amiko HD vid files playing so well on other systems, I'm not so reliant on the Amiko itself as a playback unit, like I am with the P+.

The P+ full Freesat HD EPG hasn't worked for me on multisat settings since the last update so I tend to use the internet listings. It would be handy if both had those EPGs but I'm more concerned with picture quality and cross-platform playback of HD recordings. So far the PQ of the Amiko and P/P+ are equal, x-platform playback, blind search and crash resistance the Amiko wins. The P/P+ has some nice features, looks, VFD, Freesat EPG and some of the sorting, grouping, direct entry options but the Amiko has better media playback options. If it works with the HD or USB device you have, it seems pretty bomb-proof so far..........Also for £70 currently it's a bit of a steal!

 

[icarusi]

Plus points for the P+, the Amiko has no 'rec' indication on the front panel. The timer is basic providing no warm up from standby so takes 30sec off the programmed start. From 'on' it misses 2 sec, probably 1 sec each end. The 7900 model has no component out, just composite and RGB, but the OSD is only available via HDMI. The Amiko doesn't include the recorded programme title in the playlist. You can edit the title but it only shows in the STB playlist not in the filenames if viewed on a PC, only the channel and date/timestamps show on a PC, otherwise the filenaming convention is identical with each programme folder.

OTOH you can do more on the Amiko whilst recording, access now+next details, playback from an earlier point while recording, all in HD.

I tried some file spoofing. If you swap complete file groups within folders the entire recording disappears from the playlist, so there's some connection between each programme folder and the support files. You can swap the .ts files between folders. The playlist shows and plays the thumbnail of the new .ts file but details and duration of the original programme. I only tried it with a shorter file and it exit-ed to the 'menu' page, rather than the playlist. Complete folders can be moved between partitions and media without problem. I assume they'll be in date order on the playlist but haven't checked this.

I updated the firmware via USB although there's options for RS232 or satellite update. Although only a single backup option, there are 4 update options, channel list, sw, sw+channel list, and all+bootloader.

The website is equally glib as Fortec's giving no indication of what the updates add or fix. My box was one update low and a hang on the mp3 playlist finder seemed to be fixed but some single button actions now need double-click?? Same old etc. I may downware to double check. The upgrade was quick, easy to choose from multiple files, all STB backup files are title time+date stamped so easy to pick'n'choose. The STB autoreboots properly with the USB stick present.

I didn't reload my saved channel lists but blind-scanned 28.2E and it took 6.5 minutes. The Philips 3100 Bluray will play Amiko 'mpg'd' HD BBC HD files but not 'mpg'd' BBC One HD files! Typical!

 

[icarusi]

This is surprising (well it surprised me). I was recording some HD content and fiddling about with the buttons to see which options were still working. One undocumented sequence brought up a window of previous recordings so I selected one and it played HD while the recording continued. All the transport controls worked so I was able to FF and REW up to 24x use the same skip controls etc., I let one recording play to the end and it duly dropped me back into the live view, still recording ok, and I was able to skip back into that file to check for any glitches, while still recording. I tried the same thing on a radio channel, but no window appeared and through button pressing I managed to lock out everything needing a hard reset. When I pwered back on I found the recording had been saved, so even with the button lockup/lockout it still performed ok.

OTOH the documented features in the manual about a graphic display for the audio and saving a paused image to 'flash' don't work (at least as documented). The USB speed test is also iffy as it often didn't rate to HD recording let alone recording and playback of different files, so better to just try it and see. Pity as a reliable USB speed test option would be handy.

Although the drive I'm using doesn't have a 'sleep' control I tried the STB setting and found after 'sleep' it takes 30sec after button press before a recording commences. There's little onscreen info to say what's happening, so a bit primitive on that count.

 

[icarusi]

I was looking at an LG passive 3D TV today and had previously unsuccesfully tried its USB playback using a USB SD card dongle, which had worked ok on recent Samsung, Pansonic and Sony TVs, although only the Samsung played all files. Today I used a USB flashdrive and the LG TV played all the files in the Amiko .ts format including the NHK World HD file which is in 1920x1080 and the AC Ryan player won't play without first running through TsRemux! Will try a different USB>SD dongle next.

A couple of wrinkles on the Amiko, but nothing major, if you use a flashdrive or other single drive, then use a previous 2 partition drive to record on the second partition, the Amiko defaults to the 1st partition, so you have to reset which partition to record to. I set a dummy named recording in each partition to make partition identifying easier from with the file browser.

The 'timeshift' had reset to 'on', possibly after the firmware upgrade. Starting recording was ok but stopping only made a break in recording to a new file rather than stopping. Setting 'timeshift' to 'off', the manual record start/stop acted normally.

Media files will only play back from the relevant media 'filter' not from the 'all' files. Sometimes when viewing from 'all' files it can seem like a media file is unplayable, but needs to be launched from the correct media filter.

The play list at 'file deletes' is a bit odd. An 'x' box is added but the list then moves to show the file list start, irrespective of where the file to be deleted is in the list, ok for batch deletes where a number of files are selected, less good for single file deletes, when it appears the file has been deleted, but it hasn't and only deleted on 'exit'.