Plugins equivalent to what was on my Topfield

[CJSStK]

Hi there

I've just migrated to a Beyonwiz U4. I had previously used a Topfield 2400 and had a couple of TAPS that I found quite useful - these being Autostandby (which set the device to standby after a period of inactivity if not recording), and jdaSkip which enabled configuration of the 4 coloured buttons to assist with add skipping. They were managed by a further TAP called TMSCommander which provided the means to configure the previous mentioned TAPs. I've had a look through this part of the Beyonwiz forum and I don't believe there is an equivalent. Perhaps they are not necessary if the Beyonwiz provides this natively but I can't find anything in the menu settings (maybe my inexperience as a newcomer to this device). I was wondering if anyone could provide advice on this. Thanks!

[MrQuade]

The Wiz has native functionality for going to standby automatically.

Just set a power timer by long-pressing the POWER button, and selecting "Power Timers".
You can edit the existing Autostandby timer from there and set your period of inactivity.

As for the colour button skips, you can't get those natively. The colour buttons are used too extensively throughout the interface to really devote them to that purpose.

You do however have the ability to configure the arrow buttons with different skip intervals individually (though LEFT and DOWN are devoted to backwards skip and UP and RIGHT are exclusively forward skips).

You can also optionally configure the number keys, 3, 6, 9 as forward skips and 1, 4, 7 as backwards skips. (with 1/3 as backwards/forwards using the same interval setting, 4/6 are linked and 7/9 are linked similarly).
You can also configure the keypad keys to skip to a percentage through the movie (3 = 30%, 6=60% etc)

A long-press of LEFT or RIGHT will bring up the skip bar which will let you navigate to a point in the timeline and you can select that point to resume playback.

Look in the buttons settings menu and the recording settings menu for these options.

So there are a huge number of ways to configure skips, but you will have to retrain your muscle memory to no longer use the colour buttons unfortunately.

[Paul_oz53]

The Wiz has native functionality for going to standby automatically.

Just set a power timer by long-pressing the POWER button, and selecting "Power Timers".
You can edit the existing Autostandby timer from there and set your period of inactivity.

As for the colour button skips, you can't get those natively. The colour buttons are used too extensively throughout the interface to really devote them to that purpose.

You do however have the ability to configure the arrow buttons with different skip intervals individually (though LEFT and DOWN are devoted to backwards skip and UP and RIGHT are exclusively forward skips).

You can also optionally configure the number keys, 3, 6, 9 as forward skips and 1, 4, 7 as backwards skips. (with 1/3 as backwards/forwards using the same interval setting, 4/6 are linked and 7/9 are linked similarly).
You can also configure the keypad keys to skip to a percentage through the movie (3 = 30%, 6=60% etc)

A long-press of LEFT or RIGHT will bring up the skip bar which will let you navigate to a point in the timeline and you can select that point to resume playback.

Look in the buttons settings menu and the recording settings menu for these options.

So there are a huge number of ways to configure skips, but you will have to retrain your muscle memory to no longer use the colour buttons unfortunately.

In the Media player you can alter the functions allocated to the colour buttons by pressing Menu and selecting Settings. If you scroll up, you reach the list immediately. But this doesn't include skips.

[Star6key]

...
So there are a huge number of ways to configure skips, but you will have to retrain your muscle memory to no longer use the colour buttons unfortunately.

Not quite correct... a little jiggery pokery can get the job done.

[MrQuade]

Not quite correct... a little jiggery pokery can get the job done.

Not many people are quite as determined as others

[prl]

Isn't it just simpler to accept that it's not, in fact, a Topfield?

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

The Wiz has native functionality for going to standby automatically.

Only problem is if the BW is in a menu (don't think that's been fixed - still NFG with 20180417).

Don't bother with S/By anymore on any of our BWs (2 at home & 1 in caravan).

dRdoS7

[CJSStK]

Thanks for the commentary/advice everyone. This Forum is an excellent resource.

Just another observation about the Beyonwiz - I find the UI for recordings comes across more like a PC folder structure which of course under the bonnet it is. I can see all of the information of course so from a function perspective all good, but I think it could with a bit of attention to the form. In that respect the Topfield UI in this area (and for Timers probably) is to my eye more aesthetically appealing.

But that's just personal preference and I can see the value in the greater amount of information. I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with this device.

