Wizpnp dp-p1 and dp-lite i

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 20:45

I have just got a dp-lite i to complement my p1. I want to stream recordings from one to another. I have setup wizpnp and each wiz can see each other - so far so good. However, the recordings directory on the p1 is called "recording" and full of my recordings. When I browse the p1 from the lite it shows a directory "Recordings" with no files. I assume there is no content as there is no "Recordings" directory on my p1.

The f/w on the p1 is 350 and the lite is 351.

Is there a way of renaming the directory that recordings are placed in?

One possibility is that name change occurred in some past f/w update. Maybe some form of system reset would create a recording directory with the correct name. Obviously I will have to move my recordings off to a network share first.

Anyone come across this?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 00:43

Hi Dal,

Have you tried reindexing the recordings on your DP=P1? (Press the SOUNDTRACK button while you are in the File Player.)

Regards,
Ian.

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 10:18

I have tried that. I saw that mentioned in some other threads.

IanSav wrote:Hi Dal,

Have you tried reindexing the recordings on your DP=P1? (Press the SOUNDTRACK button while you are in the File Player.)

Regards,
Ian.

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:51

Hi Dal,

If my memory serves me correctly, some years ago someone else had a similar problem - the ‘Recordings’ folder had been renamed to ‘recording’ (without the ‘s’).

I can’t remember if or how it was corrected, but if you do some searching you may find that topic or post. I think ‘prl’ was involved in the discussion so select ‘Search for all items’ & put prl in ‘Search for Author’, try various ‘Keywords:’ in the search & try ‘Display results as: Topics’ & if no luck with that try ‘Display results as: Posts’.

madmax · Post by **madmax** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 20:34

Dal wrote:One possibility is that name change occurred in some past f/w update.

I think you are right about this. It rings a bell (a very distant one). prl, can you help?

prl · Post by **prl** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:17

I can't recall the Recordings directory name change (from Recording to Recordings IIRC) being a problem in the past, though that may just be my memory.

The index file that is sent to a WizPnP client is accessed through a Unix file system symbolic link (think a Windows shortcut that's actually part of the file system, but provides name information only, and no application stuff).

If that link is somehow deleted, then WizPnP gets into a state where clients can't access recordings on the server, and nothing short of hacking into, or a HDD format of, the server Beyonwiz will fix the problem.

Unfortunately I'm not in my home until sometime in November, and a lot of my stuff is in storage (renovations under way). This limits the sort of investigations I can do.

Dal, if you try to look at http://my.bw.dp1.ip/index.txt in your favourite browser, what happens? If you get a 404 Page Not Found error then that's indicative of the index file link being broken. Replace my.bw.p1.ip with the actual IP address of your P1 in the URL. If you read the IP address from SETUP>Network>LAN on the DP-P1, then you must remove any leading zeros in the IP address on the Beyonwiz when you make the URL. For example if the Beyonwiz networking information says the IP address is 010.001.001.005, use a URL http://10.1.1.5/index.txt.

If you can read the index.txt file in your browser, could you post the first five or so ines?

Also Dal, can the DP-P1 see recordings on the Lite?

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 14:51

I can’t find the discussion I was thinking about. I only found this, but I thought there was another situation with more detail.

The ‘recording’ folder was changed to the ‘Recordings’ folder in 01.05.301 (Jun-2009), & in 01.07.014 (Feb-2010).
Look under ‘File management enhancements:’.

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 18:31

Apologies for the delay in replying. My BW account got deactivated.

Here is the index.txt from the p1...

idehdd/contents

Not very interesting. From the lite-i...

_Programs resume at 6am Oct.14.2012_20.17|idehdd/Recordings/ABC2___ABC4_Oct.14.2012_20.17+56214.73020.tvwiz/_Programs resume at 6am.tvwizts
Don't Blame The Dog Oct.14.2012_20.19|idehdd/Recordings/ABC2___ABC4_Oct.14.2012_20.19+56214.73169.tvwiz/Don't Blame The Dog.tvwizts
idehdd/contents

So it appears I can see things on the lite-i ok. I can also play files on the p1 from the lite-i.

