New Firmware for (T2/T3/T4/U4/V2) 06/11/2019

[Paul_oz53]

Thanks guys - I'll be definitely trying it after Xmas.

The plugin installed and operates fine on the U4. Sadly, the file I tried it on must be in poor shape because it is still broken. Reencoding with Handbrake seems to be a solution though.

Thanks anyway Adoxa.

PS The process didn't show in the task list when I looked, unless I was too slow - but I don't think so!

[hacking]

Merry Christmas everyone.
I've just upgraded the firmware and would be interested how to install the e2istream plugin.
I have a T4.
Any help would be appreciated,

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I've just upgraded the firmware and would be interested how to install the e2istream plugin.
I have a T4.

The install command was linked in a prior post. Run that command in a telnet session.
If you don't know how to do that, then instead of the above, all you need to do is create a file with a '.sh' extension, say 'e2iStream.sh', containing one line of text -

Code: Select all

wget http://www.softrix.co.uk/istream/installer.sh -O - | /bin/sh

Then copy that script file to a USB flash drive.
Insert the flash drive into your T4.
Open File Commander (MENU>>Sources / Files).
Open the USB drive.
Navigate to the script file.
Press OK and choose the option to run/execute it.
Once finished, exit back to live TV.
Then open the plugin (it should be on the BLUE extensions menu as well as the Plugins column and plugins browser). Accept all of the defaults. Then reboot once finished.
I set 'Disable live at plugin start' to enabled (to stop timeshifting live TV when using the plugin).

[adoxa]

Then copy that script file to a USB flash drive.

And make sure it has a UNIX/LF ending, not Windows/CRLF (I spent ages wondering why a script wasn't working, when it was because I didn't change the editor to use LF instead of CRLF).

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Then copy that script file to a USB flash drive.

And make sure it has a UNIX/LF ending, not Windows/CRLF (I spent ages wondering why a script wasn't working, when it was because I didn't change the editor to use LF instead of CRLF).

I think it doesn't matter _if_ executing from a USB drive - but I could have that wrong.
In any case, this is a one-liner

[prl]

I think it doesn't matter _if_ executing from a USB drive - but I could have that wrong.

It does matter. The Beyonwiz's shell does not include "\r" in its IFS environment variable by default (the default is " \t\n"), and nothing in the File Commander or any of the code in the main body of Beyonwiz firmware changes IFS on any shells it calls. IFS is the list of Input Field Separator characters that the shell recognises as making up word breaks.

Code: Select all

root@beyonwizv2:~# printf 'ls .\r' > /media/usb/test.sh
root@beyonwizv2:~# od -c /media/usb/test.sh
0000000    l   s       .  \r                                            
0000005
root@beyonwizv2:~# sh /media/usb/test.sh
: No such file or directory
root@beyonwizv2:~#

And when run from FileCommander:

[bruce]

I've just upgraded one of my U4's to 19.3 and neither the check for software updates nor the plugin download functions seem to work.

Network connectivity is fine but when I go to 'Software Manager|Check for Updates' I get 'Please wait' for about 10 secs and then 'A background upgrade check is in progress'. If I try to get the plugin list (trying to install the EPGRefresh plugin) I go to 'Plugins|Download plugins' and for about 15 secs it says 'Downloading plugin information' and then says 'No new plugins found'.

Is there something I'm doing wrong or something I can check? Or should I just try the install of 19.3 again?

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I've just upgraded one of my U4's to 19.3 and neither the check for software updates nor the plugin download functions seem to work.

The feed server is offline.
It appears to have gone offline after 28-Dec 4pm WST (last successful check here, it was down by 5pm).

[MrQuade]

Is there something I'm doing wrong or something I can check? Or should I just try the install of 19.3 again?

Hmm, robbo was reporting a similar problem on his T2. "No Plugins found".

I now wonder if there is a problem with the standard update feed.
All my Wiz units are on the beta update feed, and those appear to be working fine.

[bruce]

The feed server is offline.
It appears to have gone offline after 28-Dec 4pm WST (last successful check here, it was down by 5pm).

Thanks for the quick answer. I might try again next year, happy new year all.

[hacking]

I've just upgraded the firmware and would be interested how to install the e2istream plugin.
I have a T4.

