Some observations using the T4

Moderators: Gully, peteru

Post Reply
User avatar
warkus
Guru
Posts: 712
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 15:14
Location: Perth, WA

Some observations using the T4

Post by warkus » Thu Jan 28, 2016 17:38

Hi everyone,

Have been using the T4 a lot more myself lately as I can't do much else at the moment.

Just thought I'd make a couple of comments regarding a few things I have noticed since using it a lot more than I normally do...

Firstly, the EPGrefresh plugin works awesomely, for me anyway.

One thing I have noticed using EPGrefresh (in case others have this issue and wonder why) is that setting it to run in the wee hours of the morning is not necessarily foolproof...

I have been wondering why WEST TV here in Perth had no EPG data in the guide when I press the guide button. So I went to the station and suddenly guide data appeared. This was at around 5pm a couple of days ago. Strange...

I checked EPGrefresh and it was definitely working for all other channels and also it was definitely set to check WEST TV.

So I don't go on and on about testing etc, I'll just get to the conclusion... Basically WEST TV doesn't transmit an EPG after about 11:30pm at night until some time again in the morning. I have no idea why that is but clearly it's a WEST TV problem and therefore not related to EPGRefresh, although I guess it is a problem for EPGrefresh as well if it is set to check early in the morning as mine is.

As I don't usually watch that channel, if it's been more than a week since I went onto the channel, then there is no more guide data available - and because they don't seem to transmit data at around 2am, my EPGrefresh is not updating the channel with any new data for the week to come. So the solution would seem to me to be to set EPGrefresh up possibly at a time where WEST TV does actually transmit data for their EPG or just delete the channel. (It's not really an issue for me but simply something I noticed)

I honestly cannot work out why WEST TV doesn't transmit data late at night (or very early morning) but clearly they don't. I even went back to my older P2 in the front room and checked that at around midnight the other day just to see if any data worked on that box but still nothing. Right now though if I go to the channel it downloads data just fine so clearly they only transmit EPG data when they feel like it...

Sharing in case others scratch their heads wondering as I did for a few days until I clicked...

Second observation - Peteru, Prl, can We PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have a timer / and default option for the "you appear to be in time shift" popup. It's really really really frustrating. I press one button and my remote shuts off my TV, Stereo, PVR, DVD etc. first thing to go off is the TV, so once it sends power off the wiz, it doesn't actually power off because it's sitting permanently at the "you appear to be in time shift" popup waiting for a response which I can't give it because the TV is already off and I can't see what it's saying until I power up in the morning and see that it didn't power off.

I'm sure there is probably some way of me telling the harmony to send STOP first then power off to fix this issue, but if a default option with timer was available or even a possibility in the future I would be very grateful...

:)

Lastly, auto timers, they take some time to set up, and getting used to the different regex type commands like (?i) etc, BUT, imo, once setup, they are bloody brilliant. So I have to delete a few repeats every now and then, no big deal. I have managed to filter most of them out using several different methods, and channel 7 seems to be transmitting Rpt now a lot more than they used to on their shows... In summary, AUTO TIMERS ROCK!

Well I think so anyway...

I will put the request above in the appropriate forum soon.


Mark
Beyonwiz fixer-up-erer-er-er-er

User avatar
MrQuade
Uber Wizard
Posts: 11844
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 13:40
Location: Perth

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by MrQuade » Thu Jan 28, 2016 17:48

warkus wrote: So I don't go on and on about testing etc, I'll just get to the conclusion... Basically WEST TV doesn't transmit an EPG after about 11:30pm at night until some time again in the morning. I have no idea why that is but clearly it's a WEST TV problem and therefore not related to EPGRefresh, although I guess it is a problem for EPGrefresh as well if it is set to check early in the morning as mine is.
Well there you go. I had wondered why WestTV was often unpopulated on my T4. The T3 is on Ice and I never see it there (and T3 is my main day to day box).
warkus wrote: Second observation - Peteru, Prl, can We PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have a timer / and default option for the "you appear to be in time shift" popup. It's really really really frustrating. I press one button and my remote shuts off my TV, Stereo, PVR, DVD etc. first thing to go off is the TV, so once it sends power off the wiz, it doesn't actually power off because it's sitting permanently at the "you appear to be in time shift" popup waiting for a response which I can't give it because the TV is already off and I can't see what it's saying until I power up in the morning and see that it didn't power off.
Do you actually want the warning though? I found the warning altogether annoying and switched it off ("Do nothing"). I figured there was a vanishingly small chance that I'd want to go back into timeshift if I was channel flicking and not already recording.
Logitech Harmony Ultimate+Elite RCs
Beyonwiz T2/3/U4/V2, DP-S1 PVRs
Denon AVR-X3400h, LG OLED65C7T TV
QNAP TS-410 NAS, Centos File Server (Hosted under KVM)
Ubiquiti UniFi Managed LAN/WLAN, Draytek Vigor130/Asus RT-AC86U Internet
Pixel 4,5&6, iPad 3 Mobile Devices

User avatar
warkus
Guru
Posts: 712
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 15:14
Location: Perth, WA

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by warkus » Thu Jan 28, 2016 17:53

Lol, I knew I couldn't have been the only one to have noticed WEST TV unpopulated... At least I know for sure now I'm not going nuts...