One interesting thing - we had a momentary power failure last night which interrupted a recording on the Beyonwiz. It was only for about a minute. From what I can see the device recommenced recording when power was restored, so only a short loss of content. I don't think the Topfield was ever that smart.

Cheers

[Star6key]

...

One interesting thing - we had a momentary power failure last night which interrupted a recording on the Beyonwiz. It was only for about a minute. From what I can see the device recommenced recording when power was restored, so only a short loss of content. I don't think the Topfield was ever that smart.

Cheers

From memory, the Toppy deleted timers when they started, which is why on a device restart, there is no timer and therefore no further recording. The BW pvrs delete the timer on completion, so a device restart would restart the timer.

[Star6key]

Not quite correct... a little jiggery pokery can get the job done.

Not many people are quite as determined as others

I'm a square peg in a round hole kind of guy.

[prl]

By the way, although the Beyonwiz can't use the coloured buttons for skips, you can have 2, 4, 8 or 10 buttons available for different skips: you can use UP/DOWN, LEFT/RIGHT, and the number buttons 1/3, 4/6 & 7/9 for skips, though only DOWN & LEFT can initiate timeshifted viewing. LEFT, DOWN, 1, 4 & 7 are for backward skip and RIGHT, UP, 3, 6 & 9 are for forward skip. UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT can be set to independant skip times. 1/3, 4/6 & 7/9 can only be set in pairs: 1 & 3 will skip back and forward by the same (configurable) amount.

The skip setup, including whether UP/DOWN and the number buttons are used for skip and the skip times. is in MENU>Setup>System>Button settings.

I use UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT for skips.

[MrQuade]

I find the UI for recordings comes across more like a PC folder structure which of course under the bonnet it is. I can see all of the information of course so from a function perspective all good, but I think it could with a bit of attention to the form. In that respect the Topfield UI in this area (and for Timers probably) is to my eye more aesthetically appealing.

Were you looking at the interface called "Sources / files" in the main menu or are you talking about the Media Player interface that you get when you press the MEDIA button on the remote?

Sources/files is definitely intended to look like a file manager interface, since that is what it is. The Media Player interface does expose the Wiz's file structure to a degree, but should be less like a file manager. The overall look and feel is designed to match the rest of the semi-transparent asthetic of the UI.

Also note that you can change the font sizes and number of rows if you feel like the text should be a chunkier style for a TV display. The progress icons can be switched between the circles and a bar (or switched off) for a different look too.

[CJSStK]

Thanks again for the helpful advice. Autostandby sorted and the UI much improved with some font/line adjustments. I was using the Recordings menu option but in future the Media button will be more convenient. On that note I think I now have my Harmony pretty well set up and working with the Beyonwiz.

One final question if I may. From my reading on this site I gather that the device handles daylight saving time changes on its own. I‘m a bit unsure however about timers that have come down from IceTV. On the Topfield daylight saving changeover was a real pain and one had to reset the device and delete/redownload all timers. Inconvenient if you were travelling which I do frequently (and this is where Ice TV is very convenient). Does the Beyonwiz have any special requirements like that.

Cheers

[CJSStK]

... and ad skipping also working as required.

[IanB]

...
One final question if I may. From my reading on this site I gather that the device handles daylight saving time changes on its own. I‘m a bit unsure however about timers that have come down from IceTV. On the Topfield daylight saving changeover was a real pain and one had to reset the device and delete/redownload all timers. Inconvenient if you were travelling which I do frequently (and this is where Ice TV is very convenient). Does the Beyonwiz have any special requirements like that.

See viewtopic.php?p=172352#p172352

Depending on Autotimer settings you may end up with a set of duplicate timers that are 1 hour out to clean up.

Not sure about IceTV, I think they maybe all aokay, Someone who took notice please confirm, prl indicates this is true, viewtopic.php?p=143297#p143297 , answering my dig in the previous post.

[Paul_oz53]

...
One final question if I may. From my reading on this site I gather that the device handles daylight saving time changes on its own. I‘m a bit unsure however about timers that have come down from IceTV. On the Topfield daylight saving changeover was a real pain and one had to reset the device and delete/redownload all timers. Inconvenient if you were travelling which I do frequently (and this is where Ice TV is very convenient). Does the Beyonwiz have any special requirements like that.

See viewtopic.php?p=172352#p172352

Depending on Autotimer settings you may end up with a set of duplicate timers that are 1 hour out to clean up.