The install command was linked in a prior post. Run that command in a telnet session.
If you don't know how to do that, then instead of the above, all you need to do is create a file with a '.sh' extension, say 'e2iStream.sh', containing one line of text -

Code: Select all

wget http://www.softrix.co.uk/istream/installer.sh -O - | /bin/sh

Then copy that script file to a USB flash drive.
Insert the flash drive into your T4.
Open File Commander (MENU>>Sources / Files).
Open the USB drive.
Navigate to the script file.
Press OK and choose the option to run/execute it.
Once finished, exit back to live TV.
Then open the plugin (it should be on the BLUE extensions menu as well as the Plugins column and plugins browser). Accept all of the defaults. Then reboot once finished.
I set 'Disable live at plugin start' to enabled (to stop timeshifting live TV when using the plugin).

Thanks for the info, I made the .sh file but that did not work, tried the front USB that did not recognise the usb, so put in the back one, worked a treat) I had downloaded the .IPK file and clicked on that and it installed ok.
Thanks again and Happy New Year to everyone (hope I have done this correctly), now all I need to do is find the Movie about the Thai Cave rescue so my wife can watch it.

Regards and thanks Graham

[RGE]

When I checked the other day my U4 didn't find any new firmware and I haven't seen any pop-up advising new firmware is available (the option is turned on).

Does anyone know when the server will be on-line and/or updated with the new release?

ps Yes I am aware that there are other manual update options but as most owners only become aware of new firmware when they see a pop-up surely this should be working for them otherwise what's the point of the notification option.

[prl]

When I checked the other day my U4 didn't find any new firmware and I haven't seen any pop-up advising new firmware is available (the option is turned on).

Which firmware are you currently running? If it's from the previous firmware series (17.5, versions 20170919-20190207), you won't get an online update notification, the first upgrade from a 17.5 series version to firmware in the 19.3 series (versions 20190630-20191106) needs to be done from USB.

Does anyone know when the server will be on-line

The feeds server is back on line. It came back online on 3 Jan, after being down for about a week (28 Dec - 3 Jan). I just verified that my test U4 completed its startup upgtade check, and successfully downloaded a plugin on the U4.

and/or updated with the new release?

Which "new release" do you mean? 20191106? If you're not running that already, and haven't been running public betas, you can only update to it using a USB upgrade. The upgrade files and instructions are in the first post of this topic.

If you are running 20191106, there are no upgrades available at the moment, not even public betas.

ps Yes I am aware that there are other manual update options but as most owners only become aware of new firmware when they see a pop-up surely this should be working for them otherwise what's the point of the notification option.

You only get on-device notifications when an upgrade can be done online. If a USB upgrade is required, the forum and the Beyonwiz downloads page are the only places you'll find out about the upgrade. It would perhaps be better if it was differently organised, but that's how it is.

[RGE]

Thanks Peter for your detailed explanation.

I am currently running 17.5 having done the upgrade on-line a while ago after initially trying a USB upgrade at the time and having difficulties.

It was when I read elsewhere (Whirlpool) and later here that a new firmware has been released that I again tried on-line a while ago, read that the server was down and then later tried recently.

So when new firmware is announced here by Wiz HQ "New Software Upgrade Now Available", but not 'pushed out' to users via their server, it does indeed make one wonder about how things are organised.

[MrQuade]

So when new firmware is announced here by Wiz HQ "New Software Upgrade Now Available", but not 'pushed out' to users via their server, it does indeed make one wonder about how things are organised.

Its not a matter of organisation, it is a technical limitation. There is no way to upgrade between major version numbers without suffering correspondingly major problems.

If the version number changes (say from 4.4 to 16.1, or 16.1 to 17.5, or 17.5 to 19.1), then a USB upgrade is always required to perform that update. All intermediate upgrades within the same version number are made available as online updates and the automatic update facility will notify the users accordingly.

I am currently running 17.5 having done the upgrade on-line a while ago after initially trying a USB upgrade at the time and having difficulties.

You must have already been running a 17.5 version if you were able to run an online update.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

So when new firmware is announced here by Wiz HQ "New Software Upgrade Now Available", but not 'pushed out' to users via their server, it does indeed make one wonder about how things are organised.

