DP-P2 Decision Point

[Glint.Bladesong]

I have had my DP-P2 since... well since forever it feels like. Even had its power supply repaired once a few years ago. Recently it started playing up in precisely the same way as this person described:

My DP-P2 has been humming along nicely and today it played up.

I turned it on and the blue disc wasn't there, but the other LCD showed a station. And sure enough SBS is working through it to the TV. Then the LCD went blank, but the TV still works.

But the unit doesn't respond to any input at all. I can't use the remote (STB lights), the disc controls (channel/volume) even pressing or holding the power disc at the front doesn't shut it down.

The sage advise being to shut it down immediately and get the power supply repaired (again, in my case).

So this has prompted me to reach a decision point in the life of my beloved DP-P2. Is it worth repairing it and hoping to try to eek out a little more life? Or should I put it out of its misery and look at upgrading?

The thing about upgrading is if I am going to upgrade I don't want to simply replace my current functionality but to "upgrade" it. I currently run Openelec on an Intel NUC and it plays all of my movies and music streamed from my FreeNAS box, so if I am going to upgrade I want to upgrade my OTA TV in such a way that it can all be viewed and controlled through KODI (one device to rule them all).

I have been looking at something like a HDHomeRun Connect Duo which, I think I can easily enough connect to my home network (all wired) and be controlled from KODI, giving me full PVR like capabilities. I have also naturally enough been looking at the Beyonwiz V2, but I am a little unclear as to whether or not this will give me the same functionality. There are little bits of information scattered around the internet but nothing (to my mind) that is particularly clear.

If I understand it correctly I can purchase the V2 without an HDD (or with) and tell it to use a share on my NAS box to store recordings. Once configured I believe I can then use the VU+ (??) plugin that would run on KODI to control the V2, change channels, set recordings (I have IceTV??), pause, rewind, fastforward live TV etc. Is that a correct assumption?

I think I can do the same thing with the HDHomeRun option (again, scattered information...) and even cost wise there is not a lot in it, with the HDHomeRun solution being about $235 (delivered) + $35 for the DVR service license, the V2 is $264 delivered.

So I guess the executive summary of all that is that I would appreciate any advice on the following:

1. Is it worth getting the DP-P2 repaired at all, and if not,
2. Can the V2 be fully controlled as a PVR from KODI so that I can have a single interface to all my media?
3. Does the V2 have anything over the HDHomeRun setup that makes it more compelling (it is slightly dearer, but cheaper over the long run due to the DVR licensing), or visa versa?

[MrQuade]

So I guess the executive summary of all that is that I would appreciate any advice on the following:
Is it worth getting the DP-P2 repaired at all, and if not,
Can the V2 be fully controlled as a PVR from KODI so that I can have a single interface to all my media?
Does the V2 have anything over the HDHomeRun setup that makes it more compelling (it is slightly dearer, but cheaper over the long run due to the DVR licensing), or visa versa?

The P2 is not worth resurrecting. It will continue to be more and more incompatible as the broadcast standards change.

The V2 has a plugin that lets it share out it's tuners to emulate a HDHomerun. I have successfully used Plex's HDHomerun functions using the Wiz as there backend.

This way, you can access up to four tuners on the V2 rather than only 2.

The V2 can run Kodi itself albeit version 17.

It is otherwise quite a capable media player using its own native media interface.

[Glint.Bladesong]

The P2 is not worth resurrecting. It will continue to be more and more incompatible as the broadcast standards change.

Yeah, I didn't think so. I have had it for well over 10 years (my last post on here was in 2009 ) Its done better then most electronic stuff in my house but everything has its day..

The V2 has a plugin that lets it share out it's tuners to emulate a HDHomerun. I have successfully used Plex's HDHomerun functions using the Wiz as there backend.

This way, you can access up to four tuners on the V2 rather than only 2.

That IS helpful. Thank you. Finding out about that information seems nearly impossible.

The V2 can run Kodi itself albeit version 17.

That's really cool, but my Kodi 18 setup via Openelec is my goto media system for now.

It is otherwise quite a capable media player using its own native media interface.

I have no doubt of that, its just that the Wife/Kid Acceptance Factor would increase significantly if I had a single All-In-One interface for everything, hence the reasoning behind trying to get all the functionality through the OpenElec/KODI interface.

