AMIKO Amiko A3 Owners Thread

[Cham]

My A3 locks up once in a while. Have not come to any formal conclusions as to why, but it usually happens while it is in semi-sleep/standby mode and doesn't wake up. I have the automatic updates turned off and it has not updated OS firmware. Need more time to play with it to determine why this occours. It does record fine, I have it recording NOVA on 125w once a week and SNL on 103, both appear to work.
I purchased the unit to see how IPTV would work on my slow internet connection, and the HTPC project I was hoping to conclude with a really good sat card got truncated when I had to use the computer I was setting up for that purpose for another use. Suspecting the lock-ups may be something to do with the bandwidth but not really sure yet, just a guess.
It has a really fast blindscan wihich is really cool. Maybe if the local ISP updates their head-end as they promise I can get more use out of this product.

 

[pacificrim]

I can make my A3 Jenny crash by scanning 139w.
It jumps out, or says Spark has stopped working.

If it jumps out on its own it goes to Advanced Install but it shows multiple tuners

Satellite - Tuner 1 configuration
Satellite - Tuner 2 configuration
Satellite - Tuner 3 configuration
Terrestrial install
Cable install
Fast scan
Provider scan

Clicking on any of them does nothing.

 

[Jim S.]

My A3 crashes every few days for no apparent reason if I leave it on or in hot standby. (Which I do a lot, because my motor has some problem whereby it needs to be re-zeroed if it loses power, and I haven't had the time or ambition to replace the motor.)

I saw the weird multi-tuner menu that pacificrim saw on one occasion when it crashed during a blind scan. I haven't seen it again since.

I'm running 2.0.72 so far. I haven't had time to test 2.0.73 yet.

 

[mc6809e]

Have either of you reported the crashes resulting in the multi-tuner menu screen over at FridgeFTA?

I don't remember seeing that posted anywhere before. You never know, that might provide a clue that could help the engineers.

 

[pacificrim]

I have no interest in visiting the fridgekkk.

 

[pacificrim]

To get back to topic,

I'm mostly liking the A3. I recogise that I'm running beta software and that comes with an obvious caveat, but the last stable release only supports old versions of apps, so it is out of necessity, really. Most of it works very well. The design is attractive and easy to install a hard drive. I wish it had analog audio or composite video out, but I recognize that is probably going away more often and at least the optical audio out works on the A3, unlike the Vigica C90S. The front panel display is white and in my opinion is way too bright. The option to dim it would be welcomed.

I think some of the features are cool - like the headphone jack on the remote. Though it is mono, it is a great feature. The USALS and diseqc settings on the A3 are accurate and that is already better than my Vigica C90S. Hardware-wise it is getting old, but that may not matter as much just as long as Amiko makes OS updates available for the A3. The Fdroid store is a great idea to make sure a source of working apps is available when newer or different apps won't work. I'm not sure about the intuitiveness of the interface - I think it may seem intuitive to some but I thought I would somehow navigate it differently. The sat and android apps are intermingled across different pages in various settings. I think I expected to find the TV stuff in one spot. The remote is good but with a really great air mouse. The thing missing is media buttons on the remote - play plause ff rw. Those are missing from the remote and would make XBMC better on the A3.

I have managed to record FTA while watching Netflix on the A3 - something the C90S could not do. Very cool.
I also edited the radio xml to manually add music pids - glad to be able to do this.

Seems like a good unit. Even getting a A3 Irish Jenny at the low, low price of $129 USD plus shipping and import duty (from US to Canada), it ended up costing me about $250 CDN. I think it is worth it, but realistically shouldn't cost much different ,more or less, than the price of a decent android tv box and a decent fta box. So that's about what I paid.

I still have a bunch more playing to do with it and I think I'll have fun. How long it stays current with software is key.

 

[pacificrim]

The transponder, or at least one of them, on 139w that crashes the A3 is 4150 V 9258

 

[Adoga]

Hi guys,


I just joined this forum because I got myself an Amiko A3 a few days ago and need some information.

First of all I must say that overall experience is great, I finally found a much suitable box for my needs. Though I'm more than satisfied with its present state, there are still some things I would like to ask, maybe you guys can help.

1. I know it doesn't have Bluetooth, but is it possible to use an external one maybe for keyboard or headphones? - I love to have my head phones working. If possible, how is it done? - I have tried without luck. The head phone jack on the remote is not bad anyway.

2. I saw this video() stating that it is possible to connect Kodi to the A3 tuners but I don't know how and what PVR plug-in to use. If someone has an Idea please share it with me, I would love the Live-TV possibility in kodi too. It’s not necessary but would be a nice feature.

3. Is it possible to switch back to last app that was opened before standby? I mean, if I was watching kodi and I switch to standby, it should return to kodi and not TV.

Thanks guys and I hope you have some helpful information for me.

 

[KE4EST]

1. Never tried headphones myself, but every other wireless keyboard I have tried worked fine.
2. I have Kodi on mine, but never have tried that, will have to experiment one day.
3. Possible, Yes. But the way it is programed now, No. Maybe you could email Amiko and ask to have them consider that for a possible future firmware update.