But a 17.5-series to 19.3-series firmware upgrade can't be 'pushed out', as per prl:

Which firmware are you currently running? If it's from the previous firmware series (17.5, versions 20170919-20190207), you won't get an online update notification, the first upgrade from a 17.5 series version to firmware in the 19.3 series (versions 20190630-20191106) needs to be done from USB.

[RGE]

But a 17.5-series to 19.3-series firmware upgrade can't be 'pushed out', as per prl:

I now understand this, but it does seem to somewhat reduce the functionality of having on-line firmware updates if it's only limited to minor changes.

Ideally each new 'official head office approved' release should be offered on-line and make use of the built in alert option with an initial warning where needed that if you are upgrading from version x.x or later you can first save your settings for use after installation otherwise you will need to do a rescan and reset of all timers - Do you want to proceed Yes/No.

[MrQuade]

Ideally each new 'official head office approved' release should be offered on-line and make use of the built in alert option with an initial warning where needed that if you are upgrading from version x.x or later you can first save your settings for use after installation otherwise you will need to do a rescan and reset of all timers - Do you want to proceed Yes/No.

Yes, that would be ideal. The PVR simply isn't capable of doing this though. It's not just a matter of saving settings though, the technical details run a lot deeper than that.

Yes, the settings between versions will sometimes be incompatible, which necessitates setting up from scratch (though this isn't always required), but sometimes the box just doesn't have enough RAM or storage or the software version conflicts are just too convoluted to be able to upgrade from one version to the next via online methods. It is simply impossible (or exceedingly impractical) for a Wiz PVR to transition from one major version to the next via online update without breaking it.

While the Wiz units are very "PC like", they really don't have the resources to do absolutely everything a full-blown PC can do.

[prl]

But a 17.5-series to 19.3-series firmware upgrade can't be 'pushed out', as per prl:

I now understand this, but it does seem to somewhat reduce the functionality of having on-line firmware updates if it's only limited to minor changes.

The upgrade instructions in the post announcing the upgrade should at least make it clear that a USB upgrade is needed.

Ideally each new 'official head office approved' release should be offered on-line and make use of the built in alert option with an initial warning where needed that if you are upgrading from version x.x or later you can first save your settings for use after installation otherwise you will need to do a rescan and reset of all timers - Do you want to proceed Yes/No.

Very large upgrades (including, but not only) series upgrades, have been known to cause problems, but mostly only affecting users of beta firmware.

The saving/restoring of settings is also a bit different from what you describe. Saving settings is not necessary for an online upgrade, even though the online upgrade process offers to allow you to do so.

Saving/restoring settings is useful if you do a USB upgrade. A USB upgrade will send you back to the factory settings. After a USB upgrade, you will normally be offered the opportunity to restore settings. However, some firmware series changes changed the directory structure for settings so that a settings restore wasn't offered (and also changed the settings enough that a restore wouldn't have worked anyway). Sometimes a firmware series change would permit settings to be restored, but a full setup from the factory settings is needed (I think that this is the case going from 17.5 -> 19.3).

There are a number of unsatisfactory things about the firmware upgrade process. Some other enigma2 images handle it more cleanly. I'm not sure whether those processes could be applied to the Beyonwiz image.

Fortunately firmware series changes since 4.4 have happened fairly infrequently:
3.0 -> 4.0: 2014-03-05
First T series model (T3) delivered in 2014-04
4.0 -> 4.1: 2014-05-07
4.1 -> 4.2: 2014-07-13
4.2 -> 4.3: 2014-10-29
4.3 -> 4.4: 2015-01-14
4.4 -> 16.1: 2016-10-24
16.1 -> 17.5: 2017-09-19
17.5 -> 19.3: 2019-06-30

The dates for those are for the earliest betas in the series.

The U4 was delivered with series 17.5 firmware.

[Gully]

I guess to respond to RGE's thoughts/suggestions, I wonder if it is feasible to have a pop up window generated on old series firmware that just says there is a new firmware please go to the website to download and install it, etc?

