Using T4 for Foxtel

[Charlotte]

I’m about to shift into a new house. I have 2 T4s, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. The house has been wired for Foxtel in both locations. I’ve also set up a wired connection between the T4s. So that’s the big picture.

I’ve never had Foxtel before, but have had experience of how pathetic their set up is compared to the T4. I think the TVs will be connected with HDMI and the Foxtel is just an R6 cable. I realise that I’ll only be able to watch the same Foxtel show in the living room and the bedroom if I only have one box.

If I remember correctly, I’ve read about people using an HDMI cable with splitter to use the T4 rather than the Foxtel remote??

Is it possible to control Foxtel through the T4? For viewing, saving shows to T4 etc? The T4 is so much better than having to use the Foxtel remote.

Thanks in advance.
Charlotte

[prl]

Is it possible to control Foxtel through the T4? For viewing, saving shows to T4 etc? The T4 is so much better than having to use the Foxtel remote.

No. The T4 just gets the HDMI signal from the Foxtel box. It doesn't try to control the Foxtel box through the HDMI link, even though that is theoretically possible. If you want to view Foxtel through the T4, you still need to change the Foxtel channel using the Foxtel remote.

Also, the Foxtel box doesn't know anything about recording timers on the T4. If you want to record a show on the T4 from the Foxtel output, you need to make sure somehow that the Foxtel box is switched to the channel that you want the timer to record when the recording needs to be made.

Of course, if the Foxtel box can make recordings, you can record on the Foxtel box and view it through the T4, but in that case you need to set up the recording on the Foxtel box (using the Foxtel remote), and to play it back, change the T4 to the HDMI IN channel, and play the recording on the Foxtel box using the Foxtel remote.

I don't see much attraction in this sort of arrangement, myself.

[Paul_oz53]

...
I’ve never had Foxtel before, but have had experience of how pathetic their set up is compared to the T4. I think the TVs will be connected with HDMI and the Foxtel is just an R6 cable. I realise that I’ll only be able to watch the same Foxtel show in the living room and the bedroom if I only have one box.

I connected Foxtel via a splitter to HDMI-IN on the T4 (now the U4 but makes no difference). This allows you to play Foxtel shows on the TV by selecting HDMI-IN as the channel or to record the Foxtel channel you have selected.

If I remember correctly, I’ve read about people using an HDMI cable with splitter to use the T4 rather than the Foxtel remote??

No, the splitter allows you to see what was selected on Foxtel. I use a Harmony 650 remote or the Harmony Hub and a phone to save swapping remotes.

Is it possible to control Foxtel through the T4? For viewing, saving shows to T4 etc? The T4 is so much better than having to use the Foxtel remote.

Sadly no. The Harmony remote is the best option but not a huge gain.

One trick you can do is record Foxtel on the T4 connected to Foxtel and, on the second T4, play that recording as its running on the first T4. If you do this, you can skip back but obviously, can only skip forward to real time.

[Charlotte]

So I moved into new house and got Foxtel. Emailed beyonwiz support and said that I had heard there was a splitter that I could use with T4. I specifically said that I wanted to store all the recordings on the bwiz. I was referred to an HDMI splitter, which I bought and was told how to connect it. . Haven’t tried it yet, but since I bought it from bwiz for a specific purpose I hope that it works. Should be setup Tuesday.
Any comments? Anyone else had any luck in the last 12 months?
Now I don’t know how to insert the image. HDMI 1080pP 3D splitter ver 1.4.

The electrician set up the two T4s without the right cable connection. There was an R6 and an HDMI cable. One may have been meant for Foxtel box. He couldn’t get anything to work after I shifted in. Sent another electrician who, I think, said there needed to be an HDMI in and an HDMI out for the 2 T4s.

[MrQuade]

Haven’t tried it yet, but since I bought it from bwiz for a specific purpose I hope that it works. Should be setup Tuesday.
Any comments? Anyone else had any luck in the last 12 months?
Now I don’t know how to insert the image. HDMI 1080pP 3D splitter ver 1.4.

The HDMI output of the Foxtel box need to plug into the input on the splitter.

One output from the splitter should go to your TV (or AV receiver if you have one), and the other output of the splitter should go to your T4's HDMI input. The T4's HDMI output should connect to the TV (or receiver) as normal.

When you want to view Foxtel through the T4, you need to change channel on the T4 to the "HDMI-IN" service. The HDMI-IN service will appear in your Terrestrial TV (LCN) bouquet.

Alternatively, you can press the BLUE button from Live TV, and select the HDMI-IN options from there.

