Beyonwiz Australia

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 00:57**

grunta wrote:
janilxx wrote: like this small Finland up here.
Is this where the Split Enz's kiwi brothers come from ??? (Tim and Neil Finn)

Wouldn't that be Finnland

or when pronounced by a Kiwi Funland

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 01:08**

efry wrote: 1. The timers are stored in the /tmp/config/book.xml file but this file is only read by the pvr on startup. It would be great if
the wizdvp app had a way of reloading its config files without a restart. Most unix apps do this with a HUP signal.
Eric

Whilest not having enough brain cells to keep up with a lot said here ........ surely this must be incorrect ..... with the BW turned on and left on, timers are created and fired, without a shut down

(or is this the way, because of the way you implement timers with this hack ?)

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 06:18**

grunta wrote:
efry wrote: 1. The timers are stored in the /tmp/config/book.xml file but this file is only read by the pvr on startup. It would be great if
the wizdvp app had a way of reloading its config files without a restart. Most unix apps do this with a HUP signal.
Eric
Whilest not having enough brain cells to keep up with a lot said here ........ surely this must be incorrect ..... with the BW turned on and left on, timers are created and fired, without a shut down

(or is this the way, because of the way you implement timers with this hack ?)

Hi Grunta,

As far as I can tell the pvr reads the book.xml file at startup then maintains the timer list in memory while running. The only other time the file is accessed is when a timer changes, is added or deleted and this is only to write the new timer file.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 08:19**

Hi Grunta,

As Eric has indicated, it is likely that the timer (and all other config files) are loaded when the Beyonwiz is started up and the settings are kept and manipulated in memory until a change is made that needs to be saved. The Beyonwiz uses flash memory for this storage so you really want to avoid constant wrte back if possible.

Regards,
Ian.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 09:09**

efry wrote: Hi Grunta,
As far as I can tell the pvr reads the book.xml file at startup then maintains the timer list in memory while running. The only other time the file is accessed is when a timer changes, is added or deleted and this is only to write the new timer file.

This would explain how the Wiz manages to resume timers if it crashes (and is restarted), it must only update the XML file once a timer has completed?
As for write limits, the Topfield stores times in Flash, and I have been manipulating timers for years and years with that, someone did some maths once, and it would take 15 or 20years if I remember correctly before the flash write limits were to become a problem.
But given a PVR has a HDD, I think having them on the HDD is a better option, esp for a linux OS.
Hey Efry, I presume that you read that other thread about someone wanting to have old files auto deleted, this would be a piece of cake to have a cron job that checks the recording timestamps and deletes... your next project

Regards

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:04**

tonymy01 wrote: But given a PVR has a HDD, I think having them on the HDD is a better option, esp for a linux OS.

Untill the HDD crashes!

Or, for whatever reason, gets reformatted. Often recommended when experiecing problems.

The life of any device like the Wiz is likely to be less than the 15 years mentioned so flash would not really seem to be an issue.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 15:57**

tonymy01 wrote: Hey Efry, I presume that you read that other thread about someone wanting to have old files auto deleted, this would be a piece of cake to have a cron job that checks the recording timestamps and deletes... your next project

Regards

Hey Tony,

The thought had crossed my mind.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 16:30**

Gully wrote:
grunta wrote:
janilxx wrote: like this small Finland up here.
Is this where the Split Enz's kiwi brothers come from ??? (Tim and Neil Finn)
Wouldn't that be Finnland or when pronounced by a Kiwi Funland

New Zealand - Land of the Long Lost Vowels...

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 16:58**

Timers
tonymy01 wrote: But given a PVR has a HDD, I think having them on the HDD is a better option, esp for a linux OS.

BW also has managed to create so noisy box (partly because of the selected HDD model) that I believe many users would not like to use timeshift (only because of the noise

). And when that is not used, disk is off most of the time. If timers would be stored to HDD, BW would have to spin up the disk --> delay + noise = not so good.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:08**

IanSav wrote:Hi Grunta,

As Eric has indicated, it is likely that the timer (and all other config files) are loaded when the Beyonwiz is started up and the settings are kept and manipulated in memory until a change is made that needs to be saved. The Beyonwiz uses flash memory for this storage so you really want to avoid constant wrte back if possible.

Regards,
Ian.

ahhhh the penny drops .... obviously I've missed this reference, and assumed Eric was accessing via a flash drive etc, (where he was referring to the BW flash)

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:16**

janilxx wrote:[BW also has managed to create so noisy box (partly because of the selected HDD model) that I believe many users would not like to use timeshift (only because of the noise ).

Really?!?! My box hardly emits any noise at all. In fact, I can't even hear it unless I put my ear within 30cm of it.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:19**

janilxx wrote: BW also has managed to create so noisy box (partly because of the selected HDD model) that I believe many users would not like to use timeshift (only because of the noise ). And when that is not used, disk is off most of the time. If timers would be stored to HDD, BW would have to spin up the disk --> delay + noise = not so good.