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Fortunately firmware series changes since 4.4 have happened fairly infrequently:
3.0 -> 4.0: 2014-03-05
First T series model (T3) delivered in 2014-04
4.0 -> 4.1: 2014-05-07
4.1 -> 4.2: 2014-07-13
4.2 -> 4.3: 2014-10-29
4.3 -> 4.4: 2015-01-14
4.4 -> 17.5: 2017-09-19
17.5 -> 19.3: 2019-06-30

The dates for those are for the earliest betas in the series.

For completeness, there was a 16.1 series "alpha" for the T4 was released 19-Sep-2016. It went to "beta" for all models on 6-Dec.

[prl]

Fortunately firmware series changes since 4.4 have happened fairly infrequently:
3.0 -> 4.0: 2014-03-05
First T series model (T3) delivered in 2014-04
4.0 -> 4.1: 2014-05-07
4.1 -> 4.2: 2014-07-13
4.2 -> 4.3: 2014-10-29
4.3 -> 4.4: 2015-01-14
4.4 -> 17.5: 2017-09-19
17.5 -> 19.3: 2019-06-30

The dates for those are for the earliest betas in the series.

For completeness, there was a 16.1 series "alpha" for the T4 was released 19-Sep-2016. It went to "beta" for all models on 6-Dec.

Added. I missed that series because I did an alpha sort on the firmware updaters rather than sorting on modificationdate.

[prl]

I guess to respond to RGE's thoughts/suggestions, I wonder if it is feasible to have a pop up window generated on old series firmware that just says there is a new firmware please go to the website to download and install it, etc?

I don't know of any mechanism that the firmware could use to get that information. But that may be my ignorance.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I guess to respond to RGE's thoughts/suggestions, I wonder if it is feasible to have a pop up window generated on old series firmware that just says there is a new firmware please go to the website to download and install it, etc?

I don't know of any mechanism that the firmware could use to get that information. But that may be my ignorance.

I'm guessing the check'd need to list the contents of https://beyonwiz.com.au/firmware/{model}/ looking for a file name containing a release number that is greater than the current installed release number. E.g. for a U4 -
https://beyonwiz.com.au/firmware/u4/

Code: Select all

root@beyonwizu4:/etc# grep version= /etc/image-version
version=19.3
imageversion=19.3

When the web site is restructured, remember to change the check!
Just an idea, but -- ugh!

[Gully]

I don't know of any mechanism that the firmware could use to get that information. But that may be my ignorance.

I figured that might be the case.

[RGE]

The U4 was delivered with series 17.5 firmware.

Mine, purchased in June 2018, certainlty was not.

It was preceded by an email advising that it would be delivered soon and advised, in part;

First of all thanks for your purchase, your new Beyonwiz PVR will be on it's way to you shortly.

SOFTWARE UPDATE
There has been a recent software update for the U4 and we strongly recommend upgrading the software prior to your first setup, you will just need a USB memory stick with approx. 1GB of free space.

Please watch the video here on how to upgrade the firmware via USB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhh_8RuhQKk&t=2s or follow the written guide here: https://beyonwiz.com.au/u4/HowToUpgrade ... U4v175.pdf

[MrQuade]

Mine, purchased in June 2018, certainlty was not.

It was preceded by an email advising that it would be delivered soon and advised, in part;

I believe the email was simply stating that it came with an earlier version of 17.5.
There was an unfortunate problem with the very earliest version of 17.5 that meant that the online update would not fix certain problems, and that was one rare case where a intra-version USB upgrade was required.

An artifact of the U4's being configured with a pre-release firmware.

[prl]

I have a pretty comprehensive archive of all USB updates made available, including pre-release ones.

The earliest U4 firmware release I have is beyonwiz-17.5-beyonwizu4-20170919_usb.zip.

Changes in firmware series number (e.g. 17.5 -> 19.3) always need a USB update, but sometimes updates within a series are also only available or highly recommended to be USB updates. A recommendation to do a USB update is not necessarily an indication that there's been a change in the firmware series.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

The U4 was delivered with series 17.5 firmware.

Mine, purchased in June 2018, certainlty was not.

It did - the U4s left the factory with 17.5 series' 20171130 firmware (and a bad config due to a factory testing cockup).
There wasn't any other firmware series to use on the U4.

