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TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 06-07-08/2012
— www.TELE-satellite.com
16. Basic settings
17. It is possible to set a specific timeslot during which children
may use the receiver
18. Network and Internet settings
19. The Amiko Alien 2 also supports Internet access via an
external UMTS modem
20. Recordings can be saved onto network drives thanks to the
NFS protocol
manship and build quality
of the new Amiko Alien 2 is
outstanding. If we had to
define the perfect receiver,
this one could be it!
Enough said about looks
and specs now. Let’s pro-
ceed with connecting our
TV panel, Dolby Digital
home theatre system and
of course all available an-
tennas to the receiver and
finally press the magic ON
button.
After a short moment the
Spark software installation
wizard says hello and starts
to guide us through the ini-
tial setup routine. This con-
sists of six steps, starting
with OSD audio offering a
vast range of languages for
virtually all corners of the
globe.
Next, the receiver needs
to find out the correct local
time. You may select for the
box to use the time signal
transmitted with the DVB
data stream, or you may
also set the internal clock
manually.
If you use the automatic
option you need to define
your local time zone, i.e.
the time difference between
your location and GMT. An
extra field is available for
standard/daylight saving
time.
This is followed by video
resolution. In order to make
sure your TV panel is pro-
vided with the best possible
video quality you need to
enter the maximum resolu-
tion supported by your pan-
el. The following options are
available: 480i, 576i, 720p,
1080i and 1080p. Thanks
to 1080p output the Amiko
Alien 2 is a perfect match
for maximum resolution TV
panels as well as for future
1080p transmissions.
The aspect ratio can be
set in a number of ways,
and while several different
options are offered for the
presentation of 4:3 events
on 16:9 screens this feature
loses importance all the
time since most channels
broadcast in 16:9 anyway.
At this stage we would
have expected to continue
with a channel search, but
the Amiko Alien 2 instead
wanted to find out some
specifics of our local net-
work. It goes without say-
ing that the receiver sup-
ports DHCP for automated
communication between cli-
ent and router, even though
you may elect to enter all IP
details manually as well, if
need be.
In case you want to do
away with all cables for In-
ternet access you simply
need to attach a USB WiFi
stick such as the TP-Link
TL-WN321G and can then
use your wireless network
at home.
To wrap up the initial
configuration you’re asked
whether you want to create
an individual four-digit PIN
and you can deal with same
basic settings of the Spark
software, such as automat-
ic message reception, new
software alert and the like.
Now that all the basics
are taken care of the instal-
lation wizard says goodbye
and leaves us with an empty
channel list. So what next?
Well, you can either start
a channel search or use one
of the pre-defined chan-
nel lists that can easily be
downloaded from the Inter-
net in the main menu.
As far as DVB-S2 recep-
tion is concerned the Amiko
Alien 2 comes with 64 pre-
stored European and Asian
satellite positions, all of
which boast up-to-date
transponder details.
No matter whether it’s
a single LNB antenna you
have, a multi-feed dish with
two or more LNBs or even
a motorised antenna, the