 

[KE4EST]

BTW Adoga Welcome to SatelliteGuys!!!!!

 

[Adoga]

BTW Adoga Welcome to SatelliteGuys!!!!!

Thanks.

I have been enjoying my A3 but something weird happend yesterday, mybe it was due to my E2 channels import. When I rebooted the device, it hung up at boot screen. After trying many restarts and didn't prove to be effective, I decided to take the "update.zip" way. After that update, I did the normal update using the Update app, and then recovered my backup. Every thing was up and running again.

I also noticed that when using the headphone attched to the remote control, sound is initially well syncronized, but later it gradually goes out of sync and atfer some minues it gets well more than 10 secconds out of sync. Has anyone experienced this issue?

I still have 12day of testing and after that, I would not be eligible for refund. I would like to know from long time users if this happens very often, and also the failures I have to expect.

Thanks!

 

[pacificrim]

I've had the headphone jack engage without headphones a few times. Actually, the first time I plugged ear buds into the remote was because the sound dropped during Netflix but I saw a glimpse of the headphone icon. Plugged in then waited a few seconds and got the sound back.

 

[Dee_Ann]

My A3 sat untouched for about 3 days. It was set up to record shows from Retro and COZI every day. I've been trying to record that WWII stuff for my dad from Retro and My Favorite Martian.
I would EXPECT it to run those tasks on it's own, as scheduled without me having to reboot it every bleeping day.

So my dad came by today and I wanted to show him the war stuff I had been recording for him and when I switched on the screen for the A3 it was locked up and the screen was covered with a bunch of small, bright green horizontal lines.
It was dead to the world. I pulled the power cord and waited 10 seconds. I plugged it back in and it it said "boot" on the LED display, the initial A3 boot screen came up and that was it. It just stuck on that and wouldn't go past it.
So then I pulled the power cord AGAIN. And waited. And plugged it back in and watched it get stuck on boot. And again. And again. And again.. After about SIX attempts to get the stupid thing to boot I gave up and pulled the power cord and left it sitting for about half an hour while I worked on converting a video tape for my dad. Then after he left I tried it again and this time it came up with the "Android is updating" screen and after sitting on that for 20 minutes, locked up, I pulled the power cord again. And another run of "Android is updating"... But this time is completed and rebooted itself. BUT, it was in F****** ARABIC !!!

It came up as if it were just being booted for the very first time ever and made me go through the setup routine and I SELECTED ENGLISH but it was still in freaking arabic and I could not make it go back to English no matter what.
I rebooted it two more times and it finally switched to English and I go through the setup routine.

And of course it had nothing for my satellites. It was asking me to scan for satellites as it was unaware of any.
I went back to the system menu and went to the restore option and I told it to restore a recent backup from a few weeks ago when I was certain that it was functioning correctly.
I do make backups at least every other week and have probably 40+ backups, I don't know, it's a lot. Plus I have the factory clean backup that I have that I did the very minute it came back from repair last year.

I selected to restore everything. Most things restored but the Amiko satellite downloader did not and will not restore no matter which backup I try to restore from. It's there, I've backed it up but it refuses to restore.
The Amiko Software Downloader is present and functional but the satellite downloader refuses to restore. I tell it to restore it and it says that it restored it but when I go to look for it, it's not there.
I've never had to use it but it's supposed to be there and I expect it to be there, just incase I ever do need it. I would hate to have to enter and entire satellite in by hand, one little bit at a time.
I've done that before and it is not fun.

For the record, I have the latest rom installed 2.0.73 and the Eurotrash 0.5 so all of that is up to date.

I do not use it for ANYTHING other than an FTA satellite tuner. I do not use it on the internet for anything at all, ever. I don't use it to stream video, I don't browse the internet with it, I don't do anything at all with it except watch FTA.
The ONLY channels I watch on it are Retro, Russia Today (very rarely) COZI and PBS on 125w.
I was trying to record that crusade in Europe and Pacific series for my dad, I record My Favorite Martian daily and on weekends for myself and I recorded a few things about NASA from PBS on 125.
That is all I us it for. I leave it powered up 100% of the time. I do not ever turn it off until it poops it's pants and I have to pull the power cord. It shares a screen with one of my Mac screens, It's meant to run 'in the background' so to speak, I expect it to run, record things on schedule and BLOODY WORK when I switch the screen to the STB so I can watch Doctor Who at 9pm. But more times than not I find it locked up and unresponsive and then I spend an hour unplugging and replugging the stupid thing then having to restore backups to get my satellites/channels back. I haven't installed any shady apps, I absolutely do not trust ANYTHING to do with google or android so I just don't use the internet features and I don't install apps from any source. I installed maybe 4 apps from the google play store last year but that was all, I haven't installed any new apps on it this year because I don't trust it.

This thing has been nothing but trouble from day one. Yes, I broke it on day one and after I learned my lesson and paid $25 to send it back to be put back to factory original I HAVE NOT fiddled with it. I have not messed with things I shouldn't mess with and I've made regular backups. But it's ALWAYS been trouble.