[RGE]

I have a pretty comprehensive archive of all USB updates made available, including pre-release ones.

The earliest U4 firmware release I have is beyonwiz-17.5-beyonwizu4-20170919_usb.zip.

Changes in firmware series number (e.g. 17.5 -> 19.3) always need a USB update, but sometimes updates within a series are also only available or highly recommended to be USB updates. A recommendation to do a USB update is not necessarily an indication that there's been a change in the firmware series.

My mistake, when I read at the time that I had to upgrade to 17.5 I just took it as version 17.5 - clearly I must have upgraded from 17.5 20170919 (or whatever) to 17.5 20190207

Presumably there must be some reason for not making the newer version 17.51 beyond (no pun intended) making it clearer for users.

[MrQuade]

Presumably there must be some reason for not making the newer version 17.51 beyond (no pun intended) making it clearer for users.

The date is actually the "revision number" that you need to pay attention to.

The "17.5" is just a label to identify the series that this firmware belongs to.

The firmware isn't just a monolithic lump of software, rather like any other Linux distro, it is a collection of components that are each updated and maintained separately. The version number, or date, is just a snapshot of what package versions happen to have been at that point in time. This is a much different concept to other consumer devices that can't perform updates of individual components (unless you count apps).

Whenever a big under-the-hood upgrade happens, there will be a break made from the current series and a new series established. Usually these big upgrades involve major kernel or driver updates, or updates to critical core components. It will also often involve a consolidation and merge with any new and updated code that can come from the "upstream" source code (source code that is developed for other similar PVRs).

The Beywonwiz firmware is generally developed in a parallel branch to the "upstream sources" since there are a lot of changes that are made specifically for the Australian market. The other PVRs are generally used in Europe where they mix terrestrial, satellite and cable TV and generally have different usage preferences to FTA users here.

The significance of the number is simply the year and the month in which the firmware series began development.
17.5 began its life in May 2017.
19.1 was started in January last year, 2019.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

19.1 was started in January last year, 2019.

It's 19.3 - Trevor does that a lot, doesn't he?

[MrQuade]

It's 19.3 - Trevor does that a lot, doesn't he?

Can't blame Trevor on that one. I think I just consistently make that mistake!!
We only had OpenATV to play with on the V2 in January .

[IanL-S]

Coming late to this firmware update. Successfully installed on 3 x T2, however I cannot get it to install on my U4. I removed USB tuner and external HDD after powering down the U4 and turning it off using the rear power switch.

Inserted the USB stick in the front USB port, turned on rear power switch, message flashes on front of unit, power button flashes blue, press it but update does not proceed. I saw from an earlier post that for the V2 you have to press the power button for 10 seconds rather than just touching it - should I also be pressing for 10 seconds.

After nothing happening after the second message (one after one about firmware) nothing happens. I can turn the power off and after removing the USB stick the unit boots up properly so whatever I am doing is not bricking the unit.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Ian

[prl]

Coming late to this firmware update. Successfully installed on 3 x T2, however I cannot get it to install on my U4. I removed USB tuner and external HDD after powering down the U4 and turning it off using the rear power switch.

Inserted the USB stick in the front USB port, turned on rear power switch, message flashes on front of unit, power button flashes blue, press it but update does not proceed. I saw from an earlier post that for the V2 you have to press the power button for 10 seconds rather than just touching it - should I also be pressing for 10 seconds.

The way you're doing the U4 upgrade sounds correct. The V2's procedure is "switch off at the rear, hold the front panel button down and switch on power at the back, keep the power button pressed until "UPDT" appears on the front panel (usually a lot less than 10 sec." The procedure after that is different from all the other models, too.

After you switch the power on on the U4, you should see "BOLT V1.31.1" briefly on the front panel, then "Press Button". That's when you need to press the front panel power button.

You don't actually need to switch the power off to do an upgrade on the U4 (you do on the V2), just start it from shutdown.

After nothing happening after the second message (one after one about firmware) nothing happens. I can turn the power off and after removing the USB stick the unit boots up properly so whatever I am doing is not bricking the unit.

I'm assuming that you've unpacked the u4 firmware package correctly. If so, it sounds like the USB stick isn't being recognised properly, which is odd, because the U2 is generally less picky than the T series devices.