So my current hunch is that the recordings/index are not visible on the p1 as there are in a directory with the wrong name.

Also, WizPnp/Yard wiz can see files on the lite-i and not on the p1.

I feel a factory reset coming on. Ofcourse I can't upload recordings to my NAS as WizPnp can't see them, so we'll have to watch a lot of recordings before the factory reset.

I would have thought the f/w upgrade that changed the directory name would have renamed it. Maybe I could revert the f/w to pre-301 then back to 350. I wonder if this would do the rename without losing any recordings?

Darrin

prl wrote:I can't recall the Recordings directory name change (from Recording to Recordings IIRC) being a problem in the past, though that may just be my memory.

The index file that is sent to a WizPnP client is accessed through a Unix file system symbolic link (think a Windows shortcut that's actually part of the file system, but provides name information only, and no application stuff).

If that link is somehow deleted, then WizPnP gets into a state where clients can't access recordings on the server, and nothing short of hacking into, or a HDD format of, the server Beyonwiz will fix the problem.

Unfortunately I'm not in my home until sometime in November, and a lot of my stuff is in storage (renovations under way). This limits the sort of investigations I can do.

Dal, if you try to look at http://my.bw.dp1.ip/index.txt in your favourite browser, what happens? If you get a 404 Page Not Found error then that's indicative of the index file link being broken. Replace my.bw.p1.ip with the actual IP address of your P1 in the URL. If you read the IP address from SETUP>Network>LAN on the DP-P1, then you must remove any leading zeros in the IP address on the Beyonwiz when you make the URL. For example if the Beyonwiz networking information says the IP address is 010.001.001.005, use a URL http://10.1.1.5/index.txt.

If you can read the index.txt file in your browser, could you post the first five or so ines?

Also Dal, can the DP-P1 see recordings on the Lite?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 21:24

Hi Darrin,

I would not experiment with downgrading the firmware.

To save any recordings you can't watch promptly you could always copy the recordings to an attached USB drive.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 09:19

Yes, index.txt from the Lite has the expected contents for the case where there are recordings, but no media files on the HDD. The contents of the P1's index.txt are what I'd expect if the P1 had neither recordings nor media files (which clearly isn't the case).

I'd have expected that a reindex of recordings on the P1 would help with this situation. After the re-index completes, you need to wait a couple of minutes before the index.txt file is updated. Don't restart the P1 during this time. You can then check whether the re-index succeeded by using your browser to check the P1's index.txt file. It's preferable to check using the browser because it's a specific test for whether the index.txt file has been built correctly and is being made available through the P1's HTTP server. Checking WizPnP visibility requires several other prior steps to succeed, and so isn't as diagnostic.

If it succeeds, you'll need to at least exit from the Lite's FilePlayer and re-enter it, though a restart may be needed, before you can see the updated index.txt from the P1 being used by the Lite.

If the re-index fails, the only remaining options are to install telnet-enabled firmware on your P1 and poke around in its files to see exactly what's happened and try to recover the situation by hand, or to reformat the P1's HDD.

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 16:21

I have already tried a re-index so I assume this hasn't worked. Do you think WizPnP should be able to cope with recordings being in any directory name? If the s/w that builds the index.txt is hard coded to look for files in the fixed location "idehdd/Recordings" then if my recordings are going into "idehdd/recording" then its not going to pick them up.

Will telnet enabled f/w allow a directory rename? I am struggling to find a way to move content off the device. I tried a USB HDD this avro but it is NTFS so I can't write to it! Moving files over wifi to my NAS is going to take forever! I am capable of using a telnet client so this maybe my best option, certainly worth exploring. Does the BW use a proprietary command line interface? Or is it some form of *nix inside? Plan b) is to format the HDD, I assume this will recreate the correct directory names.

Can you give me some guidance on obtaining and using the telnet CLI?

Darrin

prl wrote:Yes, index.txt from the Lite has the expected contents for the case where there are recordings, but no media files on the HDD. The contents of the P1's index.txt are what I'd expect if the P1 had neither recordings nor media files (which clearly isn't the case).