Not sure about IceTV, I think they maybe all aokay, Someone who took notice please confirm, prl indicates this is true, viewtopic.php?p=143297#p143297 , answering my dig in the previous post.

On the T and U series, it is done automatically by the IceTV servers. However, we did get some duplicated timers for some strange reason at the switchover - it recorded both the HD and the SD versions (I set IceTV to "Prefer HD").

[prl]

...
One final question if I may. From my reading on this site I gather that the device handles daylight saving time changes on its own. I‘m a bit unsure however about timers that have come down from IceTV. On the Topfield daylight saving changeover was a real pain and one had to reset the device and delete/redownload all timers. Inconvenient if you were travelling which I do frequently (and this is where Ice TV is very convenient). Does the Beyonwiz have any special requirements like that.

See viewtopic.php?p=172352#p172352

Depending on Autotimer settings you may end up with a set of duplicate timers that are 1 hour out to clean up.

Not sure about IceTV, I think they maybe all aokay, Someone who took notice please confirm, prl indicates this is true, viewtopic.php?p=143297#p143297 , answering my dig in the previous post.

On the T and U series, it is done automatically by the IceTV servers. However, we did get some duplicated timers for some strange reason at the switchover - it recorded both the HD and the SD versions (I set IceTV to "Prefer HD").

I had a few issues with duplicated timers on IceTV this last DST transition, too. The problems don't seem to have been restricted to the Beyonwiz, and appear to have been a problem in the IceTV server side. There's some discussion about it on the IceTV forum, for example in Daylight Saving & Duplicate HD Channels. The full details of the issues I had are in the IceTV forum topic Recordings being scheduled that shouldn't be.

These problems are unusual for IceTV. DST issues typically tend to be worse for the FTA EPG than for IceTV.

Actual timekeeping in the IceTV EPG, FTA EPG and on the Beyonwiz itself is in UTC.

[CJSStK]

Thanks for the tips. Fortunately I will be here for the end of daylight saving and will be able to observe first hand what happens and remediate if needs be. That should set me up for later in the year.

Cheers all

[CJSStK]

Hi there - back again. I seem to be having some trouble with the ReconstuctAPSC plugin. When I attempt to download it I see briefly an 'Execution Progress' message which then quickly reverts to the Plugin download category menu. I can then see the menu option Reconstruct AP/SC in the Movie List Setup if I select the recording and press Menu. So I assume something downloaded.

When I then attempt to run the plugin (after a reboot) against a downloaded mpg file I see a prompt to confirm I wish the process to commence but then no further visual cue that anything is happening. When I subsequently inspect the hdd (via ftp) none of the various BW files have been created, there is just the original mpg file. I'm not actually sure if any of these files should be created but I thought some of them might be. If I attempt to run the recording I get a black screen and then an error message 'Reconstruct AP/SC Error Error Code -1'. Then a prompt to resume playback at the beginning or resume position and then a black screen. I can get back to the main menu by pressing the playback stop button.

I have tried deleting and reinstalling a few times. The delete seems to work as, following the delete, the menu option to Reconstruct AP/SC is no longer available.

Are there any thoughts on what might be happening or with the process I am following.

Cheers

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...Are there any thoughts on what might be happening or with the process I am following.

I'd have thought it only works on transport stream (.ts) files.
There's no progress indicator, other than the background job progress available from the BLUE/extensions menu in live TV, as far as I remember.

[prl]

...Are there any thoughts on what might be happening or with the process I am following.

I'd have thought it only works on transport stream (.ts) files.

That's certainly how I'd read the code.

[CJSStK]

Oh - does that mean it cannot process an mpg file. Would renaming help - I might try that.

Cheers

[prl]

Oh - does that mean it cannot process an mpg file.

The code explicitly runs an MPEG Transport Stream parser. A .mpg file will typically be MPEG Program Stream.

Would renaming help - I might try that.

Given that it doesn't work when named as a .mpg file, I doubt it very much. The code just opens the file, no matter what its extension and parses it to extract the .sc and .ap file data, then writes that data. It doesn't look at the file's extension (though the .sc and .ap files might be named in a way that makes them useless even if they were created). The .ap and .sc files are expected in recordings, not in other media files.

[CJSStK]

Thanks all. After a bit more experimenting it seems that there is little benefit in using the repair plugin. Mpg/mp4 files play just fine as they are and the skip function seems to work ok too. And thats all that I was after.

Cheers