THIS Amiko A3 is absolutely unreliable and I regret buying it. I am quite unhappy with this tuner.
As much as I paid for this thing I expected much more reliability. Reliability of this thing is ZERO.
I have zero tolerance for machines that don't work right. There's an extremely high probability that I will put a bullet through this thing in the very near future and when I do I'm going to put it on youtube, vimeo and facebook.


Surely I can not be the only one having this much trouble. And this thing has been nothing but trouble.

As for the fridge site, I'm sorry but I don't care to participate there, the atmosphere there is not one that I consider to be compatible with my views of life and the world in general.
I created an account there so I can download updates but I will not participate in the forums there. No offense intended but that's just not for me.
I don't want to say anything further about that because of forum rules here.

I do not see any way to resolve this problem, it is a persistent, recurring problem. The next time it locks up will probably be the last time.
I'll borrow a gun from someone and take this thing out of the city limits where I can put it out of my misery.

 

[primestar31]

DeeAnn, No one has ever called you stupid. EVER!!! EVER!!! EVER!!!

Yes, we suggest that you read/follow instructions.... but that is addressing being stubborn, not stupid!

Once again I am going to suggest (and this time even beg of you) to PLEASE set-up a RMA to get this resolved once and for all! You spend soooooo much energy and time talking about what is happening and what you hate than the few minutes that would take fill out a RMA and send it in to Amiko Americas.

I have an A3 on 24/7 and DVR about 6 hours each day and media center music and Kodi. The only times that it gets power cycled is after I manually update to latest firmware. It does not force an update or lock-up. I am not the only one that has this positive, rosy experience! Maybe some members will back me up on this!

Would you PLEASE RMA your A3? PLEASE???

My A3 sat untouched for about 3 days. <snip>

So my dad came by today and I wanted to show him the war stuff I had been recording for him and when I switched on the screen for the A3 it was locked up and the screen was covered with a bunch of small, bright green horizontal lines.
It was dead to the world. I pulled the power cord and waited 10 seconds. I plugged it back in and it it said "boot" on the LED display, the initial A3 boot screen came up and that was it. It just stuck on that and wouldn't go past it.
So then I pulled the power cord AGAIN. And waited. And plugged it back in and watched it get stuck on boot. And again. And again. And again.. After about SIX attempts to get the stupid thing to boot I gave up and pulled the power cord and left it sitting for about half an hour while I worked on converting a video tape for my dad. Then after he left I tried it again and this time it came up with the "Android is updating" screen and after sitting on that for 20 minutes, locked up, I pulled the power cord again. And another run of "Android is updating"... But this time is completed and rebooted itself. <SNIP>.

Dee, Brian has literally BEGGED you to setup an RMA and send your A3 back to him.

Why won't you do it?

This is like a Twilight Zone episode called: "A Thing About Machines" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734551/ That guy was stubborn as all get out also, and it wasn't a good ending.



Do yourself a a favor. Send it back. It's obviously a lemon, so STOP TRYING TO FIX IT! Some things just can't be fixed, and their faults just can't be understood for whatever reason.

Don't let it win!

 

[Titanium]

DeeAnn,

You are not stupid, but this ongoing issue IS STUPID! Serious! How many times have I asked and begged you to RMA the unit.

If you refuse to RMA, what else is there to do but listen to the same story of woe? Same story... different day....
Unless you want to something about it, it isn't going to go fix itself.

Amiko Americas RMA does not require you to go to the FridgeFTA site. Here is the link:
http://www.amikoalienusa.com/?page_id=1052

 

[pacificrim]

I tried to download the Spark2 app from PlayStore for a HTC Desire 510 running KitKat 4.4.2 and it is "incompatible". Anyone running spark2 on 4.4.2 or lower? The PlayStore doesn't show the requirements.

 

[Radioguy41]

I have been following this thread for several weeks trying to decide whether to invest in an A3 or not but all I see are these never ending rants from Dee_Ann that serve no useful purpose. Why continue week after week to voice the same complaint over and over again while steadfastly refusing to send it back. What is the point of continually venting over something that you yourself refuse to get fixed? It's like constantly complaining your new car doesn't run right but refusing to take it back to the dealer to get it fixed. Continuing to complain isn't going to make it run better and continuing to vent over your A3 isn't going to get it fixed either. Initiate the RMA and send it back.

 

[mmewrench]

I have been following this thread since the first post. I must say that some of the horror stories scared me off for a time, but I finally decided to bite the bullet and order one on Black Friday (or there abouts). I didn't even hook it up to my dish for the first two weeks, but still used it every day. It does not play well with my home theater receiver (but neither does my TV, my PC, or my 4dtv). Sure it locks up once in a while (I never had a satellite receiver that didn't). Yes the blind scan might miss a channel here and there. I have never had a forced or accidental firmware update (in fact It had the original firmware in it for six months). I have never had to use my backups (yes I made them). Most importantly, In the 10 years I have been in this hobby, this is the first receiver I've ever had that all my kids will actually use (we love Pandora lol). So don't worry jeepguy, odds are if you get one it will work.

 

[pacificrim]

I installed the spark2 app on a different phone and it works but can't find the radio channels . Any ideas how to launch them?

 

[KE4EST]

From memory...red button...maybe...will have to check tomorrow.