I'd have expected that a reindex of recordings on the P1 would help with this situation. After the re-index completes, you need to wait a couple of minutes before the index.txt file is updated. Don't restart the P1 during this time. You can then check whether the re-index succeeded by using your browser to check the P1's index.txt file. It's preferable to check using the browser because it's a specific test for whether the index.txt file has been built correctly and is being made available through the P1's HTTP server. Checking WizPnP visibility requires several other prior steps to succeed, and so isn't as diagnostic.

If it succeeds, you'll need to at least exit from the Lite's FilePlayer and re-enter it, though a restart may be needed, before you can see the updated index.txt from the P1 being used by the Lite.

If the re-index fails, the only remaining options are to install telnet-enabled firmware on your P1 and poke around in its files to see exactly what's happened and try to recover the situation by hand, or to reformat the P1's HDD.

prl · Post by **prl** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 17:11

Dal wrote:...Do you think WizPnP should be able to cope with recordings being in any directory name?

No. They have to be in the place where the firmware expects them to be

Dal wrote:If the s/w that builds the index.txt is hard coded to look for files in the fixed location "idehdd/Recordings" then if my recordings are going into "idehdd/recording" then its not going to pick them up.

It probably is hard-coded into the WizPnP server (/tmp/mnt/wizdvp/wizpnp). But it's probably equally hard-coded into the main application (/tmp/mnt/wizdvp/wizdvp).

Dal wrote:Will telnet enabled f/w allow a directory rename?

Yes.

Dal wrote:I am struggling to find a way to move content off the device. I tried a USB HDD this avro but it is NTFS so I can't write to it! Moving files over wifi to my NAS is going to take forever!

You need a drive with a large enough volume formatted as FAT32 to copy stuff of using USB. It doesn't matter if there are other volumes on the drive.

Dal wrote:I am capable of using a telnet client so this maybe my best option, certainly worth exploring.

I agree.

Dal wrote:Does the BW use a proprietary command line interface? Or is it some form of *nix inside?

No, and yes. The kernel is uClinux. The main utilities are Busybox. They're more limited than the standard *nix utilities, but they should contain few major surprises unless you try something very exotic. Most of them tell you some basic usage info if you use the -h option.

The shell is ash (or something similar - I think its lineage goes back to Minix). It supports basic Bourne shell command structures, though deeply nested stuff sometimes behaves a bit wierdly.

The applications that drive the PVR are proprietory, of course.

Dal wrote:Plan b) is to format the HDD, I assume this will recreate the correct directory names.

It does the equivalent of a Windows format with Quick Format set, and then creates the required directories and files.

Dal wrote:Can you give me some guidance on obtaining and using the telnet CLI?

You have to install hacked firmware to enable telnet. BWFWTools (requires Perl and the installation of some Perl packages). Unfortunately the normal server for retrieving my Beyonwiz-related software is down at the moment. If you don't have a copy I can email you a copy if you PM me your email address.

If you're using the standard telnet clients on Linux or OS X, you should just need to do

telnet my.bw.dp1.ip

I'm pretty sure the same will work with the Windows CLI telnet.

The same caveats about leading zeros in the IP address apply as for using it in your browser (it often gets interpreted as octal if you have leading zeros).

Once you run telnet, you should get straight in to a shell on the Beyonwiz running as root. Be careful: it's possible to severely brick a Beyonwiz as root. Root can wipe both the firmware flash and the boot flash, though you're unlikely to do that accidentally while doing the sort of fix you need. The usual cautions about 'rm -r' certainly apply!

The internal HDD is mounted as /tmp/mnt/idehdd. the Recordings folder is directly below that. The symbolic link for index.txt is /tmp/mnt/idehdd/index.txt and it is supposed to point to (from memory) /tmp/mnt/idehdd/hyperspave/index.txt.

