Azbox ME - any news?

manikm

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Feb 15, 2010
52
2
UK
seems like this box is just fantasy ...so much for october shipping!!!

not even a blind scan plugin by default, i'd have preffered the old style firmware out of box, to test the blind scanning \ high bit rate recording

anyone have any news?
 
Rick Caylor says he got his demo unit, and he won't be ordering any to sell til they fix some things. He didn't get around to saying what needed fixed yet.
 
There's definitely no blindscan for the ME yet, which I'm guessing is signficant reason for Rick Caylor not selling them even if he had them. From what I've read the initial OS/feature set (Neutrino) is pretty limited and not sure how much is going to change quickly as all the development thus far appears to be toward E2.
 
Sign me up, but I'll be getting mine from our friend in Canada, whom I can't mention for fear of being banned. :D
 
Last edited:
that video is very EARLY - this is running the ANROID OS< which has now been stopped.

Neutrino only - and so far, NO Neutrino blind scan option.
 
With the plug pulled for running Android on ME, OpenSat is going to have to reshape their marketing and development for the receiver. I don't think they can publicly support E2 so I would guess that means more development for Neutrino? In a strange way that might be good for current receivers as it appears they are also about to release Neutrino for Elite/Premium/Ultra/Premium+
 
With the plug pulled for running Android on ME, OpenSat is going to have to reshape their marketing and development for the receiver. I don't think they can publicly support E2 so I would guess that means more development for Neutrino? In a strange way that might be good for current receivers as it appears they are also about to release Neutrino for Elite/Premium/Ultra/Premium+

AZBox has stated on their Facebook site that Neutrino does not support 2 tuners. This could be a problem.
 
AZBox has stated on their Facebook site that Neutrino does not support 2 tuners. This could be a problem.

Its definitely a problem for those with two tuner, I'm just not one of them ;) Can they add support for a second tuner in Neutrino? Considering the ME and miniME are single tuner receivers, I'm not sure they have much motivation do add support for a second tuner but I'll guess we'll soon see. I'm still more concerned with support for hardware blindscan which to date hasn't been supported in Neutrino although if its added for Me, my guess is older HD receivers will also get support. AZbox Me has nice hardware spec but the software/OS seems to be the rate limiting step for now.
 
So what happened to the Android development? Not that you need all that stuff on your receiver, of course, but at least it would be a known mature codebase (other than the satellite modules themselves, of course, but isn't that still a work in progress for the other operating systems too?)
 
No as I dont know any, they just posted it on their facebook page.

Even Rick from Ricks satellite is advising people to stay away from this box for now.
 
well you gonna tell us where? :D

You should read this thread:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/azbox-discussion/272537-azbox-me-android-os-dead-water.html

That poster put up the link to what is going on.
Sigma backed out of developing or finishing the development of the touted Android platform for the Azbox ME; and are offering the entire source code to anyone who asks them for it.
They now want it to be opensouce and not a closed type of firmware so anyone who has the knowledge can write what they want for their own firmware.

As it is right now, the Azbox ME out of the box does not even have North American satellites listed in the receiver.
The receiver would not even pick up certain signals that all the previous versions of the Azbox’s are getting.

Opensat was not reducing the cost with a receiver with incomplete firmware or rather non working firmware for this side of the world in North America.

Now for the sake of being impartial, the hardware in the receiver appears decent enough to handle what it was intended to do but with the lack of a good working firmware in it, is crippling this STB.

Furthermore, there were some other problems Opensat was dealt when they had an internal problem, (which I am not at liberty to disclose at the moment), this is what really prompted the company to put out a notice to offer the source code to the public.
Now if they can not overcome this internal problem they could end up dead in the water as far as offering any future STB’s in the market.

Then Opensat came out with saying that older models of their Azbox’s could now use another firmware type. However, those who tried it quickly found out that it offered them less functions then what they had.

Blind-scanning is one issue, several 4:2:2 feeds are another issue, North American Satellites are yet another issue, editing channel list are still another issue.
The list can go on so why in the world anyone would want this STB at this time unless they were a programmer and wanted to tinker with writing a firmware that would work with it is beyond me.
Then again if someone wanted to do this and succeeds they should be paid for their hard effort IMO!
Who want to be a guinea pig?
This is no way to run a business.
I have been a supporter of the Azbox and have no problem with the Ultra and Premium Plus receivers as I believe they are decent STB’s. However in all fairness the end user needs to be aware of the pitfalls with the Azbox ME as it now stands.
Can things change? Of course they can, but most people in North America want an STB that works out of the box! Not one they have to write program for to possibly get it to function partially!