A bit of a silly statement really for you mate! It isn't like you will be constantly changing your timers on an hourly basis, and when a timer fires, the HDD needs to spin up anyway!
But you are not wrong, the Wiz is a bit more noisy than my 5K, and it has a home grown fan mod and a relatively noisy Maxtor in it!
I wouldn't say it is annoying though, close the glass door to my cabinet and I definitely struggle to hear it.
Regards

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:31**

Jammer wrote:
janilxx wrote:[BW also has managed to create so noisy box (partly because of the selected HDD model) that I believe many users would not like to use timeshift (only because of the noise ).
Really?!?! My box hardly emits any noise at all. In fact, I can't even hear it unless I put my ear within 30cm of it.

I have two units with HDD and both are awfully noisy. Also other Finnish users say his box is noisy, but become more quiet when he changed HDD.

I have opened one of my box and added some rubber under HDD stand, but that did not help. Then I got bored and did not try to get it more quiet anymore.

Finnish models are packed into DP-P1 like case. Maybe you have DP-S1?

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:39**

I wouldn't call my P1 particularly noisy. Yes I can hear it start up and some drive noise but only when nothing is playing, etc.

In normal use it is not noticeable.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:42**

tonymy01 wrote:
janilxx wrote: BW also has managed to create so noisy box
A bit of a silly statement really for you mate! It isn't like you will be constantly changing your timers on an hourly basis, and when a timer fires, the HDD needs to spin up anyway!

I could easily imagine to have some kind of NSLU2 device, which would go through EPG data every night and send new timers to BW nightly. BW would be waked up for this every night with watch timer (unless some other way is developed).

I have one box in our bedroom and I could leave it on at evening so that disk would spin down after a last watching session (or BW would be opened with watch timer at evening). If then this nightly timer creation session starts, BW's disk spins up and I would hate to wake up because of the noise it generates.

And the awfully bright blue light... well even it wakes up all neighbours also, it still is an another story.

Disclaimer: I am not sure will I ever timer anything with bedroom box, or will I continue using toppy as a main series recording and BWs are only for movies and internet files. This is most probably what happens.
And if I timer something automatically by search worlds, I most probably do it with living room unit and then maybe use bedroom unit to watch it from living room unit. But this is also unclear to me at the moment, because I have WLANned house and there might be some problems with WLAN in BWs (as far as I have read from this forum and personally experienced with old Australian FWs).

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:45**

Ok, my awful == I can hear it from my couch or bed when not watching TV. It bothers me a little when BW (or toppy also) starts to record something by timer, for example.

But when watching TV, I don't hear that whirr.

Posted: **Sat Feb 02, 2008 08:00**

Hi Janilxx,

janilxx wrote:BW also has managed to create so noisy box (partly because of the selected HDD model) that I believe many users would not like to use timeshift (only because of the noise ). And when that is not used, disk is off most of the time. If timers would be stored to HDD, BW would have to spin up the disk --> delay + noise = not so good.

What HD is used in your models? Have you had the unit long? Some of the earlier DP-P1 units had noisy hard drives as well. It appeared that there may have been a bad batch from the manufacturer.

The DP-S1 I have is so quiet I have to get very close to hear anything. This house is so full of computers and electronic devices that I would be hard pressed to notice any particular device anyway.

Regards,
Ian.

Posted: **Sat Feb 02, 2008 13:26**

j s wrote:
alwayslooking wrote:JS,
Do you have any plans to implement what Eric has done in TW? (or was that a given )
It's a given!! But you've ruined the surprise now! You probably guessed that was the reason for my questions to efry. As an interim measure just drop efry's php and gif files into your TW folder and link to the page manually.

Sorry

I couldn't contain myself...and yes I guessed.

j s wrote: The most difficult thing I'll need help with - what to call the combined product? At this alpha stage it stay as TW but any thoughts on the issue would be welcome.

I guess you've already thought of toppywiz web
If you were going to add others into it, PVR Portal or something like that.

Posted: **Sun Feb 03, 2008 22:53**

Hi Guys,

I've just updated wizRemote to version 0.4

http://www.beyonwizsoftware.net/softwar ... ;attach=28

Highlights of this release.

AES 128bit encrypted handshaking. Only the webpage can access the daemon now.

Website User authentication. You can now set a username/password to secure the web frontend.

Editing Timers.

Here's the change log.

Code: Select all

0.4 * Added AES encrypted handshake to connection. put a private
      passphrase key into wizremote.key and $GLOBALS["aes_passphrase"]
      in the webconfig. wizremote.key must be in the current directory
      when running the wizremote daemon.
    * Added user authenticartion to the website. Set the username
      and password in the config section of wizremote.php
    * Improved website display on the apple iphone.
    * Added the ability to edit timers.
    * Added sample rc.local script for starting the wizremote daemon
      when the machine boots.