Note that to get any sound on the T4 via the HDMI-IN, you need to set the Foxtel box to only output 2 channel PCM audio. You should not send any bitstreamed Dolby Digital, or any other compressed or uncompressed multi-channel audio to the T4, as it can't (reliably) handle it.

You should also ensure the Foxtel box doesn't output 4K video. The T4 definitely can't handle that.


In order to record from Fox, you need to switch the Foxtel box to the channel you want to record, and then you need to set a timer on the T4 to record from the HDMI-IN service. You can switch the live view to the HDMI-IN service if you want, but it isn't essential.
One other thing of note is that while the recording is in progress, you may want to avoid switching the T4's live view to and from the HDMI-IN service. Doing this will cause the recording to "blip" at the point at which you changed channel, and it can sometimes (rarely) cause the recording to fail.

[Paul_oz53]

Been doing it for years.

Connect Foxtel HDMI out to splitter in.

Splitter out 1 connect to T4 HDMI in.

T4 HDMI out connect to TV HDMI in.

If more than one port is free on the TV you can also connect splitter out 2 to the spare TV port.

To watch, select the T4. Set it to the HDMI in channel. Enjoy!

You can record whatever you are watching on Foxtel. I use 720p50 for recordings on the T4.

If you also connect the second TV input you can watch Foxtel directly but there's not much point to doing it (edit: except to watch higher resolutions available from the latest Foxtel boxes).

[Charlotte]

Thank you very much. I shall let you know how I go.

[Charlotte]

So we got it set up today. Changed the Foxtel to 1080P and now have Foxtel running through the T4. Can access it by pressing the blue button and selecting extension Turn on HDMI-in. Thank you!

However I haven’t worked out how to find HDMI-IN in Terrestrials to add to a bouquet. When I go to terrestrial services I basically get FTA channels. If I press red button for all, I get FTA. Also I noticed that when I press radio on the remote I don’t get any radio channels, just FTA.
Someone suggested the GUI in another post, but I couldn’t find anything there.

So, how can I add HDMI-IN to a bouquet? I appreciate the help so far and would love a little more

PS I’ve been able to do an instant record from Foxtel and it sis showing up as HDMI IN on the recordings list. All good. Just need that little extra step so I can program future recordings.

[MrQuade]

So, how can I add HDMI-IN to a bouquet? I appreciate the help so far and would love a little more

The HDMI-IN service should be the very last service in the Terrestrial TV (LCN) bouquet. It will appear after the last FTA service and a little spacer bar.

From there it should be possible to copy it into your Favourites.

You may want to run a Tuner location scan to pick up any new services, and have the T4 rebuild the Terrestrial TV bouquet if you still can't see the HDMI-IN service.
That scan should also pick up any digital radio stations if they are missing too.

[prl]

However I haven’t worked out how to find HDMI-IN in Terrestrials to add to a bouquet. When I go to terrestrial services I basically get FTA channels.

HDMI-IN should be put at the end of Terrestrial TV LCN when you scan for services, just under the "Other services" separator.

You should be able to just go to Terrestrial TV LCN in channel selection (press FAV twice from live TV, then select it), and then scroll down to the bottom.

It should also be visible in Open Webif if you click on BouquetEditor in the sidebar, then click on Terrestrial TV LCN in the mani panel, and then scroll to the bottom of the services list under the list of bouquets.

If I press red button for all, I get FTA.

That's normal.

Also I noticed that when I press radio on the remote I don’t get any radio channels, just FTA.

With default settings, when you press Radio on the remote, you should get a list of radio bouquets. Select one of them in the usual way to use radio mode.

Someone suggested the GUI in another post, but I couldn’t find anything there.

There isn't another GUI. There is another skin (select it in MENU>Setup>AV setup>Skin setup). But that won't change the behaviour, just how the screens are presented. There's also a user-contributed skin OverlayHD. But that won't change the behaviour, either.

So, how can I add HDMI-IN to a bouquet? I appreciate the help so far and would love a little more

First you need to find it. If it's not in Terrestrial TV LCN, you need to rescan. Then use can use FAV, MENU>Add service to bouquet to add the service to a bouquet.

I can't find a way to add it to another bouquet in Open Webif.

[Charlotte]

Did a full location service and nothing of note appeared there. Tuners > location scan. Where is scan for services’? Is that different? I tried it under manual scan as well as full location scan.

I’ve never seen anything with other services.

How do I get to Terrestrial TV location? I’m searching under that, but maybe in wrong place?

If I press FAV twice from live tv it goes to favourites after first press and rejects second press.

Haven’t used open web before. Don’t know it.