I do not know of anyone in North America that has ever written a program to work in conjunction with the older Azbox’s let alone try writing a program for this new STB.
Every program that was written to work with the Azbox has come out of Europe.
At that many over here had problems getting them to work on their computers, from what they have posted in the past.

I know this post may be long but this needed to get put out there for those who are hoping that the Azbox ME was going to be their lifesaver at this time.
The truth is, at this time, it is not ready for Prime-time!
 
You should read this thread:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/azbox-discussion/272537-azbox-me-android-os-dead-water.html

That poster put up the link to what is going on.
Sigma backed out of developing or finishing the development of the touted Android platform for the Azbox ME; and are offering the entire source code to anyone who asks them for it.
They now want it to be opensouce and not a closed type of firmware so anyone who has the knowledge can write what they want for their own firmware.

As it is right now, the Azbox ME out of the box does not even have North American satellites listed in the receiver.
The receiver would not even pick up certain signals that all the previous versions of the Azbox’s are getting.

Opensat was not reducing the cost with a receiver with incomplete firmware or rather non working firmware for this side of the world in North America.

Now for the sake of being impartial, the hardware in the receiver appears decent enough to handle what it was intended to do but with the lack of a good working firmware in it, is crippling this STB.

Furthermore, there were some other problems Opensat was dealt when they had an internal problem, (which I am not at liberty to disclose at the moment), this is what really prompted the company to put out a notice to offer the source code to the public.
Now if they can not overcome this internal problem they could end up dead in the water as far as offering any future STB’s in the market.

Then Opensat came out with saying that older models of their Azbox’s could now use another firmware type. However, those who tried it quickly found out that it offered them less functions then what they had.

Blind-scanning is one issue, several 4:2:2 feeds are another issue, North American Satellites are yet another issue, editing channel list are still another issue.
The list can go on so why in the world anyone would want this STB at this time unless they were a programmer and wanted to tinker with writing a firmware that would work with it is beyond me.
Then again if someone wanted to do this and succeeds they should be paid for their hard effort IMO!
Who want to be a guinea pig?
This is no way to run a business.
I have been a supporter of the Azbox and have no problem with the Ultra and Premium Plus receivers as I believe they are decent STB’s. However in all fairness the end user needs to be aware of the pitfalls with the Azbox ME as it now stands.
Can things change? Of course they can, but most people in North America want an STB that works out of the box! Not one they have to write program for to possibly get it to function partially!

I do not know of anyone in North America that has ever written a program to work in conjunction with the older Azbox’s let alone try writing a program for this new STB.
Every program that was written to work with the Azbox has come out of Europe.
At that many over here had problems getting them to work on their computers, from what they have posted in the past.

I know this post may be long but this needed to get put out there for those who are hoping that the Azbox ME was going to be their lifesaver at this time.
The truth is, at this time, it is not ready for Prime-time!

Thanks for the info. I don't think Opensat is going to orphan the ME, they have too much invested in it.

I don't care if everything isn't working, I was one of the first in the U.S. to take a chance on the Elite, and I intend to do it again with the ME, mostly because my Elite is DOA, power supply issues or something. Soon as I get the word that 4:2:2 works, I am onboard. The rest I can deal with. Beta testing is my middle name. If you live in the U.S. and have a FTA system, almost everything we have has to be tailored to be of any use. I agree it isn't right, but it is what it is.

If you wait for things to be perfect, you'll be waiting a long time, as i am sure you know, by looking at your signature line you have a LOT of hardware. :D
 
Stargaze's post is dead on. The ME has great hardware specs but there are significant issues with the software/firmware at this time. There is a lot of work which needs to be done to Neutrino to bring it up to the level of functionality in current HD boxes and then there will be issues unique to feeds from NA so I don't think the ME is going to be a good option for us anytiem soon. That being said, if Blindscan support could be added to Enigma2 and a few of the bugs/issues resolved, the ME could be great receiver for us here in NA. I'm not an IP attorney but my understanding is that Opensat can't officially license or support E2 on the AZbox which is why there is a third party doing the development. There have been rumors that there is a connection between Opensat and RTI beyond just the release of information for coding. There is also a relationship between Opensat and RTI for Neutrino however none of that is public information and we probably won't ever know.
 

North American Channel List as of December 31

Where to buy an aZbox?

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)