When you exit your Beyonwiz login shell (Control-D or exit command), you should exit the telnet client. If you don't, you exit telnet with the quit command typed at the telnet> prompt. At the telnet> prompt, the help command gives you a command summary. You can switch from the telnet connection back to telnet's command prompt with Control-]. I think an empty command will return you to the session.

madmax · Post by **madmax** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 22:32

prl wrote:You have to install hacked firmware to enable telnet.

Do we still have to keep the telnet shortcut secret anymore? (you-know-who M.D.) Because I tried it just now, and it still works on my S1. In principle, is it any worse than suggesting to install hacked firmware?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 01:04

Hi Madmax,

The secret must remain a secret. Only Beyonwiz is permitted to give out those details. Usually those who are told are asked not to pass the information on.

Remember that those who were told the secret were also told that the feature would be removed if it was ever made public.

Regards,
Ian.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 01:05

Hi Dal,

When you performed the re-index did you get any pop up messages or confirmations?

Regards,
Ian.

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 08:48

When I do a reindex I get a "file indexing is complete" pop up.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:37

Hi Dal,

Okay, so the code actually runs but it is not seeing the correct directory to index. It looks like a firmware hack or a reformat are your only easy options.

If you are familiar with Unix/Linux you could try contacting Beyonwiz customer support and telling them about your problem and seeing if they will give you the Linux access codes. Alternatively, if you live near Beyonwiz you could probably arrange to take your unit in and they can make the corrections for you.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:39

Dal wrote:When I do a reindex I get a "file indexing is complete" pop up.

There actually should be two popups, the first to say that re-indexing recordings is complete, the second to say that re-indexing media contents (the files in this case) is complete. However, if you have few (or no) contents files, the second popup may replace the first one so quickly that you don't (or can't) see it.

Re-indexing is a three-step process. When you start re-indexing in the FilePlayer, the Recordings folder is indexed into one file, then the Contents folder is indexed into another file. Then a minute or so after the "completion" popup, these two files are read, merged and converted into index.txt.

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 19:55

Dal wrote:...
Also, WizPnp/Yard wiz can see files on the lite-i and not on the p1.

I feel a factory reset coming on. Ofcourse I can't upload recordings to my NAS as WizPnp can't see them, so we'll have to watch a lot of recordings before the factory reset.
...

Dal, I may have missed this in one of your posts, can you copy the recordings from the P1 to a network share on your PC using ‘Copy to’ in the File Player’s pop-up menu? If you can, this will allow you to reformat the HDD after they have been copied. – it could be a very slow process though. If you could do this you could watch these recordings via the P1 or the Lite i.

BTW - WizFX ver.1.0.2.3 (not ver.1.0.1.4) should see everything in the ‘Contents’ folder - for example an MP3 music file that had been copied there. I expect you will be able to, seeing that index.txt lists the Contents folder. Not that this bit of trivial information will help.

madmax · Post by **madmax** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 20:00

IanSav wrote:Remember that those who were told the secret were also told that the feature would be removed if it was ever made public.

What odds, given that it would require a new firmware release.

Nevertheless, my word is my bond.....

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 18:20

I can copy the recordings to the NAS but it will take forever, I have about 180GB to move across.

I got excited when I saw your suggestion regarding the Contents folder. I have noticed that the p1 shows both the "Recordings" and "Contents" directories on the lite-i. I thought I could move my files from the "recording" directory to the "Contents" directory on the p1, do a reindex and the lite-i should then see the "Contents" directory. After all the "Contents" directory has the correct name. But.... I can't seem to move or copy a file from the "recording" directory to the "Contents" directory. The little explorer popup for the HDD only shows the "recording" folder and doesn't allow me to create another directory at the root level. Should I be able to move stuff from the "recording" to "Contents" directory? If yes, then I may have another problem. If no, then what is the purpose of the "Contents" directory? (just checked I can't do this on the lite-i either).

I have sent an email to BW support and have yet to hear back.

Darrin

sub3R wrote:
Dal wrote:...
Also, WizPnp/Yard wiz can see files on the lite-i and not on the p1.