Have tried fav then satellites green button. Only FTA. No other services nor any listing for same.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

How do I get to Terrestrial TV location? I’m searching under that, but maybe in wrong place?

If I press FAV twice from live tv it goes to favourites after first press and rejects second press.

Multiple bouquets enabled?

Edit, not at home, had to search -
MENU>>Setup>>TV>>Channel selection>>Enable multiple bouquets

[Charlotte]

Had multiple bouquets disabled for many years as there used to be an issue. Enabled them, but made no difference. .

[MrQuade]

Had multiple bouquets disabled for many years as there used to be an issue. Enabled them, but made no difference. .

So what is the last service in the list when you press:
FAV->FAV
then navigate to Terrestrial TV LCN and press OK and scroll to the bottom?

[Charlotte]

As per above. On both T4s. Get favourites with first press. Second press doesn’t do anything. Just gets that blocking square with the line through it.

[MrQuade]

As per above. On both T4s. Get favourites with first press. Second press doesn’t do anything. Just gets that blocking square with the line through it.

That's peculiar.
What about when you press FAV->BLUE?

Maybe you should reboot after enabling multiple bouquets in case something is stuck.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

As per above. On both T4s. Get favourites with first press. Second press doesn’t do anything. Just gets that blocking square with the line through it.

What does this show? -
http://beyonwizt4/api/getservices?sRef= ... %20bouquet
Do you get more than just your "Favourites (TV)" bouquet, for example do you see "Terrestrial TV LCN" or "Last Scanned"?
You may need to substitute the names of your T4s or their IP addresses in that URL.

[Charlotte]

have had to reboot bwiz 5+ times and turn off Foxtel. My bwiz is spitting the dummy in a big way. Doesn’t like the new HDMI in. That dreaded white star circle going around. Have to watch media and not fiddle with live.
Can’t experiment any more atm with fav etc as the system just spits the dummy.

Haven’t seen terrestrial TV lcn, only terrestrial. Will try experimenting with some of suggestions tomorrow. I want to watch TV plus when it loses the plot I’ll lose tonight’s recordings. ABC news is in 5 parts already.

Have done fave blue a number of times. Can’t remember what I got, but not what I hoped for. Never seen last scanned.

Re above link Grumpy Geoff, can’t open it - says server couldn’t be found.

All going so well I thought, but not so good now.

Tomorrow is another day.

[MrQuade]

Haven’t seen terrestrial TV lcn, only terrestrial. Will try experimenting with some of suggestions tomorrow. I want to watch TV plus when it loses the plot I’ll lose tonight’s recordings. ABC news is in 5 parts already.

Where are you seeing the word "Terrestrial" if not in the bouquet list?

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Re above link Grumpy Geoff, can’t open it - says server couldn’t be found.

You have two T4s. You'll have to substitute their individual machine network names or their IP addresses into the URL (without the curly brackets) -
http://{T4-name-or-IP-address-goes-here}/api/getservices?sRef=1:7:1:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:FROM%20BOUQUET%20%22bouquets.tv%22%20ORDER%20BY%20bouquet

Previously from the IceTV forum, it was thought you were on older firmware.
What does MENU>>Information>>About show for the value of 'Last upgrade' (for older firmware) / 'Revision' (for newer firmware)?

[peteru]

Please ensure that you are running the 19.3 series firmware.

[prl]

As per above. On both T4s. Get favourites with first press. Second press doesn’t do anything. Just gets that blocking square with the line through it.

That seems odd. I can't replicate it with what I think are the most likely settings that might cause that.

I think that it's going to be hard to help much without knowing what firmware version you're running (as Grumpy_Geoff asked above).

As well as the firmware version, in MENU>Setup>TV>Channel settings, what are your settings for "Always show bouquets" and "Enable multiple bouquets"?

And when you see the list of available bouquets, what are they? You should normally see:
Terrestrial TV LCN
Last Scanned
Favourites (TV)

unless you've modified the bouquet list or changed bouquet names.

[Charlotte]

I decided late yesterday that it could be something to do with firmware issue and needed to update. Someone mentioned that later too.

Sorry for wasting everyone’s time if that is the problem. I just have a blind spot when it comes to firmware.

Have just got a new puter which doesn’t like old printer. So today got new printer which comes with CD. Threw out my old external HDD when I moved so guess I need a new one. Need to set up printer, also buy new USB minimum 1GB. I want to print out instructions for updating firmware. Videos are great but I prefer written sometimes. I saw some instructions but they were for U4.

Would someone be able to point me to the latest info on updating firmware? Assume I know very little on that area, but what I did read earlier today I understood. I just want to make sure I download the right firmware.