As for the time shift popup, yeah I kinda like having it warn me and have the option to record it etc... I thought about just turning it off, but it would be so much better if it was just defaulted with a timer of say 20 seconds where I have the option if I need it or it just counts down and selects default...

Mark
Beyonwiz fixer-up-erer-er-er-er

User avatar
tonymy01
Uber Wizard
Posts: 6373
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 15:25
Location: Sydney, Australia DP-S1-1TB, DP-P2-2TB, DP-T4-2TB, DP-T4-BB... too many!
Contact:

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by tonymy01 » Thu Jan 28, 2016 18:23

I like the sound of the countdown option also. Many a time now I have come home or woken up to a timeshift message on vfd and screen.
Tony

IanSav
Uber Wizard
Posts: 16846
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 15:00
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by IanSav » Thu Jan 28, 2016 23:32

Hi Mark / MrQuade,

Have either of you contacted West TV to ask them about the problem? Generally the TV station engineers only work during normal business hours. They may be totally unaware of the problem. Master Control should be able to see the problem but perhaps it has slipped past them as well. It is also possible that because the EPG data cache fills during the day when the data is available that they too may not be aware of the problem.

A quick call during the day to the Engineering department to ask the question about why the data goes missing together with a request that the data be transmitted 24/7 could well pay dividends.

Please let the forum know what you find out.

Regards,
Ian.

DaveJ
Apprentice
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2014 15:09
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by DaveJ » Fri Jan 29, 2016 15:35

warkus wrote:Lol, I knew I couldn't have been the only one to have noticed WEST TV unpopulated... At least I know for sure now I'm not going nuts...

Mark
Thank you. You were certainly not the only one to notice. Nice to know a reason for it.

My EPGRefresh is set to go off at about 7.30 am - so, clearly, West sorts out their EPG transmissions sometime after that.

Cheers
Dave

User avatar
peteru
Uber Wizard
Posts: 9741
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 23:06
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by peteru » Fri Jan 29, 2016 20:46

Maybe they decided to keep the jobs in WA and have some poor sod typing in the EPG from 9-5 with an hour off for lunch and an RDO every fortnight! :lol: Once they turn off their PC for the day, the EPG is gone. :roll:

"Beauty lies in the hands of the beer holder."
Blog.

User avatar
warkus
Guru
Posts: 712
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 15:14
Location: Perth, WA

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by warkus » Fri Jan 29, 2016 21:35

Sadly, with the budget they are likely working off, there is probably a lot of truth to that...lol...
Beyonwiz fixer-up-erer-er-er-er

Star6key
Guru
Posts: 952
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 13:56
Location: Sydney

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by Star6key » Sat Jan 30, 2016 14:14

peteru wrote:... Once they turn off their PC for the day, the EPG is gone. :roll:
Kind of reminds me of the early days of VCRs and the 'older generation' insisting on leaving the tv on otherwise the vcr wouldn't record. :lol:

DaveJ
Apprentice
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2014 15:09
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by DaveJ » Sat Jan 30, 2016 15:40

peteru wrote:Maybe they decided to keep the jobs in WA and have some poor sod typing in the EPG from 9-5 with an hour off for lunch and an RDO every fortnight! :lol: Once they turn off their PC for the day, the EPG is gone. :roll:
warkus wrote:Sadly, with the budget they are likely working off, there is probably a lot of truth to that...lol...
That "poor sod" is prolly some school kid in on "work experience".... :)

But yeah - from all accounts, they are running very close to the wire money wise.

User avatar
tezza007
Wizard
Posts: 1518
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 02:26

Re: Some observations using the T4

Post by tezza007 » Sat Jan 30, 2016 17:44

DaveJ wrote:
peteru wrote:Maybe they decided to keep the jobs in WA and have some poor sod typing in the EPG from 9-5 with an hour off for lunch and an RDO every fortnight! :lol: Once they turn off their PC for the day, the EPG is gone. :roll:
warkus wrote:Sadly, with the budget they are likely working off, there is probably a lot of truth to that...lol...
That "poor sod" is prolly some school kid in on "work experience".... :)

But yeah - from all accounts, they are running very close to the wire money wise.
Ah, that'll be the Amish work experience kid from IceTv :lol:
Tezza

Beyonwiz T4, 1TB internal WD Green HDD, 4TB USB Portable HDD
Beyonwiz T4, 500GB 2.5" internal HD
LG 500w sound bar
LG 70UF770T LED LCD 4K 70" TV
LG Magic Remote

Post Reply

Return to “General Topics”