I feel a factory reset coming on. Ofcourse I can't upload recordings to my NAS as WizPnp can't see them, so we'll have to watch a lot of recordings before the factory reset.
...
Dal, I may have missed this in one of your posts, can you copy the recordings from the P1 to a network share on your PC using ‘Copy to’ in the File Player’s pop-up menu? If you can, this will allow you to reformat the HDD after they have been copied. – it could be a very slow process though. If you could do this you could watch these recordings via the P1 or the Lite i.

BTW - WizFX ver.1.0.2.3 (not ver.1.0.1.4) should see everything in the ‘Contents’ folder - for example an MP3 music file that had been copied there. I expect you will be able to, seeing that index.txt lists the Contents folder. Not that this bit of trivial information will help.

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 19:20

Hi Dal. No you can’t move or copy Beyonwiz native format (.tvwiz) recordings into the Contents directory or any sub directory that has been created under the Contents directory - the reason for me saying “Not that this bit of trivial information will help”. This applies to Beyonwiz native format recordings held in the Recordings directory including any sub directory created under the Recordings directory, or any Beyonwiz native format recording held on any other source (for example USB Ext HDD, PC, NAS).

A Beyonwiz native format recording can only be copied to the Recordings directory or any sub directory created under the Recordings directory – this is from any source. Sorry if I gave you false hopes, I should have explained my last post a bit more.

Likewise, supported non-native files (for example .ts, .mpg, .mp3 formats) can’t be copied to the Recordings directory or any sub directory that has been created under the Recordings directory, from any source.

So only Beyonwiz native format (.tvwiz) recording are held in the Recordings directory or one of its sub directories (if any sub directories exist), & only non-native files (for example .ts, .mpg, .mp3) are held in the Contents directory or one of its sub directories (if any sub directories exist).

You can’t create a directory at the root level, only under the Recordings directory or one of its sub directories previously created, or only under the Contents directory or one of its sub directories previously created.

I hope this is a bit clearer.

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 20:04

Dal, continuing on from my last post; you could create a sub directory under the P1’s ‘recording’ directory & copy recordings to that, but seeing the ‘recording’ directory can’t be seen from the Lite i or the PC, I doubt that you will be able to see that sub directory or any recordings held within. Also, I don’t know what ramifications this would have if you created such a sub directory under the incorrectly named ‘recording’ directory (for the current f/w) & tried to change or rename the ‘recording’ directory later. ‘prl’ would know more about this than I would.

To satisfy yourself that the Lite i or WizFX ver.1.0.2.3 can see files on the P1 (we know the Lite i can see the Contents directory), you could copy a small supported non-native file such as an mp3 music file to the Contents folder & this should be visible from the Lite i or WizFX ver.1.0.2.3 on your PC.

BTW ... If you need to contact Beyonwiz Support for help, it is usually quicker to phone instead of waiting for an email reply. I have read that they are fairly slow to reply to some emails.

Dal · Post by **Dal** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 20:51

I copied a mp3 to the "Contents" and I can see it in the index.txt and also WizFx. So it does look like much of the protocol is functioning.

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 09:42

Yes, I thought that may be the case.

As Peter (prl) mentioned, I only think you have a couple of options to rectify the ‘recording’ folder problem.

If you only had a few recordings on the HDD, a reformat with 01.05.350 f/w would have been the easiest. But unfortunately, without removing the P1’s HDD, copying 180GB of recordings from the P1 to anywhere (USB Ext HDD attached to the P1 or to a network share) will take a long time. The Wiz transfer speed is pretty pathetic – some methods are marginally faster than others but nothing to write home about.

I haven’t tried to telnet to hacked firmware but obviously this works.

I don’t think a factory reset followed by a reinstallation of 01.05.350 f/w will fix the problem (normally a factory reset won’t lose any recordings but will wipe all timers & reset other user configured settings).

If I could easily replicate a ‘recording’ directory instead of ‘Recordings’ under 01.05.350 f/w I could try a few things with our spare S1 that doesn’t contain any recordings, but I don’t think reverting to pre 01.05.301 f/w > reformatting > then upgrading to 01.05.350 f/w will achieve this.