The TV guy who set up the Foxtel box with the splitter, among other things yesterday, learned a lot, partly from what I had learned on the forum and he also spoke to Beyonwiz direct. He found it a very interesting morning doing things he didn’t know you could do.

On the topic of Foxtel, I’m guessing I could set Foxtel to record the same things as I record through HDMI IN. This way I wouldn’t have to remember to set the Foxtel channel to the one I want as Foxtel would do it for me? Might sound odd but could be useful for me if swapping channels.

Thank you again.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Would someone be able to point me to the latest info on updating firmware? Assume I know very little on that area, but what I did read earlier today I understood. I just want to make sure I download the right firmware.

From https://beyonwiz.com.au/downloads/
==> http://www.beyonwiz.com.au/media/downlo ... esV163.pdf (don't worry that it mentions version 16.1).
==> https://beyonwiz.com.au/firmware/t4/bey ... 06_usb.zip

If the T4's current installed firmware 'Release' is the '17.5' series (firmware '20190207' or '20180417'), then you can backup your settings before doing the firmware update, and then restore the settings afterwards.
If the 'Release' is '16.1' then you need to set up from scratch (in that case don't forget to resend all timers from your IceTV account, but set up your pre/post timer padding first).

[Paul_oz53]

Hi Charlotte,

Sorry you're having problems. Even on older firmware I could record Foxtel but the latest firmware is very good so I recommend you do the upgrade.

I usually set Foxtel to record the program so yes, do it. Then you can record it on the T4 later or while it's playing - as the mood suits you.

You should save your settings but if you restore settings you might restore a corrupt Terrestrial bouquet. I'd do a clean install first by answering "no" when it asks you whether to restore settings.

If that works you can then restore the settings to see if the problem recurs. (Menu/ Setup/ Software management/ Restore backup.)
Hopefully not but at least we'll know the cause.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

You should save your settings but if you restore settings you might restore a corrupt Terrestrial bouquet. I'd do a clean install first by answering "no" when it asks you whether to restore settings.

I don't think Charlotte will be offered a settings restore at the end firmware upgrade process. From the IceTV forum, in January,
Me - What firmware version are you running on the T4? From live TV, MENU>>Information>>About>>Revision field.
Charlotte - ‘Revision’ field not appearing on that page.
AFAIK, for versions up to and including the 16.1-series firmware, the 'Last Upgrade' field contains the firmware version.
From the 17.5-series release onwards, the firmware version is in the ('Build' and) 'Revision' field.
Therefore, it appears to me that Charlotte is on ancient firmware. That explains the service and EPG issues reported on the IceTV forum and the craziness reported here.

[peteru]

The symptoms all point to running the original factory firmware, so going to 19.3 will require re-doing all the settings. Recordings that are already on the HDD will not be affected by the new firmware installation.

[Paul_oz53]

Hadn't realised the firmware was that ancient but we all agree a clean install is priority one.

Even so, I am surprised it only plays up with HDMI in operating. Despite my track record for finding odd behaviour, I haven't seen anything like this before. Fresh firmware should fix it though.

[Charlotte]

Thanks for all that. I’ve decided to do the first update on my second T4 which doesn’t get used much and if there’s an issue it won’t be the main T4. The second T4 has the same issues as the main one when I try to find terrestrial etc.
BTW I’ve been getting into HDMI IN by clicking on the blue button which asks me to choose an extension and HDMI IN is in the list below.
I’ll take photos of all the main settings in case I lose them along the way. May take me a while to get organised but I’ll get back to you and let you know how I go.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I’ll take photos of all the main settings in case I lose them along the way.

Since you're coming from a 4.4 or 16.1-series firmware, printout your settings to guide you when setting up again.
The majority of the settings are stored in the /etc/enigma2/settings file. The format is not very user-friendly, but it should give you an idea of the required settings values.
You can open and then print your settings file contents via opening these URLs in a web browser on your computer -
file://{bwiza_or_b}/Root/etc/enigma2/
ftp://root:none@{bwiza_or_b}/etc/enigma2/
Or via Windows File Explorer, enter this in the address bar - \\{bwiza_or_b}\Root\etc\enigma2
Substitute '{bwiza_or_b}' with each of your T4 network names, or with their IP addresses. If you can't remember them, look in MENU>>Information>>Network, the hostname is listed on the top line, and the IP address a bit further down.
Later, when you set up again, you can change set the hostname in MENU>>Setup>>Network>>Mount manager>>Change host name.

Since you've not updated for a long time, I'm also wondering about the front panel firmware version. What's reported for 'Front Panel' in MENU>>Information>>About? If it's not '20057' then you should update the front panel -
Front panel update - V20057