[MrQuade]

These forums are the best place to ask question and find info. The capability of the V2 and other wiz products changes on a month to month basis generally, so maintaining a manual or documentation can be tricky at best.

Search for "hrtunerproxy" for more info.

Kodi also has a DVR plugin to connect to enigma2 PVR backends (of which the T/U/V series are) called VU+.

You might be able to decide if the native plugin or the HDhomerun plugin suits your needs better.

[Glint.Bladesong]

Thanks for taking the time to reply MrQuade.

Before I jump onto the V2 (It seems a safer choice then the HDHomeRun as if I cannot get the Kodi integration to work I still have a decent PVR in the T2, not so in the HDHomeRun) I have a couple of questions, which I think I know the answer too (but assumptions and all that...)

1. From what I understand the V2 doesn't have an einternal HDD. If I choose to add a HDD at purchase, the HDD that comes will be an external unit correct?
2. If I choose not to add a HDD can I use my NAS that is located on my network as a storage device for recording, pausing etc?
3. Is there a repository of available plugins/packages for the V2, or for the embedded linux OS it runs on?

Again, thanks to MrQuade (and anyone else that jumps in!).

(PS : I realise that this is getting a little specific for the "General" area of the forums, after this if I have an specific V2 questions I promise to start a new topic in the correct place. )

[MrQuade]

From what I understand the V2 doesn't have an einternal HDD. If I choose to add a HDD at purchase, the HDD that comes will be an external unit correct?

Correct on both counts. There is no room or mount points inside the V2 for a HDD.
You can connect pretty much any external USB HDD to act as storage, though it is better if it has its own power supply, and not try to run it off the V2's USB port power.
The V2 will be happiest if you let it format the HDD as ext4, which may limit its portability to some other systems.

The V2 will also take a microSD card that can be used for timeshifting or light recording duties.

If I choose not to add a HDD can I use my NAS that is located on my network as a storage device for recording, pausing etc?

You certainly can, as long as the NAS is reasonably assured of being always available. It is strongly advised that the NAS not be put to sleep, or spin down its own disks, as any delayed responses can throw things for a loop.

As mentioned before, you can also fit the V2 with a microSD card for local storage and timeshifting, and then make your bulk recordings directly on the NAS shared drive.

Is there a repository of available plugins/packages for the V2, or for the embedded linux OS it runs on?

The plugins are available from a repo that is accessible from the V2's GUI much like Kodi plugins work.
The underlying operating system uses the opkg packaging system and can be accessed from the command line and scripted if you like.

While it is possible to add other repos such as IanSav's OverlayHD/picon source, it is not generally advisable to go connecting to any old enigma2 repository, as you can run into a lot of unsolvable incompatibility problems.

There are one or two plugins that get published on the forums here as just plain installable packages. prl maintains the handy Series2Folder plugin, and adoxa will often publish niche features as plugins (which sometimes find their way into the base distribution if enough people like them!).



I find that I do most of my media consumption on my NVidia Shield with Kodi, or one of the official Android streaming apps, but all TV viewing is done by switching to the Wiz. There is a lot to be said for a purpose-built interface for watching TV and recordings. Integrating everything under Kodi or Plex does look quite nice, but I always find them tuned more to the task of watching media. What they are great for is for streaming live TV to other locations around the house that have a TV, but no antenna!

[Glint.Bladesong]

Correct on both counts. There is no room or mount points inside the V2 for a HDD.

Cheers. So its not recommended to run a 2.5 HDD powered from the USB? Finding space for another power plug is going to be tight.. There are only so many power boards I can fit behind the TV cabinet. minor problem though.

You certainly can, as long as the NAS is reasonably assured of being always available.

That's not an issue, its FreeNAS unit that had an uptime of 209 days until last week when I updated it.

you can also fit the V2 with a microSD card for local storage and timeshifting, and then make your bulk recordings directly on the NAS shared drive

So its possible to have different recording devices for different purposes? Simultaneously using the microSD for timeshifting, and the NAS for recording?

[MrQuade]

Cheers. So its not recommended to run a 2.5 HDD powered from the USB? Finding space for another power plug is going to be tight.. There are only so many power boards I can fit behind the TV cabinet. minor problem though.