Eric

Posted: **Sun Feb 03, 2008 23:41**

IanSav wrote: What HD is used in your models? Have you had the unit long? Some of the earlier DP-P1 units had noisy hard drives as well. It appeared that there may have been a bad batch from the manufacturer.

I got unofficial model on February 2007. This model is made only for me (some Australian users might have same kind of model) and for example front panel buttons does not work.
This model is VERY noisy.

I also have official Finnish models (see my sig, UT-P1 has HDD). I got these November 2007. UT-P1's HDD is MUCH quieter than my first model's HDD.

Unfortunately these official models does not have Finnish FW yet, so they can not be used to watch TV. They also have older FW which have also problems with WLAN. Thats why I am not using these official models yet. I did not know

that official model was quieter. I have not tested that before. I have just noticed that there is some noise also in official model. My fault.

Both models, unofficial from February 2007 and official from November 2007 has same HDD, Samsung SP2014N. So maybe the unofficial model has disk from bad batch. Unfortunately this unofficial model is the one in my bedroom

(but I am not sure will I use it in the future because I have also UT-H1 in bedroom).

So after all, maybe BW is not too noisy at all. Sorry.

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 08:01**

Jan, there was quite some discussion on all of this quite some time ago. I myself had to "vet" 3 different P1's in the shop before I accepted one that was the least noisy. But, it was still noisier than the S1 that they had in the shop. There seems to be some anecdotal evidence that the P1's are generally more noisy than S1's. The theory here is that the HDD mounting is slightly different in the two models. I too find the humming vibration very annoying and in my case it is amplified by having the unit in a wooden cabinet. The source of the noise is just badly balanced platters in the drive and yes, both models use exactly the same HDD brand and model. BTW is it Jan or Janil?

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 16:08**

Is the web remote an apple only software or can it be used on Windows? Is there a windows version? It's looking pretty interesting and quite viable for a quick solution to programming via the web.

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 16:25**

It isn't apple at all. It is PHP which runs on nearly any platform with a webserver. There is a host of different webservers out there with various levels of PHP support, for linux I use lighttpd with php-fcgi module, don't know what you can use for windows but I am sure there would be a number of options.
Regards

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 16:29**

jpp wrote:BTW is it Jan or Janil?

It is actually Jani
L is for surname and xx is just some garbage to distinguish myself from other janil accounts

Finnish Wikipedia says there has been 25044 Janis before December 2005

I added Jani also into my sig

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 23:11**

I thought maybe the xx was because you are porn star in you spare time ??

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 23:17**

Abyss is a popular open source web server for Windows. Of course, there's also Microsoft's own IIS web server.

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2008 23:23**

grunta wrote:I thought maybe the xx was because you are porn star in you spare time ??

Uups, I have been revealed!

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 07:52**

Hi Dave,

Dave? wrote:Abyss is a popular open source web server for Windows. Of course, there's also Microsoft's own IIS web server.

What is wrong with good old bulk standard Apache?

Regards,
Ian.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 09:52**

is there a guide on how to set this up on the Wiz and PC?

Kezza

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:09**

Apache "Just Works(tm)" and that's not quite right on the Windows platform.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:04**

Hi Peter,

peteru wrote:Apache "Just Works(tm)" and that's not quite right on the Windows platform.

What issues are there in Apache for Windows?

Regards,
Ian.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:09**

is there a guide on how to setup/install wizremote?

Kezza

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:18**

IanSav wrote:Hi Peter,
peteru wrote:Apache "Just Works(tm)" and that's not quite right on the Windows platform.
What issues are there in Apache for Windows?

Regards,
Ian.

I think he meant that as a compliment to Apache

i.e. It just works, even under Windows.

Craig

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 15:14**

Indeed. Apache works properly and is quite well supported and integrated, even under Windows. It's not what you would expect from a freebie, but it is actually better than the commercial alternatives.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 15:32**

Hi,

cwiggles wrote:
IanSav wrote:Hi Peter,
peteru wrote:Apache "Just Works(tm)" and that's not quite right on the Windows platform.
What issues are there in Apache for Windows?

Regards,
Ian.
I think he meant that as a compliment to Apache i.e. It just works, even under Windows.

Ooops

Sorry, I miss-read Peter's post.

Regards,
Ian.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 19:38**

IanSav wrote:Hi Dave,
Dave? wrote:Abyss is a popular open source web server for Windows. Of course, there's also Microsoft's own IIS web server.
What is wrong with good old bulk standard Apache?

Nothing. I just forgot about it when I typed that post.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 20:22**

Kezza wrote:is there a guide on how to setup/install wizremote?