Have you tried using the other USB ports for the upgrade?

[adoxa]

You don't actually need to switch the power off to do an upgrade on the U4 (you do on the V2), just start it from shutdown.

You don't need to power off the V2, it's enough to hold the button down after a reboot/start from shutdown.

[prl]

You don't actually need to switch the power off to do an upgrade on the U4 (you do on the V2), just start it from shutdown.

You don't need to power off the V2, it's enough to hold the button down after a reboot/start from shutdown.

Interesting. I don't think I've ever done it that way.

[IanL-S]

The way you're doing the U4 upgrade sounds correct. The V2's procedure is "switch off at the rear, hold the front panel button down and switch on power at the back, keep the power button pressed until "UPDT" appears on the front panel (usually a lot less than 10 sec." The procedure after that is different from all the other models, too.

After you switch the power on on the U4, you should see "BOLT V1.31.1" briefly on the front panel, then "Press Button". That's when you need to press the front panel power button.

You don't actually need to switch the power off to do an upgrade on the U4 (you do on the V2), just start it from shutdown.

Yes, I was seeing "BOLT V1.31.1". But no success previously.

I'm assuming that you've unpacked the u4 firmware package correctly. If so, it sounds like the USB stick isn't being recognised properly, which is odd, because the U2 is generally less picky than the T series devices.

Have you tried using the other USB ports for the upgrade?

I had unpacked the firmware, but had not tried another USB stick. I had tried the front USB 2 port and one of the rear USB 2 ports. I had previously used a USB 2 stick, so tried a USB 3 stick (did a quick format) copied the zip file and extracted it. Put the USB stick in the USB 3 port at the back, and it did the upgrade - it was extremely quick compared to using USB 2.

Had one false start, forgot to remove the USB tuner Once removed and U4 restarted all went well. I did not notice much happening on the front display, probably because the update took place far more quickly than I am used to.

Thanks to all those who helped me out. It is much appreciated.

Ian

Edit: The FTP server both on T2 and U4 connects instantaneously - much faster than with prior firmwar.

[raj]

G'day,

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I see that from January 16, 2020, 7 Food will be replaced by 7mate HD.

Does this firmware upgrade have these changes or is there some other way to accommodate this change?

Thanks.

[Paul_oz53]

There is likely to be an online update on the feed later in the week or thereabouts.

[prl]

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I see that from January 16, 2020, 7 Food will be replaced by 7mate HD.

Does this firmware upgrade have these changes or is there some other way to accommodate this change?

The 20191106 firmware update comes from before the announcement of the change from 7food network to 7mate HD, so it can't have those changes

The update of the picon setup that includes the changes is ready and should be in the next applicable firmware update.

More detailed discussion here.

You may also need to do a service scan, independent of any firmware update, to update the channel name and other internal details.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I see that from January 16, 2020, 7 Food will be replaced by 7mate HD.

Does this firmware upgrade have these changes or is there some other way to accommodate this change?

The 20171106 firmware update comes from before the announcement of the change from 7food network to 7mate HD, so it can't have those changes

Make that 20191106
Actually it was known back in October - https://tvtonight.com.au/2019/10/7food- ... osure.html
But of course, 7food was still an active service as of 20191106 firmware

[prl]

Version date fixed. Thanks.

[netmask]

What is the latest available firmware for the T3

[prl]

What is the latest available firmware for the T3

The firmware posted here, 20191106.

[netmask]

Thanks

[netmask]

What is the procedure for the T3 USB update - I've powered off completely inserted the USB stick that I always use then powered on from the back switch and nada! juts boots up as normal. I'm going from 17.5to 19 etc

[MrQuade]

What is the procedure for the T3 USB update - I've powered off completely inserted the USB stick that I always use then powered on from the back switch and nada! juts boots up as normal. I'm going from 17.5to 19 etc

That's the procedure. If you don't get the message to press the up arrow on the front panel, then the USB isn't being detected.

Try a different USB port, and make sure you unplug all other USB devices.

[netmask]

I wasn't sure about the button to push and I just did that the up button and it's currently displaying FlashrootFS just scrolling by