It will probably work fine, but not recommended because the V2's power supply only has so much spare capacity, so if a user were to load on say a dual tuner and a wifi module, or try to run two 2.5" HDDs, you might run into issues.

You certainly can, as long as the NAS is reasonably assured of being always available.

That's not an issue, its FreeNAS unit that had an uptime of 209 days until last week when I updated it.

So its possible to have different recording devices for different purposes? Simultaneously using the microSD for timeshifting, and the NAS for recording?

Yep. The timeshift buffer can be configured to go anywhere you want it independently of any recordings.
The recordings can be set to go to any destination on a per-timer basis if you want them to. It is fairly common to set up each Autotimer (a keyword based EPG-searching timer) to put its recordings in a separate folder if you were using it to record a particular TV series.

You can set one device to be treated as and mounted as the V2's "HDD", and this is the default destination for things like config backups and sometimes for plugin temporary cache files and the like. The default recording location is on the "HDD", but the default location can be pointed at any storage location that is accessible by the V2.

[Glint.Bladesong]

Yep. The timeshift buffer can be configured to go anywhere you want it independently of any recordings.
The recordings can be set to go to any destination on a per-timer basis if you want them to. It is fairly common to set up each Autotimer (a keyword based EPG-searching timer) to put its recordings in a separate folder if you were using it to record a particular TV series.

You can set one device to be treated as and mounted as the V2's "HDD", and this is the default destination for things like config backups and sometimes for plugin temporary cache files and the like. The default recording location is on the "HDD", but the default location can be pointed at any storage location that is accessible by the V2.

I think my problem is that I am still thinking in the rather limited terms of what my DP-P2 can do, Clearly the V2 is several levels beyond that.

Is there a recommended size for the microSD? 64Gb 128Gb?

Looks like I'm off to buy a V2.

[MrQuade]

I think my problem is that I am still thinking in the rather limited terms of what my DP-P2 can do, Clearly the V2 is several levels beyond that.

Yep, they're a completely different beast, and the change from the DP series can be a little jarring to some. You should be fine though.

The T/U/V series experience is not perfect by any means and there are still some rough edges, despite all the polishing the hard working volunteers have done, but the feature set is pretty amazing.

Is there a recommended size for the microSD? 64Gb 128Gb?

I personally find a 128GB to be at a good price ($30ish) and decent size to give you a good amount of usable timeshift space.
Consider that a HD recording takes around 3GB/hour as a rough round figure. That means you can get a good 30 hours of HD recordings onto a SD card without too many worries.
I'd consider a step up to a 512GB (about $100ish) if you wanted to use the SD card for recordings long term though. Seeing as you are using the NAS, this shouldn't be required.

You should get one with a U3 speed rating, and preferably a A1 or A2 performance rating (not really essential though). The Samsung EVO SD cards are good, as are the higher end Sandisk offerings.

[prl]

Cheers. So its not recommended to run a 2.5 HDD powered from the USB? Finding space for another power plug is going to be tight.. There are only so many power boards I can fit behind the TV cabinet. minor problem though.

It will probably work fine, but not recommended because the V2's power supply only has so much spare capacity, so if a user were to load on say a dual tuner and a wifi module, or try to run two 2.5" HDDs, you might run into issues.

I've run a V2 with a Toshiba 1TB pocket drive (asks for 900mA from the USB3 port) and the USB dual tuner without any problems.

[Glint.Bladesong]

I've run a V2 with a Toshiba 1TB pocket drive (asks for 900mA from the USB3 port) and the USB dual tuner without any problems.

Cheers for that prl.

At the moment the plan is to run long term storage from the NAS, and short term//timeshifting from a A2 microSD card in the device itself. Knowing that I can add a spare HDD if things go wonky is a nice fall back position.

[Recusant]

Hehe, i haven't been here for ages. My parents are still using the DP-P2 i got repaired a few years ago. I have a T4, and to be honest, my parents would be completely lost in it's interface. I'M largely lost with it.

Disappointing the V2 doesn't have room for even a 2.5" HDD inside. That would be my preference. But i suppose a 128gb SD card is ok.

Anyway, i just came here to change my email address...