Yes and no. If you have toppyweb or TWIN setup then your 1/2 way there already.

First you need to find Eric's topic on adding telnet to the firmware (only suits v192 and S1 only I think).

Then you need to install and setup a web server on a PC or NAS etc.

Once that's done you need to telnet into the BW and upload and run some files.

And then stuff around with timers etc to get the channel data to config the php script for the web server.

Basicallly, at the moment, it's not for inexperienced. Not to mention that it's very alpha. If anyone can't get it running by following Eric's very brief readme steps I'd suggest waiting until it's at least beta.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 21:39**

sounds like the need for SOMEONE to write a little app. to install, add all the files you need and then to serve you a hot cup of coffee as you sit back and enjoy .....
and host it on an accessible site

who among us'd be up to the task .....

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 22:13**

grunta wrote:sounds like the need for SOMEONE to write a little app. to install, add all the files you need and then to serve you a hot cup of coffee as you sit back and enjoy .....
and host it on an accessible site

who among us'd be up to the task .....

I have now created a new site, www.manageyourpvr.com , which can be used to manage your Toppy and Beyonwiz (e.g. to create timers).

Ok, that was a lie

(I'll bet someone clicked that link).
I will not create such a site, at least not before someone starts filling the Beyonwiz Developer Wiki, wiki.beyonwizsoftware.net
I have edited wiki pages a little again (~20 hours ago) so that it would be easier for developers to start editing it.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2008 23:00**

Dave? wrote:First you need to find Eric's topic on adding telnet to the firmware (only suits v192 and S1 only I think)

Can anyone confirm the above? ie i have a v197'd P1.

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 07:26**

Hi Gary,

GarFin wrote:
Dave? wrote:First you need to find Eric's topic on adding telnet to the firmware (only suits v192 and S1 only I think)
Can anyone confirm the above? ie i have a v197'd P1.

The information is correct. The Telnet patch is currently only for firmware version 01.05.192.

Regards,
Ian.

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 07:32**

For those with Toppies running Tony's EPG_uploader you can get all the necessary onid,tsid,svcid values from the EPG_uploader setup menu - the Service details option.

Tony, is there any easy way of dumping this out to a text file?

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 07:32**

The patched binary firmware is only 192, but anyone with a bit of nouse can follow the instructions to unpack any f/w, make the change, pack it back up.

Tony, is there any easy way of dumping this out to a text file?

I could, but this info is available in many places, from people that put their TSreader databases up. I don't really want to expand this area of EPG-uploader because it uses LCNs these days, and besides, I would say it is only a small % of Wiz owners who also have a 5k.
Regards

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 13:07**

IanSav wrote:Hi Gary,
GarFin wrote:
Dave? wrote:First you need to find Eric's topic on adding telnet to the firmware (only suits v192 and S1 only I think)
Can anyone confirm the above? ie i have a v197'd P1.
The information is correct. The Telnet patch is currently only for firmware version 01.05.192.

Regards,
Ian.

And S1 only??

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 13:45**

Please read http://www.beyonwiz.com.au/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1345

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 15:34**

tonymy01 wrote:Please read http://www.beyonwiz.com.au/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1345

Ahh so there's the possibility of a "telnet patcher" app for all models, "comming soon"...

In the meentime, is the current solution S1 only ??

EDIT: Or to put it another way... Has anyone successfully Telnet patched a (recent) P1 firmware yet ?

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 17:53**

j s wrote:For those with Toppies running Tony's EPG_uploader you can get all the necessary onid,tsid,svcid values from the EPG_uploader setup menu - the Service details option.

Tony, is there any easy way of dumping this out to a text file?

I'm currently working out the wiz service list file format. After that I plan to decode the list on the wiz then send the channels to the website as a new message.

So the user can hit a refresh channels button which will grab the current service info from the wiz and write it to the website's config file.

Well that's the plan any way.

Eric

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 21:27**

GarFin wrote:
tonymy01 wrote:Please read http://www.beyonwiz.com.au/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1345
Ahh so there's the possibility of a "telnet patcher" app for all models, "comming soon"...

In the meentime, is the current solution S1 only ??

EDIT: Or to put it another way... Has anyone successfully Telnet patched a (recent) P1 firmware yet ?

I'm planning to put together a patch for the P1 (as I have one too). RL keeps getting in the way atm.
If I get it to work, I'll post back here.

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2008 22:10**

efry wrote: Well that's the plan any way.

Eric

Another enhancement that should be easy would be to return a list of the directories in /tmp/mnt/idehdd/recordings perhaps even with the total size of all "snippets" inside.

Even better would be to extract whatever useful info is inside header.tvwiz

though that would certainly not be trivial.

Beyonwiz Australia

WizRemote - Set timers on your wiz remotely via the web!

wizRemote v0.4